Carnivàle

I've meant to write a long, in-depth review of the cancelled American TV series Carnivàle for more than a year now. What it really needs is a complete, detailed run-through of each episode of the first season and, because it's such an insanely detailed show, that requires a lot of time. Now that I'm finally getting around to it, I think I'll post in episodic installments - although I can't promise I'll make them short. I'll also try and provide some stills here and there to break up the reviews.

For the moment, I'll give a brief (to use the word lightly) summary of the series. Carnivàle is one of the greatest, most artistically-realised, intelligent, nuanced TV shows ever made. I can't think of a single American program to compare it with in the last ten years, perhaps even before that. It was extremely well-written, it had some of the best, most artistically rich cinematography ever seen on television, and an ideal cast. Daniel Knauf, the series creator, wrote a really detailed, logically intricate and historically infused backstory rooted in Christian theology and mysticism, and at the same time managed to create a number of characters very strongly rooted in reality to apply it to. That balance, between the academic, worldly and spiritual and the exploration of individual suffering in a setting strongly grounded in a past reality, is what separates Carnivale (in particular, the first season) from ordinary television and fair and what makes it such an great experience to involve yourself in.

It's set in Depression-era 1930's America, in the Dust Bowl, and follows two separate stories: a young, poor man being picked up by a travelling carnival in Oklahoma, and a socially-conscious Methodist preacher in small-town California trying to open his congregation to the influx of poverty-stricken migrants. Of course, this is just at the outset of the story - the plot unwinds at a steady rate from episode to episode and details like the ones mentioned grow into and are replaced by entirely different events and consequences. I'm not sure if I'm being terribly unique in describing the show in this fashion, but I feel it's important to stress the nature of the show as a serial, with each episode being only self-contained in themes, not plot (although they still make a great watch on their own if you've seen the entire series).

There, I think that just about sets out what I wanted to say. Expect the next post to be a full recap and analysis of Milfay.