30 Days of Carol: Day 22 – Guess Who’s Unimpressed by Carol

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Wow. Day 22. We’ve already seen and experienced so much. Just in the past week we’ve witnessed the beginnings of Carol: Tokyo Drift, done some character study deep dives into Therese’s manager and Carol herself, welcomed Paris Jackson and Cara Delevigne as members of the Carolhead nation, and someone sent me a video of themselves as Carol! Truly wild. I’m not ashamed to say that I feel closer to all of you (twelve people who comment).

Except there’s one person who’s unimpressed by all of it:

The Christmas tree sales girl. If you’ve never noticed this girl, it’s understandable. What’s happening to the left of her is this pang-inducing moment of longing, us as Therese taking in Carol’s powder blue leather glove sweeping back her curls after a flash of self-awareness.

But what’s behind this girl’s eyes is true nothingness. It’s the definition of unmoved. This is the stare of a dentist’s office lobby. What’s playing in this girl’s head is “Mad World” by Gary Jules on some all-around-me-are-familiar-faces-worn-out-places-worn-out-faces-hide-my-head-I-want-to-drown-my-sorrow-no-tomorrow-no-tomorrow stillness.

This is how middle schoolers look at community theater actors who are putting on a performance in their gym. Brutal. It’s what you experience the moment you lock eyes with a Dairy Queen worker who’s been made to flip your blizzard ice cream upside down to show you that it’s so thick that even gravity can’t make it budge. This is middle-aged wives looking at the husbands they’ve come to hate telling a joke they’ve heard for the 18th time at a dinner party.