Carnivale Revisited--"Babylon"

This feature has been on hiatus since the start of the Halloween season, but the time has come at last to resume the look back at the first season of Carnivale.  (Note: the posts for the first four episodes of the series can be found by clicking the "A.G.T.V." label in the right sidebar.)

Episode Guide--Season 1, Episode 5: "Babylon"

The Carnivale caravan finally reaches the tapped-out mining town of Babylon, Texas, and from the outset it's obvious that the place is not just off the beaten path but simply off.  For one thing, it is sparsely populated (and strangely, the Irish-brogued individual seen exiting the town at the start of the episode later reappears as the bartender at the local saloon).  When Samson decides to treat his disgruntled troupe to a night out on the town, the Babylonians loom outside the windows of the saloon in mysterious vigilance.  Also, when the lantern-wielding populace arrives en masse at the Carnivale the following night, the grim visages on the people's faces belie the quest for merriment.

Meanwhile the Scudder backstory continues to unfold.  We learn that he "killed old Carl Butridge with a pickax" back when working as a miner in Babylon years earlier.  When Ben finds himself trapped underground (a situation that Professor Lodz seems well aware of), he experiences a ghostly vision of Scudder-as-miner.  "I know who you are," Ben calls out to his presumed father.  "But do you know what that means?" Scudder counters.  As always, Carnivale entices us with further mysteries.

Jonesy, still stinging from Samson's apparent lie about Management, neglects his duties as operator of the Ferris Wheel.  Dismissed by Samson, he stumbles drunkenly outside the carnival grounds, where he makes a a terrible discovery.  The not-so-good people of Babylon have engaged in Biblical reenactment, at the expense of cooch dancer Dora Mae.

Even without Brother Justin quoting (in voiceover) verse from the book of Revelation in the opening and conclusion of "Babylon," the episode has an ominous, apocalyptic aura.  Various hints about the true nature of the town's inhabitants are seeded throughout, but the dark harvest of disclosure is delayed until the next episode of this gripping series.