& Moira Bianchi: Carnival row & the last man I could be prevailed on to marry

domingo, 5 de janeiro de 2020

Carnival row & the last man I could be prevailed on to marry

Did you know CARNIVAL ROW hides a sweet romance?
I didn't!
Hi, everything ok?...
A few months ago I signed up to Amazon Prime Video and since then I have been watching the titles available here in Brazil valiantly because my house is a Netflix place, which means that no one liked Amazon. Besides me, of course. 
When I chose Amazon Video I was searching for a specific title that wasn't available, but I did find gems like Marvelous Mrs MaiselGood Omens and Agatha Christie's  Witness for the prosecution wept again (as I always do watching the 1st) with Mary Poppins returns, watch again and again Seinfeld , developed an addiction on The Office and... got stuck with Carnival Row. I tend to do it.
found this poster on tumblr, probably a fanart; but soooo nice becuase it kinda explains the plot and hints the male leader secret. 

Every now and then I get stuck on a show. Sometimes it is because it isn't as good as I expected, other I disliked altogether, this one had several little issues. The mix of high urban fantasy steampunk noir detective mystery - later on I'll talk more about this - got me half-bored because... 
- it's too dark (not the subject, the colors);
- it's a mad distopia;
- it has several species of humanoid creatures;
- it begins pretty slow;
- it opens with a war.


But, well, let's do it.
I forced myself to watch the 8 1h+ parts.


CARNIVAL ROW

Let me tell you that as much as I enjoy the Victorian era, I'm always researching and writing about it, not everything seduces me. Carnival row has beautiful sets and wardrobe from around 1855/80, the Burrow and the Row are incredible, Orlando Bloom is frequently in his birthday suit, but... war? Nah, not my cup of tea.

Anyway, the show is set in London, called The Burgue, capital of the country with the same name, and there humans have to live with refugees from past and present wars. Different species like fairies, fauns, centaurs, trolls, etc. and the humans hate them. These creatures are discriminates, work in lesser jobs even though in their countries they were MDs, librarians, scholars. In the Burgue they are maids, servants, butchers, sex workers. Housekeeper or butler are the best one could get.

They live and build the underworld, a trenchtown, slum called Carnival Row. As soon as this is explained I though: Assim q explica isso eu pensei: oh shit, a political show against Trump... I'm not American, we have our own blig problems here in Brazil, I don't need this!

BUT...
Be aware this contains tons of spoilers, can't do it for less.
It's way deeper than current US politics, thanks God. I hate when I'm fooled all along a movie or show and in the last moment I'm told it was a statement of nay kind. I'd rather be told from the first minute and decide if I do or do not go through it. 


Carnival Row is all about immigration.

But with no particular political view because no one is worth is dime. Might as well be called Brasília Row because here in Brasil, the politicians are all fucked up.
Well, the lead characters are Philo (Orlando Bloom), ex- war soldier and Vignette (Cara Delavine), a fairy newly arrived at the Burgue. 

His boss wants him to find the assassin to put an end to the riots poor people's area O chefe dele quer que ele ache logo onculpado para parar com os tumultos na favela, mesmo que mais fadas morram; são uma espécie nojenta mesmo.
Two or three chapters are spent on flash back telling of the leading couple's love story during war time, including a very cool hot scene. Fairies express pleasure on their wings, flapping and changing color. The detail of him lovingly touching her wing during sex is very sensual.
All this distracted me from a very interesting romance going on:

A faun and a rich girl of the Ton
See the dilemma?
The dude is half goat! How about that!
She is a princess of society, lives in a town house in é Finister Crossing, their Mayfair.

Yep...

Before you, as I did, connect this plot to his skin color, allow me to show you white skinned fauns. There are many other colors, many fauns roam around. The show doesn't focus on racism or prejudice for color, but race. Forgive me if I seem to confuse the issue, but in Carnival row they are a different species, not human but humanoids, get it?

Back to the cute little couple ...

As soon as their plot was presented, I guessed there was going to be a romance there. Beauty and the beast, The taming of the shrew, P&P, so many examples we love. But, like her, I thought her appearance a little revolting. Strong word, I know, but I imagined myself touching twisted horns, would it feel cold? Warm? Smooth? What about his fur? His brooding and scarce words weren't very inviting either...
Then, drop by drop they give us clues, very small drops, very slowly allowing us to meet the characters and warm to their romance. Meanwhile, the main characters struggle with the murders and the side plot that'll mix everything together.


And I did not see EMMA & Mr. KNIGHTLEY !
pinterest

imagine with me this delicious fanfic : Emma is bankrupt, almost in poverty she needs a way to maintain her majesty and influence in society. Then comes a new neighbor in Highbury: a rich gentleman, very distinct, Mr Knightley, who is an ex-convict. 
From the begining they fail to see face to face. She considers it an absurd to have such a person in the neighbohood, a risk, a danger! He is outraged with the animosity. But he is rich and she needs his money and he needs the social welcoming, so... they form a deal in which he pays for her company, errr... socially.
Do you think this will evolve to marriage?
Why not?!?!?

Now imagine Knightley with hooves and horns! 
That's it!!!

Damn, I was so surprised by the cool manner this romance was handled! Little by little!... Lots of sources in the internet compair it to Austen... ha!
The girl, Imogen, tries her best to humiliate Mr. Agreus. Turns her face away in public and he, in return, leaves her drenched in an elegant park during a storm!
We can almost hear her utter in all Lizzy Bennet intonation:
he is the last man I could be prevailed on to befriend!

Then she takes to spying on him through her window everyday, invites him to tea only to make him use the servants' door. It actually takes a lot of work to do so, she has to come up with a fake renovation of the house, this and that, and they end up in a huge fight. 

But being in her house he notices the pitiful state she lives with her brother and decides to use his money to buy what his rich life misses and in return, he has the chance to break her down. The rich snob of a beauty with a sharp tongue was up for a challenge! She accepts the deal in behalf of her brother. 

She then proceeds in presenting him to her rich friends offering an afternoon tea in which he is the guest of honor. The rich folks treat him as a servant, he responds with clever haughtiness, she starts to see something else on him. 

For their first outing, he sends her a dazzling new outfit. During the auction, e buys a very expensive painting only because her snob friend wanted it for himself. 

Her brother is outraged, forbids the friendship, she fears loosing the admiral monster only she knows for real and... They click!
Even with a hot scene!


I had to lighten the pic to see his legs...

Damn!!!
Even in the lightened pic, his faun legs are not so clear...
from WIKIThe goat man, more commonly affiliated with the Satyrs of Greek mythology than the fauns of Roman, are bipedal creatures with the legs of a goat and the head, torso, and arms of a man, and are often depicted with goat's horns and pointed ears. These creatures borrowed their appearance from the satyrs, who in turn borrowed their appearance from the god Pan of the Greek pantheon. They were symbols of peace and fertility.

The romance of main characters, Philo & Vignette, is a complicated hate; he is an ass, she is feisty. The other romance starts out of nowhere promissing to be quite good but the political adversaries turn it to vinegar too soon. The faun and the princess are, by far, the best couple.

Internet has thousands of gifs and videos of Imogen & Agreus.

And the actors...
how cute are David Gyasi and Tamzin Merchant?

I guess it is worth it to watch Carnival Row, but I can't recommend very enthusiastically. It's oh-so-very-dark! And yes, it did adjust the image both on my TV and my phone. 

The Tumblr 'thenightling' tried to list all the many aspects of the show:
 1. High fantasy:  It seems to take place in our world, but in truth it is set in a similar place, very alike Victorian era - around 1880s - but in this paralel world they are only in the VII century.
 2. Urban fantasy: For its supernatural creatures living in the city with modern living, very sophisticated style of Victorian times. Amongst humans there are fauns, fairies, kobolds, werewolves, witches and the Darkasher.
 3. Steam Punk: or Victorian science fiction with many machines, zeppelins (icreated in our 1900) and all else. Much can be seen on the war episodes.
 4. Noir detectives / Crime drama: the mystery behind it all, kinf of  a magical  Jack the ripper centerd on Philo with the atmosphere of a 1930s movie.
 5. Romance boddice ripper: Imogen e Agreus !!!
 6. Gothic horror: It is so dark with luxurious settings of a very gothic feel to it. Prophecies, witchcraft & dark magic, Franksteinish monsters, mutilation, dirty streets, danger and mystery.
 7. Documentary of war times: Quite beautiful war sequences, the horrors of battle and the aftermath, human misery - as well as of the other species.
 So...
Are you excited to watch it?

How about now?
I bet it offers a good push!

Hve you watched it?
Let's talk about it!


As for Victorian era, I do have a cute romance to offer:

See ya!

obs.: all images come from tumblr, except os gifs from decider

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