By: Webster Tilton A good opening line for this review just wouldn’t come to me. There were too many words that I needed to cram into one sentence; Acceptance, rejection, paranoia, xenophobia, alienation, bigotry, horror, intrigue, courage, love, sacrifice, heartache and pain were all at the top o...

By: Webster Tilton 

A good opening line for this review just wouldn’t come to me. There were too many words that I needed to cram into one sentence; Acceptance, rejection, paranoia, xenophobia, alienation, bigotry, horror, intrigue, courage, love, sacrifice, heartache and pain were all at the top of the list. Right under them were phrases like ‘cold blooded ambition’, ‘cynical nihilism’, ‘stubborn determination’ and ‘painfully beautiful.’
Carnival Row tells the story of the fey, the fairy folk of Irish myth, driven out of their home by a brutal invader (The Pact), and forced to live in squalor on the filthy streets of the capitol city of the their onetime ally, the Republic of the Burgue. On a good day, the fey are ignored and downtrodden. On a bad day, they are scapegoated, framed, exploited and beaten.

Into this cauldron is thrust a young fairy woman named Vignette, fleeing from the wreckage of a disastrous attempt to evacuate a group of fairies from their occupied homeland of Tirnanoc to the relative safety of the Bruguish slums where she discovers that her former lover, a Bruguish soldier named Philo, survived the war when she thought him dead. Philo is a constable investigating a series of grisly murders that nobody else much cares about because, after all, the victims aren’t people, they’re fey.

My verdict up front: Watch Carnival Row immediately. The atmosphere, texture, characters, dialogue, pacing, production value and overall feel of this series are marvelous. It’ll suck you in quickly, so be ready to binge for a few hours at a time. Then be prepared for the fact that it’ll be at least a year before we see any more. Be advised: While it isn’t quite as hard a TV-MA rating as The Boys was, the rating is well earned all the same. Minor spoilers ahead.

I almost don’t know where to start. Everything about this series is good, so what qualifies as a highlight? How about the way Orlando Bloom portrays Philo; a man in constant pain who knows all too well it’ll only get worse, but marches along anyway because he believes that someone, somewhere ought to care enough to try and stop the slaughter. How about Cara Delevingne’s portrayal of Vignette; the proud, angry and desperate refugee, who carries the guilt of fleeing for her own life when many more remained in occupied territory and is met with nothing but disdain by a city that despises her kind. And those are just the leads. The supporting roles are done just as well, and they flesh out a rich, colorful and textured world that feels all too real in spite of the fantasy setting. None of the characters feel like clichés or stereotypes, not even the ones who don’t change at all.

Then there are the character arcs. Not only do all of the major characters have them, they all intersect with and influence each other in unpredictable and believable ways. Every time I thought I knew what was coming, I was at least halfway wrong. More impressively, the series managed to pull this off without trying too hard. Expectations are subverted, but only sometimes; the net result being that you really do not know what is going to happen next. In one particular scene the daughter of a murdered politician arrives in parliament to fill his seat until the next election. Then, out of nowhere, while giving her speech, she executes a heel turn so cold blooded and viscous that it made my head spin. As events progress the identity and motivations of the hidden villain are hinted at, but never telegraphed. And when the reveal comes it provides the kind of satisfaction that you only get from finally solving a difficult puzzle after a long struggle.

First Amazon video gave us The Boys and now they give us Carnival Row. In the past they gave us The Tick, What We Do in the Shadows, Bosch, Tin Star and many others. They also rescued the superb series ‘The Expanse’ from an untimely death with one season already produced and another already greenlit. So, it would seem that the long-dominant HBO finally has real competition in the domain of ultra-high-end TV series. Netflix has some solid offerings as well, although they aren’t punching at quite the same weight as HBO and Amazon. If you haven’t already watched Altered Carbon, Narcos, Disenchanted and ‘Love, Death and Robots’ then you’re missing a treasure trove. Happy watching.