I just finished watching Season 1 of Carnivale, which I've had coming from Netflix over the last few months.
I'm done.
Went and took a look at some reviews, there are a lot of people saying "It's probably too dense for the average audience." Uh. No, that's about the exact opposite of my problem. Nothing happened throughout the whole first season. Spoilered below so as not to ruin the show for anyone still planning to watch it.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)So we open the series with the foreboding prophecy about avatars and creatures of light and darkness. Okay, so it's like Nightwatch but not stupid. Good. Then we have Nick Stahl (who, back in high school, I was constantly told that I look like - not so much anymore, which is just as well because his most memorable role is probably as the pedophile Yellow Bastard in Sin City) burying his mom and getting picked up by the Carnivale. Also, there's this creepy priest guy who gives me the willies, but that just might be because I think apocalyptic talk is creepy. Maybe if I was Christian it wouldn't bug me. Anyway. Not a lot of explanation to anything, sort of cryptic, but okay, I'm in. Let's see what you've got.
So we find out Nick Stahl has weird powers. And so does the priest guy. And neither of them really knows what's going on or where they come from, but they seem to be able to control them. And Nick Stahl has nightmares.
A bunch of weird, unrelated, random shit happens that doesn't develop the plot or reveal any meaningful information. And they write "taravataravataravat" on a wall and expect you not to instantly recognize that it's the word "avatar" repeated. And more weird shit happens, and it really doesn't tell you anything that you can expect to glean any information from without the aid of DVD commentary, and also some side characters are fucking people they shouldn't be fucking and other side characters are unhappy about it.
Fast forward to the end of the season. So Nick Stahl and the priest guy have weird powers, and neither of them really knows what's going on or where they come from, but they seem able to control them. And Nick Stahl is still having nightmares. Oh but he figured out the word he saw was "avatar." So that's something.
I should've known there was a problem when I was on disc 5 and wasn't yet sure if it was a good show. It's hard to judge when nothing has happened yet. Now I realize that I set the bar for "things happening" too high for them. Compare to season 1 of Dexter, where we not only meet the characters (which Season 1 of Carnivale does do), but we learn things about them (Carnivale doesn't), a clear and major plotline develops (Carnivale doesn't) and is resolved (Carnivale doesn't) and the season ends with a clear direction (Carnivale doesn't).
Too dense? If this show was any less dense it'd be broth. And looking at the Wikipedia article for the show, I learn the guy had planned to stretch this story out over six seasons. Chinese water torture seems like a particularly apt metaphor for that suggestion.
Maybe I'm just not impressed by Christian mythology.
