Things were changing at a rapid pace in the Burgue, and in the third episode of the series, “Carnival Row” Season 2, we saw how everybody was trying to gain leverage over the situation and accomplish something that they had their eye on. On one end, Sophie Longerbane was trying to gain more power, while Vignette wanted to fight for the rights of her own clan. Rycroft Philostrate was trying his best to free the residents of Row from their misery, and it didn’t matter to him if, in the process, he had to put his own life at risk. So, let’s see what all happened in the third episode of “Carnival Row” Season 2 and how it impacted the lives of those involved.
What Did Tourmaline See in Her Vision?
After Dahlia and Bolero’s deaths, the members of the Black Raven were fuming with anger, and they wanted to take revenge and send a strong message to the Burgue. Vignette and Kaine had no doubt that Sergeant Dombey was the one who killed their leader, but Rycroft had his doubts. He knew that Sergeant Dombey hated Faerish people, and everything made it look like he was behind the murders, but still something was not adding up. He was there in the Balefire Hall when Dombey shot Oona, even when he knew that the Ravens were not going to attack them. His hatred for the Fae folk was so internalized that he had no qualms about his actions, and he believed that they deserved to be treated like that. That same night, the severed heads of Dahlia and Bolero were found inside the Row, and people had every reason to believe that it was a state-sponsored murder. Rycroft was of the opinion that waging a war against the state troops, who had ample resources and manpower, was a foolish decision. But his caution wasn’t taken well, and even Vignette started doubting his loyalties. He was a part of the forces and still knew a lot of people in the system, and that made the ravens think that he might be giving information to the police.
Tourmaline was still not understanding why Haruspex Tsimani had transferred her powers to her, though she had to come to terms with the fact that she had visions and that, at times, they told her about what was going to happen in the future. She asked Philo if he was getting visions, as he was also present in the same room when Haruspex Tsimani was telling them about Darkasher. But Philo wasn’t having any such problems, and it made Tourmaline even more perplexed as to why she was the chosen one. Just before talking to Philos, Tourmaline had gotten yet another vision where she saw Dahlia and Bolero dying in front of her eyes. She said that in her vision, she had seen them get attacked on a church spire, and Philo decided to check for himself if he could get any evidence about who exactly had killed them.
Philo and Berwick found the headless bodies of Dahlia and Bolero, which were hidden high up on the steeple of Saint Van Arragorn’s. He knew that Tourmaline would know what had happened with Dahlia and Bolero by touching and putting her hands on the livers of the dead bodies, so he asked her to do that. Philo was told by Tourmaline that whatever had killed Dahlia and Bolero waos not human. Philo said the same thing to Vignette, who took it in a very wrong way. She thought that Philos, by purporting such absurd theories, was just trying to save his friends in the police force, and she raised doubts about his allegiances. Philo didn’t know how to make his partner understand that whatever he was doing was for their own good. He knew that if what Tourmaline had told him was right, then they were at greater risk, as he had seen what these dark spirits were capable of doing.
Season 2, Episode 3: Ending Explained – What Was Runyan Millworthy’s Plan?
Millworthy believed that if he could have a conversation with Mikulas Vir in private, then he could expose the hypocrisy of the regime without Philo putting his life at risk. He asked Philo to give him some time, and in case he was unsuccessful in accomplishing what he wanted, then they could proceed with their original plan, which was to tell the people that Philo was actually the stepbrother of Chancellor Jonah Breakspear. Millworthy met Mikulas, and he told him that he could broker the deal between the Pact and the Burgue so that an unnatural alliance was not formed between Fae folk and humans. He just asked Mikulas to pressurize the Chancellor into delivering the consignment earlier than it had been decided. He assured his diplomat friend that he didn’t have any ulterior motive behind doing so, but Mikulas was a seasoned politician, and he said that as long as his motives did not become an obstacle, he didn’t have a problem even if he had one.
Jonah and Sophie panicked because they came to know that the deadline had been changed, and they had less time than needed to complete the production. In order to do so, Sophie decided to open the Row so that there would be no shortage of manpower. She knew that in order to meet the deadline and make profits, she needed cheap labor, and she was ready to revamp her policies and ramp up production. Nigel Winetrout tried to tell Jonah that the leader of the opposition, Sophie, was going behind his back and making sure that she extracted a huge profit for herself. He told him that she was only opening the factories that she owned, but Jonah didn’t believe him because he was biased towards Sophie, and in fact, he ended up warning Nigel that if he came to him another time without any concrete evidence, he would charge him with partisan slander.
Nigel Winetrout was right in assuming what he had, as in the third episode of the series, Carnival Row, we come to know about Sophie’s real intention and who was the mastermind helping her plan her moves. It was Jenila who was constantly fueling her ambitions. Sophie had made a visit to the Row as, after the Black Raven exposed their hypocrisy, she wanted to do some damage control. But what Sophie witnessed there affected her in ways she hadn’t imagined. She saw that the residents of the Row were actually suffering and facing a huge crisis. She almost broke down when she saw a little baby writhing in pain. She held the baby in her hands and posed for the press, which we believe would have given her a lot of good publicity. Had Jenila not been there, Sophie would have given up on her dreams as she felt that in her quest to become the most powerful individual of the Burgue, she had transformed into a demon who thought only about herself. Jenile reminded her that they were stronger than their father, and they had to make the people pay for making them suffer.
Sophie wasn’t aiming to become a kingmaker, as we had speculated in our analysis of the first and second episodes of “Carnival Row” Season 2 but in fact, she wanted to become the most powerful person in the entire Burgue and sit on the seat of the Chancellor. Sophie was not loyal to anyone, and though she acted like she loved Joanah, she was capable of backstabbing him at any given instance.
Towards the end of the third episode of “Carnival Row” Season 2, we saw that Imogen’s brother, Ezra Spurnrose, couldn’t accept that his own blood had committed such blasphemy and ran away with a lowly being on her own accord. He tried to hide the fact that his sister had gone with Agreus voluntarily, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep the truth behind the curtains for long. He found the human servant, Fergus, who worked at Agreus’ house, and asked him about the whereabouts of his master. He pretended as if he cared about his sister and told Fergus that he wanted to apologize for his narrow-mindedness. After he got the information, he stabbed the man and killed him there and then. It showed how much hatred Ezra had and how far he was willing to go to save his false pride. The upcoming episodes of “Carnival Row” Season 2 will tell us whether Ezra was able to find her sister and if Philo was able to make Vignette and others realize that Sergeant Dombey was not the killer of their fellow Ravens.
