On a bankrupt family farm in the middle of dustbowl Oklahoma, a traveling carnival encounters Ben Hawkins, a young man desperately trying to hold off a bulldozer from the bank-at least long enough for him to finish burying his mother. Seeing that Ben is on his last legs, members of the Carnivale wearily grab shovels and give the woman a half-decent burial.

But just as the hymns are sung and the bulldozer plows into the Hawkins home, sirens are heard, and the chain around Ben's ankle suggests he is what they're after. Samson, the diminutive boss of the troupe, orders the crew to grab Ben, who has passed out with exhaustion, and make some dust.

First of all I love the cast and the cinematic feel of the show, it looks stunning.

Its not long before we learn that things aren't quite as they seem. Ben seems to have been taken on for a reason and his dreams are tied to the Carnivale.

The group itself are an odd bunch, the blind seer who seems to know about Ben, the Bearded lady, Sampson who runs the show under the orders of the Management.
Ben finds himself like a fish out of water, he isn't used to this lifestyle and we see his eyes popping out on more than one occassion.

There is also a side story of a fervent preacher Justin played by the excellent Clancy Brown.

We have a few pieces of the puzzle here but not enough to put the story together. Excellent beginning, dripping quality, slow paced yes, but its so visually stunning you can't take your eyes off the screen and you don't know whats coming next.

Absolutely. I can't watch it on the small telly downstairs, has to be up here with the surround sound cranked up :lol: :ph43r:

There's something very surreal about the opening of the episode, with the house standing in the middle of nowhere and the solitary bulldozer rolling up to demolish it. You can almost feel the wind and the dust and grit getting in your eyes.

It's an interesting opening, slow paced, but that ending nailed me to the floor. Even though I guessed something like that was coming, it was done so well that it's riveting. :)

Finally got to watch episode one, thanks to Amazon's rental service! I'd actually seen bits of it before, when it was first shown on the FX channel, but I hadn't seen it all the way through.

Absolutely terrific, although maybe a little slow paced. But there was so much to take in, the pace was probably a good thing.

The setting was perfect. I remember touching on the US depression when I did my History O Level <cough cough> years ago, and the show made it every bit as horrific as I imagined it to be.

I love the characters, so far. Basically, we're looking at a freak show here, but all the characters so far have been shown beautifully rounded, and we also get to see how the people that visited the carnival saw them. What a horrid existance.

Loved Clancy Brown too, as the priest. It took me ages to w**k out where I'd seen him before... loads of things, but primarily the 'Highlander' movie of course.

Looking forward to giving the second episode a whirl. From what I've seen on episode 1, and the little bits I've seen of other episodes, it really looks terrific, and I'm expecting to be swept away.

Andrew (HM) :yahoo:

:thumbsup: Prepare for addiction Andrew, its an incredible story you will certainly be swept away.

I agree. It starts off slow but with potential, and finally you don't want it to stop!

finally got to watch the pilot, a bit confusing as the introduction told of a fight between good and evil but it's not clear who is who? between ben who have a gift (even if there seem to be a consequences to helping people) and the priest

wonder about the management that sampson and others mentionned :unsure:

i guess there will be more backstory to come

still absolutly great cast (if a bit odd :lol: ), an interesting plot, definitly gonna watch more :thumbsup: