PROM! Prom. Carrie is dress shopping for her senior prom with her dad, who doesn't know a damn thing because his wife died. Meanwhile, Donna and Mouse are staring at $10,000 in cash. It has been raised for the prom committee, which is almost as essential to the '80s prom experience as the dress. Donna raised $6,000 of it by having a sexy car wash. I really wish that was still a thing. Also, was it ever?
Anyway, all hail Queen Donna. Mouse is wondering what to do with all the extra money when she notices that Donna has a course catalog from Columbia. Donna was secretly smart all along. Donna wants to be the prom queen so she's keeping a lid on her brain.
At the diner, where the gang is all back together, they also discuss prom. Maggie is taking her military boyfriend. Sam? Who cares? Walt has no plans, and Carrie can't take Sebastian because he's expelled from Castlebury High. Carrie, Walt, and Mouse are going as a trio and Maggie doesn't know well enough to be jealous. Donna busts in and announces that she got their prom moved to the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan.
Dorrit is dating/hooking up with that one guy who's a pretty good kid. Sam? She's doing it to piss Tom off, or so she thinks. Anyway, he wants to take Dorrit to the Junior/Senior prom and assures her he wants to go ironically. She is sold and promises to wear a poofy pink dress. I think they traveled in time from the present day to make fun of prom in the '80s.
Sebastian's mom stops by his apartment with a puppy (a big one) and gives it to him as a gift. She had the puppy initially but doesn't want to take care of it. She guilts him into keeping the puppy and I just feel like this scene doesn't matter because it's not about prom.
At Interview, Larissa excitedly tells Carrie that she has an official job at Interview and she starts immediately. Larissa wants it to be more than a summer job, though, she wants Carrie to go full-time. She tells Carrie that getting a degree is bollocks and nowadays she'd almost be right, with such a great work experience opportunity, but this was not the case in the '80s. Larissa works on guilting Carrie into accepting the job because she fought so hard for it.
Sebastian is keeping the dog, having named him Ollie. True to Carrie Bradshaw form, Carrie is not thrilled by the puppy's presence. But Sebastian loves him. Carrie talks to Sebastian about her career decision: she wants it all. She wishes her father would let her find her own way.
Back at the diner, Walt tells Maggie he has decided not to go to prom. He thinks it will be more trouble than it's worth and Maggie surmises that he's not going because it's in the city. She reminds Walt of a pact they made freshman year to be each other's prom dates no matter what. Maggie decides that she'd rather go with a good friend than with her new boyfriend Pete/Sam, and decides right then to cancel on him to go with Walt. This guilts Walt into agreeing to go to prom. No one is doing what they want to do.
Carrie reveals her dress in a staircase moment: it's a high-low colorful deep pink number with a mesh top and sleeves. She looks like a Barbie box. Dorrit rolls down in her pink poofy dress, defying all expectations and going to meet Scott/Sam.
In the hour-long limo ride on the way to the Waldorf, Carrie, Mouse, Maggie, and Walt do a shot. Then they talk about whether or not Carrie should go to college. They arrive as Maggie stands up through the sun roof and acts like a drunk white girl on her prom night.
They slow-motion walk into prom and I'm disappointed that no one is wearing the '80s prom dress we all know of and love. Not even Donna. At least "Rock Me Amadeus" is playing, followed by "Time After Time." Carrie and Walt dance together and Carrie is at peace even though Sebastian would look good in a tux. She asks Walt about Bennett and he insists he is fine. She tells Walt that Bennett was fired and Walt says, rightly, that Bennett is not his problem anymore. Walt pretends not to care but it's all a ruse.
Meanwhile, Sebastian has a meeting with one of his designers or something and things were so rough with the time difference and him missing all these important meetings. His partner works on convincing Sebastian to move back to Malibu for the summer. He's like, "what about Carrie?" and the guy flippantly suggests she come too. Oh hell no, Carrie Bradshaw belongs in New York.
Donna meets up with Mouse in the bathroom to sadly say she's about to be crowned prom queen. Mouse says she doesn't look happy and Donna says it's because her date is Pendleton. She was asked by every captain of every sports team, but Donna says she doesn't do repeats. Mouse says Donna is an evil genius, and that's why she's the best character. Unfortunately, the Jens heard everything in the bathroom, including the part where Donna called them ding-dongs.
Walt stands in the lobby, wistfully watching a wedding couple go by. He laments that he'll never have a fancy wedding, and Carrie tells him maybe not but he can have authentic love. Walt says he doesn't know if he can handle being gay and Carrie effectively empathizes, encouraging him to be authentic. Walt excuses himself and then Carrie runs into Weaver in the lobby.
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Weaver doesn't seem surprised, for whatever reason and is like, "Carrie, wait! I've been practicing what I would say if I ever got to see you again," which is just nuckin' futs. He says his apology will be long, but first asks her what her boyfriend situation is. He admits that he said he was writing a play about her because selfishly he wanted to hurt her. He says he has never been so hurt before and that's why he lashed out and Carrie is sincerely impressed. Carrie winds up talking to him about the job vs. college thing and Weaver encourages her to take the life experience, as a writer.
Walt has called Bennett and invited him over for a talk. Walt asks how he's been and they both apologize. Bennett says he realized he never wanted to work at Interview and getting fired gave him an opportunity to pursue his true passion: working at a Gay Men's Health Crisis. They admit they missed each other and hug.
Weaver and Carrie finish talking and he encourages Carrie to take the job because she was born to write. She looks so pretty and so not '80s. She meets up with Walt and Bennett at the prom and they all hug and apologize some more. Maggie comes in like "hey, I'm still a character on this show," and excitedly meets Walt's gayness confirmed and personified.
Donna is crowned prom queen, when all of a sudden the Jens grab the tiara from her on stage. They announce to the room that Donna is (gasp) smart and that she got into Columbia. The other Jen says Donna was actually pretending to enjoy partying when actually she was laughing at them behind their backs. Donna denies it, saying she just got lucky on a few tests, and Mouse marches up to the microphone, unable to take it anymore. She makes a speech that women should be celebrated for being smart and everyone is like "booo, show your tits." Confusingly, Bennett races up on stage and says "nobody messes with my girl" and pretends to be straight for Donna. Then Donna's date gets mad and tells Bennett to back off, takes the microphone and tells Donna that he doesn't care if she's smart, she still has the sweetest rack in the entire school and that's all that matters. She melts and kisses him and people applaud and yeah, this scene is still happening.
When all is said and done, all the spiked punch consumed, Carrie walks outside to find Sebastian handsomely leaning against a limo with a rose. It's all very mature. She tells Sebastian she decided to take the job at Interview and is still nervous about telling her dad.
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Carrie hangs up her prom dress and Tom comes in to ask her how prom was. She's too anxious not to tell him about her decision right away. She tells her dad they need to talk. Meanwhile, Sebastian takes Ollie for a walk in Central Park, where it appears to be Fall. He lets the puppy run wild, which seems irresponsible to me, especially as Ollie dashes off into wild blue yonder. A woman tells him his dog shouldn't be off-leash.
Walt approaches his awful, rich and stuffy parents and asks them to stop reading their newspapers so he can be authentic with them. He tells them he's been dying inside and his mom tells him not to be dramatic. He says he can't keep pretending to be someone he's not and announces that he's gay and he understands if they want him to move out but he's going to live his life as himself. Carrie's big revelation didn't go over very well with her dad, either.
Tom makes a pretty good case for college setting people up to handle real world experiences and calls her impetuous. He asks Carrie if her job provides benefits, a salary, or overtime and Carrie doesn't know anything about the job, actually. She angrily tells him that what she does know is that she's taking the job. They argue, Tom feeling that Carrie is throwing everything away and doing it to spite him. He tells her if she wants to be an adult then that's fine, but no more credit cards, allowance, doing laundry at home, or further subsidies. Unless she goes to college, she's cut off.
Carrie goes to Larissa to announce her decision. Carrie wants to ask questions about her salary and insurance, and Larissa refers her to Human Resources for "all that boring stuff." It's a good thing, because we didn't want to see it, either.
Donna walks the halls with Pendleton (what a name) and Scott proudly shows off the prom photo he took with Dorrit, telling her he likes her smile in it. He admits that the whole "going as a joke" thing was just to get her to go with him. He says he likes her, even though she's just using him to get back at her dad. She can't believe he would manipulate her like that, and maybe she likes it. They are now boyfriend and girlfriend.
Walt finishes packing and his dad comes in to tell him that it's his life and Walt is still his legacy no matter what. Walt's dad gives him his Dartmouth ring and says he's proud of him. Then he helps Walt unpack and it's a shock.
Back in Manhattan, Sebastian has been inspired by Carrie's willingness to "go for it" and decides to pursue his dreams, too. He's moving to California and hasn't told Carrie yet, but will so she can "make plans to visit." Oy. They go for a walk with Ollie in the park. Carrie says the dog and the city don't go together and Sebastian agrees, tentatively. Carrie says she hopes it doesn't scare him, how much she needs him. Everyone is leaving her and her dad cut her off. Carrie says if Sebastian weren't here she doesn't know what she'd do and thanks him for being there for her. Wuh oh.
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