Carnival Row

By starrymag | March 27, 2023

By: Dawn Inchaurregui-Miller

 

 

The episode opens up with a view across the Burgue. People are gathering at the gates of Carnival Row shouting and throwing things. Phaedra (Eve Ponsonby), Vignette (Cara Delevingne) and Kaine (Jay Ali) look down upon the scene together. Phaedra states she is glad they are riled up from the attacks they made on the pub the night before, but doesn’t understand Vignette why they needed to bring them to the Row.

 

Philo (Orlando Bloom) walks at full pace with Darius (Ariyon Bakare) attempting to keep up with him. Vignette is storming by for her own reasons and they bump headlong into each other, share a look and then head opposite ways. Darius wants him to stop and go back to Tourmaline (Karla Crome) but he has to warn Parliament the sparas is coming for them meaning the attacks and  crowd at the Row is only a distraction. Darius doesn’t care about Parliament or the New Dawn, he wants to keep Tourmaline safe, who he feels Philo has intentionally endangered.

 

Darius comes back to Tourmaline saying he can protect her without Philo and begins to get things ready. She tells him to go as she cant fight the sparas as well as his inner monster if he changes. She stands visibly shaking after making him leave, wanting to face her death alone.

 

Milworthy (Simon McBurney) walks with The Pact representatives, telling them he is obliged to let Imogen speak but apologising for the last minute meeting. He tells them they will wait outside rather than have to face each other but when they insist on being present, he tells them he will advise this to the parties. He leaves them in a room to sit opposite Imogen (Tamzin Merchant) and Kastor (George Georgiou) who discuss Agreus’ horn being removed. She asks how can she trust they won’t  kill him even if she gives the speech, to which he replies that she doesn’t.

 

Agreus (David Gyasi) hangs topless by his arms, turning gently, he moves into view the wound where his horn was removed. Vignette isn’t happy about his injuries when she notices him from across the room, but Kaine (Jay Ali) states that it’s because he stood against them. Leonora (Joanne Whalley) addresses the New Dawn and the Black Ravens, thanking them for the attacks that will bring the fight to the Row. When asked, she tells them the sparas will fight elsewhere. She plans to let the mob enter, giving them no resistance and only firing down when they reach a certain point. Vignette thinks that Oberon Square would be a better choice as it has more surrounding roof coverage with places for them to hide in position. She and Kaine are who they have come for so they offer to be the bait, hinging the whole plan around the two of them.

 

Philo is racing to warn Parliament when a glass is smashed across the back of his head by Thatch (Ryan Hayes) who calls him a critch and stringing him up by his neck. Whistles blow as police on horseback ride past, cutting the rope and dropping him to the ground as they go.

 

Imogen reads Kastors speech but points out it isn’t written in the correct formality. He responds that she may change it up as she knows best. She looks up in time to notice a look exchanged between Kastor and General Vir (Andrew Buchan).

 

Milworthy, Fletcher (Fraser James) and Winetrout (Brian Caspe) discuss options while they get ready for the address in Parliament, finally agreeing all should be in the same room together. Milworthy notifies them that they are ready for the address when Imogen suddenly fakes fainting, falling to the ground. As Milworthy bends to help her up she discreetly tells him she thinks The Pact are allies with the New Dawn after a look of recognition was exchanged and she believes something bad may be about to happen.

 

The mob of humans continue to shout and bang outside the gates of carnival row. The Black Ravens hand out their weapons and all begin to take their positions.

 

Milworthy confronts General Vir, asking how long he has been working for the New Dawn. He pauses before considering how to respond, smiles and tells him that the pact are finished. He wants peace and is prepared to die for his principles, just as Milworthy has always been a man of his own. He wants to know if he will stand with or against him, calling him a rare breed and a good man.

 

Agreus still hanging by his arms gently lifts his head to the side to watch the room clear out. Once they have gone he rubs the robe on the hook, cutting himself free. As he slowly ducks making his way through the empty factory, he kills the last fae inside that attempt to stop him from escaping.

 

As the mob outside chant “kill the critch,” police hold them back with linked arms and Dombey (Jamie Harris) stands with his back to the gates. Everyone cheers as Thatch walks to the front, leading the mob. Dombey gestures for them to let him pass and asks if he is sure he can deal with what he’s about to do as there will be a reckoning. Thatch believes that they are the reckoning. Dombey then opens the gates and after letting him pass through, he screams for them all to follow. Vignette and Kaine wait for their moment. They are forced to silently sit through the acts of horror that mark the start of the battle before enough of them are through the gates. Pix women are hung from their windows and others have their wings cut off from them out in the street.

 

Philo is stopped by armed guards as he rides to the Houses of Parliament on horseback. He shouts that the sparas is inside but pulls a soldier close saying they must have a plan before sounding the alarm.

 

Back in the Row the mob enjoy themselves as they indiscriminately torture and murder the faefolk. They laugh as they prepare to bash a pucks horns in with a hammer, but before a blow can be struck, a knife is stabbed into him. The man falls dead showing Vignette and Kaine stood within a few arms reach. They turn on their heels, running the opposite direction leading the mob following immediately behind.

As they flow into the Square, Leonora tells them to wait for more to arrive. They look down on them setting fires to the houses that surround the square.

 

Philo passes Vir as he enters the room to warn Milworthy, leaning in to whisper that Vir is the sparas. Vir overhears him as he says they need to buy time for the guards to evacuate Parliament. Vir clicks his head, beginning to snarl and puts his hand through a nearby guard as he slowly changes in front of them. The sparas flies through the halls attacking everyone it passes, philo warns Parliament to lock its doors, then knocking it back out of the room through the inside, takes it back out into the hall with him. As it gets back up and comes for the door again, Philo shoots it from behind, but just as it turns to come after him Tourmaline calls out to it. Eyes lit up brightly with blue, she manages to take a small amount of control over it using the blood potion she prepared. Crashing into walls under her influence, it takes flight through the window to make its way after her. Philo realising this, chases after it.

 

Vignette looks up from the ground at the sparas, saying aloud that it shouldn’t be there, but when she tries to go, Kaine attempts to stop her. He appeals to her that they are finally where they wanted with the war, but she continues to fight him off, until he sees a man behind her holding up a gun and turning to protect her, is shot. Vignette holds him as he falls to his knees and flees to Tourmaline after Leonora takes a shot at Vignette herself. The New Dawn and Black Ravens having caught their attention now begin to shoot down upon the mob, forcing Thatch to seek cover in a nearby house.

 

Tourmaline hearing the sparas nearing the house, takes a moment to prepare herself and then another before meeting it head on outside the house. She holds a hand up in front of her, leading them into a screaming stand off in front of the window. Darius comes running in his marrock from jumping up at it and drives it back through the window. Tourmaline backs off and waits a moment before Darius is thrown injured back through the window they had both smashed through. The sparas climbs out into the terrace, slowly walking towards Tourmaline who then uses her abilities to control it as much as she can. It is cast aside time and again, but continues to try for an attack. Suddenly Vignette arrives holding a torch of fire, burning the sparas and knocking it to the floor. No sooner does she turn and smile at Tourmaline before it has already risen to its feet and flown at her, hurtling her backward. Philo enters the scene and begins to fight it. He lets it cover around him seemingly to consume his stomach with its inner mouth but a gunshot rings out causing it to fall to the floor. This leaves philo free to climb out from within its grasp still clutching his gun.

Darius changes back to his human form on the floor covered in mortal injuries. Tourmaline runs to him, taking his hand and Philo quietly approaches, kneeling beside him. He tells Darius they killed it together as that’s what Burguish soldiers do, before he passes away.

 

In the distance Dombey enters into the Row with his men…

 

Vignette sits with Philo, questioning herself for ever being part of the New Dawn, but Philo tells her she went with her heart. She looks over at Tourmaline and says to him that she always loved her and Philo responds just as he had always loved Vignette. Before he leaves she begs him not to die.

 

Philo drags the sparas by its legs into the square telling everyone to stop. Parliament is safe and the sparas is dead. Phaedra attempts to shoot down at him, but Leonora stops him; they have lost the battle, but not the war. The fae militia walk past what’s left of the mob, now cowering to the sides of the square.

 

Phaedra and Leonora hastily walk through the back alleyways before being surprised by Agreus addressing Leonora from behind as comrade. When they turn, Phaedra runs at him with a knife before he shoots her down. Telling Leonora she has lost, she replies to him that the seeds of change have already been sown. He calls out for the police to come arrest her, but she takes a knife to her own throat before they have a chance to arrive.

 

Police clear out the bodies of the dead and check through for survivors. Philo has his back turned, taking in the spectacle across he square when Thatch climbs out from his hiding place and shoots him in the back. Suddenly, thatch is shot clean through the head and the image turns to show it was Dombey that took him down.

 

The words “Many Moons Later” then show on the screen.

 

Milworthy is once again doing his small theatre with his beloved tiny fae creatures from the first season who are acting out what happened to Philo. Milworthy talks of fate and death but turns the morale of the theatre to be that of the right to live, no matter what skin you live in.

 

Philo walks in with a cane to address Parliament, the sounds of cheering filling the hall. He asks if they would have been so accepting of him taking over his fathers role as chancellor if he still had the wings that were stolen from him as a child. The hate and self loathing that had been conditioned and pumped into him growing up makes him realise he doesn’t have the right to lead the country. Pretending not to be one of them perpetuated the same hatred they themselves have for the fae, which makes him say he will not take the position. He won’t be their excuse not to change and wants the next chancellor to have horns or wings.

 

Imogen tends to Agreus, mending his horn with gold fixing so that it shows every single scar. They then leave their house together where they have a display of banners for change and light up the square in front with never seen electrical light bulbs and kiss in front of the crowd of humans.

 

Back in Tirnanoc, Tourmaline and Vignette cut their braids off and exchange them to be tied around each other’s hands as they are married to each other by the Mima. They hold hands and float together kissing as a married coupe.

 

The Row is all back to normal with the inhabitants clean and happier. Philo spots Dombey walking the street and greets him as an inspector, calling him a credit to the force, they banter together but he says he truly hopes he will be, “better late than never” Philo responds.

Milworthy catches up to Philo, he had hoped it would be him leading the country, but is proud of the work he has done to get them this far. He says his mother would have been proud. Philo asks if he had loved his mother and she him, to which he replies yes to both. Philo tells him she would have also been proud of him and everything he did.

Milworthy asks Philo what they will do now, go to Tirnanoc, stay, or do something else, to which he smiles and responds we’ll have to find out.