Carnivale

[shriekingeel]

I love this season. It's alternately creepy/scary (the sudden appearance of Brother Justin in the car last week, or the episode with the death-mask maker) and beautiful (the episode where Ben rescues Jonesy). I hope there's another season at least.

[katiebear3]

Ah, so Justin is preventing the US entering World War II? Then by not entering it, Hitler gets the A-bomb? Ben has to stop it? That kinda makes since, if it's a little Americocentric in its implications. It seems Germans would be much more relevant avatars.

But what about last generation? Dark Scudder seems to have done nothing but run a circus, then hideout (unless they tell us later he caused World War I or something) Light Lucius (heh) did nothing "good" but chase that smuck around and has been shown to be a nasty piece of work. If Knauf has his own, special, private, secret definition of "good." I hope he shares it. I'm guessing now his world is a dark, dark place.

[Deleted]

Has it ever been said that every avatar has a life-saving mission every generation? Maybe Scudder's mission was to impregnate Flora to produce Ben, who would one day have a bigger mission? Then, once he did that, he ran away, but couldn't really escape his dark nature. Of course, Lucious' mission isn't clear. We know he was trying to kill Scudder, but I'm not sure what killing Scudder would have accomplished, since he didn't really seem to do anything terrible (well, earth-shatteringly terrible). Hmmm...

[pessimist]

If I remember correctly, wasn't the whole state of Babylon basically Scudder's fault? If I'm remembering correctly, then it makes sense that someone would've been chasing him and trying to stop his ass. You really don't want a man who can make a ghost town that sticks around forever (and who know what else he was capable of) running around free.

I've got to admit, that's one of the reasons why I became so interested in Scudder in the first place. I mean, you have this guy who has some serious badass mojo and seems hesitant to use it. Too bad Ben didn't get a chance to delve into that more...

I do, however, agree that perhaps the individual sets of CoDs and CoLs have their own purpose. Some of them might have been around solely to ensure the next generation was born, while others fought for the sake of humanity like Ben and Justin. The alternative the writers are selling us is that the world gets in mortal peril just about every 20 years or so, which seems like a bit much.

Oh, and I like Rita Sue dancing. It's good to have a reminder on TV, a medium which generally sells us that sexy only comes in a stick-thin package, that bigger women can be seen as sexy, too.

[katiebear3]

One week to go! I'm on the edge of my seat to find out whether the 20th century is going to turn out really, really, really horrible or only really, really horrible.

Also, nothing personal against large lovers, but the ideal body type back them was more like Kate Winslet (when she's large and lovely) you'd have to go back to 17th century Florence for Rita Sue's heftage to be in style. (She'd be Venus!)

[Deleted]

I think Rita Sue looks beautiful at this time (to the men watching her, at least) b/c she has some meat on her bones. During the Depression, so many people were poor and couldn't afford to eat in excess in any way, so a lot of the women these men see on a day-to-day basis are rail thin. Seeing a woman w/ meat on her bones (possibly looking more like they're own mothers, Oedipus-style) was probably a big turn-on. Plus, for the men who liked thin girls, there was Libby to watch.

Ok, all seriousness aside. Did anyone else LTAO at Ben and Jonesy's "disguises"? Those hats were hilarious. I loved how Ben had to peek out from under the brim to see who he was talking to, and Jonesy looked like he was about to audition for Casablanca. It was awesome seeing Jonesy run, showing the rest of the Carnival folks what Ben did for him. I'm hoping that means Rita Sue & Co will stick around. I'll miss Stumpy if he leaves.

[pessimist]

I loved seeing Jonesy run around like a little kid demonstrating that his knee was fixed, but I kept waiting for everyone else to go, "Okay, well, that's what he did for you. What has he done for me personally? Oh, yeah. Nothing. I think I'll leave now." I mean, I never really got the impression that Jonesy was the most popular guy in the carnival, so I don't get how his one miracle convinced everyone, especially Lila, to stick around. I guess it's a matter of believing that they're all fundamentally good people who would help out a friend in need, but I'm still just not completely convinced.

As for Rita Sue, to get back to the whole size thing, I'm not sure it's entirely a matter of her being big or small that matters. A lot of the men who attend the cooch shows seem to be portrayed as hungry for the sight of any clean, nice-looking woman, regardless of size. As long as she's attractive and willing to strip, those men seem to love it.

[Deleted]

I think the miracle itself was what convinced the carnies to stick together. They all thought Ben was just some hayseed prison escapee, until they saw what he could really do. Maybe some of them were good at heart, and wanted to do the right thing. Maybe some of them were power hungry and wanted to see what Ben's powers could do for them. Maybe some of them wanted to be a part of history in the making. I'm sure each person had their own reasons, but I doubt they had anything to do w/ what Ben was to them before Damascus.

[pessimist]

I think that's actually why the whole thing is bothering me...I don't see why a bunch of carnival folks, most especially Lila, would stick around because of one miracle Ben performed for a guy most of them don't seem to care much about, anyway. I guess I was rather hoping a couple of the others would indicate he had helped them, too, or in some way there would be more evidence presented. Of course, there may have been more evidence presented that was off-screen; I may have to just believe that.

I'm just picking at the details, anyway, because I normally don't find too much fault with the writing on this show. Yes, I generally find the characters to be dumber than a box of rocks, but at least that's been consistent.

Anyway, I'm much more interested in what's going on with Sophie at this point. She seems to have been taken in by Justin, but not so much that she's irrationally devoted. Hopefully, she'll come around and see the truth before she ends up siding against Ben completely. After spending all those years being spoon-fed every thought and idea by Appollonia, I'd be hesitant about who to believe, too. If Justin is truly good, then Ben is a liar. If Ben is telling the truth, Justin is a liar. It's a no-win situation for poor Sophie to be in and either way she's going to end up hurt and upset.

[Neurochick]

I really don't get how Sophie or anyone with a brain would think Justin is anything but creepy. I mean if a priest in my church tried to kiss me like that, I'd never go back to THAT church again. Yuk.

Now Iris knows Sophie is Justin's daughter...

I have a feeling either Iris or Sophie will kill Justin.