from HBO.com
http://www.hbo.com/carnivale/episode/season2/episode14.shtml

"Though I am alone, I feel you with me." The words of Brother Justin again fill the airwaves. But for one distant listener, the prisoner Varlyn Stroud, the message is something different. "Varlyn Stroud, I need you," he hears in the radio broadcast that rings through the cellblock. The prison guard, too, is drawn in. In a trance, he hands his keys to Stroud and leans his head back. The prisoner deftly produces a shiv and slits the guard's throat. Walking out of confinement, Stroud hears his orders, "Find Henry Scudder..."

Ben Hawkins arrives at the institution that holds Father Kerrigan, but seems unclear how to proceed. Drifting upstairs he finds a chapel; up front, a supplicant priest is deep in prayer. As the murmurs of a Latin chant are heard, a statue of the baby Jesus tilts his head to look at Ben. "Are you Ben Hawkins?" a voice behind him says. Turning, he finds a nurse. "Father Kerrigan will see you now." Asking how she knew his name, he is informed that he is on the authorized visitor list. "It's a very short list, just your name and one other." Let me guess, Ben offers: Henry Scudder.

Kerrigan's room is filled with hundreds of drawings and paintings--all representations of the tattooed man. Sitting on the floor, Kerrigan mutters and compulsively crosses himself over and over again. Ben pulls down a drawing. "Who is he," he asks, trying to get the man to listen to him. "What did Scudder do to you?" Grabbing the man, he is thrust into a vision of a ritual. He sees a maniacal Scudder biting the head from a huge snake and drawing signs on the ground in blood.

After the vision, Kerrigan is more at peace. Ben asks to take one of the drawings and leaves.

At the Carnivale, life is slowly returning to normal, though Sophie is still missing. Ruthie sees that an old boyfriend, Skeeter Lewis, has joined the rousties, and makes a date to meet him later. And Lila, moping in Lodz's trailer, accidentally finds his wallet and soon realizes that he did not bring his stake with him, wherever he went.

Hundreds of miles away, Justin breaks ground on his new temple and dedicates it to the child martyrs of the Dignity Ministry. Tommy Dolan continues his investigation of that tragedy, learning that only "Miss Iris" was in the dormitory when the fire broke out.

In Oklahoma, Varlyn Stroud is fast on Scudder's trail. He locates the abandoned Hawkins farm, and soon finds his way to the Donovan place in Tipton, where he finds a postcard from Scudder postmarked "Babylon." He has also acquired a gun and a badge, murdering Lyle Donovan in the process.

Driving home, Ben is somewhat dazed, and finds himself reciting words-a poem?-he heard from Father Kerrigan. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere he thinks he sees an image of the tattooed man. But it is Sophie who appears, walking barefoot, as though in a trance, alongside the road. Ben reaches out to hold her, and she slaps him, but eventually gives in to his healing embrace. When she returns to her senses, she says that she no longer belongs with the troupe, that she can't make her way.

Back at the camp, Samson tells her that she can stay in Lodz's trailer.

Later, Samson tells Ben that the poem Kerrigan was muttering was written by Charles Ingram; Management says that they have to head to Ingram, Texas to "find an old lady." Most importantly, he says that Management wants to see him. "When I gave him that picture, he got all stewed up," he says.

"You've seen the usher? The tattooed man?" an obviously upset Management asks Ben. The man is "Lord of Shadows...the usher of destruction," he says. "It means the end times aren't near, they are upon us. You'll never be prepared in time. We are lost."

Ben begs Management to let him heal him, and the decrepit figure is tempted. "You know what's at stake," Ben says, reaching out a hand. "No! Get back," says the voice. "My time has passed. It's your battle now, Ben Hawkins."

Outside, a dolled-up Ruthie waits for her date, but when Samson asks her about it, he is mystified. Skeeter Lewis, he says, has been dead for five years.

As the sun rises, the tents come down, and Sofie looks out at the world that has been hers. Walking over, she joins the workers loading the truck. Soon Carnivale is rolling toward Texas.

Brother Justin is finishing a long night of his own in Chinatown. As a woman crawls off of his back, he walks, gingerly, to the mirror. The woman helps him slide out of his robe to see his reflection, and her handiwork. Covering his body is a massive tattoo. The gnarled and bare limbs of a tree. Brother Justin is the tattooed man.