Carnivàle: Season 1

There was a time in the middle of the last decade when HBO could do no wrong. Look specifically at 2003-2005. The Sopranos was still going. The Wire had hit its prime. Deadwood and Rome had just debuted. Curb Your Enthusiasm was still doing a season every year. Entourage wasn't terrible yet. Six Feet Under was wrapping up. And somewhere in the background, a quirky little show named Carnivàle ran for two seasons and 24 episodes. I requested and received those two seasons on DVD last Christmas. I did so not because I'd even heard anything about the show, but out of brand loyalty to the mid-decade powerhouse that HBO was. (This is the same mistake that led me to sit through an entire season of AMC's The Killing, but the less said about that, the better.) And I'm sad to say it, but I just wasn't nearly as interested in this show as I'd hoped to be. All the elements were in place. A 1930s setting, an array of interesting characters ("freaks" in a traveling carnival), and tons of religious allegory and symbolism. But for everything that Carnivàle had, a compelling plot was missing. Maybe this was just a case of everything being way too convoluted for me to understand some sort of simpler narrative beneath it all. I'll admit, by the middle of the season I'd already completely lost interest, and as such, kind of phoned in my attention span the rest of the way. Apparently I wasn't alone, as I can hardly find a summary of any episodes anywhere on the Internet. Critical reviews seemed to echo my own inability to follow a narrative thread, and even the show's biggest fans don't seem able to provide one on their websites. And that's too bad. I kind of feel like this is a big missed opportunity. And whether I mean the show missing the opportunity to impress me, or my missed opportunity to enjoy a subtle and articulate show, I'm not sure. But there's a disconnect one way or the other. Allegedly the upcoming second season is a bit more plot-driven and has an obvious (if cliche) "good vs. evil" conflict at its center. I'm still on the hook for that second season (though thankfully that's all there is), and I hope that whenever I do decide to give it a go, I can do a better job of meeting the show halfway; maybe I won't understand or care about half the stuff that's going on, but that doesn't mean I should just browse the Internet while the show kind of happens in the background. I'll have time to do that during Season 7 of Entourage, after all.