by Meredith Mulhern, graphic by Siobhan Miller

Over Thanksgiving break, I watched the second season of The Carrie Diaries on Netflix, the prequel to the hit television series Sex and the City.

The show, which takes place in the 1980s, follows the life of teenager Carrie Bradshaw, along with her numerous boy issues, friend drama, her internship at Interview fashion magazine, and her love affair with New York City.

The show itself is entertaining, funny, relatable to teenage girls, and overall, it’s a good series to waste a couple of days on during the upcoming Christmas break. Carrie Diaries has interesting characters, not to mention a very attractive Austin Butler, comedy, drama, moments that make you want to want to scream and moments that make you want to cry. Carrie herself is witty, intelligent, funny, and charismatic. However, most of the time, she’s the reason you’ll want to scream and cry with her less than exemplary decision making skills. She also has a tendency to create problems with her life that aren’t actually problems in her head, but it all adds to the persona of Carrie.

A show that causes this many emotions just has to be good, and Carrie Diaries will certainly not disappoint in the entertainment department.

I love Carrie Diaries, and many other STA girls do as well, but there are a few points that the show could do better.

For instance, the hair, makeup, and fashion lacks historical accuracy. The characters in the show look like they are from 2014, not 1986. No one has the poofy 80’s hair style. I have seen approximately two people wearing shoulder pads throughout both seasons. The outfits worn look like they can be purchased at your local Forever 21; that being said, I have only seen Carrie wear one outfit that genuinely looks like it is from the 80’s. The homes in the show look way too modern. The girls’ makeup looks appropriate to wear out on the street today. Nothing in this show screams “80s” to me, except for the phenomenal soundtrack, consisting of bands like The Cure, Big Country, and Men Without Hats.

In order to make Carrie Diaries truly fantastic, the producers need to put more thought into making the 80s vibe more accurate, even if it’s just sticking a few girls in shoulder pads and crimping their hair, especially the main characters.

The only thing that the producers have gotten right is Carrie’s hair (sometimes), and the cars driven in the show.

Overall, The Carrie Diaries is a great show, but producers need to seriously reconsider style choices to make the show better and more realistic as a whole. I would definitely recommend this series as something to watch over the break, but hopefully the uber modern aspects of a show that takes place in the 80s won’t bug you too much.