No meio da Grande Depressão, Ben Hawkins perde a mãe e é acolhido por uma companhia de circo. Convivendo com os artistas peculiares, ele descobre que possui poderes surpreendentes, sendo capaz de ter premonições e curar pessoas doentes. De outro lado, Justin Crowe é um padre que também passa a ter sonhos proféticos, onde consegue fazer pessoas se submeterem à sua vontade. Justin embarca em uma missão, certo que está cumprindo um dever divino. Ben e Justin não se conhecem, mas vão juntos enfrentar uma batalha inesquecível.
This show was insanely cool and had the potential to be one of HBO's best ever shows. Seriously, I'd take these two seasons over just about anything the premium channel has put out. There's a level of creativity and thoughtfulness that is near unheard of in TV. Unfortunately, these seasons amount to god-tier set-up for shit-hits-the-fan moments that we never got to see. As soon as we were going to get some big pay-offs, Carnivàle was cancelled. Nobody watched it: it was too slow, too smart, too weird for its time. This is one of the biggest creative what-ifs ever in my opinion. I still love these seasons, but rewatching them know that the story doesn't get its proper end isn't too appealing. Still can't rate it lower though: what we got was way too good.
