Empire

Eighteen-year-old Ben Hawkins is taken in by a traveling carnival as he begins to exhibit strange spiritual powers. Meanwhile, evangelical preacher Brother Justin receives a "sign from God" that leaves him awakened to the possibility of his own mysterious powers.

A practical joke leads Ben to a piece of the puzzle that is his past. Meanwhile, Brother Justin and his sister Iris are going through their own changes -- including an effort to turn a Chinese brothel into a house of worship for migrants. At the carnival, Sofie tends to her comatose psychic mother, Apollonia, after an upsetting run-in with Ben.

When a poor town refuses to let the carnival set up, Samson reinvents the troupe as a religious revival show.

On the road to Babylon, Texas, the carnies come face-to-face with nature's fury. Lured by clues about his past, Ben reluctantly follows Lodz into an abandoned house, where the seer tests Ben's powers. Meanwhile, Brother Justin struggles with an ultimatum: give up his new migrants' ministry at Chin's or face losing his old congregation at First Methodist.

As Brother Justin tries to make sense of a major catastrophe, the carnival rolls into Babylon, a tapped-out silver-mining town with a luckless history -- and few visible inhabitants. Later, a group of restless miners arrive just in time for the evening cooch show -- and the latest tragedy to befall Carnivale.

Thirsty for payback, the carnies get caught up in an obscure yet fascinating phenomenon known as "Carnival Justice." Ben's dark adventure ends, and Lodz is there to welcome him back into the fold. Meanwhile, Brother Justin ends up wandering in the wilderness. Later, he swaps campfire stories with a group of hobos, one of whom is about to change Justin's life.

While Brother Justin rediscovers his "birthright" on the banks of a river, his sister Iris gets some unexpected support from a radio reporter. At the carnival, Rita Sue and Stumpy argue over their family's future, Ben and Ruthie go hunting for snakes to use in her act, Samson goes to work on the bally and Libby and Sofie see stars on the western horizon.

Samson sends Ben on a road trip to enlist a new attraction, where he encounters a rival. Sofie debates whether to defy her mother and join Libby on the bally, and Lodz and Samson have a falling out over Ben's errand. Meanwhile, while Brother Justin is being treated for "religious excitation," Tommy Dolan is posing a rallying cry for his radio listeners.

Ben tries to stave off the torments of his dreams by staying awake, but the lack of sleep is taking its toll. Samson looks to drum up new business by resurrecting several tried-and-true scams, and Lodz's psychic act gets a jolt. In Mintern, Iris reaches out to Brother Justin over the radio airwaves, and Tommy gets a surprise reaction when he reaches out to Iris.

Brother Justin returns to Mintern to chart out a new direction for his ministry. At the Carnivale, Samson's loss is Lodz's gain, Libby catches on to her mother's deception, Sofie accuses Apollonia of "breaking the rules," Ben and Samson come up empty in search of information about Scudder's whereabouts, and Lodz and Lila wait for Ben to finally sleep.

With Management's blessing, Lodz hatches a devious plan to "reach" Ben. Sofie reads Stumpy's cards and doesn't like what she learns, and Ben learns that some wounds aren't easy to heal. In Mintern, Balthus is concerned about the influences surrounding Brother Justin, as well as some fiery allegations that Tommy Dolan threatens to make public.

Ben faces a life-or-death crisis that prompts him to turn to Lodz for advice. Instead, he ends up meeting with Management for the first time. Meanwhile, Balthus and Brother Justin contemplate the former's "greatest evil," with the latter pondering the prospect of salvation versus damnation among his congregation.