CARNIVÀLE

It's called entertainment.

 

it's more like a bad acid trip

 

You tripped on acid? Wow bro.

Naw, I like the scenarios and the twisted sense of reality.
The story line is not bad. I wonder if the boy and the girl "Sophie" are brother and sister?
If so, he did the nasty with his sister.

 

funny. i thought he was german, but as soon as he was identified as russian (and management) i figured he was justin's father alright.



you guys notice how norman is very much like sophie's mom was? dunno if that's supposed to be a parallel or just a coincidence.


and yeah, i've been thinking sophie is somehow related to hawkins, but i dunno. there was a scene of her mom being raped by the guy with the tree tattoo who seems to be a third character (the "usher"?) or maybe scudder's got that tat? in mexico, there seemed to be a different person with it, tho.

 

I thought Scudder had the tree tat?

 

The treeman is now Justin, he got the tat's from the Chinese tatoo parlor. In Sophie's vision last year, she sees a treeman raping her mom. We don't know if this is a real vision or not.

Justin and Iris are management's kids. Their mother died in a train crash...the kids gre up with Norman. Ben just killed management, which now makes Justin the usher of darkness.

 

Dang! That explains a lot EB thanks

 

i tend to think the visions are real. sophie has said that her father raped her mom, so i'm guessing the tree man is her father. the tree man in mexico was somebody i didn't recognize, tho it certainly could have been scudder or even management, tho i doubt it. i suppose it could have been a previous generation (the names in that one book seemed to be lineage of the ushers or whatever you'd call them)...

i don't think justin has ascended with management out of the way. in fact, i think ben has. just as justin was told to kill scudder to become the usher, we can presume that ben's killing of management would similarly raise his status. the scholar guy who approached justin before will make a return next episode to shed some light on the situation.

 

pickin up some serious steam now! so many episodes have been kinda slow or nothing major has happened, and now we're getting some big, big things going on. i wonder how many more episodes are left this season...

oh yeah, it's moving to 10pm next week to make room for deadwood. sweet.

 

Gleaned from another site:

We pick up right where we left off last episode, where Lucius resurrects himself and grabs Ben by the throat. But it wasn't to kill him! It was to impart a vision...

Ben is standing next to the Big Gnarly Tree, and being told by the much younger, fully limbed Russian, that the tree represents The Usher. He also takes out The Annointed Switchblade, saying "A dark heart dwells where branches meet" ,and then proceeds to jab the knife into the tree, which begins to bleed blue sap. Lucius lays hands on Ben's forehead. Ben begins to scream.

Back in BJ's parlor, Brother Justin is having a fit. He's obviously reacting to the death of Lucius - or Ben's vision - and is thrown onto the floor, where he writhes in pain. Father Norman even gets into the act with this one, and struggles to speak in tongues, but says nothing. Sister Iris sits on the couch, watching them both, not knowing what to do. Eleanor, the coin-out-of-the-mouth lady, enters with a tray of snacks. She sees BJ lift his head, his eyes as black as coals. Eleanor freaks and drops the tray. "That will be all, Eleanor" Iris calmly tells her, as Eleanor goes screaming out of the room like a banshee. (well, maybe I embellished that a bit)

Back in Management's trailer, Lucius releases his grip on Ben. He tells him something that I absolutely could not understand, even though I played the tape back over and over a dozen times. It was something like "Accept, you can defeat" or something like that. I wish Lucius wouldn't whisper like that! Well, I guess he won't anymore.

Ben looks at The Holy Switchblade, and notices that the blue blood surrounding it slowly evaporates. Ben turns his head just in time to see Scudder scurry out of the trailer. Scudder stumbles his way through the carnival crowd. Ruthie sees him. She realizes she's seeing more dead people, no doubt, because she doesn't even bother to run after him.

Scudder stumbles his way to the parking lot and collapses between two cars. A man approaches him from behind. It's Stroud. (I had a feeling he followed Ben and Scudder). Stroud pulls out a syringe and plunges it into Scudder's neck. He tells him they're going on a little trip.

Ben leaves Management's trailer and yells out for Scudder. Samson approaches him. "Scudder?!!" he says to Ben. Ben tells Samson that Scudder was there, but now he's gone, then Ben run's off. Samson seems confused.

Jonesy and Libby are having a night on the town to celebrate their fornication. They fall out of a bar, drunk on their collective asses. They stumble their way into the street where they almost get hit by a car. They laugh it off and give each other a big passionate kiss. They head down the street to the Dirty Little Chapel of Love.

BJ is now lying on his bed, recuperating from his fit. Iris stands over him and begins to unbutton his shirt. Justin stops her, obviously concerned that she will not approve of his new chest tattoo. She asks him what he remembers, but BJ doesn't recall that he flopped on the floor like a bass in a fishing boat, nor that his eyes turned pitch black.

After Iris leaves his bedroom, she is met by Eleanor in the hallway. "Did you see the devil in him?" she asks Iris. "Shame on you!" Iris chides her, then rushes downstairs to clean up the devil vomit on the living room floor.

The guy that owes Stumpy money (I forget his name) shows up demanding his money from Stumpy. He is just about to punch Stumpy when Rita Sue appears from inside the tent. She tells the guy he can either punch Stumpy or he can come into the tent to discuss how he can be, uh, 'paid back'.

Inside the tent, Rita Sue offers to give him 10% of the take, and then offers to service him. He tells her that won't be necessary, since his business got 'shot off in a barley field'. In other words, he prefers a cash transaction. He tells Rita Sue that he'll take $100 a week until the $800 debt is paid off. Rita Sue seems Royally Stumped.

Ben returns to Management's trailer where Samson is shocked at seeing Lucius dead on the floor. Samson thinks that Scudder killed Lucius. Ben tells him that no, he did it. Samson asks why. Ben tells him that he had to die. That Lucius had been keeping tabs on everyone, and that he orchestrated the whole thing - bringing Scudder and Ben and himself together, then attacked Scudder - so that Ben would kill him. This way, all of Management's powers would transfer to Ben. "He knows I couldn't kill him except to save my father" he tells Samson.

While Samson is trying to take all this in, Ben continues, telling Samson that he is now The Prince. I guess now Ben will be known as The Artist Formerly Known As Ben. He tells Samson that Lucius - aka Management - was also The Prophet. He pulls a book out of the bookcase (a bible?!) and tosses it on the table in front of Samson. He quotes some kind of scripture to Samson, saying that 'Upon his death The Prince shall rise'. Samson call Ben a dumb hack son-of-a-bitch, and leaves the trailer.

Ben knocks on Sofie's trailer. Lila answers, with her hair and beard up in curlers. Lila tells Ben that Sofie was gone - that she stayed behind after their last stop. Ben seems stunned at hearing the news.

BJ is having breakfast when the phone rings. Iris answers. She thinks it's one of the church elders calling to complain about BJ's latest radio sermon. It turns out the caller is Varlyn Stroud. BJ decides to take the call....only after insisting that Iris leaves the room. Iris puckers her lips and leaves. Or maybe her lips were already puckered, I couldn't tell.

Stroud tells BJ that he has Scudder, that they're in Nebraska, and that it will take about 3 days for them to make it to BJ's place. Stroud hangs up and goes into the bathroom of the gas station they are stopped at. He takes some kind of cleansing powder sitting on the counter and pours it into his wounded hand. (His palm is sliced very deep - did he get this when he punched the mirror back in Damascus?!) He screams out in pain. Obviously, Ajax is not good for gaping wounds.

While Stroud is busy pouring salt in his wound, a car with a young couple pulls up to the gas station. The young guy gets out of the car and pulls out a gun and proceeds to rob the gas station attendant. Just as the attendant is turning over the money to him, Stroud comes out of the bathroom and nonchalantly shoots the guy in the head - then shoots the girl twice - on his way back to his car. The gas station attendant approaches Stroud to thank him. Stroud shoots him, too. Stroud leans into their car, where Scudder is tied up and stuffed into the floor of the backseat. "Looks like we've got a ragtop" he tells him, meaning they will be switching cars.

By the way, was that supposed to be Bonnie and Clyde?!

It is now daytime and Ben stands outside, slowly facing four different directions. When he faces West, he feels buzzed. I guess this is how Management gets his directions. Jonesy sees him, but he proceeds to his tent, where Libby is just waking up. Libby freaks out after seeing the wedding ring on her finger. Jonesy enters their honeymoon tent. They share an awkward 'morning after' moment, then he gives her a quick kiss, telling her he's off to work. He leaves the tent. The tent flap opens again, and Rita Sue is standing there, Really Steamed. She enters the tent, grabs Libby by the hand, and drags her out. Libby breaks free, showing Rita Sue her new wedding ring. Rita Sue is Really Shocked. She runs off crying.

Ben and Samson are back in Management's trailer. Ben tells Samson that they must head West. That this involves the bald man and that there's still a chance they can catch up with him and Scudder. Samson is acting pissed. He is short with Ben. Samson wants to know what he did with Lucius' body. Ben tells him that he 'ascended'. Samson asks him what the hell that means. Ben struggles to explain that Lucius ascended to Heaven. Samson is holding the sheet that covered Lucius. There's an imprint on the sheet. It looks like the face of Lucius, I guess. Samson waves the Shroud of Lucius in Ben's face, asking him if he really knew who he was. Ben explains that yes, he knew, because now that's who he is. Samson tells Ben that he might be Managment, but he's no friend of his.

Templeton, the congressman from Season One, visits Justin at his home on the hill. They discuss politics, mainly that Justin wants him to speak at his next meeting. Templeton tells him that 'it takes more than one speech to win an election'. Justin obviously wants a politician in his pocket. He takes Templeton out of the house and shows him the multitude of followers down the hill. He tells him there are over 17,000 unregistered voters down there. Tempeton seems impressed.

Rita Sue and Stumpy tries to talk some sense into Libby as she packs her bags, getting ready to officially move out of her family's tent. Actually, Rita Sue does the talking. Stumpy just sits there, not saying much of anything. That is, until Libby tells them both as she is leaving that her new hubby doesn't want her doing the cootch show anymore. That gets Stumpy's attention!

Samson knocks on Ruthie's trailer door. She answers, looking pretty out of it. Samson enters her trailer, where Ruthie explains that she has been seeing dead people again. This time it was Scudder. Samson assures her that she's not crazy, that Scudder really was there last night. Ruthie tells Samson that she saw him being put into a car by a big bald man.

Stumpy approaches Jonesy, who is working the ferris wheel. He offers Jonesy a drink. A good Christian woman sees this and disapproves, taking her children out of the ferris wheel line. Stumpy invites Jonesy and Libby to a good old fashioned dinner. Jonesy relunctantly agrees.