ew

television has without doubt become a lot more disturbing over the years. the trend began, i think, which that episode of the x-files which everyone still talks about* - the one with the inbred family and the limbless mother under the bed. chris carter then tried to top himself with millennium - which i vaguely recall had some equally creepy, though less memorable, moments (clearly: i can't name any). several years later, people were being brutally gang-raped and murdered on oz, a show i have not watched more than a few episodes of, but which i will (in its entirety) some day if for no other reason than that harold perrineau is on it and apparently kicks ass. the sopranos then dished up the extended onscreen rape of lorraine bracco, and the horrible death and dismemberment of joe pantoliano, and six feet under did its bit by showing someone being cut in half in an elevator shaft.

and all of these were pretty bad, but where carnivale decided to go last week really topped it all. i'm don't want to totally spoil it for the two(?) people reading this who actually watch the show, but i will say that it involved someone being tarred and feathered, and it was utterly sick. i mean, when you hear the expression, it doesn't automatically cross your mind (well, my mind, anyway) that the tar has to be molten -- and neither did it ever occur to me that people died from the process. slowly and very painfully from third degree burns. i guess i'd never really imagined what the actual process would be like before this (and now, well, i don't think i'll ever forget it).

i have been mildly spoiled for the remaining three episodes of the season and hear that it actually gets worse. cripes. i've never been so fascinated and mortified by a program at the same time.

* the only other x-files episodes that the casual television viewer tends to remember are, in no particular order, duane barry (the one where scully is abducted), humbug (the one with the circus freaks), and clyde bruckman's final repose the one with where mulder steps on the banana cream pie. and now i want to watch all of seasons 2 and 3 again.