My emotions got messed with way too much this week.  I felt like my heart was getting pulled out of my chest and slammed against a wall because my poor Walt got delivered some awful news.  See, this is what it is about The Carrie Diaries, one episode, it’s all fun and games and you’re all happy and gooey and the next, it hits you with reality.  And as a viewer, I appreciate it because that’s what the real world is like.  You don’t get to be happy all day, every day for the rest of your life and it’s important to realize that that’s okay.  By the way, did I mention that all this happened on Valentine’s Day?  Yeah.  Brace yourselves, it’s gonna be an emotional roller coaster ride.

Walt’s parents kicked him out of the house because they’re the worst and can’t deal with him being gay.  Tom gave Walt an uplifting talk about being himself and not worrying about what others think.  Mouse helped Maggie apply to college even though Maggie wasn’t very into it.  Dorrit broke up with her boyfriend because Tom became friends with him and then she met a boy named Scott at her party.  Sebastian moved back to NY and is living in Larissa’s loft.

“Date Expectations” kicks off with Carrie walking to Sebastian’s new place on Valentine’s Day.  Everyone is doing their best to be the most obnoxiously romantic couple on the block but she doesn’t seem the least bothered by the lovefest.  When she arrives at the loft, she discovers that Sebastian’s done some major renovations.  Ever since meeting a skateboarding prodigy named Tony Hawk—har har—in L.A., he’s really into skating and using skater lingo.  Sebastian wants to start a new business and design merchandise based on skate culture.  Carrie doesn’t seem very convinced.  After all the skateboard jibber-jabber, he tells Carrie he made dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

In Castlebury, Maggie got an acceptance letter from Central Connecticut State University but without financial aide, she doesn’t even want to bother going.  Donna shows up dressed in a skimpy military uniform and tells the girls it’s recruitment day.   Maggie notices she isn’t lying about the Army dudes being major eye candy.  Later, one of them approaches her and sweet talks her into enlisting.  He makes promises about figuring out her future and traveling, even getting stationed in Hawaii.  Needless to say, Maggie is sold.  After she tells Mouse about it, she begins to regret her decision.

In the city, Samantha, Carrie, and Larissa are discussing a runway fashion show, when Walt shows up to visit Bennett.  They’re supposed to be going to see Hannah and Her Sisters that night.  Samantha hilariously confuses it with girl porn and then mistakes Woody Allen for a porn star name.  Oh, Samantha.  When Walt asks about dinner reservations for Valentine’s Day, Samantha invites them to come see her at Boy—the hottest gay club in the city.  Bennett seems really excited about it but Walt was hoping they were going to have a more intimate celebration.  Carrie turns down the invitation but this is before she finds out Sebastian has to cancel their plans in order to meet with Tony Hawk.

Valentine’s Day arrives and Larissa is complaining about the pile of flowers at her desk.  Harlan’s out of town and has been sending them nonstop.  She knows the only reason he left was because he was avoiding the holiday but she doesn’t mind at all.  Carrie wishes she could be more like her and not give Valentine’s Day so much importance.  She expresses her skepticism about Sebastian’s skateboarding business and refers to it as a “fad.”

That night, Tom and Walt talk about his Valentine’s plans over a heart-shaped pizza.  Walt tells Tom he never imagined spending the day at a loud place surrounded by a bunch of people.  Tom for his part, has to deal with Dorrit and Scott watching violent movies because they both hate Valentine’s Day.  Walt tells him that Scott must like her if he wants to spend the day with Dorrit, and Tom agrees.  After the incident with Miller, he knows that the way to drive away guys who aren’t right for Dorrit is to bond with them.  What a smart and sneaky dad.

Meanwhile in the city, Carrie is getting ready for her night out with her friends when Sebastian gets a call from Tony.  She overhears Sebastian telling him that he’s willing to relocate if it’s necessary.  Carrie feels like he’s giving his skateboarding business priority over their relationship and confronts him about it.  They start arguing and Carrie tells him she heard him say he would move.  Walt shows up and Carrie tells Sebastian to leave.

They arrive at Boy and Walt seems extremely uncomfortable with the whole thing.  They meet up with Bennett and Larissa when they see Samantha make her grand entrance at the party—riding a horse naked and wearing a long blonde wig.  Walt tells Bennet that the place might be “too gay” for him but Bennett replies that he’s had sex with a guy so that makes him just as gay as everyone else.  Walt feels like he has nothing in common with everyone there except for the fact that they’re all gay.  Bennett tells him they’re not allowed to have what everyone else has—marriage, kids, a white-picket fence—so they have to make the best of it and have fun.

In Castlebury, Maggie asks Mouse for help to get her out of joining the Army.  She enlists the help of Donna, whom with the help of her “rack” will gain them access to the Army base where they’ll be able to convince Private Watson to get rid of Maggie’s paperwork.  Donna drives them to the base where she tries flirting with the gate guard so he can let them in.  He tells them she’s not in the visitation list.  Cue the waterworks as she tells him a sob story and convinces him to let them wait in the recruitment office until Private Watson gets there.

Back at the Bradshaw residence, Scott and Dorrit are enjoying their movie night when Tom tells her she has a call from her friend, Audrey.  After she leaves, he peeks in on Scott to see what kind of things he’s up to.  Scott checks his hair on the TV screen and then checks his breath before pulling out his tennis racket from his backpack.  He notices Tom is looking at him and Tom’s reaction is so funny.  Scott tells him he plays tennis and runs cross country but asks him not to tell Dorrit about him lining up his strings or she’ll never look at him the same.  Tom realizes he’s a good kid and is interested in Dorrit.  She comes back and asks to watch Scarface.  Later, Tom pretends not to like Scott and advices Dorrit to stay away from him.  Of course, Dorrit is going to do the opposite of what he says, so Tom’s plan for Dorrit to date a nice guy is a total success.

Meanwhile, the party is at full force at Boy and Samantha is basking in all kinds of attention from the partygoers.  Larissa however, is having a hard time understanding why Samantha’s getting so much attention while she hasn’t gotten a single compliment.  After Carrie points out that Samantha is riding a horse, Larissa goes up to her and asks her to let her borrow it.  Samantha refuses and the partygoers ask if Larissa is bothering her.  She tries to get her off the horse and pulls off her wig.  A bouncer comes and takes Larissa away.

At the Army recruitment office, the girls are waiting for Private Watson to arrive but since he’s taking forever, Mouse decides to dig through the files herself.  She’s only gone through a few when another officer walks in and catches them.  Donna tries to sweet talk him into letting them go and Mouse tells him that Harvard isn’t going take her if they find out she got arrested.  Maggie tells the officer that it was all her fault and explains that all they wanted to do was help after she changed her mind about joining the Army.  They bond a bit over football and the officer agrees to not have them arrested or filing any paperwork.  He tells Maggie all she had to do was write a letter and tell them she changed her mind.  Before they leave, the officer asks Maggie for her name and number.  Someone landed a date.

Back at Boy, Walt is about to get his world rocked and not in a good way.  He’s finally enjoying his time at the party and dancing with Bennett and Carrie when Bennett runs into his ex’s friend.  Bennett asks him how his ex is doing and his friend tells him that he’s just been diagnosed with AIDS and is dying.  He advices Bennett to take a test and make sure he doesn’t have it.  Walt runs out of there and starts freaking out.  He tells Bennett he knew it was a bad idea to go the party, “This isn’t me, this isn’t who I am,” he says and my heart breaks into a million pieces.  He leaves them and goes off on his own.

Carrie gets back to Sebastian’s loft and is extremely worried about Walt since she hasn’t been able to find him anywhere.  She tells him about Walt possibly having AIDS and starts crying.  She’s afraid to call her house and ask if he’s there because she doesn’t want to have to tell Tom about it.  Sebastian comforts her and tells her that he’s there for her.  He drives her home and they find Walt sitting in the living room by himself.  Carrie hugs him and Walt starts crying.  I couldn’t hold it together, guys.  It was so heartbreaking.

A week goes by and we see Walt meet Bennett at a restaurant.  They talk about both getting their results back and having them come back negative.  Bennett tells them they were very lucky but the scare’s made Walt change his mind about his “lifestyle.”  He can’t accept the fact that he’s part of a “community.”  Walt expresses his dreams about getting married and having kids, and wanting a white-picket fence.  He realizes he can’t have that if he’s gay and tells Bennett that he can’t do it anymore.  He leaves him at the restaurant.

Back in the city, Carrie tells Sebastian she’s been doing some skateboarding research and she’s excited for his plans.  He tells her that he’s not going to be leaving and he can do his business from NY.  In Castlebury, we see that Maggie’s been dating the Army guy and everything is going well, while Dorrit started dating Scott and Tom’s been pretending to hate him.  And back at Boy, Samantha and Larissa are now working together as a lonely Bennett watches on from the bar.  The episode ends with Walt, who after weeks of being away from home decides to call his mom and tell her he wants to come back.

Why aren’t more people watching this show?  I don’t think people realize how much it has evolved since its beginnings and what a great show it’s turned into.  It’s too bad it’s not getting the attention it deserves from viewers.  What did you guys think of “Date Expectations?”  Tells us about your favorite moments in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.

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