Carnivale (2003) - 2x10 - Cheyenne, WY

from HBO.com
http://www.hbo.com/carnivale/episode/season2/episode22.shtml

A naked Lodz crawls, reptile-like through the sleeping Carnivale camp, slithering into his old trailer. Inside, Lila lies asleep and is soon writhing in ecstasy. After her climax, she comes to her senses and warily looks under her covers and sees Ruthie looking up with Lodz's milky white eyes. "There's my buttercup," Ruthie says and the two are soon kissing passionately.

Relaxing with a smoke afterwards, Ruthie/Lodz and Lila talk. "It was the boy Ben Hawkins, he's the one who took me from you," he says through Ruthie. Against Lila's wishes, Lodz takes his leave but tells his lover that he will be seeing her soon. Ruthie, now back in her own body, wants to know how she got in Lila's bed.

Ben is anxious to get back on the road after dropping off Libby and Jones at the carnival. But Jonesy has other ideas. He tells Libby that he is going with Ben and that she should tell her parents that he got liquored up and thrown in jail. Dreading what her mother will say, Libby begs him for a different story, but Jones refuses and makes her promise not to say a word about what happened.

Ben bluntly informs Jones that he doesn't need any company, but Jonesy won't move. "You gonna sit here all night?" he asks, and Ben relents. The pair arrive at the Motor Courts in Cheyenne and Jones arms himself with a pistol. Bribing the desk clerk, they gain entrance to Stroud's room, but he and Scudder are gone.

Jones grows increasingly frustrated as they search the filthy room for clues. Then, Ben sees a newspaper with Brother Justin's picture. "That's the one I gotta stop," he says.

It's the middle of the night when Stroud makes it to Justin's house in Mintern. After an irate Iris leaves, Stroud falls to his knees in front of his master, crying and pressing his cheek to Justin's hand.

With the sun coming up Stroud, Justin and Wilfred Smith make their way to a barn where Scudder is bound and hooded. "This is your prophet?" the preacher asks derisively. "Hardly seems worth it. Foul my hands with the blood of this pathetic creature to receive the boon of an idiot."

Picking up a hand scythe, Justin prepares to slash the life from Scudder, when Smith shouts his objection. His mind must be clear and not drugged during the passage, Smith says, or "the results would be disastrous....madness...death."

Justin roars in fury, but they decide to wait. Stroud puts Scudder in a straight jacket and returns the hood. "You be a good little piglet and sober up," he says. "So we can slaughter you proper."

Smith is badly shaken by Brother Justin's outburst, as he and Justin discuss the best method of obtaining the boon from Scudder. "You'll remember your promise?" Smith asks him afterward, but Justin has no intention of giving him time alone with Hack Scudder. "I could never allow you to take such a risk," he says. "You're far too valuable to me, Wilfred."

Back at the Carnivale, Rita Sue has been lied to too much to believe Libby's story. The two argue violently and trade insults. Later, Rita Sue shares a laugh with Lila over the new story that Libby has concocted. "Hawkins a holy man-that's a rib tickler," Lila says hearing of Jonesy's tarring. But she is clearly rattled by the account.

Later, Samson finds Libby for a talk. Rita Sue has been talking about Jonesy and Hawkins. "She thinks you're crazy," he says. But "I know about Hawkins." Libby is extremely upset with herself for revealing the secret, but Samson tells her that Jonesy won't be mad if she doesn't tell anybody else.

The clerk from Cheyenne soon arrives with a delivery for Samson: the newspaper that Ben found, with Brother Justin's picture circled. It's not long before Samson is telling the troupers that it's time to shake some dust.

In Mintern, Iris and Balthus are hatching a conspiracy, worked out with scrawled notes and whispers. "He won't be that lucky next time, but we must work together..." Iris says. When Justin walks in on them, there is tension in the air, but he breaks it with false cheeriness. "You two go right back catching up on things," he says.

Later, as Iris tidies up the revival tent she has a heart-to-heart with Sofie, who explains that her mother was "Roma" - a gypsy. Pressing, Iris asks about her life growing up. Sofie talks about the carnival, and about her "proper home" before that in St. Paul. Suddenly, facts line up, and Iris finds herself in a memory-vision, watching a scene from her own days in St. Paul. She sees Justin forcing himself on Sofie's mother and is terribly shaken by the memory.

Varlyn Stroud has assembled some like-minded former inmates to serve as a security force in camp. Justin dubs the group, which now watches all roads and gates, the "Knights of Jericho." Iris is offended by the goon squad.

At dinner, small talk is pained between an obviously distracted Iris and her brother. Finally, Justin lets out a snort. "Did you really think a dried up old spinster and a pathetic delusional cripple could harm me?" he asks, as though the betrayal is a minor irritation.

Justin calls in Sofie and informs her that she is to take over the care of Brother Balthus. Iris excuses herself, but as she heads to her room she is accosted by a randy Stroud, who pins and kisses her. "You disgust me," she says, to which he replies. "Good, that's one thing we have in common." Twisting away, she runs to her room."

Wifred Smith breaks the lock on Scudder's door and begins questioning him about a missing manuscript. Scudder dismisses his questions. "I hope you're still smiling when the Usher begins tearing your soul apart," Smith says. He offers Scudder a deal: if he gives him the information he seeks, he will bash Scudder's head in with a hammer, allowing Scudder to beat the Usher and keep his soul.

Scudder agrees, and gives Smith the location of the manuscript. But Smith reneges. "Sorry, but we'll have to give the devil his due," he says. Enraged, Scudder explodes in a fit. The straight jacket flies off of him, his eyes turn black and he attacks Smith, ripping his organs from his body one by one.

When Stroud arrives to check on Scudder, he finds Smith in his place. Hearing his own car start up, he runs outside, but the car is too far away to get off a decent shot.

Scudder, still black-eyed and crazed, convinces the gate guards to allow him to pass, but as he reaches the open road, the face of Brother Justin appears in his rearview mirror. With a swift blow, Justin slices Scudder's head off of his shoulders. Holding the head by the hair he howls into the rainy night.

Miles away, Ben has stopped for a drink. But glancing up from the pump, he sees a shock in the water: his father's head bobs and bubbles, the mouth open in a silent scream. Ben rushes back to the car. By nightfall, they have reached the gates of Justin's teeming Canaan.