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Recap: <i>Carnival Row</i> Season 1 Ep. 4 “The Joining of Unlike Things” – Some Dark Secrets Can’t Be Contained

Carnival Row Season 1 Ep. 4 “The Joining of Unlike Things” – Some Secrets Can’t Be Contained

Series Launched Aug. 30, 2019. All Episodes Available on Amazon Prime Video

Reviewer Rating: ★★★★★

If you haven’t watched Episode 4 “The Joining of Unlike Things”

***** WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD *****

After the revelations in episode 3 “Kingdoms of the Moon,” and how Philo (Orlando Bloom) met Vignette (Cara Delevingne) and subsequently left her, things rush back to the present with a force to knock anyone down. In “The Joining of Unlike Things,” another brutal attack, this time, a human, takes Philo back to his childhood home. 

Philo is greeted by an evil and unnatural entity in the sewers

The “Light of the Martyr Foundling Home” is the orphanage where Philo grew up. He’s back now under most unfortunate circumstances. The headmaster (John Malafronte) has been savagely murdered and, just like Aisling (Erika Stárková), his liver is missing. 

Is this some kind of twisted Frankenstein thing or dark organ harvesting? But both creature and human body parts? What evil lurks beneath the city?

Philo decides to follow a lead after seeing both Puck and Trow hoof prints in the mud outside the headmaster’s window. As Philo goes down in the sewers, he gets a glimpse of something quite unnatural. After a brief altercation where Philo unloads his gun into the beast, it finally vanishes but leaves behind a crucial piece of evidence – the headmaster’s liver. 

Philo still doesn’t believe what Mima Sawsaan told him…which may prove to be a hindrance in his investigation

Philo consults with the Fae Mima Sawsaan (Mina Andala) about the creature he encountered in the sewer. She tells him, “There’s a story in our oldest traditions of a beast called the Darkasher. A golem of flesh, fashioned from the limbs of the dead and given new life, new purpose.”

Mima Sawsaan told him something unnatural and evil walks among them but Philo is still hard-pressed to believe her. “There is a strange power in the joining of unlike things.” Strange indeed.

The Haruspex is frightening but she is someone you’d like to have on your side

Philo seeks the services of the Haruspex (Alice Krige) in conjuring a “Darkasher.” He needs to see it to believe it. Of course, she requires something of her own in order to create the creature. The Darkasher is one with his master and cannot be killed unless it’s master is killed. And to create the undead thing, the Haruspex requires Philo’s “seed.” 

Let’s just say the scene in which the Haruspex obtains Philo’s baby-making juice is quite disturbing. She uses a hallucinogenic smoke to render him defenseless and then puts visions of Vignette in his mind to arouse him. The unorthodox methods she uses to procure the magic ingredient will undoubtedly haunt Philo for many moons to come. 

Other plot points explored in “The Joining of Unlike Things”

L-R: Dahlia (Chloe Pirrie) is not to be trifled with. When Bolero (Anthony Kaye) sees Vignette talking to Philo, he suspects she’s the cricket among the Black Raven
  1. The Black Raven have a spy among them and when Vignette is seen talking to Philo out in broad daylight, she is suspected to be the “cricket” chirping to the police about the Black Raven’s comings and goings. To prove she’s not the mole, Vignette promised to find the real culprit.
  • Tourmaline (Karla Crome) knows that Vignette isn’t going to be able to find the Black Raven spy on her own, so she, once again, implores Philo to help and asks him to give up his informant. 
Philo helps Vignette dispose of Hamlyn’s body after their confrontation.
  • The confrontation between Vignette and Hamlyn (Dejan Bucin) comes to a fatal head, leaving one dead and wingless, and one reeling from the ordeal. 
  • Philo knows he must choose which “world” he’s going to reside in – the human side or the other. 
  • Philo’s choice to move forward with his relationship with the woman who owns the boarding house where he rents a room, Portia (Maeve Dermody), doesn’t seem like the right decision but after giving Vignette her braid back, “the one a lass gives when she gives her heart,” the choice seems final…ish.
Piety is undoubtedly duplicitous but to what end? Why does she want Longerbane gone?

2. Absalom and Piety Breakspear ((Jared Harris, Indira Varma) strategize to get Ritter Longerbane (Ronan Vibert) to confess about kidnapping their son Jonah (Arty Froushan). Little does Absalom know the real kidnapper is closer than ever. Piety is definitely up to something and when she talks to Longerbane alone, she does something drastic to get what she wants. 

The look of mortification on Jonah’s face says it all
  • Jonah’s return home isn’t the fanfare one would think. When Jonah hears the click-clack of heels on the floor, he’s reminded of his time in the baths where he was held, and it sends a chill up his spine. He knows it was his mother who arranged this abduction, but why?
Why doesn’t Longerbane want his daughter to stay inside all the time? What is he hiding? Is she not human or perhaps there is another secret?

3. We meet a new character, Longerbane’s daughter Sophie (Caroline Ford). She’s been kept away from society on purpose but the reasoning behind it is unclear. Sophie is ready to be out of the house but if her father has anything to do with it, she’ll stay locked up forever. There is definitely something unsavory going on in the Longerbane household.

4. Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) devises a plan to invite her new neighbor, Agreus (David Gyasi) over for tea to ascertain his “generosity.” She and her brother Ezra (Andrew Gower) are having financial issues and with his grand notions of procuring yet another loan has Imogen worried.

When a Puck comes to tea, everyone is bound to talk
  • Imogen’s staging of her foyer being remodeled doesn’t fool Agreus. She didn’t want him to come through the front door because she does, in fact, care what the neighbors will say. Of course, Agreus unknowingly thinks she’s invited him to tea for “sport,” but learns later that she had ulterior motives. 
  • Will Agreus help the Spurnrose siblings with their financial situation? And in return, can Imogen’s status really help propel a “Puck,” no matter how wealthy, in a society where his kind are looked down upon?

We will definitely see more of Sophie Longerbane, especially now that her father’s untimely demise puts her in parliament as his temporary replacement. What is Piety up to and why? I know she has grand ideas of Jonah being destined for greatness, but to what end?

Watch Carnival Row on Amazon Prime Video. All episodes launched Friday, August 30, 2019.

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Photos: ©2019 Amazon Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.

Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.