Draft:Carol Kohl (Carol & the End of the World)

Carol Kohl (Carol & the End of the World)

Carol Kohl, voiced by Martha Kelly, is a fictional character in the Netflix miniseries Carol & the End of the World. Show creator Dan Guterman describes Carol as "A short, pear-shaped, loveable lump of a woman who is most at home eating frozen dinners in the solitude of her apartment" . With a unique personalty that is rarely seen on television, Carol's quiet, awkward, but thoughtful quirks bring her to life as we follow her existential journey while the world is ending.

Character Profile

With the story following Carol through her last few months on Earth, her character undergoes many major shifts as she attempts to come to terms with the fleeting time she has left. As the series progresses, Carol goes from living in complete solitude to finding connection, purpose, and comfort in a life many may consider monotonous.

Finding "The Distraction"

In the series's Pilot episode, Carol stumbles upon an office building while wandering around a nearly abandoned city. When she walks in, she is surprised to find an office filled with employees, mindlessly working away. The second episode follows Carol as she hesitantly settles into her new office life as an administrative assistant, still confused about how it all works and why they are all there. This marks the beginning of her progression into finding what truly fulfills her.

Banana Bread

In the third episode, Carol seeks connection in the office. After meeting her coworker, Donna, in passing, she daydreams about their friendship-to-be. Carol bakes banana bread and brings it to work, and as planned (with a little hesitation), she sparks up a friendship with Donna. Eventually, another coworker, Luis, is also drawn in by the banana bread, and the three of them form a friendship that goes on throughout the series.

David

In continuation of her search for connection in the office, Carol decides to memorize the names of each of her coworkers. Later on, after staying late at work, she comes across one of her coworkers, David, dead at his desk. Carol recruits Donna and Luis and takes it upon herself to find David’s loved ones and share the unfortunate news. In learning that David’s loved ones had either passed or no longer cared for him, Carol decides to host a memorial in David’s honor on the rooftop of the office. For the first time, Carol manages to bring together a group of coworkers and delivers a heartwarming speech about how the office has brought them together.

The Perfect Wave

In the second last episode, Carol narrates her journey as she searches for “the perfect wave”, expanding on a lie she told her parents that she had taken up surfing. Throughout the episode, possibly as a metaphor for her personal growth and journey toward finding purpose, Carol tells stories of how she traveled, met new friends, and rekindled old love. Although there’s no saying how much truth there is to these stories, the uplifting episode serves as great symbolism for Carol's major growth and transformation throughout the series.

Applebees

After Carol invites Donna and Luis to join her for drinks at a deserted Applebees, word gets around at work and other coworkers join in. With Carol tending the bar, a weekly happy hour soon becomes a ritual for the office, bringing everyone together outside of working hours. This is a major shift from the beginning of the series, back when coworkers would barely acknowledge each other. The last episode ends with Carol crying tears of joy in a booth at Applebees alongside Donna and Luis.

Relationships

Bernard and Pauline Kohl

Bernard and Pauline Kohl are Carol's parents. Throughout our journey with Carol, it is clear that she has a very close and loving relationship with her parents, despite initially seeming a little uncomfortable with the some of her parents' lifestyle changes, such as embracing Naturism and becoming a Ménage à trois with Michael, Bernard's nurse. However, as Carol gets out of her shell and begins to accept the world-ending situation around her, she becomes much more comfortable with her parents, and even got to witness Michael's proposal to Bernard and Pauline.

In the episode "Pilot", Bernard and Pauline are concerned Carol isn't making the most of the short amount of time left before the planet hits and destroys the Earth. Carol proceeds to lie to her parents, not wanting them to worry, and states she spends her time surfing. This eventually leads to her parents gifting her a custom surfboard, and culminates in Carol narrating a surfing tale in the episode "Saltwater Lullaby: A Surf Odyssey".

Eric

In the episode "Pilot", Eric and Carol meet on a park bench, both of them escaping an overwhelming and fanatical rave happening nearby. Eric offers Carol a Grapefruit La Croix Sparkling Water and the two have a nice evening together in the park which leads to Carol spending the night at Eric's place. Eric begins to act pushy towards Carol which makes her uncomfortable, however she reluctantly agrees to follow him to a surprise dinner date. This date starts very well but is ruined when Eric says he loves Carol later that evening, and states her female qualities would be a good influence for his son Steven. Clearly, this makes Carol incredibly uncomfortable so she leaves Eric for good, despite him begging her to stay.

Donna Shaw

Donna quickly becomes one of Carol's closest friends. However, Donna was initially skeptical of Carol. In the episode "The Distraction" the office runs out of toner and Carol spends days searching every abandoned office depot to no luck. Eventually she returns to the office and finds that the toner had already been replaced by Donna, this would mark the first personal gesture anyone has made in the distraction. Wanting to thank her, Carol bakes Donna banana bread but is quite awkward when she finally offers it to her, which scares Donna into thinking Carol might be a psycho. This banana bread brings them together as they both work an overnight shift for the office and take simultaneous breaks to chat and snack. They are able to bond of their mutual dishonesty to their families about their day-to-day activities, with Donna's family believing she is writing a novel, their shared love of routine, and shopping at Goodwill Industries.

Donna is initially very hesitant to support Carol's desire to engage with the other coworkers, evident in her warning for Carol about learning their coworker's names and her reluctancy to assist in giving David, a deceased coworker, a proper goodbye. Yet, she comes around every time, eventually also forming relationships with her fellow coworkers, as well as attending David's wake atop the office's roof with Carol and Louis, commemorating Carol's effort in organizing the wake.

Donna, Carol, and Louis are also the creators of happy hour, the office's weekly post-work hangout at an abandoned Applebee's that allowed the coworkers to form relationships and become a family.

Louis Felipe Jacinto

Louis and Carol also quickly become close friends. Noticing the conversation and banana bread in the break room of the office, Louis joins Carol and Donna during the overnight shift and joins in on their conversation. Louis offers many theories about why everyone has chosen to reside in the distraction for the remainder of their time, in which Carol is quick to engage with these theories as she too has been wondering. Later this evening, Louis shows Donna and Carol a functioning tanning salon in the abandoned building next to theirs, where he talks about his past travels.

Louis is also extremely quick to offer assistance to Carol when dealing with David's body and gets emotional at his wake. This helps reinforce Carol's drive to form relationships with her coworkers.

Carol also helps Louis through his struggles as he had lost his bug broach, an item he had carried with him his entire life. Carol comforts him by complementing on the broaches beauty, as well as giving a thoughtful speech about loss which touches Louis' heart.

Louis, Carol, and Donna are also the creators of happy hour, the office's weekly post-work hangout at an abandoned Applebee's that allowed the coworkers to form relationships and become a family.

Elena

Elena is Carol's sister. It is mentioned in passing that they used to live together after college, however Carol moved out once Elena's dog Cookie got fleas. In video footage the audience sees that while Elena is far more outgoing, she has always admired Carol for doing her own thing, not what everyone else does. It is clear that Elena and Carol are very different, as Elena has been skydiving and traveling to places like Germany whereas Carol has been

On the episode titled "Sisters", Elena skydives and meets Carol for the two of them to hike to some hidden falls. On this hike, Elena is making a clear attempt at trying to get to know her sister better, asking deep questions, and filming the two of them. Carol is annoyed Elena is filming everything and is quick to dismiss most of the questions by answering her sister with "shrug". This reaches a breaking point when Elena asks Carol about very private information off-camera and then immediately turns the camera on again and reveals this information. The pair proceed to get lost on the hike and have a major argument that night regarding their relationship and Carol continuously putting up walls and not giving her sister a chance to get to know her. The next morning, the two have an off-camera conversation and it is clear they've worked through their issues and are trying to have a better relationship. Carol becomes more engaged with her sister's filming and even opens up to her about the distraction, the only person she ever tells. After this conversation Elena tells Carol she loves her and they have a heartwarming embrace. The episode ends with their relationship clearly repaired and better-off, as Elena erases her footage from Spain and replaces it with footage from her sisters hike.

Kathleen

Kathleen is the HR representative at the office. She is instructed by the managers to investigate the "erratic behaviours" (high fives, hugs, shoulder pats, conversation) that have begun happening around the office which leads her to investigate Carol. Kathleen first considered Carol to be an ideal employee, however that quickly changed as Carol began memorizing her coworkers names as well as decorating her desk with personal items which quickly spread across the office. Kathleen even intervened with one of Carol's events, ripping down a lunch swap sign-up sheet before anyone had the chance to join. However, Kathleen was quick to change her opinion on Carol after she attended her first happy hour, shared drinks with Carol, Donna, and Louis, and was welcomed into this office family that Carol had created. To conclude the investigation, Kathleen acknowledges Carol's effort and achievements in orchestrating this work family. Carol is then the first one to use Kathleen's name, which causes Kathleen to cry because she cares.

Main Character Casting Table

Name	Relationship	Voice Actor
Carol Kohl	Herself	Martha Kelly
Pauline Kohl	Mother	Beth Grant
Bernard Kohl	Father	Lawrence Pressman
Eric	Possible Love Interest	Michael Chernus
Donna Shaw	Coworker and Friend	Kimberly Hébert Gregory
Louis Felipe Jacinto	Coworker and Friend	Mel Rodriguez
Elena	Sister	Bridget Everett
Kathleen	HR	Laurie Metcalf