The delicate balance that Philo wanted to maintain was disturbed when Vignette accepted that she was solely responsible for the attack on Dombey. Vignette gave herself up because she wanted to save the innocents at stake. Philo knew that Vignette thought that he had betrayed her, but all he was doing was trying to save the Black Ravens from their own doom. So, let’s see what fate awaits Vignette and if Philo is able to save her and restore the balance in the fifth episode of the series, “Carnival Row” Season 2.
Jonah Gets Evidence Against Sophie.
The 5th episode of the series, “Carnival Row” Season 2, gave Jonah clarity about who was on his side and who was betraying him all this time. In the earlier episodes, we saw that when Nigel Winetrout had come to warn Jonah about the consequences of what Sophie Longerbane was up to, he had dismissed the accusations right away. Jonah’s reaction was pretty obvious, and he was in denial, as nobody could ever imagine that the person they shared such a close and intimate bond with was there only for their selfish interests and would backstab as they get the opportunity.
Nigel might have felt demeaned when Jonah didn’t believe in his credibility and called his accusations frivolous. That’s why he started looking for evidence, and when he got it, he came back to the Chancellor and corroborated his testimony with the incriminating evidence. Jonah came to know that Sophie was not just investing money in companies; she had controlling stakes in all of them. By opening the Row and granting the non-human species the freedom to work, she made sure that the factories got cheap labor, which in turn increased her profit manifold. Jonah felt hurt after seeing proof of the treachery of the person he had fallen in love with and trusted more than anyone else. Jonah always thought that he had a future with Sophie, and he saw himself getting married to her one day. Before Nigel revealed to him what she was up to, Jonah always felt happy that Sophie came up with the best strategies and pathbreaking policies that nobody else could think of, and even if they did, they didn’t have the courage to implement them. Jonah had always respected her ambitions, and he saw them as the power couple who would together reach heights that their fathers couldn’t. But the evidence that Nigel brought shattered Jonah’s dream. As if it were not already a difficult task to gulp down the newfound developments, Nigel told Jonah that this was not it.
Nigel said that not only had Sophie planned to become the richest person in the Burgue, but she also harbored dreams of becoming the most powerful person. Nigel hesitated for a bit and then told Jonah that Sophie Longerbane wanted to become the Chancellor of the Republic of the Burgue. Nigel told Jonah that she always had the intention of betraying him and that she was not working alone. Jonah called Sophie to his chamber and called her plan a stroke of genius: opening the carnival row and providing guns to the Pact so that they could keep fighting the New Dawn revolutionaries. Jonah proposed to Sophie for marriage, and maybe if she had accepted the proposal, he would have overlooked the fact that she wanted to betray him. Jonah loved her, and probably that was his way of saving her from her doom. He gave her an enticing offer in which he proposed that they could work as equals and become the most powerful couple in all of Burgue. He told her that he greatly admired her political mind and that together they could accomplish a lot of things. It put Sophie in a kind of fix, but she was clear about the fact that she wanted to sit in the chair of the Chancellor and know for herself how it felt. She stalled Jonah and told him that in order to avoid making their union look like a scandal, they had to plan it properly and make it public after the elections that they were going to get married. Jonah knew that she was just trying to buy some more time so that she could get to play her cards and fulfill her dreams and desires. He didn’t say anything at that moment and let her leave, though he had made up his mind about what he wanted to do.
Jonah also saw through the intentions of Millworthy, and he felt disheartened even more because he had trusted the man. After Sophie left, he called Millworthy to his chambers and confronted him about how he had intentionally gone behind his back and made a secret deal with Mikulas Vir. Millworthy accepted that he had done something without telling the Chancellor, but he also said that he had never tried to put Jonah’s life in jeopardy. Jonah gave a death sentence to Millworthy and ordered his guards to take him away.
Sophie was unaware that Jonah had evidence against her, and that is why she was going about her business happily and making strategies with the members of her party. Just then, a few people wearing white coats and pretending to be doctors came and told her that she would have to come with them for a health checkup as the disease that the Pixies were suffering from, Bas Dubh, had started affecting the Pucks too. The doctors said that the little kid she had picked up in her arms in the Row was infected with Bas Dubh, and that is why they wanted to do a thorough health checkup on Sophie. She went with them, but halfway through, she realized that they were not doctors but members of the police force who were taking her to the prison called Bleakness Keep, where she would be executed.
Season 2, Episode 5: Ending Explained: Was Philo Able to Save Vignette? What Happened In The Bleakness Keep?
Kaine attacked Philo in his house at the beginning of the fifth episode of “Carnival Row” Season 2, as he blamed him for Vignette getting arrested and all that Dombey and his officers had done. Philo managed to save himself from the onslaught, and eventually, Kaine calmed down. Kaine was not able to understand what Philo was trying to do. He informed Dombey about his life being in danger, but now he was also looking out for Vignette and trying to save her life. Philo was an intelligent man who knew the consequences of acting impulsively. By saving Dombey’s life, he was making sure that the Black Ravens did not sign their own doom. Philo and Kaine decided that they would make Vignette escape when she was brought to court for her next hearing. The reason Philo wanted to do that was that he knew that if Vignette reached the Bleakness Keep, it would be impossible to breach the heavily guarded fortress and save her. According to Philo, the prison was unbreachable and trying to trespass there was like signing one’s own death warrant. But his plans were spoiled when Tourmaline and Darius arrived at his house. Tourmaline had created a magical concoction to learn about Vignette, even though Darius warned her about the implications of using dark magic. Darius told Tourmaline time and again that instead of putting her soul at risk, she should create the recipe that would stop her visions and take out whatever piece of Haruspex Tsigani was left inside her. But Tourmaline was as stubborn as ever, and she did what she wanted to. In her vision, she saw that Vignette was in the Bleakness Keep and was being executed. She told this to Philo, who knew that he would have to change his plan and try to do something that was next to impossible, i.e., breach the Bleakness Keep.
It felt like in the fifth episode of the series, “Carnival Row,” Season 2, Vignette would meet her fateful end. She stood in line together with Millworthy and Sophie to be executed, and Jonah was present at the scene to oversee the entire procedure. The first to go was Sophie, whose dreams of becoming Chancellor ended the moment Jonah gave the nod and the executioner severed her head.
When Vignette was strapped, and about to be executed, something strange happened. A horrifying creature that was flying stealthily through the air started killing members of the police force. It came down, and apart from Vignette and Millworthy, it killed everybody else, including the Chancellor. Vignette was horrified to see the Chancellor being ripped to pieces in front of her own eyes. Meanwhile, Philo and Kaine came inside, only to find that a massacre had taken place in the Bleakness Keep. Philo asked Millworthy where Vignette was, and he told him that she had flown away. Philo caught a glimpse of the horrifying creature, and the look in his eyes told us that he knew exactly what it was. Before Philo and Kaine could do anything else, reinforcements came and took them into custody.
Philo was not able to understand why the monster had not killed Vignette, but he knew that its presence meant that they were not safe. It felt like the beast had an ulterior motive, and it was targeting only the men who worked for the Burgue administration and nobody else. It had left Millworthy and Vignette alive and killed most of the soldiers and police officers. Philo didn’t fear the men as much as he feared this beast. He had known since Bolero, and Dahila’s severed heads had been placed in the Row that it was not the doing of a human being. In the upcoming episodes, we will get to know if Philo is able to escape from the custody of the Burguish police force and if he is able to find a way to deal with that flying beast.
