Carnivàle (Seasons 1–2)

Carnivàle (2003) is HBO's eerie Depression-era drama you can watch online on iFILM. The Dust Bowl is swallowing the American heartland, and a young fugitive named Ben Hawkins drifts into a traveling carnival of sideshow performers who take him in.

Ben carries a gift he barely understands. He can heal the dying and raise the dead, but every miracle drains the life out of someone else. Far away in California, a charismatic preacher, Brother Justin Crow, is haunted by the very same visions. He believes he speaks for God. Around them moves a strange family: tarot reader Sofie, the dwarf manager Samson, bearded lady Lila, the blind mentalist Professor Lodz. For a long stretch you genuinely cannot tell which man is the creature of light and which is the dark.

Created by Daniel Knauf, the series is one of the oddest, most beautiful things HBO ever made, stitching gnostic symbols and Masonic dread into a dirt-road freak show. It was cut short after two seasons yet still picked up five Emmys for its craft and built a devoted following. If you like slow, ominous mythology that withholds its answers, this one rewards patience. Stream Carnivàle online on iFILM.