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Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
- Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
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Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
Michael > February 21st, 2023, 12:41 AM
They released the first 2 episodes of season two last week. As I understand it, there will only be 2 seasons of the show.
Orlando Bloom stars as Rycroft "Philo" Philostrate, a half-human/half-pixie inspector in the police force of the Burgue, a human nation that had politically aligned itself with the Fae realm TirNaNoc against the human-ruled Pact. The Pact won the war (7 years prior to the start of the series) and many Fae took refuge in the Burgue, mostly settling along the street called Carnival Row.
It's been 3-1/2 years since season 1 was broadcast. At the end of the first season we learned that Philo was the son of the old Burgue prime minister, who had led the Burgue into the war. Most of the Burgishmen appear to be very prejudiced against the Fae and the war was not popular. Philo's half-brother killed their father and assumed control of the state. He's not really up to the task, but he's being manipulated by the daughter of the old opposition leader because (apparently) she thinks he's destined to become a greater leader than his father.
So, the 2nd season will have to reveal whether the prophecy comes true and if Philo or his half-brother will fulfill it. I won't provide any spoilers at this time but I'll come back later with my thoughts on the 2nd season. -
RE: Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
Michael > March 14th, 2023, 05:57 PM
Well, the season has progressed. I think all I have left to watch is the (as-yet unaired) finale.
The second season is not (for me) as interesting as the first season. Now, I've been ill for over a month and that affects my enjoyment of everything, but what I really miss is the sense of discovery I felt with the first season. This story is set in a fantasy world and we got to explore much of that world throughout the first season.
Although they take us to some new locations in this one, most of the action takes place in the Burgue (where Carnival Row is located - so that makes sense).
The overriding theme in this season is racism. I mean, racism figured prominently in the first season, but it started out as a murder mystery. Philo was the police inspector assigned to investigate that mystery, and as the season unfolded we learned that things weren't as simple as they seemed.
Now in the 2nd season the Fae whose families had either settled in the Burgue generations before or who fled from the fall of TirNan=Noc (to the Pact) have all been rounded up and confined to Carnival Row. It's an obvious nod to the Jewish slums of World War II.
But 2 of the characters have fled The Burgue on a ship. Imogen Spurnrose (played by Tamzin Merchant) has fled away with Agreus Astrayon (played by David Gyasi). Agreus is a faun and Imogen is human, so theirs is a forbidden love. Her brother Ezra (played by Andrew Gower) follows them.
Agreus decides to visit the city of Ragusa, where he has friends and influence. But before they arrive their ship is interdicted by an airship controlled by the New Dawn. They are an alliance of Fae and humans who have risen up against the Pact and are fighting back. Their society is transparently based on bad Russian accents obviously intended to represent the Communist uprising against the Tsars in 1917. This sub-plot is one of the weaker parts of the season for me, because we're obviously looking at a contrived adaptation of Communism vs Capitalism.
However, what redeems the Ragusan storyline for me is the personal dynamic with Imogen. The real story here isn't about Communism - it's about slavery. Through events in the Burgue (where Philo and Vignette are struggling against the Burgue's oppression) and in Ragusa, we explore different ways that people oppose slavery, discrimination, and oppression based on both race and gender.
This is clearly a moralistic story that wants to grind the idea of a superior caste under its heel. And it does a pretty good job of that. There isn't much to like about any of the leaders of the Pact, the Burgue, or the New Dawn. They're all ruthless and bloodthirsty and they throw away lives without a seeming care in the world. At their levels, it's all about winning "the game" - the boundaries of which only become apparent late in the season.
For the common folk it's more about how to survive in an oppressive system that uses hatred and fear to motivate the masses. Even some of the most dispicable characters let slip some better qualities. They care about their own close friends and families, and they go along with the system they've been handed because they (believe) they don't have the power to change it.
I think that's the whole point of the season: that people do have the power to change society, but they have to find the right path and along the way some of them will have to make the ultimate sacrifice. But there are good sacrifices, sacrifices for the wrong cause, and pointless (possibly preventable) sacrifices that represent the consequences of indifference, or inaction, or thinking too selfishly.
All that said, this is a very grim and gruesome show. There are some vivid, I'd even say horrifying scenes. Some people might not be able to handle the gore. And the language is very adult - rough, profane, and not suitable for children. -
RE: Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
Michael > December 9th, 2023, 05:22 PM
For some reason I didn't include a link to my review of the 1st season of 'Carnival Row'.
So now I have. -
RE: Second Season of Amazon's Carnival Row has begun
Michael > December 9th, 2023, 05:25 PM
As for this second season, it closes out the story well enough but getting to that resolution was a difficult and challenging path. I didn't feel like the second season lived up to the promise of the first season. Certain aspects of the show felt too predictable to me - they were too closely tied to contemporary political and moral debates happening in society today.
While many American film and TV creators say that it's important to make their shows and movies relevant to current events, the fundamental problem with their constant moralizing is that they make a lot of crappy movies and TV shows. They're not telling stories about the human condition. They're giving lectures on what we should think is wrong or right.
And that kind of drama doesn't age well.