Product Description

As the final war between Good and Evil looms two powerful avatars divided by fate share one mission. For Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin, the race is on to find the elusive Henry Scudder--and the fate of the world depends on who finds him first.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3963 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-08-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6

Amazon.co.uk Review
The second season of HBO's Depression-era gothic--John Steinbeck by way of Tod Browning--picks up where the first left off. Professor Lodz (Patrick Bauchau) is dead. Ben (Nick Stahl), the show's protagonist, appears to be the culprit. Samson (Michael J. Anderson) helps him dispose of the body. Later he tells the other carnival workers that Lodz "took a powder." Lila (Debra Christofferson) doesn't buy it. Meanwhile, Sophie (Clea DuVall), who lost her mother to fire the previous year, feels unmoored without her guidance. A few states away, Brother Justin (Clancy Brown) harbors ever greater delusions of grandeur--and inappropriate thoughts about his sister, Iris (Amy Madigan). In "Alamagordo, NM," he decides to establish a temple, which he dubs Jonestown, er, Jericho. At the same time, life amongst the carnies, who are heading towards Justin's California, is becoming increasingly tense. Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), for instance, is starting to see dead people--like Lodz--and Stumpy (Toby Huss) is no longer able to keep his gambling in check. As with the first season, the action continues to alternate between the carnival and the congregation. What binds the two is a man named Scudder (John Savage), who has connections to Ben and Justin. Although writer/creator Dan Knauf had planned to tie things up between seasons three and six, HBO did not renew Carnivàle a second time. Nonetheless, a surprising number of questions are answered, like the identity of "Management" (voiced by an un-credited Linda Hunt) and whether Ben and Justin will have a final showdown. The answer to the latter question is: Yes, they will--and there’ll be casualties. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Synopsis
After a leisurely debut season, HBO's stunningly creative cable-television series CARNIVALE stepped up the pace in round two of its mythic tale of good and evil set against the surreal backdrop of a Depression-era travelling circus. By the beginning of the second season, carnival roustie-cum-Christ-figure Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) has grudgingly accepted his destiny as a "creature of light" while continuing to search for his godlike father, Henry Scudder (John Savage), in a Homeric odyssey that takes him from his demented backwoods clan to an eerily cloying maker of death masks. Meanwhile, Ben's nemesis, the evil preacher Brother Justin (Clancy Brown), does his best to instigate an apocalyptic showdown via an increasingly powerful right-wing political campaign. When polar-opposite avatars Ben and Justin finally meet in the season's final moments, the result is one of the most powerfully emotional, profound, and shocking climaxes in television history. Though it was unduly cancelled after this season (the show was conceived by creator Daniel Knauf as a six-season story arc), CARNIVALE is an ephemeral gem that will undoubtedly be considered as groundbreaking as that other benchmark of the dark and bizarre, TWIN PEAKS.

Customer Reviews

Every prophet in his house...
Season 1 of Carnivale totally blew me away, and I was eager to see how the show developed into it's second (and alas final) season. Needless to say from the five stars that lead this review, it delivers. And then some. Many questions are answered, the pace accelerates and the stakes are raised on all sides. Revelations seep out of the woodwork, and everything gets pretty darn tense. Obviously this was not where the show was meant to finish (the references to an atomic blast are never paid off, the fates of several characters are left in question etc) but there is enough closure of a kind to make this season satisfying and not simply infuriating.

As ever the show is, from a production standpoint, unequalled. Every element is used to maximum effect. From the painterly photography through to Jeff Beal's involving score. Television has NEVER looked this good. What has been less well articulated though are the performances involved. Clancy Brown in particular never fails to steal the show with his deeply unsettling portrayal of Brother Justin. Nick Stahl as Ben Hawkins has a far harder job to do and though his performance is subtle, it is spot-on. Strong support comes from Carla Gallo and Tim DeKay, especially in the episode "Lincoln Highway" - perhaps the show's finest episode other than it's shattering finale.

The DVDs are just as they were in the first season box; well packaged and presented, with the show's fantastic theme music again floating over the menu. Anyone hoping for all of the show's secrets to be revealed on the commentaries will be disappointed, but there is a helpful featurette Magic & Myth: The Meaning Of Carnivale that serves as an appraisal of the series and a guide to it's themes both apparent and unexplored.

If you have the first series, you shouldn't need convincing. If you haven't got the first series, buy both! Then coerce your friends into doing the same! Something of this quality is all too rare.

The show goes on
When the first series was released it was something totally different and a real must watch experience. It was always going to take something of an effort to better it and you have to give credit where its due they have certainly tried.
Nick Stahl continues to struggle with his powers but this time around he's starting to assert himself and searches continually for answers. Clancy Browns preacher goes from mad and scary in the 1st series to a complete loon in this.The writers have tried something different with this series, it's much more quickly paced and the characters rapidly begin to show their true colours. The editing lingers far less over detail and atmosphere but if you saw series 1 then thats already been set up and now the show goes straight for the throat and hurtles towards the inevitable showdown. It may sound odd to say a series that lasts over 10 hours hurtles but this is in a real hurry and before you know it you're taking out the last disc and it's all over.
The show on it's own would be value for money but it's nice to see some extras added, a doc. on what it all means, scene breakdowns, a discussion and some commentaries on chosen episodes.
The picture is strangely not as good in quality as last time, there is some grain and even though it is meant to have a sepia tinge colour is a little disappointing. Sound on the other hand is very good even by film standards and detail and effects are spot on.
This carries on the main character arcs of the 1st and there's not a duff turn by anybody involved, including the writers and directors. Eventually it's Nick Stahl and the screen filling Clancy brown who grab you the hardest and so it is only fitting that their face off is the apocalyptic high point that satisfyingly finishes this great series. A 3rd series would have been nice but may well have been a bit of a stretch. As it is this is a good conclusion that answers much but refuses to tie everything up neatly, a brave and intelligent move that pays off.
If you've not seen Carnivale then get series 1 first then go for this one. If you're after something different and aren't easily offended,( this has some disturbing scenes and even the'good guy's' are ruthless ), then you will enjoy every moment of a compact,well written and acted series. roll up, roll up.

Carnivale - second series even better than the first!
If you thought the first series was good, the second is ten times better!

It hits the ground running and never flags from there, building up to a showdown between dirty-but-good Ben Hawkins and clean-but-evil Brother Justin that delivers on all accounts.

Nick Stahl, this guy is amazing, and Clancy Brown head a uniformly excellent cast that is well served by a gripping plot and breath-taking visuals.

WATCH THIS! You won't be disappointed!