In a post Game of Thrones world, producers are rushing to fill the void left by the cultural phenomenon. Amazon, for instance, is working on both a Lord of the Rings and a Wheel of Time adaptation. While these will take a while to take shape, Carnival Row is Amazon’s first volley in this direction.
Based on a script by Travis Beacham called A Murder on Carnival Row, it features a gloomy Victorian world populated by all kinds of magical creatures, centering around a a series of murders that are being investigated by the lead, Rycroft Philostrate (Orlando Bloom), known as Philo to most people.
The crux of the story is the romance between Philo and Vignette (Cara Delevigne), a librarian turned resistance fighter who Philo meets in the middle of a war. Philo hails from the Burgue, a city state most reminiscent of Britain, while Vignette calls Anoun home, a land that’s been recently invaded by another human faction called the Pact. The two bond over books and libraries, and soon fall in love with each other. After a series of unfortunate events, they become estranged, until Vignette makes the passage from Anoun to the Burgue.
For better or for worse, most of Carnival Row is informed by romance. There is the case of Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant), who’s drawn to a newly arrived faun named Agreus (David Gyasi). There’s Jonah Breakspear, son of Chancellor Absalom Breakspear (Jared Harris), who starts a forbidden affair with Sophia Longerbane, the daughter of his father’s rival. There’s his mother, Piety (Indira Varma) who is constantly scheming for her son’s fortune.
There’s a lot happening in the first season, including constant nods to racism and discrimination against immigrants; there’s political intrigue and hidden trysts. There’s also a terrifying monster lurking beneath streets: Philo spends a lot of time trying to find out what it is and how to tackle it, before being ensnared in another plot.
The show’s stabs at scheming often feel like it’s own attempt to render characters like Littlefinger and Cersei. However, conflicts are often brought up and resolved rapidly, leaving little time for the tension to brew and spill over.
While the show is visually stunning, its narrative isn’t always as strong as it could be. This first season is more of an appetizer, setting the stage for things to come. While the romance between Philo and Vignette is supposed to form the core of the story, their chemistry isn’t always convincing. We only get to see them together briefly in the third episode, and in the present day, they are often beset by other problems to come together in a meaningful way.
There is a lot of potential to be mined in the premise: the faerie subculture, and the internal mythologies surrounding Mimas and Haruspexes. But it’s often left unexplored, as the show chooses to rather focus on the surface-level politics and social tensions.
Overall, Carnival Row isn’t a completely missed opportunity. It does an adequate job at worldbuilding and the cast is mostly solid. However, it’s a mostly okay show when it could have been much better. Let’s hope that season two picks up the pace.