Friday 31 March 2006

Friday 31 March 2006

CARNIVALE - Season 2

I'm finally getting round to watching the second season of HBO's Carnivale. I became aware of this show last year and tore through the first season DVD. I've always been drawn to supernatural good versus evil stories, and Carnivale is a fine example of the genre.

Carnivale follows a travelling carnival across the Dust Bowl of America, focusing on Ben Hawkins, a mysterious 18-year-old fugitive with hidden talents who is taken in by the carnival, and Brother Justin, the charismatic, shadowy evangelist who will ultimately cross his path. The series takes place at a time of worldwide unrest, with evil on the rise around the globe and the Great Depression wreaking economic and social havoc across the country...

As you'd expect from HBO (makers of The Sopranos, Sex & The City and Deadwood), the quality of the production is exemplary throughout. The actors are also brilliant, particularly Nick Stahl (Terminator 3), Clancy Brown (Highlander), Clea Duvall (The Grudge) and Michael J. Anderson (the backward-talking dwarf in David Lynch's Twin Peaks).

Of course, Carnivale was cruelly cancelled last year. The slow, deliberate pace of the first season wasn't to everyone's taste, and even though the second season apparently improves on this perceived flaw, it was too late by then. It's ratings, ratings, ratings in the US of A, folks!

Just to rub salt in the wound, I've heard season 2 ends on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved, but that won't stop me enjoying another 12 episodes of a fantastic show. I urge you to buy the first season DVD and catch season 2 on the UK's Sci-Fi Channel (if it's repeated). If you loved Twin Peaks and the similarly ill-fated American Gothic, you won't regret it...