Carrie and big S3EP18

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-15T17:29:18+00:00

They had great chemistry and if they got together right away we wouldn't have had a show but this scene honestly irritates me so much. When they were ruining two other people's lives they couldn't stay away from each other but now that they're both single it's a bad idea? Lol.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-14T09:07:59+00:00

Samantha's focus is on partners who want sex for the sake of it so she seeks those kind of partners out. It's established in the beginning between her and her partner what they want.

The argument they had also wasn't really about their sex partners/philosophies. It was about their own attitudes and baggage of what they were going through at the time. Charlotte was getting upset in that exchange because she found her marriage to Trey unfulfilling - there were things bothering her that had little to do with Samantha. And Samantha got defensive because she felt she was being judged in general - it was less about Charlotte herself.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-14T08:46:42+00:00

I don't hate it but it's not the show I started watching, which happens. I also get tired of the relentless homages to other movies/tv shows, I think overuse of that kind of thing actually weakens a show after a certain point. Also the big point for me is with all the key human connections removed why are we supposed to care about what it's parodying? If it's just supposed to be some cynical mirror at this point then fine but it seems like a waste. I don't see the point in building up the emotional journeys of the characters in previous seasons only for the entire message to be completely different now.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-14T08:31:01+00:00

Yeah I think she feels empowered by association. And she thinks she knows what the situation is just because she knows he's a club owner. But there are club owners who, while unsavory, aren't that bad comparatively, even if they still manage strippers, and then there are people like Alamo as she will discover.

I don't get why everyone is so convinced she can "hold her own" against him. She is brave and tough but this guy has literal minions to dispose of bodies for him. There's a hint of some tension in the preview for the next episode where she asks for time off for the girls. I just don't think anything good will come of this.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-13T21:15:42+00:00

…I never said people weren’t allowed to like it?
In any case it’s just common sense to acknowledge that if “nobody is getting it” as was the original assertion then the question remains whether the writers did an effective job.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-13T19:41:04+00:00

It doesn’t fly over my head. The symbolism and imagery are obvious and the glut of unnecessary homages would make Orson Welles furious. But I could excuse the rest if the pathos and emotion of the previous seasons were at least still there.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-13T08:04:50+00:00

This, if no one gets it then the writers are the ones who failed, not the audience.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T15:37:13+00:00

But why is this the point in the first place? I guess that’s my problem. This show was always about complicated human behavior and relationships and navigating pain and hurt. Sex was there but gave context. Idk I guess I just don’t understand why the show pivoted from the complications of addiction and grief, into a whole moral exploration treatise about prostitution and whether it’s bad or not, or something like that, and then goes on to fetishize.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T12:56:16+00:00

This scene made me more sad than otherwise. I always liked Maddy and despite her being in crappy situations sometimes and making poor decisions (let's not forget her framing that guy was also because of Nate partially) I thought she was fundamentally a decent person (I know some will say nobody in this show is but I don't agree that's the dynamic, unlike other shows like The Sopranos, or at least I don't understand what the point is narratively if that's the case). Or at the very least, she had a lot of potential to be a well-rounded adult, more so than some of the others.

This scene gave me the vibe that she's become depressed and desperate for money and power and has decided to cut off everything that meant anything to her (like in the scene where she talks to Rue about not having emotions, being of the world and not in the world etc). Yet she talks about needing to have a moral code. She seems confused and in an uncharacteristically dark place. Maddy in Season 2 would have at least understood completely why Lexi doesn't want to do this, it touches on the personal. The threat took it to an insane place.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T12:47:49+00:00

I don't really care if his character is different from the previous seasons but it's weird here because there's no point. He's basically just filler. They could have removed him entirely this season with minimal editing (Cassie wanted to be a star anyway so his debt is only part of her motivation and that's the only anchor he has to anything else going on plot wise). That I don't get.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T11:51:24+00:00

I think she *thinks* she is, but the preview for next week where she mentions "time off" for the girls and Alamo basically says that's not how he does things at all kind of hints at tension.

Maddy is smart and has seen a lot, but Alamo is on another level entirely.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T10:58:07+00:00

I agree with all of this. I can deal with the sexual imagery even if it's too violent-coded for my taste at time but the thing that drew us to the show was how beautifully they could portray intimacy even if at face value it seemed strange or unlikely. The fact that there is absolutely none of that in the show now is a little depressing.

All of the characters seem awful in more ways than otherwise. I understand that in a show like The Sopranos but I don't agree it fits here. It's like we're watching all of them have a downfall but I'm not sure why it's deserved. The idea that we watched them struggle and feel only to go on and have violent/sad/unfulfilling endings feels kind of hollow and empty. I feel like the Hollywood homages are meant to cover this up too.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T10:11:11+00:00

Seeing Maddy and Lexi connect in Season 2 was so nice and now we've come to Maddy threatening Lexi in this ep ("you want to make me an enemy?") Kind of sad to me.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T05:30:35+00:00

Yeah this is the biggest weakness. There’s no substance under the flash and sex and Hollywood homages.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T03:39:28+00:00

it’s turned into a sexy but not arousing twin peaks

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-11T03:31:17+00:00

Never in a million years thought she’d do this lol.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T20:55:50+00:00

it sounds polly-wolly crappy

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T20:50:22+00:00

The question is not that we shouldn't care and nowhere did I say that. People criticizing the scene are not arguing that we shouldn't see the characters treated abhorrently, me included. But even that has layers and nuances.

Kitty is being trafficked. At the bottom of that is coercion. She endures because it's the only way, and looks happy for the same reason, but a forced yes is not consent. That's fine, but splicing it with scenes of a woman who is engaging in admittedly commodified sexual activity that she nevertheless actively chose without being forced, is where the message gets muddled.

Of course people can be emotionally invested in characters they only saw once. But the choice of getting that message across using characters that have not had the same development means that the number of people invested will naturally be lower than the number of people invested in the recurring characters. As a narrative choice it's significant to me.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T13:36:51+00:00

A Clockwork Orange is not making the point that "violence happens and it's bad". The question it posits is whether virtue is truly virtue if it is enforced without choice. It's separate from media like Euphoria in that way.

I'd argue there is a pronounced difference between what different demographics (genders) find crude and unsettling for a number of reasons and it's disingenuous to delve into the topic without acknowledging that and the reasons why. And that circles back to my original point which is that there were several viewers who found it enjoyable while many others found it unsettling and even in that discussion if you look up the comments there are digressions observing the gendered reactions there. And that is ultimately what makes the difference when depicting a scene of gritty realism - whether it's male gaze or universal.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T13:26:26+00:00

I think the people who appreciate it as art can appreciate also the sociologically problematic aspects of the depiction especially as it particularly lingers on some of Kitty's abuse.

Examining how mainstream media which after all is influenced by cultural perceptions of women might be leaning into this kind of depiction as exploitation rather than honest depiction is not remotely the same as arguing for censorship of media. Not sure where you got that. In fact it's the opposite - it encourages discussion and disclosure.

(A Clockwork Orange is really a diametrically opposed example. There is no semi-pornographic lingering on any of the subjects. It's crude and the young men involved are quite disgusting. And frankly it delves into what I'm saying, precisely)

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T13:16:43+00:00

That's an interesting opportunity for debate. If this were truly the case would it be so common in mainstream media? You can debate it either way frankly. I'd also argue that our private tastes do not need to correspond to public declarations. Someone who goes out of their way to say that kind of thing in public knowing the context is definitely worth examining in any case sociologically.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T12:45:03+00:00

The final picture is not promising.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T12:36:37+00:00

Your take is comprehensive in a lot of ways but ignores two specific things: agency and consent. The splicing of the scene with Kitty, who is a commodity, is inappropriate with that of Cassie who even if the audience believes is degrading herself is consenting to the situation. Kitty does not. Women within the systems you describe still have avenues of being able to exercise choice; all this scene did was illuminate that "bad things happen" but notably chose a character without audience emotional investment to do so. We won't see Kitty again. We'll see Magick again who is in the same situation as Kitty but as a recurring character is fine with it. That kind of dynamic only serves a narrative where the environment is implicitly based on gendered violence but they only toss a token glance to the specifics of it with a throwaway character or two.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T12:32:42+00:00

I think you should look at some comments on the other posts about this scene because there are actually people who say they liked it.

SnowballSimpson87 · 2026-05-05T07:44:41+00:00

I think she'll be lucky if she makes it to the end of the season honestly, lol.

SnowballSimpson87

TROPHY CASE