MovieChat Forums > Carnivàle (2003) Discussion > Babylon is still one of the most depress...

Babylon is still one of the most depressing things I've ever watched.


I remember when I first got into the show, I was about 14. I started watching it and then I got to Babylon, and the ending bothered me so deeply that I almost gave up watching the show.

That final shot of her naked body being pulled back into the darkness... One of the most disturbing, unsettling things I've ever seen.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Put your lighter in the air and lead me back home.

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Don't know if he was joking or not but Knauf apparently told the actress in question (Amanda Aday) that since she was the only woman in the town that she would eventually become its ruler. Plus Babylon would have been revisited had the show continued so maybe she could have gotten a happier ending. Just a thought...

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So she is the fabled "whore of Babylon"? I wonder how that could've tied into the whole apocalyptic conclusion.

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Just watched it tonight and I felt the same way. It was very scary thinking of her fate. I like the idea of her becoming the ruler eventually though.

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Yeah, I like that idea too... Because that last shot of her in the window still makes me feel... Completely devastated. I don't know of many scenes that made me feel so depressed. That entire episode was just... Devastating.

Put your lighter in the air and lead me back home.

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The look on Samson's face still gives me the shivers. I wouldn't call it depressing, though - shocking, horrifying, creepy, yes.

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That was the ep I made my buddy watch to get him into the show. He's still pissed at me for it lol. Said those final shots haunt him still. Great show.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"

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what scene are you guys talking about?

what i see is the crew crying over her body, with the voiceover ending "...she has been laid waste"; camera pans up to the ferriswheel; fade to black; roll credits

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This scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWfla9rG6lI

~Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. J. R. R. Tolkien~

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This wasn't "Babylon", though. This was from the next episode.

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I agree with all that's been said, but what is a 14 year old doing watching Carnivale? Lol sorry, but it just blew my mind a bit. Were your parents aware? I'm assuming not.

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My father rented it and I watched it while he was asleep. Plus I've always been pretty mature for my age when it comes to film.

D'oh! Well come on, teletubby! Teleport us to Mars! - Tammie Brown

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Babylon is not the episode with her in the window at the end, That episode is Pick a Number.


"Fear cuts deeper than swords."

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But it took place in Babylon.

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14 year-olds aren't children anymore, I see nothing wrong with one watching Carnivale.

I grew up with a 'black-box' in my household, an old-school cable-box that allowed you to get every channel for free, including pay-per-view, playboy channel, spice, etc...

Watching all of that violence and nudity at such a young age (9+) didn't turn me into a violent sex offender.

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I agree with all that's been said, but what is a 14 year old doing watching Carnivale? Lol sorry, but it just blew my mind a bit. Were your parents aware? I'm assuming not.


I was 8 when my mom finally caved and let me watch The X-Files with her every Sunday and even though lots of the adult subtext obviously went right over my head, I understood *most* of it and liked it. A lot. I must have been 15 or 16 at most when I first watched Carnivale, which is barely older than 14. I don't think I was too young to be watching HBO (although THAT I *did* watch in secret because my parents, at the time, were super religions)... :)


--

"Betty's voice brought darkness to the land." - Amanda Tanen

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I was six years old when my non-English speaking immigrant grandmother put on The Shining for me to watch. Nineteen years later and the scene with the naked lady in the bath turning into a crazy zombie is still trapped somewhere in my mind.

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My little brother was 11 when our dad took him to see "The Exorcist" in the theater. He loved it and wasn't traumatized. Me, on the other hand... I'm in my 50's and still won't watch that movie in a dark room. :-)

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So devastating. One of the most upsetting things I've ever witnessed on television. Very sad and very well executed.

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Babylon and Pick A Number were the most depressing episodes of anything I've ever watched.

Although
I thought the funeral was one of the most touching things I've ever seen. All those people (who were pretty much her extended family) gave her their most prized possessions to send her off.


I also enjoyed Samson's return to the bar and just popping that guy in the face. The final shot of Dora Mae was disturbing and unsettling but the look on Samson's face made it even more upsetting.

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that one scene, of her ghost/spirit looking hopelessly at samson while a man's arm pulled her into the darkness is the one scene i kept thinking about for years. it was sad and memorable.

i dont know about the ruler thing. when i watched it back when i was a teen, that shot to me feels like she lived a whore and she died a whore. presumably having to 'entertain' the male ghosts - bleak.

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