It is both an exhilarating and sad moment for fans of Carnival Row. The show’s final two episodes have arrived, capping off two seasons of neo-Victorian-noir-steampunk drama in a flourish of pixie wings.
How effective were Carnival Row‘s last two episodes? Let’s take a look. This is a NO SPOILER REVIEW.
Episode 209: “Battle Lines”
The episode opens with a chilling teaser about Tourmaline being pulled deeper into the otherworldly gloaming. Philo and Darius race to try to head off the New Dawn’s brewing rebellion in the Row by finding and killing the murderous Sparas.
Vignette, drawn in by the seductive promises of the New Dawn leader Leonora, rejoins the remnants of the Raven as they ally themselves with the rebels. Pressured by comrade Kastor, Imogen and Agreus are uncertain about their loyalties and their relationship.
The Philo/Sergeant Dombey relationship evolves in new and interesting ways as they must work together to defeat the Sparas, but the Imogen/Agreus political storyline is so bland and uninteresting it feels like an anchor has been dropped every time they appear onscreen.
The beating heart of “Battle Lines” is the character relationships. The episode explores the fracturing and healing of friendships and love affairs and the actions taken in dire circumstances by people (and Fae) who love one another. But the potential gets lost in the execution. As the main storylines meet and weave together they should push the narrative in a new direction, but instead the ending feels muddled, cliffhangers and all.
Episode Rating: B-
Episode 210: “Carnival Row”
The Row nears its boiling point with human mobs at the gates and the New Dawn agitating for rebellion within. As Philo reveals the identity of the Sparas, the vicious human mob is allowed to enter the Row and attack its inhabitants, but Vignette and the New Dawn have built a trap for them.
Season 2 has generated some really good episodes, but it’s unlikely 209 and 210 will top anybody’s favorites list. It’s in these episodes where Carnival Row cannot escape the flaws in its narrative construction. The creators dodge these thickets and opt for safe, easy and superficial plot resolutions over and over again.
While Carnival Row has has logical gaps in its storytelling before, they yawn wide in the final two episodes, almost to the point where we’re not sure what anybody is really up to (explaining it would mean spoiling things, but the gaps are pretty obvious). Let’s just say there is a lot of action and a surprising amount of gore.
“Carnival Row” suffers from a by-the-numbers kind of ending, where where twist (and there are a lot of them) is telegraphed well ahead of time. For a show that started out as dark and mysterious as this one, the fairy-tale nature of the denouement is off-putting.