There are three episodes from S2 of Nina & Amanda that stand out. After they were recorded, I believe these are the best in the entire series. This is one of them. Although it’s a short episode, it packs such an emotional punch. We watch Carrie transition from a girl to a woman before our eyes. We also witness her love for Drake, and his love for her.

But if you haven’t watched this episode yet, please stop reading and watch it. It’s only ten minutes long. However, it’s ten minutes of pure heart-wrenching emotion. I confess that while recording, I found myself with tears forming in some scenes. That’s how powerful of a punch it packs. As a writer and director, you might not realize the power of a scene until all elements come together. In this instance, it was one of those times.

In this episode, it’s truly a coming-of-age moment for both Carrie and Drake. They achieve this without having to have woohoo. She finally receives the news she’s been waiting for. This will change her life forever – and now she needs to act like an adult.

We start the episode with relatively good news. Carrie celebrates graduation from Foxbury University with Honors as Magna Cum Laude. At age eighteen, she’s the youngest in her family ever to do so. The day after the party, she went out shopping for a prom dressing with Nina and Amanda in tow. She’s had an amazing day. That same night, she’s on a date with her boyfriend Drake bowling, and basically hustling him for an easy win.

When Drake finds that she comes from a long line of champion bowlers his answer to her is, “Figures. It would be genetic!“

“Ah, don’t be such a sore loser!” Carrie teases with a smirk.

His response to her is to grab her and kiss her in the middle of the bowling alley. Carrie laughs as the two enjoy a fun enjoyable evening.

They walk into the house laughing. Carrie is surprised to see all three of her parents waiting up for her. “What’s going on?” She asks with concern.

Amanda points to a letter on the table. It arrived by SimEx (The fictional version of FedEx that I created) a few hours ago.

Carrie takes a deep breath as she says aloud, “Oh my God!”

Her parents encourage her to open the letter. As she does, her breath is caught in her throat. Her heart also skips a beat. As she reads it, she’s been accepted to the program in the fall. It is in Chestnut Ridge, five to six hours away from San Sequoia. It’s also five to six hours from Foxbury University, where Drake will be attending in the fall.

Her family is ecstatic. They rush her with hugs and congratulations. Drake can only stare at her blankly. He wonders what happens to them next. As Carrie makes her way to him, she can only stare back at him. She feels unsure of what to do. She doesn’t know what to say in this moment.

Drake says, “I need some air.” As he steps out onto the porch, Carrie goes after him. Amanda becomes promptly concerned as she goes to follow her, but Nina stops her saying, “No, let her go, Amanda.”

Amanda agrees as she says, she wishes she could have a drink.

Nina asks Tony to make hers a double, and tells Amanda, “I’ll take the hit for you.“

On the porch, Carrie sees Drake facing away from her while the rain falls, she says, “Well, now we know.”

“Yeah,” he replies. “Now, we know.”

“Aren’t you happy for me?” Carrie asks.

“Yeah, but….”

“I know.” She says in a soft voice.

“Do you?” Drake asks almost with anger.

“What do you want me to say?” Carrie growls back out of frustration.

Drake says, “I think…. I should go.”

Carrie stops him by grabbing his hand saying. “No, don’t! Please, don’t. Not like this….” She takes his hand and asks him a question. He responds by kissing her. He says to her, “Everything is changing, Carrie.” He can barely look at her as he says it.

On one hand, Carrie’s dream of becoming a horse veterinarian is coming true. She no longer has to be concerned about getting into the program. She won that placement fair and square. Now they have the summer to enjoy.

Being logical, she reminds Drake that maybe that this was the way it was supposed to be, “……expected. One of them, or both of them would leave one day” to forge their own paths for their respective lives.

Drake says almost with fury, “Yeah? Well, I’ll tell you what wasn’t expected and that was to….” He stops himself as he turns away, sighing out of desperation.

Carrie feels that he is saying what she wants to hear. However, he is not actually saying it. As she asks, “What were you going to say?”

“It’s……” He can’t finish as he feels his heart breaking.

“Hold me?” Carrie asks.

Drake takes her into his arms. He stares into her face and feels all of the emotions come to the surface. He realizes that their lives are about to change forever.

She reminds Drake that they can concentrate on the prom. They can have an amazing night. They will spend the rest of the summer together. However, for Drake, an inevitable end awaits. Carrie will go off to Chestnut Ridge, and he will go to Foxbury. She says that she’ll make trips out to Foxbury, and he can come visit her in Chestnut Ridge. He tells her that they won’t be able to travel all that much because of the workload, or their schedules.

“Don’t think about it now.” Carrie says with worry. “We have time. And I want as much time as I can to be with you.”

As we know, Carrie loves Drake deeply and hasn’t heard those three words from him yet. At this moment, she wants to tell him how she feels. However, she holds back on saying the words until she hears it from him. She wants to hear it from him first, but she doesn’t want to push him into it either.

In this moment, as they talk about trying to get through the summer, it’s here Drake kisses Carrie. It’s not just an innocent teenage kiss. It’s the kiss between a man and a woman declaring their love for each other. They are scared for their future.

The original way that this scene is written in the script is different. However, when you start putting the footage and dialogue together, sometimes it takes on a life of its own. That is what happened in this scene, and I have to say it came out so good.

Before they go back inside the house, Carrie whispers to him. She says, “Hey listen……” The dialogue that followed was about going to the beach, but I felt it was unnecessary. I thought about what Drake would do. In this situation, he would probably cut her off with a kiss.

When it came to this scene, I had a placeholder for an animation. As I looked at the placeholder, I thought for a minute. What if this moment between them felt like time stops for an instance? I think at some point in everyone’s life, there’s a moment when you feel like time stops. It’s as if only what’s in front of you exists. Certainly, I’ve had those moments in life. So, it’s here when I decided to cut the excess dialogue after Carrie says to him, “Hey listen….”

I knew this scene needed an emotional punch. The kiss itself needed to display that emotion and that’s where MapleBell’s More Kisses Mod comes in. MapleBell added a “Tender Tearful Kiss” animation that fit the scene perfectly. The animation was amazing, and it was able to show how Carrie and Drake are feeling in this moment. But it also needed some music, like I did for E20 with Frou Frou’s Let Go.

Enter Elijah N’s Missing What’s You, it’s a phenomenal song that fit Carrie and Drake perfectly. Watch below. I’m surprised that this song has not made it onto Billboard’s Top 10 yet. And upon hearing it, I licensed it for this episode.

I found the song accidentally while checking Adobe’ and YouTube’s music library. When I heard the song—from that first riff—I could see it would match up with the kiss. Carrie’s voice over tries to reassure Drake.

I used my directorial AMV skills from back in the day. I think I made this scene really hit home. Truly, the song amplifies what the characters are feeling at this moment. For a minute, you forget that these are two Sims. Instead, they seem like two people in love. They are trying to adjust to a situation that may rip them away from each other.

The voice over where Carrie says, “I promise you. We’ll have one of the best summers ever”. In that moment, she is basically telling him, I love you, Drake.

And he responds, “I know we will.” Yes, this is a nod to the Empire Strikes Back. It features one of the most amazing, romantic lines ever spoken by a lead actor. This line was completely improvised by the legend Harrison Ford. The rest was cinema history. And as you can tell Drake is saying, I love you too, Carrie – without saying it.

The two share a deep and emotional kiss. It shows their love for one another. Both of them feel heartbroken about being separated from each other. In this moment, it’s no longer a boy and a girl’s teenage romance. It’s the love of a man and a woman. The question is – can their love survive?

As much as Carrie’s career means to her, she fears losing Drake’s love in her life. She is certain that she doesn’t want to be without it. She’s been with him since she was fifteen, and in all that time she can’t imagine being without him. True, she could turn down the program and become a regular veterinarian like her mother. She has worked very hard for everything. She knows she can’t give it up, even though her heart is breaking at this moment.

Carrie’s dream has always been to be in Chestnut Ridge treating horses. She also knows that Drake wants to study farm agriculture at Foxbury. He hopes to live on campus and become a skilled rancher. She believes eventually he’ll join her out there, but four years is a long time. With both of their lives changing so rapidly in the autumn, will they be able to make it work?

As she said to Nina in the earlier episode, “Who am I to stand in his way?” She doesn’t want to be selfish and think of only herself. She knows his dream is important to him. She doesn’t want to be the one that blocks him from it.

The final scene shows Carrie looking at him saying, “Awe, Drake……” They know they need to go back inside. They have to put on a fake smile, so her family doesn’t suspect anything is wrong. But inside, they want to run away together. They wish to pretend that none of this is happening. This wish seems completely outlandish.

What happens next? Check out the mid-season episode: S2 E10 The Prom. I view it as one of the best out of the entire series. It’s a funny one but it’s also got an emotional punch too, and it’s a long one. I can’t say it’s the best. There are two episodes much later in the series that really push the envelope. I hope when I start work on them, I make them shine just as bright. For now, I consider E10 as one of the best episodes of the entire series. Still, it’s not the best yet.

In E10, entitled, Prom Night, Carrie & Drake go to Prom. They have an amazing time and spend the night together. But in the morning, they are caught! Uh oh! If you want to see it, click the link below. It goes live on Patreon at 9pm EST 12/11/24. In the meantime, enjoy this special preview from E10. It is the longest episode in all of S2 and has all the characters in it.

At first, I was going to split it in two segments. But the pacing was enough for it to be a long episode. It stays engaging throughout the episode. There are some really funny moments. Nina is especially hilarious when she is on the phone with Amanda.

And if you want, you can watch this episode at 9pm tonight on my Patreon account. It is available there for GXer2 members without commercials and in 4K. I will also be in the live chat with you to answer questions and watch along with you. The title is simply E10 S2 Prom Night, and I think you’re really going to like it. Originally, the title was First Time, but I changed it because it was really too cliche. Prom Night sounded much better, and it doesn’t give away everything at the beginning.

Also, in this episode, there is a total and unexpected revelation happening. Much like in E8, Drake has something to say to Carrie. It affects them both and the future of their relationship.