Carnival row...something to row about?

I didn’t plan on writing about this particular series but then after I started watching it I felt an urge to.

It most certainly wasn’t what I was expecting...well at least not entirely.

What was I expecting? After watching the trailer I thought it’d be an interesting fantasy series with a love story being the main plot as well as different creatures living together in a society.

What is it about (obviously without giving any spoilers)? It is a fantasy with a love story at it’s core however, it is also a mystery and a thriller...or maybe I’m just easily tensed.

The series surprised me in a few aspects. Those being the acting choices, pacing and storyline choices.

Starting with the first aspect, I will admit I haven’t seen Cara Delevingne acting in many things but I was very aware of the fact that she’s a model before I watched the series. I wasn’t expecting her acting to be particularly good to be honest as I didn’t think much of her acting in Valerian. However, in this series I think she does a pretty good job. Sure she quite often doesn’t show much emotion but it makes sense for her character to be guarded and in certain scenes, when strong emotions are called for I honestly think she delivered. However, I was rather disappointed with her co-stars acting. Probably the main reason I decided to watch the series was because I knew Orlando Bloom was in it and who didn’t love him in Pirates of the Carribean? Again it makes sense for his character to be guarded too but there doesn’t seem to be a single scene where he properly expresses any emotion. Some might say it’s him being manly but I can’t agree with that. You can be a so-called “manly man” and show emotion. There are certain life events that, unless you’re a psychopath, will evoque emotions. Needless to say I was rather disappointed with Orlando Blooms portrail of Philostrate.

On to the pacing of the series. I guess as a whole it’s not too bad. However, at first I was very surprised by how far they got in just the first episode. I was not expecting so much to come together in those 50ish minutes. Then for the next three or so episodes it doesn’t feeling like you’re getting anywhere and that the producers are just trying to introduce more side stories to elongate the series. Admittedly one of the two subplots does become very relevant to the main story but in my opinion wasn’t very interesting by itself. Which isn’t absolutely necessary but I personally would have liked, especially as the end felt rather rushed.

I have already touched on the subject of storyline choices. Obviously at the beginning you’re supposed to ask yourself “Where are all these side stories leading to?”. However, even at the end of the series one of the three main stories didn’t connect to THE main storyline. I can’t say too much about it, as I don’t want to give away any spoilers but the second main love story seemed very disconnected (but I did enjoy it development by itself). Of course it could be the writers trying to set up a plotline that will only be revealed to us in a second series...if there is one. And although the second main story did connect to THE main storyline to me it felt like it hadn’t been thought through properly and like they were trying to pull together loose ends.

Despite all this criticism I did mostly enjoy the show and would probably recommend at least starting it.

Wishing you a lovely day

Shaura