Carnival Row – Season 2 Episode 8 “Facta Non Verba” Recap & Review

New Allies

Episode 8 of Carnival Row season 2 titled ‘Facta Non Verba’ starts off with the supernaturals returning to the Row. Philo looks at Berwick’s blood on his hands and screams. Louisa and Leonid wonder about the attack and see cops surrounding Spurnrose’s home. They try to enter but are stopped by the cops. Agreus opens the door and they are shocked.

It cuts to Ragusa with the Pact attacking the rebels and the crew member is killed. Agreus, Imogen and Ezra hide in a house but they are attacked. Agreus accidentally turns one of the soldiers into a werewolf but Imogen helps him kill it. Ezra suggests turning themselves in as the Burgue are allies of the Pact but Agreus tells them to head inland. Ezra isn’t happy about it but as he follows them, he picks up a gun from a fallen rebel.

As they make their way, Ezra keeps taunting the couple. When they don’t fall for it, he reveals that Imogen would poison Ezra’s fiancees till they ran away as she could not bear to be a spinster sister. Her reputation was why she was still single when Agreus met her. Agreus says he doesn’t judge as he also has done things that he is not proud of.

He tells her his story and that he got his freedom by betraying some slaves who had tried to escape. She tries to be understanding but he says he became greedy and became a bounty hunter that hunted his own kind. Ezra laughs as he sees that the two are perfect for each other.

Suddenly they see some Pact soldiers. Ezra takes out his gun and tries to go to them but Agreus fights him and holds him down. While he keeps an eye on the soldiers till they leave, Imogen blocks Ezra’s mouth and nose to stop him from screaming and keeps doing it even after he is dead. 

Imogen seems to be in a state of shock and Agreus tries to figure out their next course of action while trying to assure her of her actions. She suddenly realises that his words sound very much like Ezra’s and like her brother he is intentionally or unintentionally controlling her. While Agreus chalks it off as shock, she declares that she has been told all her life what to do and now that she is finally free she won’t give it up even for love.

At that moment, Kastor and his squad find them and reveal that Ezra’s dead body gave away their location. They are tied and brought back to the port city and on their way, they see thousands of dead enemies in the sea. Kastor orders them to throw Ezra’s body into the sea as well and Imogen cries as she holds him.

Leonora arrives and tells them that the Pact has been defeated even if they don’t want to believe it. She plans to send them as her emissaries along with Kastor for a peace treaty between the New Dawn and the Burgue.

The three arrive in the Burgue and Winetrout, Fletcher and Millworthy meet with them. They are rude to Agreus and deny Imogen a meeting with the parliament. However, she points out that it’s her legal right as a citizen when it comes to national importance and Millworthy realises that this is why Leonora chose her as an emissary. 

It cuts to the present and Leonid and Louisa look shocked as Imogen struts out and stands beside Agreus. She tells them that Ezra is dead and they look scandalised as they wonder if she is staying alone with Agreus. She holds Agreus’ hand and they are flabbergasted. As they leave, the two stop holding hands and apologise to each other for doing so. 

At the harbour, Dombey finds Philo and punches him. He rails on about trusting him while Philo was trying to run off to Tirnanoc. Philo simply reveals that the Sparas is a male since males kill with their spinal teeth while female Sparas don’t. They suddenly see tons of bodies coming in with the tide and recognize them as Burguish Marines.

Dombey wonders why the Marines were on the ship and Philo deduces that the Burgue was trying to retake Tirnanoc now that the Pact had left. In the Row, Darius searches for Tourmaline and looks relieved to see her. She looks scared and he tells her that he will protect her from the Sparas. Meanwhile, Vignette is furious with the Black Raven and tries to lure them out with a message. Kaine falls for it and she attacks him.

She scolds him for ruining their chance to go home. She is knocked out by Phaedra and regains consciousness to find herself chained in Boz’s basement which is the Black Raven’s new hideout. She is furious but they tell her that the ship was a trap. They add that now they have friends and Leonora approaches them and asks Vignette if she is ready to lead them.

Millworthy looks upset as he visits the dead soldiers and Philo confronts him. Philo asks if he knew about the soldiers on the ship and he reveals that he was the one who came up with the plan. The Burgue were any way sending soldiers to retake Tirnanoc and he convinced them to let the fae come on board and be used as a shield against any remaining Pact soldiers.

Philo realises that the Black Raven found out and attacked. They wonder why the Sparas is helping them when it killed Dahlia and Millworthy tells him about the New Dawn emissaries whose arrival may not be a coincidence. They think the Sparas is connected to it all and the New Dawn is now turning their sights on the Burgue and bringing their revolution there now that the Pact has been defeated.

The Episode Review

Of course, Agreus would do all the fighting while Ezra continues to be a nuisance. Imogen’s epiphany while ill-timed and probably loud which signalled the rebels of their location was much needed. She continues to be pretty iconic in this episode as she puts the old Burguish men in their place when they try to deny her entry into the parliament. Though, we do hope she and Agreus can put aside their differences as they were pretty good together. 

Ah, okay, fine we get why the Black Raven attacked the ship. But they could have come up with a better plan rather than burning the only passage for the supernaturals. And the whole New Dawn and Sparas link, teaming up with the Black Raven, the Burgue trying to steal Tirnanoc, Tourmaline’s vision and Imogen and Agreus’ tiff is getting pretty confusing and lengthy.

It looks like there is enough content for a whole new season so we do hope we get a good resolution with all the questions answered by the finale. Especially, since we know that season 2 is the end of Carnival Row.