Carly Blake

Carly Blake was the friend and assistant to Sophie Dlamini. She was first introduced in *Grinded Part II*.

She is an intelligent woman filled with positivity as she tries to keep her friends spirits up as the murders in Los Angeles begin. She is a hard worker, often trying too hard in order to impress Sophie, but Carly means well.

In the first sequel, Part II, she is first introduced as Sophie's assistant, helping her with her career as an upcoming artist. She acts as a support beam for Sophie when she is eventually reunited with August Thrombey, with Carly finding herself being torn between the two.

## Biography

### The Los Angeles Murders

Carly is residing in LA, California, working under Sophie as her personal assistant. She is looking forward to August Thrombey coming to the city to see his friends, and she's been helping Sophie's anxiety about their impending reunion. On the day of August arriving to LAX, Carly calls David Evans and Thomas Strode to find out what time they'll be turning up to the art gallery. After arranging the time, Carly continues planning the rest of the day ahead for Sophie.

When Sophie is pacing, Carly rushes over to reassure her, with the backup of gallery manager and friend, Tyler Montoya. The girls then walk through the gallery, with Carly continuing to build up Sophie's confidence as Luis Dominguez joins them. She and Sophie tease Luis about his Grindr blowing up before Sophie's girlfriend, Alanda Laurent, joins them.

A little while later, Carly and her friends are informed of Nichole Peterson's arrival. When Nichole and Luis begin bickering, Carly rolls her eyes and tunes them out, not wanting to get involved. After a brief conversation between Nichole and Sophie, Carly laughs at Alanda's choice of words about the artist. She becomes confused when Sophie walks off suddenly, but doesn't follow as Alanda is already on it.

She is present for the outing that night when they head to the Muddhole. When the altercation between Thomas and Reese Rivers breaks out, she watches with an intrigued stare, knowing the boys have it under control. The following morning, she calls Sophie upon discovering the death of Reese Rivers at the Muddhole.

Carly later goes to the studio and waits for Sophie while sorting through her emails. After checking her phone, a clutter startles her and so she goes to investigate. Carly is then further startled by the sudden appearance of Alanda, scolding her for creeping around. When Alanda criticises Carly for looking around without even so much as a pen to keep herself safe, Carly playfully shrugs her off before asking about Sophie. They discuss how shook Sophie is, to which Carly isn't surprised about, when another noise causes them both to freeze. Carly asks if they should make a break for it, but Alanda arms herself and heads forwards, and so Carly trails after her. After a short while of looking around, Carly and Alanda run into Sophie, August and Thomas. They all take a minute to relax, and during this, Carly gets a call from Demi, an artist. She re-learns of Demi's promotional party this evening and reminds Sophie of it. Carly beams eagerly and gladly tells Demi to expect both Sophie and herself tonight. Sophie takes a phone call, giving August a chance to go through her scrapbooks and Carly is quick to warn him not to. But when Alanda and August begin arguing, Carly tries seperating them, to no avail. She feels guilty watching August storm off.

Two days after Demi's party and Chai's death and she's kept herself busy with work, taking herself to the studio where Alanda is. She's glad to see Luis and David show up, giving them a hug. The group begin discussing their own personal theories, and Carly shares her own belief that the killer could be someone from Sunset Ridge, maybe even someone who could want to finish what Freddie Blackwell started. Saying her theory aloud only makes it sound more plausible to her and her friends, which scares her. When Alanda once again lightly accuses August, Carly comes to his aid and tells her to just leave him alone at this point. They're then startled by the arrival of Nichole and her assistant Ivan Cascella, much to Carly's chagrin. Nichole is quick to ask to speak to Carly in private and when they get some privacy, Carly is bored when Nichole goes on a tangent about how she is clearly threatened by Sophie's debut piece. She barely attempts to comfort Nichole and the women rejoin the group, where Nichole reminds them of her party. Carly says she'll think about it, before seeing Nichole out.

## Relationships

#### Family

* **Unnamed mother**
* **Unnamed father**

#### Allies

* **Sophie Dlamini** - Former friend and boss
* **Luis Dominguez** - Former friend
* **August Thrombey**
* **Alanda Laurent** - Former friend
* **Tyler Montoya** - Former friend
* **Thomas Strode †** - Former friend
* **David Evans** **†** - Former friend
* **Chai Hardin †**
* **Demi** - Former friend

#### Enemies

* **Nichole Peterson** **†** - Killer
* **Ivan Cascella** **†** - Attempted killer

## Trivia

* Originally, Carly was going to survive the events, with the intentions being her becoming a recurring character, alongside David Evans. However, her fate was swapped with Nichole Peterson for story purposes going forward.
* In the first concept for Part II, Carly's role was filled by Thomas Strode's older sister, Kate; a few of Kate's characteristics made it into Carly's personality, such as her tendency to be casualy brazen. Carly's name was originally going to be Katie, an ode to Kate's role.