Carol & The End of The World – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Throuple

Carol & The End of The World Episode 3 begins with Carol baking banana bread. An 8 am alarm rings in three different houses and we see three people getting ready to go to work — Carol, Donna and a balding man. Donna picks the man up on the way to the office.

At work, Carol daydreams about becoming best friends with Donna by sharing her banana bread. In reality, Donna nods to Carol when the latter waves. Eventually, Donna calls Carol aside and tells her to stop staring. Carol says she only wants to thank Donna and pulls out the banana bread. Donna is relieved she’s not a psycho but tells Carol not to stare once again.

On the cruise, Carol’s parents and Michael are having a great time. They dine at a restaurant where the captain cheerfully introduces himself. He does so again to other customers. And again. And again. Back in his room, we see that the Captain has been travelling for thirty years but seems tired of it.

The two men from Management enter the office and ask for volunteers to stay and work at night. Donna does take a bite of Carol’s banana bread. Regarding Carol’s question about the office, Donna says they are doing some kind of audit but she doesn’t know what. When Carol makes a joke about banana bread, it does not go well with Donna.

They work through the night and during another break, Donna and Carol chat. Donna talks about how sometimes you just need an office to go to. A woman tried to set fire to the place because she didn’t want to go back outside. They keep taking breaks, eating banana bread and chatting about their family or their nails. Donna admits her family think she’s writing a novel. Carol admits she lied about surfing.

At one point, the balding man enters the break room for coffee. He introduces himself as Luis and claims to know why all these people are here. He says they’ve all died and the office is purgatory. This entire sequence is interspersed with shots of Carol, Donna or Luis suddenly waking up after dozing in their chairs.

The captain of the cruise ship takes a smoke outside, next to Michael. The latter tells him about his throuple with Bernard and Pauline. He describes how in love he is with both of them before heading back inside.

An office calisthenics session is organized at The Distraction. Meanwhile, Luis argues the office is a work of performance art while Donna insists it is just work. Each of them keeps dozing off. Luis then takes the other two to another part of the building, a tanning salon. Unfortunately, the two women don’t think it’s quite as fun as he does. Luis becomes upset and the other two decide to humour him.

They get inside the tanning beds and chat about life. Carol says she misses Applebee’s. Luis talks about how he dropped out of school and backpacked through America. He says it was a great experience but also feels like a blur sometimes. An alarm rings and Carol and Luis get out of the tanning beds.

Donna comes out of hers but she’s crying. She cries for the futility of all the work she’s put in her life. Carol admits she’s here because she doesn’t know what she wants. They then head back to the office.

Back on the ship, the captain seems to have come to a decision. He puts his many postcards into a suitcase along with his other stuff and then leaves on a small boat. Michael watches him leave through a window.

Carol bids her new friends goodbye. Luis and Donna go together since they live in the same building. Donna describes her business, a nail salon, to him as they drive away at the end of Carol & The End of The World Episode 3.

The Episode Review

Carol & The End of The World Episode 3 is an interesting blend of two stories. It’s heartwarming to see Carol make friends and not just be sitting on her own, unable to speak. We see that once the barriers are down, Carol really opens up, chats without inhibition and even shows a sense of humour. Donna and Luis are both very different and all of them together make a fun dynamic.

The highlight of the episode is the statement it makes about travelling. Travel has long been seen as the activity that truly allows you to experience life. It’s the ultimate adventure. Here, the ship’s Captain has been living the dream but seems exhausted by it. Luis admits it was both wonderful but ephemeral.

The show looks at both sides of the argument and it does so in a natural way, through visuals and organic conversation. The show seems to offer a comforting hand to those who aren’t able to go out there and see the world, saying it’s okay.