Peter Taylor

Interesting historical soap opera. Katia is besieged by bad people. When one bad person terminates, he or she is replaced by another. There are sideshow vignettes concerning oppressed serfs and ignoble nobles. The dramatic period of 1856 is just after the Russian defeat in the Crimean War. Many things happen to Katia who is only eighteen years old but they are compressed into a four month timeline. Everything seems to end well until the end of season two. Then. two events occur to open doors to a season three. I liked the costumes, acting, scenery, music, Ukrainian singing and Russian language even though I was watching with English subtitles.

Confused. Why are they wearing Victorian costumes? Why do they look like they are in England? Why do they use guilders as currency? Why do they say they are in the seventh century? Where did are the silly creatures come from? Why do they have revolvers and rifles and bowler hats? Game of Thrones had some logic behind it but Carnival Row remains a conundrum. The actors go along with the obscure names and strange dialog. Apart from the dragons most characters in Game of Thrones were human and the strategy was relatively understandable. This cannot be said about Carnival Row. Is it meant to be some kind of political parody or tell us something about race relations? It is hard to take it seriously when actors wear phony ram heads.