Elena Butler

Staff Writer

The Carrie Diaries is back on our screens after a two-week winter break and it returned with a bang.  There was a bunch of partying, keg stands, pot brownies, and even some frenemy spooning.  Also, let’s not forget that the most adorable couple on the show is back on and distance proved to be nothing but a petty obstacle for these two lovebirds.  That’s right, Carrie and Sebastian are as strong as ever—Kyddshaw fans rejoice!  If I have to nitpick, the only thing wrong with “Under Pressure” was the lack of Samantha, Bennett and Walt—three character whom I love very dearly.  Okay, let’s see what other treats this episode had in store for viewers, shall we?

Before the sex and before the city…

Larissa told Carrie that she was having a tumultuous affair with her father’s BFF, Harlan.  Mouse got accepted to Harvard and West got tired of her competitive nature, so they decided to call it quits.  After getting kicked out of school, Sebastian was forced to move to Laguna with his dad.

The episode picks up with Carrie trying to reach Sebastian with no luck.  She’s having a hard time getting a hold of him and vice versa—basically the 80’s sucked because there was no cellphones or internet.  When she finally gets to talk to him, she runs out of money and the call gets disconnected.  Bummer.

We’re back in the high school, where Mouse is telling Donna about her boy troubles and the fact that she feels weirder about getting into Harvard than not having a boyfriend.  Donna advices her to spend the rest of her time on guys since she already has the school thing taken care of.  She also complains about having run out of males to date in the school since she’s already gone through all of them.  They notice Dorrit talking to a boy and Donna goes in for a closer look, while Mouse heads off to class.  Donna tells Dorrit she admires her for going after a “bad boy”—unlike Carrie—and tells her a party would be the perfect place to get closer to him and get to know him.

At Interview, Larissa shows Carrie her ridiculously monstrous engagement ring.  She seems to be more in love with the ring than Harlan himself but Carrie wishes her well.  Carrie starts to feel uncomfortable when Larissa tells her that distance will cause a rift in her relationship with Sebastian.  Carrie insists that they will make it work but she’s adamant that the first signs of a relationship going awry are the missed phone calls.  Larissa says the worst thing that could happen is if one of them moves for the other because then there will be resentment.

Back at the Bradshaw home, Tom calls the girls down to announce that he will be gone for the weekend.  He has a top secret client he needs to take care of and is super excited at the prospect of it being a Fortune 500 merger.  He tells them that even though he will be gone, their neighbor—Ms. Meade—will be there to check up on them.  They assure Tom that everything will be okay and there will be no trouble.  Cut to Carrie calling Sebastian and telling him to jump on the next plane to Castlebury.  Dorrit is planning something of her own—a huge party.  I’m sure this will all go down smoothly.

Carrie calls Mouse and makes plans to go see a movie since Sebastian said he couldn’t visit her.  The doorbell rings and when she opens the door, the blond hunk is waiting on the other side.  Best.  Surprise.  Ever.  Dorrit arrives at the Diner and invites “bad boy” Nick to her party.  He’s there with a friend, so she invites him as well.  Meanwhile, Tom arrives at Harlan’s office to find out the merger is between him and Larissa.  He’s unsure of working on their prenuptial but Harlan convinces him to do that for him in exchange for a double hourly rate.

Later that night, Carrie and Sebastian waste no time to celebrate their reunion.  She asks him how long he’s staying and he informs her that he’s moving back.  Red flag alert!  Carrie, who is for sure thinking about what Larissa told her, starts to feel a little uneasy.  But nothing some Kydd kisses can’t fix.  They’re start getting hot and heavy but are interrupted by noise coming from downstairs.  Carrie goes to check and sees a bunch of kids in her living room, one comes in carrying alcohol and screaming about the partying being on.  Carrie goes back upstairs and tells Sebastian she needs to take care of the problem.  The party is out of control, people are doing keg stands and passing around joints, needless to say, Carrie’s efforts to put an end to it fails miserably.  Mouse shows up to warn her that people are on their way with more kegs.  How the heck did these kids get a hold of all this alcohol?  Sebastian attempts to take Carrie away but she’s hesitant about leaving the party unattended.

Back in the city, Tom seems to be having a breeze putting together Harlan and Larissa’s prenup.  Apparently, Larissa will get a baby tiger if for whatever reason Harlan cheats on her and they also have a sex schedule carefully outlined in the contract.  However, they reach a huge bump when Larissa expresses her desire to live separately instead of together.  Tom’s face says it all.

Meanwhile at the party, Nick’s friend shows up alone.  His name is Scott, and I’m assuming that since he actually got an introduction, he’ll be more important to Dorrit in the long run than “bad boy.”  He tells Dorrit that he’s in the cross country team and she calls him lame—rude, Dorrit!  However, he still seems kind of into her.  They’re talking, when Nick gets to the party carrying a plate of pot brownies.  He feeds one to Dorrit and she’s enjoying the bonding when she notices something or someone in the house.  Outside, Carrie is busy cleaning up the mess when Sebastian comes looking for her.  He’s noticed that something is bothering her but before they can talk about it, Dorrit informs her that Ms. Meade has crashed the party.

They go back inside to speak with her but she tells them they’re going to be in big trouble after she tells Tom what they’ve done.  Sebastian comes in to help but is surprise to notice his mom’s just arrived at the house too.  Outside, Mouse is having a blast playing beer pong.  Donna assumes she’s having a rough time from her breakup and that’s why she’s drinking but Mouse says beer pong is perfect for her because she loves competition.  Donna admits that she’s having a great time without a man and is enjoying her time hanging out with other people.  They end up challenging each other to a game of beer pong.

We head back to the city to find that Tom is now acting as a conduit between Larissa and Harlan since they don’t want to speak directly to each other.  He gets fed up with their childish attitude and tells Harlan to leave the room so he can speak to Larissa alone.  He asks her why she doesn’t want to move in with him and Larissa admits to being afraid.  She thinks that moving in with Harlan will strip her of who she is.  She wants to be independent and have a space that is just hers.  Tom calls Harlan back and proposes a solution to their problem.  He asks Harlan to buy her an apartment in his building and they come up with the idea of attaching both places together.

At the rager, Ms. Meade is busy trying to get a hold of Tom—who has no reception—when Scott tries to help the girls with the situation.  He tells the neighbor that the party was supposed to be something small but someone got the word out and it got out of control.  Being someone who got picked on in school, Ms. Meade is able to relate to the story they whip up.  She thinks they’re going along with the party due to peer pressure.  They tell her the don’t want to call the cops and be seen as the girls who couldn’t handle a party.  Ms. Meade says she feels for them as she starts eating a brownie.  Carrie goes off to see what’s going on with Sebastian while Dorrit and Scott laugh about what just happened.  It looks like he’s about to hug her but stops himself and it’s both awkward and cute.  Donna swings by to speak with her and remind her that she needs to be going after Nick not his friend.  Meanwhile, Sebastian is questioning his mother about being there.  She wants him to go back to Laguna with his dad and basically tells him he’s not welcomed at her home.  And the Award for Mother of the Year goes to…

Carrie and Sebastian have a talk outside and he tells her why he left his dad’s house.  Apparently, his dad’s new girlfriend hit on him but his dad didn’t believe his story.  And the Award for Father of the Year goes to…  Carrie admits to being relieved that she wasn’t the main reason for him moving back.  Sebastian tells her that she shouldn’t hide her feelings from him.  Carrie opens up and tells him that she likes being there for him but she doesn’t want him to expect her to drop everything at any given moment because it can be too much to handle.  He understands that things are difficult for her sometimes.  He tells Carrie he’s going to help take some pressure off of her and heads back to the house.

We check back in with Dorrit, who finds Nick sitting on the couch.  She joins him and asks if he wants to play quarters but he kisses her instead.  Scott walks in and sees them, and in this moment you can hear his little heart breaking at the sight.  Sebastian rushes through the door and starts yelling that the cops are coming and that everyone needs to get out.  Nick is about to leave but Dorrit takes him up to her room instead.  Everyone clears out and Carrie and Sebastian finally have the time alone they’d been wanting.

The next morning, Nick wakes up in Dorrit’s bed but by the looks of it, it seems like they only made out and nothing else happened.  He starts to leave and tells Dorrit that his girlfriend will dump him if she finds out what happened.  She gets angry and calls him a jerk before kicking him out.  And down in the living room, Mouse wakes up to find out she’s being spooned by Donna.  They’re both weirded out but Mouse compliments her on being a good snuggler.  Carrie goes outside to find that Sebastian has already started on the cleanup.  He tells her his dad’s agreed to give him an allowance so he can look for a place in Manhattan.  Dorrit announces that Tom will be returning in an hour, so they speed up the cleaning process.

Everything is in tip-top shape when Tom shows up.  He’s pleased to see the girls followed his rules.  However, they forgot about one little thing—or um, neighbor.  Tom opens the closet door to hang his jacket and Ms. Meade falls out to the floor.  It’s as funny as it sounds.  Later, Carrie tells Larissa about the incident and says Ms. Meade was so embarrassed, she lied to Tom and attributed everything to her sleepwalking.  And turns out the prenup worked well for everyone, including Sebastian.  He’s going to be renting Larissa’s loft since she won’t be needing it now that she’s marrying Harlan.

The episode ends with Carrie and Larissa on their way to Interview.  Carrie is happy that things between her and Sebastian worked out and admits to finally feeling pressure free.

So what did you guys think of “Under Pressure?”  I really love and enjoy the fun aspects of this show.  It’s a good balance to the drama and heavy issues that have encompassed some of the past episodes.  Carrie and Sebastian are finally back together but what’s a relationship without a few obstacles?  I’m sure there are plenty of things in store for these two and not everything will be butterflies and rainbows.  And what is up with Donna and Mouse?  Do you guys see potential for anything happening there or is it all just fun and friendship?  Leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear from you!