It’s always interesting when a television show includes one line of dialogue that sums up the entire show.
John From Cincinnati, I suspect, did not intend for this particular line to crystalize reaction to the show, but it certainly captured my reaction.
Three guys are sitting in a van in the wilderness, having spent the night waiting for the bangers who stabbed one of them. After a night of nothing, one of them says, in a deeply sarcastic tone, to no one in particular:
“Well, that was time well spent.”
And then the episode cuts to black.
I laughed at the irony when it first aired, and then I immediately went back to that line after watching the maddeningly obtuse season (and likely series) finale.
It’s pretty amazing when someone who was a huge fan of the festival of weirdness that was Carnivàle ends up finding your show too frustratingly bizarre to watch.