ORLANDO BLOOM as RYCROFT PHILOSTRATE

Carnival Row (2019-)

Tamzin Merchant: 👩‍🦰

Carnival Row 2x02 “New Dawn”

One Dress a Day Challenge

Anything Goes December

Carnival Row (s1 e5, "Grieve No More") / Tamzin Marchant as Imogen Spurnrose

This may be my favorite of Imogen's gowns in season 1, but I was never sure what color to call it--gold? Brown? Yellow, even? The material has a sheen, and I've included a close-up to show the floral design and the contrasting texture between the dress and the edging at the neck.

The dress also marks the transition between the pastels that Imogen wears in early episodes and the deeper, mostly red tones she wears in the second half. You can literally see the red emerging from underneath. And this episode is the midpoint of the season.

One other interesting detail is her hair ornament. I thought at first that it was made of thin metal, but looking at its thickness and translucence, I now think it is some sort of horn. A subtle connection between Imogen and Mr. Agreus, perhaps?

So, I just finished Carnival Row season two. Here’s my thoughts (spoilers ahead).

I really liked it at first, but it just kept going downhill. Season one had a twisty storyline, but pretty much all the pieces fit together in the end. This season felt way more convoluted and much less character driven. They tried to do stuff with characters’ motivations, like exploring Philo’s guilt over suppressing his fae heritage and “siding” with humans. It’s just that none of it felt as authentic or compelling as it did in the first season. As a writer myself, there’s a difference between “the characters did this” and “the writers made the characters do this.” It’s a hard difference to explain, but this season felt like the latter. Stuff just happened because it could, with little attention paid to actually exploring character depth in meaningful ways. Overall it felt too rushed and convoluted.

Other points:

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you’ll know I love Philo. This season, however, he felt far less humanized (which is ironic, because the writers were trying to do just that). His arc in season one was so focused on helping people — he was so defined by his compassion — and I really didn’t feel that was present in season two. He felt significantly less sympathetic.

I couldn’t bring myself to ship Vignette and Tourmaline. Their relationship was a major focus in season one, and it was established that Vignette chose Philo, and that she and Tourmaline were better as friends. I just really hate it when a show establishes two characters as a couple and then totally changes direction in the next season. Philo and Vignette were written as endgame in season one, including the finale, and this season totally erased that. It felt like narrative whiplash.

Why did they bother establishing a connection between Tourmaline and Darius and setting them up to be a cute couple to then do nothing with it? And then just kill him? Lazy writing. Make it flow.

I actually really liked Imogen this season. Her growth in season one was great, and it was cool to see her spunk and competence this season especially in the last few episodes. Also, having her kill Ezra felt narratively fulfilling. He had it coming based on how he’d treated her, and I didn’t feel sorry for him at all.

I will never forgive this show for killing Sophie Longerbane. She was 100% the most interesting character on the show, and just as she was getting even more interesting, they killed her. Let smart, fascinating, ambitious women live, thank you. Seriously. Her arc was so good, and I was so excited to see what she’d do next, and then she DIED. How dare you.

Honestly, the show was more interesting before Sophie and Jonah were killed.

What happened to Philo’s “I’m Breakspear’s son and I’ll be chancellor to help people” plot line? It disappeared after like episode two and only appeared again in the epilogue. For a show about fantasy politics, this season almost totally ignored the most interesting political stuff in its own plot.

Speaking of the epilogue. I like what it did, but holy crap that was too rushed. I need at least a few more episodes to explain how everyone got to that point. I love happy endings, especially to stressful stories, but this felt like a cop-out from actual storytelling. I want the story of Philo revealing his parentage and becoming chancellor. Do Imogen and Agreus get married? I need way more development for Vignette and Tourmaline’s relationship. I just need more. The middle of the season felt like a lot of filler; they could easily have cut that and done a couple more episodes to ACTUALLY wrap up the show.

As always, the costumes and sets were STUNNING. This season had better win awards for that.

Fantastical character posters for the second and final season of #CarnivalRow 🧚🏻‍✨ Series starts streaming Feb 17 on #PrimeVideo.

“It’s a beautiful thing to think that the world can be different than it is - beautiful, but dangerous.”

- Imogen Spurnrose, Carnival Row S2:E6 “original sins”

tv review

Carnival Row Season 1 Season 2:

11/11

Best tv show I had watch in a while. and I binged watch it as well. The season final was wonderful and the sets are beautiful. Im so used to everything cgi that i was surprized some of the characters design is non-cgi which is refreshing.

TAMZIN MERCHANT as IMOGEN SPURNROSE

Carnival Row (2019-)

....ok yeah i’m not a fan of taking a break from the really intense fucked up serial killing monster political thriller in the Burge for...Imogen and Agreus have relationship troubles in fantasy communist land

it is completely destroying the pacing, and tbh their characters feel a bit like season 1 relics. they should have just escaped happy and have been done with it

Carnival Row 2x01 “Fight or Flight”

Carnival Row 2.03 The Martyr’s Hand ↳ 3,309 1080p logofree screencaps

Carnival Row 2.04 An Unkindness of Raven ↳ 3,503 1080p logofree screencaps