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"We both know, wherever it is you're headed, it's likely gonna be a one-way trip..."
Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa
Written by: Tracy Torme
Summary
The night is still as Ben wanders through camp; everywhere there is black ash. Venturing into Management's trailer, he tentatively pulls back the curtain, and a tattooed Brother Justin leaps out - and Ben is jolted awake.
Arriving at their destination in Oklahoma, the rousties set up, and all talk is of the upcoming "fight of the century" between the Joe Louis and Max Baer. A confident Stumpy tells the crew to put everything they got on the German.
At breakfast, Ruthie sees Apollonia sitting across from Sofie, and finally works up the nerve to talk to the girl about it. "I ain't crazy," she tells her, and explains that she sees dead people all over, ever since she was bitten by the snake. "You told me once you thought your momma had one foot in this world and one foot in the other," she remembers. Now, Ruthie feels the same.
In Mintern, Brother Justin's ministry is more sprawling than ever, with the road backed up for miles with the devoted. Dolan arrives as Justin and Iris look over the blueprints for his temple, and Justin asks Iris to excuse them. Dolan explains that he has been following Iris and witnessed her burning her clothes. "She did it Justin. She burned down the mission. She killed those kids." Balthus looks on.
Staring out the window at a group of children at play, Justin responds. "I always said I'd follow the truth, no matter where it led," he says.
Ben finds his way to the house of Evander Geddes, the man who made the death mask of Scudder which Ben found at his grandmother's home. Sitting down to hot cider, Geddes is loquacious. "Hack Scudder. We had quite a time in the old days," he recalls. When Ben asks, impatiently, about the mask, the man laughs. "It wasn't a death mask I made for Henry. He's very much alive."
The mask was a gift for his blind mother, Geddes says, "Even a hard heart has soft spot for mom..." Ben, suddenly growing woozy, urges Geddes to find an address for Scudder, but the smiling man seems more interested in Ben's face. He examines it lovingly as Ben passes out on the couch.
When he awakes, he is in Geddes' workshop, strapped to a table and surrounded by dozens of masks of children's faces. "My objective is to capture the soul," Geddes says, approaching the table with a ghoulish cherub mask strapped to his face. Ben struggles, but is injected with a paralytic. Soon, Geddes is slathering plaster over his faces(face), covering his nose, smothering him...
With a start, Ben awakes, back on the couch in the sitting room. He interrogates his host, but there is no evidence of foul play, and the man placidly denies all as he paints the face of a china doll.
Ben drives away from the house, and as he leaves, Geddes rises and turns on his radio. Brother Justin's voice speaks of "a world of pain and despair."
In the Crowe household, Justin confronts his sister. "Why are you doing this? I've given you everything," Iris says. "You needed martyrs. I gave them to you."
Justin appears to be wrestling with his decision. "If you want me to do this, you're going to have to ask," Iris says, coldly. "Go ahead, Justin, ask me: Ask me to turn myself in."
A thousand miles away, the Carnivale has an uninvited visitor: Justin's minion Varlyn Stroud, who is making the rounds inquiring after a boy named Scudder.
Rita Sue asks Stumpy how much money he's lost, and after some goading, he admits that he is in for over $400. His wife is horrified, but pulls together every dollar she has saved for him to pay his debts. "I oughta have my head examined," she says.
That night, the Louis fight proves to be one of the most lopsided in history, and Max Baer is knocked out. Stumpy fesses up to betting on the fight, but claims he backed the winner.
Striking out with Jonesy, Stroud tries to shake some information out of Samson, smiling badgering and insulting him. Samson is unfazed, and unimpressed by the policeman act, and suggests Stroud look at The Daily Bros. Show. Stroud reacts menacingly.
Later, when the midway is closed, Stroud comes face to face with Ben, and the two share a smoke outside the gate. Ben denies working at the carnival but the tracker seems suspicious.
Seeing Ben, Sofie tells him that she has given in and wants to try to read his cards.
The first is the Two of Wands. "A lord looking over his dominion as he turns away," she says. "Ashes, agony, disfigurment." As she speaks, Ben has a flickering vision of Scudder in his top hat and tails.
The second card is The Lovers. This time it is Sofie who has the vision, of the two of them kissing passionately in the wake of a bomb blast. "The Lovers. Attraction. Passions. Trials conquered," she says.
The last card is The Moon. Immediately, Ben sees a wolf and a screaming man with a disfigured face. "Don't you want to know what it means?" she asks as Ben leaves. "I think I know," he says.
Alone in the trailer, Sofie hears a voice behind her. "You were always the one who read the cards," it says. Turning, she sees her mother, veiled in black.
Late at night, Samson and Ben look at a picture of Damascus, New Mexico, the location of Ben's visions. "Reckin that's where Scudder is?" he asks. "I'll tell the man."
In Mintern, Iris gives her statement to Tommy Dolan, describing the details of her arson. Tommy is rattled. "Why?" he asks her. "I fell under a shadow," she says, looking at Justin.
Rising calmly, Justin kisses his sister's cheek. "You are forgiven," he says, and leaves.
Later, Justin receives a special delivery package and inside finds the plaster mask of Ben's face. Putting it over his own face, he is jolted when the eyes pop open, and Justin is suddenly seeing the world through Ben's eyes. He watches the Carnivale pack up for the road to Damascus until Ben looks into a mirror, and the two adversaries are connected. Jerking the mask from his face, Justin flings it. Ben's mirror shatters, and the broken likeness of his face oozes blood onto Justin's floor.
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FATE Game UPDATED!
New upgrades make the game faster and your character even more powerful. Download now.
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Carnival Fact
Prince Randian was born without arms or legs. He was known as The Human Torso and would roll cigarettes with his lips.
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