By Luey Hendrix | Nerd Crave
Rating: 8/10 — Recommended
Reviewed: Season 1, Episode 1 “First Period”
Spoiler note: Contains discussion of scenes and mysteries introduced in Episode 1.
No spoilers for later episodes.
Mike Flanagan’s Carrie (2026) opens with an unexpectedly intriguing first episode. For this Episode 1 review, I found myself less interested in the traditional horror elements and more fascinated by the supernatural mystery unfolding around Carrie White.
In fact, by the time the premiere ended, I had one thought running through my head: Are we watching the beginning of a horror version of X-Men?
It might sound like an unusual comparison, but hear me out.
A Premiere That Doesn’t Waste Time
One of the first things that impressed me about Carrie was its pacing.
At no point did I feel like the episode was dragging. Quite the opposite. The story moved so naturally from one development to another that I genuinely thought I had already started Episode 2.
That’s a huge compliment.
The premiere introduces Carrie White, establishes her difficult home life, explores the cruelty she experiences at school, and gradually begins unraveling the mystery surrounding her emerging abilities.
While the series is marketed as horror, I wouldn’t necessarily describe its opening episode that way. At least not yet.
To me, it feels closer to a supernatural mystery or thriller, with moments of action and psychological tension.
And surprisingly, I think that completely works in its favor.
Rather than relying exclusively on frightening imagery or traditional horror scares, the episode kept me engaged by making me question what was happening and where the story might go.
Carrie Makes Teenage Anxiety Feel Uncomfortably Real
Summer H. Howell delivers an excellent performance as Carrie White.
There’s something painfully believable about the way she portrays a teenager struggling to understand herself while navigating the expectations and cruelty of those around her. Watching Carrie reminded me how difficult high school can be.
At that age, simply worrying about what other people think of you can feel overwhelming. Every interaction seemed to have the possibility of embarrassment, rejection, or humiliation.
In addition to that, introduce smartphones into a high school environment.
One terrible moment can be photographed, recorded, shared, and potentially preserved indefinitely. An experience that might once have been confined to a school hallway or locker room can follow someone long after they’ve gone home.
That added dimension makes Carrie’s vulnerability feel particularly relevant in today’s world.
The locker-room bullying sequence was particularly difficult to watch. Carrie finds herself in an incredibly vulnerable and frightening situation, and rather than showing compassion, her classmates all turn her confusion and distress into an opportunity for humiliation. Howell’s performance makes the cruelty of that moment feel all the more real.
It’s a cruel moment, and Howell’s performance helps communicate just how devastating that experience is for Carrie.
Sue Snell: A Character I’m Not Entirely Convinced By, YET!
While the lead performances impressed me, one supporting character left me with mixed feelings.
Sue Snell, played by Siena Agudong, initially appears to be among the more sympathetic students. Yet during Carrie’s humiliation, her reaction feels strangely disconnected from that earlier impression.
I understand the role peer pressure can play during adolescence. Teenagers don’t always make courageous decisions, and sometimes the fear of becoming an outsider yourself is enough to stop someone from intervening.
But given how extreme Carrie’s humiliation becomes, I wanted to see more evidence of Sue struggling with that decision.
Even a moment of visible hesitation or discomfort would have helped me understand the conflict between her apparent kindness and her failure to act.
Instead, the contrast felt somewhat unconvincing.
Perhaps future episodes will develop that aspect of her character. For now, though, she’s one of the few people in the premiere whose characterization didn’t fully work for me.
Samantha Sloyan Is Remarkably Convincing as Margaret White
If there’s one performance that deserves particular recognition alongside Carrie’s, it’s Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White.
Having previously watched Sloyan in Midnight Mass, I was already familiar with her ability to portray characters whose beliefs are so deeply ingrained that they seem incapable of questioning them.
And she brings that exact same remarkable conviction to Margaret White.
From her expressions to her mannerisms, Margaret seems absolutely certain that the life she has constructed is the right one. It’s almost as though the outside world must be wrong because her worldview simply cannot be.
What makes her compelling is that she doesn’t appear to believe she’s doing anything unusual. In her mind, this is simply how life should be.
But there was another detail surrounding Margaret and Carrie that I found particularly strange: their reaction to the father’s death.
Neither seemed to display much outward grief, at least from what I observed.
Margaret does become upset when an investigator moves her late husband’s boots, but something about her reaction struck me as almost performative.
Was that genuine grief? Was the family’s relationship more complicated than we’ve been shown? Or am I reading too much into a moment that is meant to deliberately confuse the audience?
People express grief differently, of course, and I’m not suggesting that either character has done anything suspicious.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the family’s history than the premiere reveals.
Is Carrie Setting Up a Larger Supernatural World?
This is where the premiere really caught my attention.
During Carrie’s traumatic experience in the locker room, her abilities begin to manifest. The episode then cuts to another girl in a different location who appears to sense something unusual, followed by a disturbing vision involving blood on her hands.
That sequence immediately changed how I was thinking about the show.
What if Carrie isn’t the only person experiencing extraordinary abilities?
And what if this adaptation eventually explores other individuals whose powers emerge under very different circumstances?
I’m not saying that’s what the series has confirmed. It’s simply the possibility that came to mind while watching.
But imagine a Stephen King supernatural universe that explores people with extraordinary gifts who don’t necessarily become heroes.
Some could become antiheroes. Others could become villains. And their abilities might be as psychologically disturbing as they are powerful.
That’s where my X-Men comparison comes from.
Not necessarily superheroes in costumes fighting for humanity, but a darker exploration of what happens when extraordinary abilities emerge in a world that doesn’t know how to handle them.
Whether Carrie actually follows that direction remains to be seen.
For now, the possibility alone made me considerably more excited to continue watching.
The Nerd Crave Verdict: 8/10
Carrie delivers an impressive opening episode that succeeds by keeping its audience curious.
The pacing is excellent, Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan deliver convincing performances, and the modernization of teenage bullying introduces a particularly uncomfortable layer of realism.
Not everything worked perfectly for me. Sue Snell’s characterization could have benefited from a more convincing portrayal of her internal conflict, and I’m still unsure what to make of the family’s seemingly muted reaction to the father’s death.
But those reservations weren’t enough to diminish my enjoyment.
The premiere had me questioning the characters, their motivations, their abilities, and the larger world surrounding them.
And by the time it ended, I genuinely wanted to know what happened next.
My recommendation? Absolutely give it a watch.
Just don’t go into Episode 1 expecting nonstop horror. Approach it as the beginning of a supernatural mystery that may have much more up its sleeve.
If the rest of the series maintains this level of intrigue, Carrie could become one of the more interesting modern interpretations of Stephen King’s work.
Nerd Crave Rating: 8/10 — A compelling premiere that leaves you wanting more.
All eight episodes of Carrie are now streaming on Prime Video.
Stay Curious. Feed the Crave.
