I'm watching S1 of Carnivale on right now (and TiVo'ing S2 for later watch), and I gotta admit, deep DEEP symbolism and the portents and the whole Life o' Despair shtick can get sort of old. Right now, I'm watching it mainly for the atmosphere and characters (I love Jonesy, Sophie, Samson and the Freaky Blind Dude whose name I forget), and the occasional moments when it punches me in the gut, like that whole thing with the miners and Dora Mae (like, one of the most upsetting things I've seen on TV EVAH) and the bit between Jonesy and Rita Sue in the episode I saw last night.

The first season of Carnivale convinced me that I don't want to watch the second.

The bad writing and lazy plotting on Lost irritates me regularly these days, but they do have a hell of a premise. When they get the characters right, it's pretty enjoyable.

Edit -- geez, I sound like a grumpy old man today. Guess I'd better go shout at the damn kids on the lawn.

Personally I love Carnivále, but at least some of the enjoyment comes from the snark. Sunday night I was thinking "Yeah right, like being covered by dirt is any threat to Ben!" The title treatment alone won my undying love.

I ended up as Jack in the quizlet, though it should have more properly identified me as someone who wants to do Jack.

The title treatment alone won my undying love.

Yes! I can't wait to get hold of S2 episodes.

t /unapologetic Carnivale fan

(I love Jonesy, Sophie, Samson and the Freaky Blind Dude whose name I forget),

Lodz

and the occasional moments when it punches me in the gut, like that whole thing with the miners and Dora Mae (like, one of the most upsetting things I've seen on TV EVAH)

Yeah, that was a very dark and upsetting storyline, and the last shot of "Pick A Number" is one of the most haunting things I've seen on a TV show. Comparable to the big reveal in The Kingdom (the original Lars Von Trier mini).

and the occasional moments when it punches me in the gut, like that whole thing with the miners and Dora Mae

Amen. A year later, that is haunting.

I just had a thought. I was having trouble figuring out why Walt would summon a polar bear, but reading the TWoP recap, I remembered the burning comic book. There's a close-up on the polar bear. Maybe Walt was thinking, "Man, I wish a polar bear would come and eat my stupid dad cause he burned my stupid Spanish comic book." And it backfired.

Question is, why are there polar bears around to be summoned? Assuming Delenn's bears were polar -- did she say?

No, I don't think she did.

There was an earlier polar bear incident when Walt was reading that part of the comic book, but I don't think it's any conscious agency on his part, even in the wishful thinking sense.

eta: I don't mean there's no connection, of course, because that seems pretty inescapable at the moment.

She didn't say polar, no. She just said "bears."

But you're right, their existence in general is still unanswered. Maybe they were brought with Del--Rousseau's original crew, all Noah's Ark-like.