New series from Amazon, Victoria era urban fantasy. So far I’ve only caught the first episode although all 8 dropped at once.
Not yet, but plan to get into it this weekend!
How was the first episode?
I’m gonna watch, but probably not til next weekend.
Quite fun, interesting world-building. Bit heavy handed with their messages. Also, could we please stop the rumour that Orlando Bloom is in any way good looking?
Orlando Bloom is not bad looking, even if he’s not to your taste.
You do get a sense of there being a wider world than what you see, histories and peoples mentioned in passing but not deeply explored. It’s a bit of an anachronism stew but since it’s a fantasy that doesn’t matter.
I’m five episodes in and enjoying myself. There’s definitely some dark aspects to the story, but given it’s about war and refugees and prejudice that’s hardly surprising. There are a couple twists along the way, and I suspect the story would look different on a second viewing because you’d know which of the details were foreshadowings or connected in advance…
One thing I don’t think gets addressed too often in stories about severe prejudice is the issue of passing as the dominant group, and of people who are “halfbloods”. Since I’m not entirely through the story I’m not entirely sure where they’re going with it. (No open spoilers, please, since several people aren’t planning to watch for a week or two).
We’ve started watching it. I like it quite a bit so far, but it literally very dark. Mu husband commented that we should watch it only at night, because things were hard to make out.
Just finished it.
Wow. There are some VERY evil people in that world. And they win this round.
There are a few hope spots. Very much would like to see a second season.
I did, however, find the frequent use of the work “fucking” in the context of a pseudo-Victorian society quite jarring.
Google says the word fuck originated in the 1500s.
It’s not what I typically associate with Victorian English. Then again, most of the Victorian English I’m familiar with is the printed word, and “fuck” has long been considered “unprintable”. Given that much of Carnival Row concerns criminals, war, and slums it’s probably not that out of place, I’m just not used to it in that context.
That, and I can’t stop associating the Haruspex with the Borg Queen. The actress has a very distinctive voice to me.
So it’s like Victorian Deadwood? I may have to check this out.
I haven’t gotten around to watching Deadwood so I can’t say, but maybe you’ll watch it and let me know if that’s a fair comparison?
There are also some real heartbreaking moments, like when Philo finds the recording of “I’ll Fly for You”/lullaby and there’s a montage of his memories as a young boy in the foundling home.
[spoiler]Also, the scene where the infant Philo’s wings are amputated is pretty wrenching, I mean, it’s a scene of a baby having limbs cut off him without anesthesia, it’s pretty damn horrible. The Puck housekeeper seems to be telling herself that the boy’s wings were undersized and he probably wouldn’t be able to fly anyhow, but I got the impression that was more to ease her thoughts about cutting his wings off than necessarily true. We don’t know that Philo’s wings wouldn’t have been able to carry him, we don’t see any other half-Pix (that we’re aware of), and it’s already been established that Philo feels their lack.
On a less gory note, Vignette’s discovery that the library she had sealed to keep hidden was not only discovered, it had been entirely moved to an auction house with bits on display/for sale… but forbidden for Fae to visit, by that time in the story you understand just how horrible that is for her.[/spoiler]
Lots of big themes in the series, woven into the story: refugees, prejudice, classism, cultural appropriation/commercialization, fanaticism, and so on.
Amazon has apparently greenlit a season 2.
I watched the first episode. It was simply ok. I’ll keep it on the back of my watchlist.
I’ve got two episodes left. I really like it.
I can’t help but compare it to the Netflix movie, Bright, about humans, fairies, orcs, and other ‘fantasy’ creatures living together–though in modern times rather than a Victorian-like era. There are similar themes in both works regarding racism, oppression, segregation, and classism. I only sorta liked Bright, and I think Carnival Row is better in most respects. Granted, as a series it has much more time to world-build and develop its story than Bright had.
Orlando Bloom is good as the world-weary police detective, and I’ve been impressed with Cara Delavingne as Vignette. I’ve only seen her previously in Suicide Squad and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, neither of which left me with much opinion on her acting. She’s very good in this and her character tends to wear her heart on her sleeve so she displays some range.
And it was great to see Jared Harris (Fringe, The Expanse, Chernobyl) in this. He’s always really good. The way his part of the story is going, though, I worry his character’s son and/or wife may want him out of the way.
Looking forward to the last two episodes, and I’m glad to hear it’s already been renewed for season 2. With this and The Boys (along with a few other shows) Amazon is starting to rival Netflix for me in terms of their original series offerings.
I watched the first episode. It’s not terrible. But that’s the best I can say of it. It looks good, and the story is a pro-diversity tale, which obviously the world needs right now. Even the pixie-winged Fae were actually kind of cool.
But the story was a series of clichés. And the characters were also clichés. The actors do a decent job with what they have, but the script is just just an excuse for some cool visuals, and the characters did all kinds of nonsensical stuff - why run from danger when you can literally fly? - and I just didn’t feel like I was watching real people and situations.
It isn’t terrible, it’s just not, in my opinion, very good. Maybe it gets better, I don’t know. I just can’t raise much interest in seeing episode 2.
Yes and no - there are a few plot twists where you find out characters are not who/what you thought they were, but you don’t see that until your past the first episode.
I think the net of barbed wire strung above the woods with dead/decaying pixies dangling from it might have had something to do with all the running you see initially.
Well, it’s fantasy so some it will be, um, fantastical. If it’s not your cup of tea that’s OK, no one like everything.
I thought things improved considerably as the story moved along but if it doesn’t engage you then by all means watch something you enjoy more.
I’m up to episode 6 and I’m enjoying it. I like the steampunk feel of it, the story is interesting, there are a few different story arcs. It is dark and a bit more gory than I’m used to in shows I watch, but not too awful (so far?). Does anyone else use the Amazon Prime X-Ray feature to see who the actors are and the little paragraphs with explanations and more of the background story?
We’re currently about half-way through. Enjoying it. It does seem as though someone took a spinner to a selection of show elements to put it together, though.
“Let’s see …” [spins] “… steampunk …” [spins] “… murder mystery …” [spins] “… faeries … ? What the hell, let’s go with it.”
Yes! I’m beginning to like the X-ray more and more. I love that it’s there but unobtrusive, so you only need to see it when you want to use it, and if you’d rather watch without it that’s no problem.
You know, those are some of the most bad-ass pixies I’ve every heard of. They’re not little Tinkerbells or empty-headed little flitting things. You get the idea that they can stand toe-to-toe with any other intelligent critter in the milieu. Definitely a different take than usual on “pixie”.
Yes, all the time, and it drives me insane that neither Netflix nor Hulu give any cast info at all beyond the top two leads. Prime really does a lot of things right.