Awesome / Carnivàle

• Samson walking into the bar in Babylon in "Pick a Number" and proceeding to shoot Stangler right below his eye, despite Carny Justice already having been dispensed.
• In the 1st season finale: Ben, after realizing he'll have to take a life to save another's using his powers, goes through with it and slits his own throat as the exchange.
• In "Insomnia", Samson manages to get one up on Lodz by giving him Scudder's watch and watching him convulse. Considering what Lodz has done up to that point, it's definitely worth it.
• Ben meeting a father trying to sell his mentally disabled daughter as a sex slave with the pitch "She's tight!" The rage in Ben's eyes and the sentence "Never again." is enough to reduce the man to tears.
• Ruthie is pretty damn awesome, but tops herself in the finale with three words: "What a prick!"
• Justin, for the entire Trinity dream sequence in "Los Moscos". Ben witnesses and withstands a nuclear blast, but then there's Justin crouching in the dust with his black eyes, quoting the gospel of Mark: Ye offspring of serpents, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?.
• Iris Crowe's confession to setting the fire that burned down her brother's ministry: I did it for you. Absolutely chilling, and her Crowning Moment of Creepy as well.
  • The scene between her and Norman in "New Canaan, CA" where she says she's "going to hell" comes in a really close second, though. It's the nail in the coffin for any lingering doubt the audience had in Iris's loyalties.
• Ben and Jonesy in "New Canaan, CA", talking about Sofie:
  Jonesy: What if she's dead?
  Ben: If she's dead, then God help 'em. God help every single person in that valley.
• Another one from "New Canaan, CA" - Justin bringing the Ferris Wheel to a dead stop with two words: "BE STILL!". It's also the payoff to Justin's use of that power on a much smaller scale (in "Lonnigan, TX", with the patients in the asylum).