Summary: After a leisurely debut season, HBO's stunningly creative cable-television series CARNIVALE stepped up the pace in round two of its mythic tale of good and evil set against the surreal backdrop of a Depression-era travelling circus. By the beginning of the second season, carnival roustie-cum-Christ-figure Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) has grudgingly accepted his destiny as a "creature of light" while continuing to search for his godlike father, Henry Scudder (John Savage), in a Homeric odyssey that takes him from his demented backwoods clan to an eerily cloying maker of death masks. Meanwhile, Ben's nemesis, the evil preacher Brother Justin (Clancy Brown), does his best to instigate an apocalyptic showdown via an increasingly powerful right-wing political campaign. When polar-opposite avatars Ben and Justin finally meet in the season's final moments, the result is one of the most powerfully emotional, profound, and shocking climaxes in television history. Though it was unduly cancelled after this season (the show was conceived by creator Daniel Knauf as a six-season story arc), CARNIVALE is an ephemeral gem that will undoubtedly be considered as groundbreaking as that other benchmark of the dark and bizarre, TWIN PEAKS.

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The second season of HBO's Depression-era gothic--John Steinbeck by way of Tod Browning--picks up where the first left off. Professor Lodz (Patrick Bauchau) is dead. Ben (Nick Stahl), the show's protagonist, appears to be the culprit. Samson (Michael J. Anderson) helps him dispose of the body. Later he tells the other carnival workers that Lodz "took a powder." Lila (Debra Christofferson) doesn't buy it. Meanwhile, Sophie (Clea DuVall), who lost her mother to fire the previous year, feels unmoored without her guidance. A few states away, Brother Justin (Clancy Brown) harbors ever greater delusions of grandeur--and inappropriate thoughts about his sister, Iris (Amy Madigan). In "Alamagordo, NM," he decides to establish a temple, which he dubs Jonestown, er, Jericho. At the same time, life amongst the carnies, who are heading towards Justin's California, is becoming increasingly tense. Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), for instance, is starting to see dead people--like Lodz--and Stumpy (Toby Huss) is no longer able to keep his gambling in check. As with the first season, the action continues to alternate between the carnival and the congregation. What binds the two is a man named Scudder (John Savage), who has connections to Ben and Justin. Although writer/creator Dan Knauf had planned to tie things up between seasons three and six, HBO did not renew Carnivàle a second time. Nonetheless, a surprising number of questions are answered, like the identity of "Management" (voiced by an un-credited Linda Hunt) and whether Ben and Justin will have a final showdown. The answer to the latter question is: Yes, they will--and there’ll be casualties. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Release Date:	August 7, 2006
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 025493
Keywords:	Six, Box, General, Series, Set, Tv, Drama, Discs, Carnivale
Genre:	Drama