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"Damn, if that ain't a lucky thing you came by."
Directed by: Tucker gates
Written by: Nicole Yorkin and Dawn Prestwich
Summary
Asleep in Lodz's trailer, Sofie rolls over to find a ghoulish bed partner: Inches from her face, Apollonia stares at her, her eyes wide with horror. Sofie jumps up and goes outside. The caravan is lining up to leave town.
Sofie takes a seat in Ben's truck, and as the Carnivale pulls away into the dark, she implores him to run away with her. "I can't," Ben tells her. "There's something I need to do, and it's that way."
Asked what he has to do, Ben explains that he has to find his pa. "If I met my father, I'd kill him dead, Sofie says. "He raped my ma. That's why she hates me." Ben tells her affectionately that no one could hate her.
In Mintern, Justin sits beside Norman Balthus, wrestling with himself over Iris's fate. "I am a man of God," he says out loud as though trying to convince himself. "I am a man of God." Finally he seems to have come to a decision. "Only through sacrifice comes redemption...she must learn."
He kisses the paralyzed Balthus as he leaves. After, his old mentor slowly turns his head and stares at the door.
Upstairs in her room, Iris prays passionately to save herself. "Please do remember me," she begs, kneeling in a pile of broken glass.
As the sun comes up, the Carnivale pulls up on a strange parade in the road: some beaten down trucks, an elephant, a fat lady in a cart and a hard-done-by string of freaks and attractions. "Them sons of bitches burned us out," one of them says. "The Daily brothers, for the insurance, sure as hell," says another.
Samson's old friend, the "wild man" Charlie Lewis explains that they are all that is left of The Daily Bros. Amusementorium, following a fire. Samson decides to make camp and feed the desperate-looking crew.
Sofie, looking in the rearview, sees the figure of a child in the road, away from everyone. "Sweetie, you lost?" she asks. But as the little girl turns,. Sofie sees that she is no ordinary kid. "Every prophet in her house," she says in a supernatural voice. Sofie is stunned. "...mother?" she says, horrified, and runs back to the truck, shaking.
Later, Sofie again talks to Ben, telling him she's leaving and urging him to come with her. "You don't belong here, no more than I do," she says.
All seems perfect in bright and sunny Mintern, as Tommy Dolan tells Justin that everything is ready for his big tent sermon. "And the authorities?" Brother Justin asks. "I've contacted the county prosecutor, he'll be there," Dolan says.
Dolan promises that they'll get Iris a top lawyer and that she'll never see the inside of a courtroom. "They don't hang women in California," he says. Justin seems pleased.
The Carnivale troupers and the remnants of the Daily Bros. party it up in a much-needed break, with hooch, marijuana, gossip and dancing to pass the night. When Burly gets abusive to Libby, Jonesy intercedes and ends up punching the roustie out.
Still in the truck, Ben asks Sofie if she'd like to join the party, but the girl says she feels "safer here." She and Ben dance outside in the dark, and in the quiet afterwards, they kiss. During the embrace, however, Sofie has vision of the Usher raping her mother. "Mother!" she screams. "She's right there!" Ben holds her face, and suddenly the vision is gone. "What did you do," Sofie says, looking at his hands. Embracing, the two kiss passionately.
Giving away their clothes to celebrate Stumpy's boxing winnings, Rita Sue finally gets her husband to admit that he lost her savings. Stumpy, completely broken, walks back to the tent. Inside, everyone is flirting and whooping it up, and even Jonesy is dancing, with Libby. The sight enrages Stumpy and he ends up punching Jones.
As the two slug it out, Ben and Sofie grow increasingly intimate in the truck. "First time I saw you I knew you were different," she says. "You ain't really going to leave, are you?" Ben asks.
Soon, the two are kissing and making love, and in a climactic moment, a clap of thunder and bolt of lightning launch a deluge. Jonesy and Stumpy fight and struggle in the mud outside the tent as a crowd cheers. Finally, with Stumpy defeated, Rita Sue steps up. "I'm just defending my family's honor," Stumpy says. "That's a good one," Rita Sue replies.
With the storm bearing down, Jonesy finds Sofie and Ben in the truck, and Ben leaves to help batten down the camp.
A huge tent glows in the field of Justin's ministry. Iris is now composed. Accompanied by The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the prosecutor and police join the crowd of worshippers. "I have an important announcement to make," Justin says, explaining that he has made it his holy mission to bring justice to the murdered children of the Dignity Ministry. Now, he says, a confession has been signed. The killer is "not a stranger, but one of our own."
Iris prays as Tommy Dolan takes the pulpit and Justin stands at her side. "On the evening of September 8, 1934," Dolan reads. "I entered the dignity ministry, poured gasoline on the floor and set fire to the orphanage..." As the crowd grows restive and cops swarm the lectern, Tommy struggles to set the record straight. "No, he yells...it was Iris...," but looking down, he sees his own signature on the confession. "You set me up," he yells, as he is hauled away.
Somewhere between Ingram and Damascus, Sofie stands in pouring rain, turning round and round as the radio plays. And as Justin's voice suddenly rings out, the rain stops as if turned off at the source. Sofie turns to the sound of the radio. "The instant you yield, God's plan for salvation is thrown into gear..." Justin's voice says.
Lila, expecting Charlie for a romantic visit, instead finds a dripping Ruthie at her door. Looking up, Ruthie has Lodz's milk-white eyes, and when she speaks, her voice is not her own: "Where's the boy?" Then she collapses.
When day breaks after the long night, Samson strikes a deal for the Scorpion Lady to join their show. Her husband, a poor-man's "he-she" comes along in the deal. "By the way, who told you Ray and Dil burned us down," she asks Samson after an agreement is reached. "There was a bald-headed fella nosing around. Had a badge, but he weren't a cop."
Samson rushes to discuss the news with Ben, who decides to head out to Damascus alone and try to beat Stroud to Scudder. On his way out, he asks Samson why he believes the woman and learns that they were married for nine years.
Kissing the sleeping Sofie goodbye, Ben hits the road. But watching from a bluff is Stroud himself. "Didn't I tell you boys the best way to follow somebody is to get ahead of them," he exults, but his conversation partners, it turns out, are the Daily Brothers, who have long since had their throats slit and are "stinkin' up the Dodge."
Later, as what's left of Daily Brothers show moves on down the road, the Carnivale rolls out in the other direction. And, sitting under a tree and watching them leave, is Sofie.
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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
Johnny Eck, AKA the Half Man, was born in Baltimore in 1911. He had no legs. In 1932 he had a role in Tod Browning's film, Freaks. He died in 1991.
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