Carnival Row – Fight or Flight

By: Dawn Inchaurregui-Miller

The season returns with short interchanging scenes of Philo (Orlando Bloom) and Vignette (Cara Delevingne) trying to get by in the now segregated Carnival Row. Philo wraps his hands in rags while a crowd roars and cheers in a dark dingy room as Vignette elsewhere quietly clips at barbed wire, hiding from police officers the opposite block away. The Row is now completely penned off from the rest of the city, the barbed wire covering every rooftop terrace to every chimney, thus making it impossible for anyone to attempt to escape. Cutting back to Philo silently pacing a room full of various Fae cheering and placing bets on a bare-knuckle fight in the centre of the room. Vignette and two other Black Ravens continue to clip the wire quietly, almost being spotted and after a moment’s pause, lift their hoods, climb past the gap in the now open fencing and take to the skies. As they fly higher, uplifting music swells and Vignette closes her eyes, smiling at the freedom the night sky gives them. Philo, meanwhile, is introduced to the crowd by a character named Boz Ghaidos (Stewart Scudamore) who tells them he is a former police officer. Being as the police are currently the ones enforcing the law to keep them all in dirt and squalor, his introduction is met with jeers and boos and he learns that he must fight three opponents together, one of which is called a “Trow” that more than triples his size. Philo is told he can forfeit or fight as the crowd chants to fight. 

Vignette and the Black Ravens fly, faces covered towards a moving train, attempting to board it whilst avoiding or removing the police that monitor it without hurting any of them. Philo continues to fight the three opponents, even though he is outnumbered and out weighed as Vignette back at the train still struggles to board and watches one of the other Black Ravens take one of the officers and drop him metres away from a height. When they board they begin to raid supplies of medicine, hastily packing them into their bags. A police officer with a gun arrives on the scene and very nearly shoots one of them, Phaedra (Eve Ponsonby), in the back, causing a physical confrontation that Vignette then has to break up, reminding them they promised no killings. Philo continues to fight and uses a plank of wood to take down two of his foes and finally the Trow by using his own weight to trap him and breaks the plank round his head, leaving stood as the victor. As he takes the rags off his hands and declines money dropped at his feet, Philo reminds the gracious host that they had made a deal and uses the crowd to ensure the deal would be adhered to.  Upon leaving the fights and the noise of the crowd, Philo faints in an alleyway.

Vignette and her accomplices are back in Carnival Row discussing the importance of the medicine they stole but that the leader of the Black Ravens may not be happy about it. They walk downstairs and enter into a room filled with sick and dying Fae, laying in dirty beds all cramped into one room. Phaedra, overwhelmed by the scene, excuses herself leaving Vignette to talk to Afissa (Tracey Wilkinson) who tells her she did good bringing the medicine. And although Vignette says it isn’t enough, she tells her easing their suffering is good enough for today. She tells Vignette that five more were admitted the day before and Vignette tells her that they grow sick when they are unable to stretch their wings and fly. They watch as Kaine (Jay Ali), the other Black Raven back from the raid on the train, takes some medicine and talks affectionately with his last surviving mate Oona (Anna Koval) who has grown extremely sick and tells them to save the medicine. 

Back at home Philo takes stock of his many bruises and tries to cover them up before Vignette comes home. They’re both glad to see each other alive and confirm the completion of their respective missions. Vignette talks of the guilt she feels for helping so many Pix escape from Tirnanoc only to end up dying in the Burge in dangerous conditions and feels she should prepare to rob the next supply train for more medicine, much to the anguish of Philo. 

Runyan Millworthy (Simon McBurney) sits in a wagon reading a newspaper with the headline “Economic Slump Worsens” in relation to the factories and businesses that are suffering now that the Critch have been segregated as they worked for cheaper wages. He watches through the window as he passes a woman having her belongings being taken away and repeating “my home, my home,” presumably from bank foreclosure. The carriage stops near a large crowd facing a wooden stage set for the beheading of several Pucks labelled terrorists by Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan) who addresses the crowd and lists the various “crimes” they have “committed.” Although one of them, Quill (Scott Reid), killed his father, Jonah also mentions the mysterious apparent murder of his mother Piety Breakspear (Indira Varma). Quill shouts he couldn’t have done it as he was already in jail. Jonah seems disturbed and shamed by his own words as he repeats what seem to be false claims and points several desperate glances to his straight faced sister Sophie Longerbane (Caroline Ford). Just as Quill tries to make the crowd aware that Jonah used to visit the brothels in Carnival Row, she stands and nods at the executioner who drops the guillotine, cutting his words short along with his head and that of four other Puckss. The crowd cheers for Jonah who is now the chancellor is his father’s place but he walks down from the execution stage unsteady on his feet and visibly feeling guilty.

Runyan follows after Jonah and attempts to convince him he should visit the police guarding Carnival Row, claiming it would boost moral for them to see their chancellor and know they have not been forgotten. However, Jonah sees this for what it is – that Runyan wants him to see the conditions the occupants of Carnival Row are living in and change his mind. 

Tourmaline Larou (Karla Crome) walks through the Row now covered in dirt and comes across her friend Zelina (Carla Langley) who is in the street, teaching a group of small Pix children to read, opposite the brothel where they used to both live and work. A Puck passing by bumps into Tourmaline and she follows after him trying to tell him off for being rude and when she notices other people hurrying in the same direction she soon realises why. She gasps when she notices the heads of the five executed Pucks being placed upon pikes that stick out from the makeshift walls that enclose their segregated area. Several Fae protest in disagreement and one is publicly beaten and the other pleads to have them taken down as there are children within the walls but the police mock them and leave the heads as a warning against any potential uprising. 

Sophie Longerbane overhears several other politicians talking and hides to listen while they discuss her weakness as a candidate for being a mere woman and that Jonah Breakspears policies are leaving them all in financial ruin. She hears them talk of a real man having to take over.  She then walks into Jonah’s office and interrupts a meeting claiming they need to go over the new tax tariffs on ports. When the room is cleared Sophie congratulates him for his performance during the execution but he feels dirty for lying about who killed his father, for even though the group of Puck’s intended to kill him, it was in fact his mother that suffocated him at the end of the last season. She reminds him ambassadors for The Pact are due to arrive the next day and informs him that people within both of their own parties want to become chancellor themselves, to which he thinks would perhaps be a good idea, given he is not the true son of Absalom Breakspear. Sophie continues to encourage and flatter him for her own gain but cracks in his conscience are beginning to show. 

Runyan goes alone to Carnival Row entering by flashing his pin that marks him as one of the chancellor’s men and inevitably earns him hatred on the inside of the walls. He meets with Philo who instantly realizes the chancellor will not be attending and disagrees with Runyan that Jonah would change his laws against the Fae if he were to see the conditions they were living in. However, Philo laughs at the idea of his half brother becoming a decent man. Philo then points out that Jonah inherited the title of chancellor due to his father, but that Philo himself is the eldest son of Absalom Breakspear, making him eligible to take the role instead. He doesn’t think he will actually be allowed to take the title being himself half Pix, but he does think the scandal will be enough to have Jonah removed from power, and have the strict rules overturned. He and Runyan decide a banquet for the pact ambassador the next day would be the perfect place to bring the challenge to the chancellorship. 

Tourmaline passes a group of children playing and her attention falls on the house of Haruspex Larou (Alice Krige). Upon hearing a faint whisper and a whirl of leaves moves towards the window where she sees the previously deceased Haruspex sitting in a chair with her back to her. She slowly turns in the chair with her eyes alight with a blue glow, staring at Tourmaline who reaches out for the door handle to enter the building and as soon as she reaches it, is struck by a vision of Philo shooting a winged creature. Tourmaline is terrified as the beast grows closer, desperately trying to enter the building and the trance is suddenly broken by the sound of bickering from a drunken couple staggering through the street next to her. 

Vignette bumps into Kaine who tells her that the others are thankful for her leading the train raid and bringing back medicine and want to honour her with Deagh-nos. She is hesitant while their leader Dahlia (Chloe Pirrie) is away but Kaine is insistent that everyone agrees. While they perform the ritual, Dahlia arrives taking the branding iron herself and as she burns it into Vignette’s skin she threatens that if Vignette ever goes behind her back again that she will clip her wings. 

Vignette talks with Tourmaline as she dresses her branding burn and calls the ritual torture. Vignette asks her what she’s been doing lately as she hasn’t seen her. Tourmaline responds by saying she has a bad feeling something is going to happen, but when Vignette thoughtlessly compares what Philo’s reaction to her burn would be, Tourmaline thinks twice about telling her about the vision. Vignette tries to push her to talk but Tourmaline avoids answering and awkwardly makes an excuse to leave. Outside, gently crying, the street becomes quiet and Tourmaline finds herself walking into another vision of Haruspex Larou. Running scared, she finds herself face to face with the Haruspex who chants eerily and breathes a blue cloud into her throat lighting her eyes and making her repeat the same chant. At that moment, she has a vision of a man on the other side of the wall being attacked, with herself looking through the eyes of the attacker and when she comes back to herself she hears a child scream and realizes she has unknowingly killed a cat. 

Philo is in his house and suddenly hears a hammering knock at his door followed by several armed police officers bursting through the door. He demands to know why they are there and where they are taking him but other than telling him it’s because he’s a Critch, he is given no explanation as he is silently shoved into their carriage. When they disembark the carriage Philo is met by his old friend Constable Berwick (Waj Ali) who needs his help with a case. They pass several other officers Philo once worked with who are disgusted by his presence. A man who had been stationed on the supply train that was robbed the night before had been murdered and the body propped up in the air using the same barbed wire currently surrounding Carnival Row. Constable Berwick thinks that a Pix from the Black Ravens is the most likely culprit, but when Philo asks what the motive would be Berwick expresses that Philo is the best inspector he has ever worked with and asks him what he thinks. Philo is hesitant to become a snitch and risk his life on the Row but Berwick points out if they don’t stop the murderer, that innocent Critch could start being attacked and blamed for the crime. Philo questions when he started caring about any of the Critch and he responds “since someone I care about became one.” Sergeant Dombey enters the scene demanding to know why he is there and Constable Berwick breaks up a fight between the two and explains that Philo is the only one that could actually solve the crime, but Dombey has him put back in the carriage to be taken back to the row. 

Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) has a series of dreams where her brother Ezra Spurnrose (Andrew Gower) has found her and wakes with a jump in the bed she shares with Agreus Astrayon (David Gyasi) on his boat they escaped in. They dress for the morning and Imogen suggestively asks him what she should wear and he gently tells her to be careful of lest the other crew members see them together. He tries to convince her they should settle on land the next time they dock and stop living on the ocean without maids or new clothes, but she becomes upset and reveals she wants to stay on the sea in their own world together where she feels free and safe. He agrees to stay on the sea for as long as she wants and they settle for breakfast, but they are interrupted by calls from the crew and the sound of bells. Above them is an airship belonging to The Pact, but the markings on it don’t match what they usually use. The episode ends with them considering whether to follow the airship or attempt to escape, but at half the capable speed they seem to be left with no choice.