(Season 1, episodes 4-5)
These two episodes of Carnivale had a nice mix of character development and mythology. The show certainly started to explore the characters of the carnival in much greater depth, which I really appreciated. It looks like the show will take some time to develop rich and full characters, which can only make a show great.
If I had any complaint about this block of episodes, it’s that there was barely any brother Justin in them. I hope that he won’t take a backseat for much longer. Even though I haven’t watched that much of the show, I’m already enamored with his character.
“Black Blizzard”
Perhaps I was a little hasty when I was accusing the show of having bad special effects because I thought they did a pretty nice job with the dust storm that was the center of this episode. This installment certainly had a different feel to it, as many of the characters were split up into small groups due to the black blizzard.
Lodz and Ben wound up together out in the middle of the storm, with Lodz confronting the young man about his powers. Lodz seems to be more intrigued with Ben than anyone else in the carnival. I’m not really sure what his intentions are, but I’m curious to find out. It seems that he knows a lot more about Ben than even Ben knows. I’m wondering if the whole Carnivale knows that there is a connection between Ben and Scudder.
There was some great character development with Samson in this episode too, with him getting all dressed up to spend some time with a hooker. There was some genuine insight gained in watching the way that he humiliated and shamed the woman after she clearly wasn’t interested in him or his games. Up to this point, Samson had come across as a really friendly type of person, but there is clearly some darkness beneath the surface.
The other big event in this episode was Jonesy entering Management’s trailer to “check up on him,” after the storm. I find it very interesting that Management is not referred to as “The Management,” and that he definitely has a gender. This would seem to indicate that Management is a person, or at least some sort of entity, and that he does actually exist, even though Jonesy didn’t see anything in the trailer.
“Babylon”
Things took a decidedly darker turn in this episode, but it was nice to dig a little deeper into the characters in the carnival and put some of the supernatural stuff aside. The entire town of Babylon was very creepy from the moment they arrived there. It was clear that there was something not quite right about the town, which at first look seemed deserted. When I first saw the miners approaching the carnival carrying lit torches, I was afraid they were just going to burn the tents down.
As it turned out, there were even more sinister motives at work. After Samson warned the cooch crew not to do a “blow off,” they did anyways, and it pretty much incited a riot. At the end of the night, Dora Mae was hanged by the randy men, with “HARLOT” carved on her forehead. I’m very curious to see how the carnies will react, and presumably retaliate for this injustice.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Oct 14, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
