Episode 3 of Carnival Row transports us back to the misty heights of the Tiranese Highlands, where a formidable procession of soldiers trudges towards a faerie sanctuary, their footsteps echoing eerily through the snow-cloaked village. Rycroft stands at the forefront, his gaze fixed ominously upon the looming peaks, as the troops halt and declare themselves as Burgoisemen, proclaiming their intentions as peaceful.
The silence of the frozen hamlet is shattered as a stern fae gestures skyward, summoning a shower of kindred spirits that descend gracefully upon the earth. Relieved, the fae grant the soldiers shelter, and Rycroft embarks on a solitary journey, where he fatefully encounters Vignette. She confronts him with a blade at the threshold of the library, her eyes sharp with vigilance.
Determined to aid the mission, Vignette joins the soldiers in their pursuit through the Highlands. The following day, they discover their electricity line severed, and Vignette, harnessing her ethereal wings, bridges the yawning gap with ease, her movements graceful as she strings the wire while the soldiers keep watch through sniper scopes, ensuring her safety.
All seems to be progressing smoothly until they stumble upon a gruesome scene: three soldiers lay mutilated, victims of a monstrous attack that bears an uncanny resemblance to a werewolf. Amidst the despair, Vignette arrives just in time to save Rycroft from a ruthless strike by The Pact, with Darius swiftly rejoining their ranks. Witnessing firsthand the creatures' transformative prowess, Rycroft discovers a serum used by the guards to morph into those gnarled beasts, even without the full moon's influence.
In private conversations, Vignette and Rycroft's bond deepens as he learns more about her and her kind. Their encounters, stolen and intimate, forge an unspoken connection.
Days pass, and when Rycroft learns of Darius' true nature as a wolf, his concerns surface. Darius, however, assures him that he has everything under control. Before their departure, Darius, with a hint of longing in his voice, whispers to Rycroft of his desire for freedom, a day when they can all be free, unencumbered by their secrets and shackles.
As the Pact's tightening grip loomed, skilled marksmen dispatched Fae from the skies, while Vignette tenderly attended to Tourmaline's wounds. Amidst warnings against her entanglement with Rycroft, she confronted him, seeking clarity on their future post-war landscape, only to uncover his hidden truth—he was half-fae. Furthermore, it transpired that Tourmaline had been the catalyst behind Rycroft's departure, a desperate move as the Burgoise faltered in battle.
Just as fate seemed to conspire against them, whispers of the Pact's conquest of the capital reached their ears, portending an imminent invasion of their village. With a heavy heart, Rycroft prepared to depart, urging Vignette to flee, painting a grim picture of the perils that awaited beyond their sanctuary's walls. She pleaded for them to escape together, and though he concurred, his gaze betrayed deeper, unspoken intentions.
Beneath the foreboding veil of winter's twilight, the Pact descended, heralded by zeppelins crammed with soldiers. Molotov cocktails rained down, extinguishing Fae in mid-air, while RPGs ravaged the town, shattering peace into fragments. Amidst the chaos, Vignette and Rycroft were torn apart, their heartrending parting a testament to the brutality of war. As Vignette stumbled away, convinced of Rycroft's demise in the onslaught, the bitter winter air seemed to echo their shattered dreams.
This segue gracefully transports us back to the present era, where Vignette confronts Rycroft, peeling back layers of the village's mysteries and the seven-year charade of his death. Rendered speechless, she utters a poignant remark, leaving the inspector bewildered as she soars into the horizon, her wings a testament to her liberation.
Interwoven with subtle romantic undercurrents, Carnival Row presents an enlightening yet curiously untimely flashback episode. The content, rich with intrigue, undoubtedly enriches our understanding of the protagonists, yet its placement feels discordant, dissipating the momentum garnered from the previous episode's climax. The sluggish opening, particularly the initial ten minutes drowned in an uneasy hush as soldiers trudged towards the village, exacerbates this dissonance.
Yet, the episode itself stands tall, imbuing depth to The Pact and the warring factions, painting a vivid canvas of past strife and the fae caught in its maelstrom. As the narrative leaps back to the present, climaxing in Vignette's triumphant flight, one can't help but muse that this chapter might have resonated more profoundly if nestled later in the narrative's tapestry. Nevertheless, it remains a commendable standalone episode, effectively sketching the past lives of both races with vivid strokes.
