Amazon’s neo-noir fantasy series Carnival Row is ambitious and sprawling, but across its two seasons, its characters, concepts, and subplots are spread too far and too thin, with no clear sense of direction. Its central conceit—fairies (or “fae”) and humans struggling to co-exist in a racist, uncompromising world—never amounts to much more than fleeting ruminations on socially conscious topics like class and inequality.
In its second and final season, the series continues to clumsily place a primacy on politicking within its quasi-Victorian urban setting and uncomplicated moral quandaries over cohesive storytelling. Co-creators Travis Beacham and René Echevarria seem to have a firm grasp on the world they want to show us, but their storylines are often meandering or muddled.
In season two, the city of Burgue is on the brink of war, and following an edict by Chancellor Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan) to cram the city’s fae into Carnival Row, Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate (Orlando Bloom) and his ex-flame, fae revolutionary Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne), find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Philo, a disgraced ex-lawman aiding the police in a murder investigation, endeavors to dissuade Vignette from further violence.
For all its messy plotting and heavy-handed world-building, Carnival Row’s inaugural season delivered a marginally satisfying murder mystery. The creative team smartly kept the show’s universe manageable with tightly interwoven arcs, but the second season doesn’t retain that focus. Thus, the most promising character arcs grind to confounding halts, leaving key conflicts unresolved and ultimately failing to justify the inclusion of these subplots at all.
Former sex worker Tourmaline’s (Karla Crome) forced pivot to witchcraft, for instance, plays out like a tangent. Elsewhere, Sophie Longerbane (Caroline Ford) serves up most of the season’s political intrigue before the story unceremoniously abandons her, while Agreus Astrayon (David Gyasi) finds himself at the center of a thematically rich love story that quickly proves pointless and unsatisfying. Taking him to the other side of the world and back could’ve done wonders for his growth as a character, but he doesn’t earn where he ends up.
Perhaps the most obvious consequence of Carnival Row’s ambition is the flattening of its most interesting characters. Philo and Vignette, both as a pair and individually, are no longer interesting, let alone likable, a remarkable devolution given how much more compelling they were last season. And the show’s setting, while providing a rich backdrop for fantastical events, still leaves us wanting more—no doubt due, at least in part, to a truncated two-season run.
So much of what makes this world so appealing on paper is its potential, but the ideas are never fully fleshed out. Yes, the show’s characters, creatures, and concepts stand out in an increasingly crowded genre, but without a clear, focused story to make its universe feel believable and inhabited, Carnival Row never fulfills its initial promise.
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I’ve noticed for some time that the field of journalism is sinking lower and lower… But film critics are even worse. You rated Rings of Power higher than Carnival Row… Could the site owner consider hiring new reviewers? Such … well, I don’t know … Knowing each other at least minimally.
Excellent review. This show had so much potential, I really enjoyed the first season. It was a shame to see it lashed to the same yoke of heavy-handed social commentary that many shows have been burdened with lately. The main reason for interest in fantasy shows like this is to take a break from the real world for just a little while.