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(More customer reviews)"Carnivàle" is part of small but growing number of quality television shows that are committed to the sort of lengthy and complex story arc that was once the province of the mini-series. But shows like "Wiseguy" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in the past and current offerings such as "24" and "Lost" have paved the way for television shows that emphasize the big picture rather than the more traditional episodic approach. As such, "Carnivàle" is most similar to "Lost," in that we are pretty sure we know what will happen at the end of the journey, but we have no idea how many seasons down the road that end game will be played out. Does creator Daniel Knauf ("Wolf Lake") have an ambitious five-year plan similar to what J. Michael Straczynski had in mind from the start for "Babylon 5"? We will have to wait and see.
With a show like "Carnivàle" it is easy (and fun) to play with various antecedents that explain the series in simple but readily understood terms. From the start I was thinking of the show as a cross between John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," Tod Browning's "Freaks," and Stephen King's "The Stand," all of which I consider to be classics in their respective genres. But there are other options as well (with Michael J. Anderson in the cast "Twin Peaks" becomes an obvious choice), which simply speaks to the potential of "Carnivàle" to resonate with its viewers.
The premise of the show is provided as the opening narration: "Before the beginning, after the great war between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called man. And to each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness. And great armies clashed by night in the ancient war between good and evil. There was magic then, nobility, and unimaginable cruelty. And so it was until the day that a false sun exploded over Trinity, and man forever traded away wonder for reason." The words are spoken by Samson (Anderson), who runs the traveling circus called Carnivàle, but answers to the unseen "Management" figure (voiced by an uncredited Linda Hunt).
While traveling across the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in 1934, the Carnivàle comes across Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), who has escaped from prison and returned home in time to watch his mother (Lucinda Jenney) die and bury here before the tractors level their shack. Management wants Ben to join the caravan and given his predicament with the law, he agrees. As the Carnivàle travels down to Texas we learn that Ben is plagued by strange visions of the trenches in the Great War and that he has the power to heal. Meanwhile, in the California town of Mintern a minister named Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown) believes that God is telling him what to minister to the growing number of Okies and other migrant workers streaming west, fleeing the Dust Bowl. Those who oppose Brother Justin's plans find themselves punished for standing in the way.
Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin are the creatures of light and darkness foretold, and while their visions contain glimpses of each other, they are not going to meet during this first season of "Carnivàle." Their meeting is inevitable and clearly will constitute the apocalyptic conclusion of this series, but at this point they are still coming to terms with their places in this strange universe. Each man is trying to find out about their mysterious past, where they came from, and what they can do with their powers. Eventually they will have to decide what they should do with those powers and at the end of the first season they face what will certainly be the first of several escelating crucibles.
While the focus is primarily on Ben Hawkins getting used to his power and Brother Justin doing his work with his older sister, Iris (Amy Madigan), there is also life in the travelling circus during the Great Depression. Ben is of interest to Lodz (Patrick Bachauh), a mentalist who takes an active interest in the young man's powers and who is involved with Lila (Debra Christofferson), the bearded lady. Meanwhile, Ben has taken an interest in Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), the snake charmer who is also the mother of the strong man, Gabriel (Brian Turk). The person interested in Ben romantically appears to be Sophie (Clea DuVall), the tarot card reader who is also the medium for her comatose mother, Apollonia (Diane Salinger), who is pyschic. Jonesy (Tim Dekay), the manger of the rousties, is in love with Sophie, but he gets involved with the Dreifuss family that runs the Cootch Show, Stumpy (Toby Huss), the father who is the emcee, mother Rita Sue (Cynthia Ettinger), and daughters Dora Mae (Amanda Aday) and Libby (Carla Gallo).
One of the strengths of "Carnivàle" is that what is going on in that travelling circus is fairly interesting even without throwing young Ben Hawkins into the mix. There is something intrinsically fascinating about how carny folk milk the marks for money, and there is a sense of personal pride in their professionalism that gives them a certain level of dignity. In the short term, I do not know if I like the idea that not all of them are going to be alive next season. Then, of course, there is the whole look of the show. Suffice it to say "Carnivàle" won Emmys for Outstanding Art Direction and Cinematography for a One-Camera Series, along with those for Costumes, Hairstyling, and Main Title Design (you could do a pretty good master's thesis just decoding that last one).
The DVD series for the first season comes with three audio commentaries, a really short featurette on the making of the series, and a giant group discussion with the cast. The commentary for "Milfay," the pilot episode, is the most important one, and twice as good as the other two put together. It has Knauf, director Rodrigo Garcia, and executive producer Howard Klein on it, with the creator/writer and director doing most of the talking, who focus on how they cast the show and how the first episode evolved. We also get the "Previously On" and "Next On" bits that HBO created for each episode.
I recognize that "Carnivàle" is going to be a very maddening show to those who want things to move along at a brisk pace, and there will be those who will abandon the show long before it gets to the promised land (when the circus gets to California, probably in a couple of seasons). But for those of us who remember how "Twin Peaks" fell apart when the hook of "Who killed Laura Palmer?" became the line and (literal) sinker, or who felt "The X-Files" was adding to its mythology without getting any closer to a big finish, the idea that "Carnivàle" has been created with a definitive end point in mind provide some measure of comfort. This first season provides an initial level of confidence and the potential for more, but in the end how good this series is with come down to the quality of the final "blow off." Given that the origin of "carnival" goes back to the Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Lupercalia where there was a temporary subversion of civil order and that the term now refers to the holiday period of the two weeks before Lent, it could be something pretty good. Besides, it is not on television: it is on HBO.
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Carnivale: The Complete First Season (2003)1934. The Dustbowl. The last great age of magic. In a time of titanic sandstorms, vile plagues, drought and pistilence - signs of God's fury and harbingers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the Heartland of an empire called America. And when it is over, man will forever trade away wonder for reason. See the conflict of good vs. evil played out against a pair of vivid and unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival working the American Dustbowl circuit, and an evangelical ministry in California. DVD Features:Audio Commentary:3 Audio Commentaries with Creator Daniel Knauf, Executive Producer Howard Klein and Directors Rodrigo Garcia and Jeremy PodeswaFeaturette:"Making of Carnivale" Featurette detailing how set and costume designers collaborated to achieve the look of the Dustbowl in the 1930s
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