Carnivàle is essentially two stories: the realistic journey of a ramshackle carnival through dust-bowl America, and the magical, pseudo-mythological clash of "Avatars" that bleed blue blood, have high-contrast dreams, and say things in growly voices when their eyes turn black. The stories aren't particularly well intertwined; protagonist Ben Hawkins joins the carnival in the first episode but spends most of his time driving around solving mysteries, and many of the characters never interact with him at all.
More significantly, the story lines aren't of equal quality. The grit and dirt of the carnival is compelling; the Dreyfuss family are the show's most interesting characters and the series seems to acknowledge that by making them one of its focal points, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with the (very slowly) developing mystical Avataric conflict. The magical storyline, by contrast, is corny and boring. We all know where it's going the minute Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin are introduced, and nothing much really happens to drive this storyline forward to its rather obvious conclusion until season two. Sure, these characters have a lot of weird dreams, and ominous stuff happens, but few of these episodes drive the story forward in any interesting way, and we're left waiting impatiently for the next carnival scene. Brother Justin's storyline is particularly weak, especially in the first season, and in apparent acknowledgment of the fact, the show spends very little time with Justin, showing him to us occasionally to remind us that he's still there.
This show seems to have been conceived as a mythological story, with the carnival serving as a backdrop. That's too bad, because the carnival ends up completely upstaging the awkward "good vs evil" concept. Carnivàle could have probably been in a class with Deadwood if they had stuck with historical drama and cut the magic out completely; as it stands, it's a very mixed bag.
More significantly, the story lines aren't of equal quality. The grit and dirt of the carnival is compelling; the Dreyfuss family are the show's most interesting characters and the series seems to acknowledge that by making them one of its focal points, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with the (very slowly) developing mystical Avataric conflict. The magical storyline, by contrast, is corny and boring. We all know where it's going the minute Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin are introduced, and nothing much really happens to drive this storyline forward to its rather obvious conclusion until season two. Sure, these characters have a lot of weird dreams, and ominous stuff happens, but few of these episodes drive the story forward in any interesting way, and we're left waiting impatiently for the next carnival scene. Brother Justin's storyline is particularly weak, especially in the first season, and in apparent acknowledgment of the fact, the show spends very little time with Justin, showing him to us occasionally to remind us that he's still there.
This show seems to have been conceived as a mythological story, with the carnival serving as a backdrop. That's too bad, because the carnival ends up completely upstaging the awkward "good vs evil" concept. Carnivàle could have probably been in a class with Deadwood if they had stuck with historical drama and cut the magic out completely; as it stands, it's a very mixed bag.