Carnival Row Fans Agree That Vignette Took A Turn For The Worst In Season 2
It is rare for fans to have a unified front for any narrative, but "Carnival Row" accomplishes the impossible in the worst way. After four years of waiting for Season 2, viewers became dissatisfied not just with the cancelation of Season 3, but with the female romantic lead. At the beginning of the final season, Philo (Orlando Bloom) and Vignette (Cara Delevingne) co-exist as happy partners. But this is quickly thrown out the window after Vignette joins the terrorist organization, the Black Ravens. Philo, afraid human forces will retaliate, warns Vignette about what she is doing. But the more the season progresses, the less she seems to care about those around her. This impacted the viewers, resulting in wide agreement on Reddit that Vignette had become one of the worst characters.
"I realized how much I had grown to dislike her in S2, when I had no feelings when she was sent to be executed," u/infinitystarfish posted. "Shouldn't I be emotionally invested in a lead character? It was more like 'eh, you brought this upon yourself.'" This was a complete reversal from how fans regarded Vignette in the first season. In Season 2, she shows no empathy, even when Philo warns her that actions have consequences.
"Then when things play out as Philo warned, Vignette shows no signs of self-reflection and only keeps blaming Philo," u/Turtle-Express elaborated. "This while Philo is the only voice of reason."
Vignette could not even be saved by a love triangle
The entire foundation that "Carnival Row" was based on was the love between Vignette and Philo. But even though Vignette mourned Philo for seven years when she thought he was dead, she easily snubs him in favor of Tourmaline (Karla Crome).
"That was the moment that really had me wondering what was going on," u/The-Homie-Lander noted, "the whole series was essentially revolving around how much they cared about each other, and whilst Philo consistently loved and fought for Vignette, she just noped out over what never felt like a convincing reason to me." Instead of making a heartbreaking decision between the two loves of her life, Vignette's choice comes across as rushed and fans did not feel invested in the outcome. This love triangle did not have the resonance that writers perhaps were intending, causing many fans to have no sympathy for Vignette whatsoever.
"[A]ll she cared about was herself, and only used people like Philo and Tourmaline to get what she wanted. Both Philo and Tourmaline are too good for her," u/Sufficient_Score_824 posted. When it comes to the best TV love triangles, it's rare for fans to opt out of the main romantic lead altogether. But support for both Philo and Tourmaline was common.
"She was awful!" u/SomeMidnight411 agreed. "I can't believe She got a happily ever after...I guess until she gets bored of Tourmaline in a few months and leaves her too. Tourmaline and Philo deserved so much better."