Carnival Row Season 2 Episode 10 Recap and Ending Explained

We recap the Prime Video series Carnival Row Season 2 Episode 10, “Carnival Row,” which contains spoilers and Explains the Ending of the Finale.

In the final ever episode, we finally learn how Leonora (Joanne Whalley) plans to take over The Burgue, while Vignette (Cara Delevingne) has to make a difficult decision. Setting the pub on fire in the previous episode inflamed the anti-Critch sentiment to the point of no return. Can Philo (Orlando Bloom) save The Burgue? 

Episode 10 is a heart-stomping and compelling piece of media. On the other hand, this is, sadly, Carnival Row’s grand finale. I’ll really miss this brilliant series, and saying goodbye to The Burgue isn’t easy. Without further ado, let’s see how it ends.  

Carnival Row Season 2 Episode 10 Recap – Finale

In Episode 9, we learned the Sparas’ real identity as Major Vir. Knowing the good Major is at the Burguish Parliament, where all the city’s MPs gathered to listen to Imogen speak, he concluded that the New Dawn plans to take over The Burgue by slaughtering its government. Despite Darius’s protests, Philo heads for the Parliament to warn Millworthy. 

Back at the magic shop, Tourmaline is getting ready to perform the Sparas-attracting spell. While terrified, she cruelly tells Darius to leave because she’s worried he might turn during the confrontation and become a liability. Disappointed, he respects her wishes and walks away. 

Is Imogen’s speech a ploy by the New Dawn?

At Parliament, Imogen is getting ready to give the speech Kastor gave her. While reading through the material, she notes that whoever wrote it paid no attention to any of the diplomatic formalities required for the occasion. When she mentions this to Kastor, he doesn’t seem to care while he’s suspiciously exchanging knowing looks with Major Vir. Both the Pact ambassador and Major Vir just convinced Millworthy to allow them to sit in and listen to the New Dawn’s speech. Of course, Kastor cares little about the speech itself; the real plan has little to do with words and more to do with deadly actions.

A clever Imogen feigns having a faint spell and uses the opportunity to warn Millworthy about Vir possibly working with the New Dawn. When Millworthy confronts the Major, he admits to working with the New Dawn and claims he only wants to give a speech asking the Burguish MPs to consider signing a peace treaty so they avoid the Pact’s fate. Poor Millworthy allows himself to be tricked. 

The angry mob attacks Carnival Row

Vignette, Kaine, and Phaedra’s attack from the previous episode sparked an angry mob at the Row’s gate. Dombey and his men are trying to keep the mob out, but when he sees Constable Thatch is the one leading the rebels, the sergeant reluctantly opens the gates. Once inside, the mob starts causing as much mayhem as they can. They attack, rape, murder, and cut the wings off innocent Fae.

That was Leonora’s plan all along. She wanted the mob to attack the Row so she could lead her followers into murdering them all. At first, the Raven believe they’ll have the Sparas’s support in the battle but are disappointed to hear that the creature won’t be on the Row. Vignette and Kaine offer themselves as bait to lead the angry mob to an open space where Leonora and her people can ambush them from all directions. 

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Meanwhile, poor Agreus is tied up and hanging in Leonora’s factory. As chaos engulfed the Row, he managed to break free and kills the two Fae who were supposed to watch him. 

Does Philo get to Parliament in time to save them?

While on his way to Parliament, Philo is attacked by a group of angry rebels who put a rope around his neck and try to hang him. As he’s about to fade away, Philo’s last thought is with his true love, Vignette. Luckily, he doesn’t die as a group of constables chase away the mob and cut off the rope in the nick of time. 

Philo makes it to Parliament just as everyone is about to go in and listen to Imogen’s speech. He gets the guard to quietly get everyone out while he discreetly tells a terrified Millworthy who the Sparas is. However, Major Vir overhears Philo and Millworthy. And when the Pact’s ambassador approaches him, Vir drops the act, brutally kills him, and transforms into the Sparas. 

Luckily for the MPs, Philo manages to warn them just in time and lock themselves inside the debating chamber. As the Sparas is about to kill Philo, Tourmaline magically connects with it and remotely attacks it. 

Unhappy with having a Pix witch inside his head, the Sparas heads for the Row. When Vignette sees the monster flying above her, she realizes that it’s there for Tourmaline and wants to help. Kain tries stopping her from abandoning the Raven yet again but ends up protecting her from one of Thatch’s bullets. A shocked and heartbroken Vignette says a final goodbye to a dying Kaine before heading to the magic shop. 

The final battle

When the Sparas arrives, Tourmaline is ready to fight and uses her powers against it. But the monster is stronger. Darius appears out of nowhere in Marrok form, but he’s quickly overpowered. When Vignette joins the fight, the Sparas hurts her pretty severely. Philo is the last to arrive. After a brief struggle, he shoots the monster dead. Disappointingly, the machine gun is never used; Philo kills the Sparas with a good old-fashioned revolver. 

After the fight, Darius returns to his human form, only to pass away with Tourmaline and Philo by his side. Always the soldier, Darius died fighting for those he loved.

Philo and Vignette share one last embrace. She’s horrified for having trusted Leonora. Yet, despite their love for one another, there’s no happy ending for the two star-crossed lovers. He’ll keep on fighting while she’s ready to walk away from the Row and all its chaos. 

How does it end for Leonora?

After Philo drags the Sparas’ body across the Row and announces the failure of their plan to murder the Burgue’s Parliament, Leonora admits defeat and tells her followers to lay low for now. As Phaedra is leading Leonora away, they’re intercepted by none other than Agreus. Phaedra tries attacking him, and he doesn’t hesitate to shoot her (RIP, Phaedra). 

Even if she lost the battle, Leonora had no intention to become anyone’s prisoner. She stabs herself in the neck, but not before reminding Agreus about the seeds of revolutions she still managed to plant in people’s hearts. 

Despite the battle being over, Constable Thatch is not done. Like the coward he is, he shoots Philo in the back. Within seconds, Dombey puts a bullet through Thatch’s head, ending the life of his most critch-hating constable. 

Carnival Row Season 2 Finale Ending

The series’s epilogue is set “many moons”‘ after the New Dawn’s defeat in The Burgue. We learn that Millworthy has finally left politics for good and got back into making theatre shows with his cute little kobolds actors. The Row has since been reopened, and the residents have been working on rebuilding their lives. 

Is Philo dead?

Philo is alive and was accepted as the new Burguish chancellor as he’s Absalom Breakspear’s son. Yet, Philo rejects the highest position in the city and proposes that Parliament try adding some Fae folk to their numbers instead. 

Both Vignette and Tourmaline left Carnival Row and The Burgue behind and moved back to Tirnanoc. We catch a glimpse of two Faeries getting married. 

Agreus has since had his horn re-attached, but the golden glue they used is still very much visible. Imogen gently removes the bandages, reassuring him that he looks “magnificent.” We then see the two introducing The Burgue to the future; They’re now electricity suppliers. 

Back on the Row, Philo catches up with Dombey, who has since been promoted to Inspector. 

In the last scene, Millworthy admits to Philo his unrequited love for his mom, Aisling. The two agree that she would have been proud of both of them. Millworthy then asks Philo what he plans to do next. His answer is simple, “I suppose we’ll have to find out.” 

What did you think of Carnival Row Season 2 Episode 10 (finale) and the Ending? Comment below.