The Girl from Plainville on Hulu is one of those shows that raises more questions than answers. It’s an apt description because the genuine case on which it’s based defies rational logic on practically every level. Susie Pierce, on the other hand, is the most mysterious character in this limited series.
Susie may not have existed in the real Michelle Carter’s life, but she was most likely inspired by her. As we get deeper into this emotionally wrenching show, we must ask: What is Susie Pierce’s deal?
Must Read: Is Michelle Carter a Lesbian? She had a Girlfriend or Not?
In ‘The Girl from Plainville’, Who is Susie Pierce?
Susie Pierce (Pearl Amanda Dickson) is one of Michelle’s (Elle Fanning) few pals, and she is played by Pearl Amanda Dickson. Things between the two grow intense and convoluted almost as soon as she is introduced in the series.
Michelle discloses to Susie while showing her an episode of Glee that Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Morris) begin the series as friends but ultimately become a couple. It’s a tense exchange that reflects their current bond. Michelle tells Susie about how overwhelmed she feels and the medicine she’s on during another of their sleepovers. Susie declares her love for Michelle, and the two kiss and falls asleep holding hands.
The fourth episode, “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” depicts a breakup between the two young women. Susie informs Michelle that she is no longer able to spend out with her due to her mother’s illness. Susie’s mother forbids her daughter from visiting Michelle after reading all of Susie and Michelle’s texts and discussions, fearing that Michelle is “obsessed with” her daughter. Susie goes even further a little later, saying, “I’m not into girls.” I’m not interested in you. “All you have to do now is get over me.”
Susie is clearly a significant figure in Michelle’s life. But it’s unclear how significant she is to the major story of the series and the upcoming trial.
Was Susie Pierce a Real Life Person?
Susie Pierce isn’t a real person, believe it or not. Alice Felzmann, on the other hand, is. Susie’s fictitious counterpart, Felzmann, is most likely based on Felzmann.
In the spring of 2012, Carter and Felzmann were teammates on a travel softball team. According to numerous reports, their friendship was brief but deep. Instead of joining larger groups, they would have sleepovers and share meals together. The defence was able to gain a clearer understanding of Carter’s feelings toward Felzmann because to her communications. It’s also featured prominently in HBO’s documentary, I Love You, Now Die, about the case.
“Is it possible to be in love with two people at the same time, if [sic] they both weren’t boys?” Carter emailed her friend Olivia Mosolgo at one point.
Carter referred to Felzmann as her “best friend” in previous texts. “I never had that type of interaction with another lady to really tell,” she said when asked if she was bisexual.
Carter added in her texts, “I assumed it was just a phase at first, like I thought we were just really good friends.” “But then we started chatting like we were in a relationship, flirting and all that.” And, unlike Idk, it didn’t feel weird with her because she felt the same way.”
Carter was cut off by Felzmann because of her mother, much as Susie is in the show. Around the same time as Carter and Conrad Roy III began to get closer, the two stopped being friends. Carter often talked about Felzmann, even at the height of her and Roy’s love. “I still adore Alice and can’t seem to shake it, which is a problem since I’ll start comparing everyone to her,” Carter wrote.
Felzmann and her mother, for their part, denied that the two ever had love or physical relationship. They even met with a journalist to share their perspective on the situation. Later in The Girl from Plainville, a dramatised version of that scene appears.
Why is Alice Felzmann absent from The Girl From Plainville?
It’s difficult to say why Felzmann is absent from the Hulu original. But it’s more than likely due to the early distance she created between herself and Carter in this scenario.
Jesse Barron, the author of Esquire’s “The Girl from Plainville,” got in touch with Felzmann at one point. They met at a Panera, with Felzmann’s mother accompanying them. According to Kelly Felzmann, her daughter was depressed at the time she met Carter. Kelly Felzmann remarked, “I personally believe Michelle picked up on that.”
It was also stated in that interview that a letter had been issued to younger Felzmann. Her mother was convinced it was from Carter, but she refused to show it to Barron. Felzmann rejected Carter’s claim that she was Carter’s first kiss during the same interview.
Carter’s contact with Felzmann had gone unnoticed until Barron’s article. Their relationship was also absent from the Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter trial, which followed Roy’s death. Because of Felzmann’s distance from the case and out of respect for her and her family, she isn’t mentioned by name in the series.
What Impact Does Michelle’s Relationship With Susie Have On The Girl From Plainville?
Susie is portrayed as a tragic woman in The Girl from Plainville. The series implies that Susie is queer and in love with her pal without saying so openly. Even if she is heterosexual, she appears to want to keep Michelle as a friend. Susie is under pressure from her overbearing mother to take Michelle out of her life.
Susie’s sexuality has little to do with this plot, despite how significant this relationship is. Instead, the show takes advantage of this relationship to demonstrate Michelle’s hallucinations and provide an explanation for her actions.
Michelle’s relationship with Susie, even in its most charitable and tragic interpretation, feels uncomfortably delusional. Michelle is still out of line, even if they are romantically interested in each other, as Michelle clearly desires. She talks about their relationship and pines for Susie in a way that’s as dramatic as a Glee star-crossed lovers arc.
That’s far too intense for a blossoming romance. It’s too much for a friendship with a straight friend. Michelle has created a fantasy world for herself, as we well know. She did, after all, beg to be Conrad’s (Colton Ryan) girlfriend after only texting with him and meeting him a few times in person. Michelle’s over-the-top affair with Susie adds to the idea that she was frequently too engrossed in her fantasies to view reality clearly.
Michelle’s affections for Susie are also consistent with another point made about this case. It makes sense for a young woman to encourage her suicidal lover to commit suicide because she believes she is helping him. The defence primarily relied on this reasoning.
But it makes more sense for that same young woman to use her boyfriend’s death to “assist” him while simultaneously recovering the attention of a lost future lover. It’s a point brought up in the second episode of ‘I Love You, Now Die‘.
Michelle’s friendship with Susie does not excuse any of her actions. It’s because Michelle Carter’s actions in encouraging her lover to commit suicide make no sense to a sensible person. Susie Pierce’s story, whether true or not, changes the narrative. Michelle continues to appear foolish, delusional, and irresponsible.
The Girl from Plainville, on the other hand, introduces a selfish purpose for Michelle’s activities through Susie. In this immensely convoluted show, it’s that small tweak that makes all the difference.
