Carnival Row

Cara Delevingne's most prominent role to date is on the Amazon series Carnival Row, which I found to be very enjoyable. It's a fantasy tinged with horror, set in a world very much like Victorian England.

The world that is built in Carnival Row is The Burgue, which is a stand-in for England, where it is almost always raining or snowing. It's the ancestral home of humans, but more and more creatures of other races, derisively known as "Critch," are arriving, fugitives from war-torn lands. This is a pretty thin allegory for the U.S. of today, as these refugees are treated shabbily, although some stand up for them.

There are two other races--the Fae, also called Pix, with wings and all, and fauns, horned and hoofed, also called Pucks. They mostly stay to the shadows, and for humans to associate with them is scandalous (although there is a Fae brothel where humans will indulge themselves with sex with winged females).

The main plot of the show is a series of vicious murders. They are investigated by Inspector Rycroft Philostrate (the show is full of whimsical names), played by Orlando Bloom. As he delves deeper into the killings, he finds that the murders are connected to him and a secret he carries. He was once in a relationship with Delevingne, who plays a Fae named Vignette Stonemoss. She thought he was dead, so when she was arrives from her homeland and finds him alive things are tense.

There are a few other subplots. One involves David Gyasi as a faun who has struck it rich, and is trying to be accepted into human society. He makes a deal with his neighbors (Andrew Gower and Tamzin Merchant)--he will help them financially if they will get him into society. At first Merchant is aghast at a Puck living on her street, but it doesn't take a genius to see where their relationship will go.

The other subplot, which will eventually tie in to the murder story, is that of politician Absalom Breakspear (I told you those names were whimsical). He is of the party who are tolerant of the refugees. His wife, Indira Varma, is a bit more diabolical.

There are many other characters, and the main problem with the show is that it tries to juggle too many balls at once. But I liked it overall, especially the look of the show, which is fabulous. Though shot in color, the blacks and grays are breathtaking. I also appreciated that unlike The Boys, Carnival Row did have resolve plot points in its first season, even though it is renewed for another, which I will definitely watch.