Come One, Come All, To "Carnivāle" Quiz

Answer: Samson

Right off the bat, Samson prepares us for a mystical journey.

Answer: He makes a women vomit coins

He has no control over this event and tries to stop it. Originally Justin was in control of the situation, having been developing his powers for years, and enjoyed making Eleanor think she was vomiting coins. However, the creators decided to push his career back by a couple of years to give Justin time to grow as a character and altered this scene accordingly. Ben's first act in the series is healing the lame girl (though he brought a kitten back to life when he was very young).

Answer: She's catatonic and telepathic

According to the creators, Apollonia became catatonic and gained magical powers when she gave birth to Sophie, the Omega (the last Avatar). Sophie thinks that her mother reads the cards and tells Sophie what they mean; in reality, Sophie is the one who can read the past, present, and future.

Answer: The carnival doesn't have a baggage trailer

Samson says the "baggage trailer" is a carnival gag. Ben finds it anyway; Management makes it manifest to show Ben some things about his past.

Answer: Murder, chain gang escape

According to the pitch document written by Daniel Knauf, Ben killed a prison guard while trying to escape the chain gang to care for his dying mother. He was originally arrested for trying to rob a bank.

Answer: A boy breaking a man's neck

The vision of the boy is one of Justin's. It was a memory he repressed that Iris knew about and never told him.

Answer: Charms snakes

She also serves as a talker for her son's act. Sophie and Apollonia read the cards, Jonesy works the wheel, and the women of the Dreifuss family dance. Ruthie becomes a surrogate mother figure/lover for Ben.

Answer: Dora Mae

Stangler kills her so that the undead miners will have a woman to--uh, play with--for eternity. Beyond creepy. Samson then kills Stangler in retribution.

Answer: His bad knee

This is one of the sweeter, more uplifting moments in this series. While healing the tar-and-feather wounds, Ben also, accidentally or on purpose, fixes Jonesy's knee. With his knee healed, Jonesy can go back to playing baseball if he wants to.

Answer: Tommy was about to announce that Iris burned down the orphanage

Tommy found out that Justin's sister Iris was responsible for arson and murder and was going to bring the information to light. Justin instead made Tommy think he was writing Iris's confession when he was really writing his own. He was arrested and never seen again on the show.

Answer: Damascus

He meets his father's mother in Ingram. While Ben is an avatar of Light, his father is an avatar of Darkness.

Answer: Blue

Series creator Daniel Knauf quickly realized the problem of blue blood in the series finale: blue just doesn't evoke the visceral reaction of red. However, HBO loved the idea of blue blood, so it stayed. It certainly shows that the two of them aren't human.

Answer: He's shot by Sophie

Many viewers think that Jonesy died. Knauf said that Sophie did not kill Jonesy (there's no blood in that scene), and had the series continued, season three would have opened with Jonesy pitching in a baseball game.

Answer: A cornfield

The two of them had been having visions of the cornfield for the entire series. The first thing we see in the first season, after Samson's monologue, is the cornfield.

Answer: two

It was supposed to run for six seasons to complete its entire story. However, due to lower ratings than HBO wanted and costs (historical series are quite expensive), it was cancelled after two, leaving many plot threads open.