"I'd rip his skin off," Quinn said. And that was the plan. So why does it feel like her own? Her own skin, coming off, ripping open like Eustace the Dragon: Every word she speaks, another Carrie vanishes from the room, until she's almost alone with him. A Queen's Gambit. The Nicks begin to twinkle out, too. First the sad ones, then the scared ones. His eyes go cold. One of the Nicks, his eyes go cold. He steps forward.

"Okay. Not friends."

Saul growls like a Doberman, on the other side of a screen.

"So what are you gonna do now, Are you gonna kill me? Blame it on rough sex, maybe? I mean, how long can you get away with something like that?"

There's so much relief in it. Watching their bodies unfold from under the weight of it. It's the first conversation they've ever had, these two. These two lonely people, alone in this room. His face, that cold still face, comes alive. Sex, and rage, and murder, and hatred. It does tricks you never knew it could do. It curls like a fist.

He is so much smarter than you ever knew, that's the part that scared me the most; his eyes glitter like diamonds and you can see him there, clearly, for the first time. This is the man Carrie woke up tonight, this monster. This is the man Carrie loved, sight unseen.

"I've had a pretty good run so far. I seem to be good at this." They both shake their head, in tandem. It's nearly an apology: "This, if nothing else." She doesn't back away, or move, but she recoils. He can't take his eyes off her face, off her disgust. She knew it all, he thinks. That whole time, she knew it all; she could take it. And now she's so angry. One of the Nicks can't believe it. One of the Nicks, his heart is breaking. One of the Nicks leans back in an animal's roar. One of the Nicks steps back, one of the Nicks steps forward. Begging her to hear this, if nothing else:

"I liked you, Carrie!"

Her words are out before anybody can stop them.

"I loved you."

They both jerk. Wolves at the door. It breaks, the sound of Carrie saying that word, like a spell. It washes over his face like sunshine. He steps forward, just before they break the door down and put the black hood over his face, just before she gives him the rest of her speech, in front of all the witnesses and cameras, about his sedition and his treachery -- about how she was right, how right she was -- before she leans down, and whispers to him what a disgrace he is, just before all of those things happen, in quick succession, and she's left to cry and smile, all alone in her black suit, just before all of those things, he steps forward.