Dominion - General Discussion

[ZoqFotPik]

I hope Noma doesn't die because she lost her wings

I'm guessing she's 'dying' in the she's now mortal kind of way. I wonder who the guy in the shadows is going to turn out be? Maybe Lucifer or Raphael.

 

I'm glad that Zoey saw through David's plan. I'm way more interested in seeing where the rebellion goes than Alex's story. Am I alone in thinking that the V1s are, at least somewhat, in the right? I don't condone some of their actions, but they do seem to have some valid points regarding their treatment. I'm looking forward to how they paint the conflict.

Edited August 17, 2015 by ZoqFotPik

[MrHufflepuff]

Aw, no love for Scrappy Pete?  Don't worry, I hate him too.

 

I'm guessing, at some point, Alex is going to get a marking that has the power to restore wings.  But it will be nice to see a plot where an angel has to struggle with being mortal.

 

So, we have a love quadrangle now?  God, I hope the show doesn't dwell on it.

[Tippi Blevins]

Damn, Noma ripping the wings out of her own back. I don't really get it, though. How are the spikes more firmly in the wall than her wings are in her body? At most, shouldn't she have just ripped some holes in her wings? That seems like a huge design flaw. Too bad they didn't at least save a couple feathers to heal her with.

[Jul 68]

What happened to Riesen? Last we saw him, he was clutching his chest after Julian smacked him, and he didn't run with Alex and Noma. Is he also Julian's prisoner?

^^This. So much this.^^

This is twice now that Riesen scenes were either never written or cut. It's getting quite frustrating. Does the show runner think we'll just forget about him?

What happened to "I won't leave without Noma and General Riesen"? He's no one important. Just my baby's grand daddy.

[Human]

Damn, Noma ripping the wings out of her own back. I don't really get it, though. How are the spikes more firmly in the wall than her wings are in her body? At most, shouldn't she have just ripped some holes in her wings? That seems like a huge design flaw. Too bad they didn't at least save a couple feathers to heal her with.

Yeah, I am having a hard time getting past this one.  I was so on board watching this show despite it's bajillion flaws, but this wing thing is just too much.  If spikes can easily go through wings, then her pulling from the wall should have just damaged the wings, not ripped them completely off.  An angel losing her wings is a great storyline, but I can't handle when they get there in such a dumb way, and for a show I embraced despite the dumb, it's pretty bad when something is too dumb to handle.  

[Tippi Blevins]

Agreed. She pulled those puppies out like they were Buffalo wings at Hooters.

 

There were a couple of times in the episode I had to once again boggle at how boyish Tom Wisdom sometimes looks. Like, I don't know what kind of makeup or skin care routine they're using on him, but he always looks dewy fresh. He looked ages younger than Chris Eagan in the hideout scene.

[Greta]

^^This. So much this.^^

This is twice now that Riesen scenes were either never written or cut. It's getting quite frustrating. Does the show runner think we'll just forget about him?

What happened to "I won't leave without Noma and General Riesen"? He's no one important. Just my baby's grand daddy.

I think the Riesen story is about whether he'll take (or had taken) Julian up on his offer to become a dyad so they kind of have to keep him off screen to maintain the mystery.  I really hope he gets a scene with Michael, because Alan Dale and Tim Wisdom play so well off each other.  The "But you said you loved her" scene was one of my favorites last season.  And I really want Michael to be the one to tell Riesen that he killed that bitch Becca and has no regrets (because he better have no regrets, do you hear me show?!). As for Alex forgetting about him and wandering off, I suppose he could assume that Riesen was killed for his part in the attempted eviction.  But it's Alex, so it's also possible he just completely forgot about babygranddaddy once he was out of his line of sight and Noma and Michael were doing what Alex considered the appropriate amount of sucking up.

 

If I think about it, the wing-pulling doesn't work technically, because even when it was happening I thought Noma was just going to tear and possibly permanently damage her wings. But it doesn't really matter to me since what interests me is the aftermath.  Noma is just a wonderful character; she's completely badass but still so naive and open and vulnerable in other ways.  I've always wondered about the assumption that she's been Michael's longstanding lieutenant.  Gabriel (who, BTW, totally has a longstanding thing for Noma- I've thought that since the season finale last year) sounded a bit snide when he referred to her as such.  She didn't know about dyads being real, but Michael and Gabriel accepted it as a matter of course.  And she just seems so innocent and un-used to the world.  Maybe she got a rapid promotion from the angel equivalent of private first class to Michael's second in command when exactly no other angels openly sided with Michael. I really want to see scenes between the two of them so I can get an idea of their dynamic.

 

It's probably wishful thinking in my part, but I wonder if the show is phasing out Alex, at least as a lead.  The idea of the tattoos transferring to someone else was put out there by Julian.  Alex's continuous stream of bad decisions have been openly played as bad decisions with horrible consequences, mostly for other people. (Usually Chosen Morons' idiotic choices are saved and put forth as secretly ingenious by the Plot Fairy).  The emotional arc of the season is between Michael and Gabriel; again probably wishful thinking, but I swear Michael was playing Alex in the hideout scene, like "ok, what do I have to tell this worthless brat now to get him to finally leave New Delphi."  I believe Michael would die for the Chosen One, but I don't think he actually really likes Alex. I also believe there was no way he was leaving New Delphi without Gabriel and the "endless eight-ball army" (15 of whom were actually present) was just a convenient excuse to make Alex think it was about sacrificing for his special snowflake self. I also heard a rumor (albeit on Twitter) that Chris Egan isn't in the final 3 episodes of the season.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Greta

[thuganomics85]

 

Alex finds unexpected shelter to nurse a wounded Noma, with the New Delphi army hot on their trail; at the same time, Michael and Gabriel attempt to escape their mutual captivity while revisiting a past that haunts them both; and Claire calls for a dangerous parlay as David puts a plan in motion to secure his legacy in Vega.

 

 

 

 

Well, that was an interesting flashback.  Basically, Gabriel was the father (biological?  Or his caretaker?)  of David from the David vs. Goliath story in the Bible, and helped him defeat the big guy (who wasn't a giant, but just a very big dude.)  But then King Solomon killed the real David, and the David following that was an impostor.  This pissed Gabriel off to say the least, and he was the one who cursed/killed all of "David's" children.  Probably my favorite use of the Bible since it was revealed that Michael was the actual flood from the Noah's Ark story.

 

Anyway, this all comes about because Julian strapped both Michael and Gabriel to a torture advice, where they had to take turns letting themselves getting electrocuted, so they didn't die.  In the end, Michael escapes because Gabriel sacrifices himself and lets all the electricity go to him.  He's still alive at least, but had to be left behind, so I'm sure Julian has plans for him.

 

We also see Julian's plan to woo Riesen.  He brings Clementine back into another body (due to the original one dying last season), so I'm guessing he's banking on Riesen's love for Clementine to make him give up the weapon and maybe even take his deal to become a dyad.

 

Meanwhile, Claire and Zoey have a summit in order to try and make peace, and it actually goes off pretty well.  Which, of course, means that David fucks it all up by having a sniper dude shoot Claire, and cause everyone to be at each others' throats again.  Claire lives, but it looks like she lost her baby, so that should provide plenty of drama (plus, avoid having to put Roxanne McKee in a prosthetic belly.)  Also, Gates seems to be getting suspicious of Arika.

 

The stuff with Alex and Noma at the convenience store felt like filler, although it was amusing seeing all the eight-balls, acting like it was another day at work.  Plus, I guess this new guy Noma meets, that can apparently cause eight-balls to spontaneously combust with his hand, is intriguing. 

[Tippi Blevins]

Those retail angels were creepy as hell. Good lord, being stuck in the same job for 25 years. Beep...beep...

 

Why does anyone keep David alive at this point? If they need further information from him, at least stick him in solitary confinement with no access to anyone but Zoe.

[Greta]

Sorry Wee!BetterthanAdultActor!Alex, you've been demoted from most adorable thing on the show by Precious!Wee!David.  You had to have seen this coming; your only competition to date was Precious Moments Bixby, since Little Boy Angel Roan cleverly went the creepy interesting character route instead of attempting to be cute.

[Ariah]

I'm guessing the guy that can burn 8-balls with his hand is the one that gave the town Michael visited the fiery statue and the sin confessing ritual.

(What if he's Lucifer?)

 

Does Legion/Dominion history have Jesus? Because Gabriel had to regain enough love for mankind to actually perform the Annunciation. But the liberties the series took with David's story make me wonder if there was no Jesus, and everything just went off the rails.

 

Is it wrong that I like Claire with Gates? I actually like this pairing, i don't want it to be broken by Alex's sudden but inevitable return. I didn't predict the baby will die, though. I thought it was pretty important, the child of the Chosen One and all that. But it didn't come to pass.

 

And finally, much love to both Gabriel and Michael. Those boys together... And now Julian will probably take Gabe's body and taunt Michael. If that happens, i hope the real gabriel will be there still, and haunt Julian from the inside.

[tveyeonyou]

Why does anyone keep David alive at this point?

 

Because, Giles!

I'm sorry but I can't help it, Anthony Stewart Head can do no wrong in my book. Granted, if David was played by another actor I'd want him dead, but ASH is awesome so I can't help but cheer him on, especially if he gets rid of Claire. I'm sure I stand alone in my David love, but I just can't help it <<shrugs>>

[MrHufflepuff]

Geez, Noma!  A hairbrush?  It's all your fault!

 

This show misses so many opportunities.  A fight scene with 8-balls who are spouting store-clerk lines would have been pretty amusing.  If the show is going to be ridiculous, it might as well throw in some humor.

Does Legion/Dominion history have Jesus? Because Gabriel had to regain enough love for mankind to actually perform the Annunciation. But the liberties the series took with David's story make me wonder if there was no Jesus, and everything just went off the rails.

 

I think they're taking the tried-and-true gambit of ignoring the topic completely, since anything they say about Jesus is likely to piss someone off.  The original movie struck me as some weird blend between Baptist End-Times theology and Mormon theology, but I have no idea what sort of theology that they're going for in this show.  

 

But, in the fire-worshipping town, they did say that they had come up with a new religion because all the old religions were unsatisfactory or wrong in some way.  So, from the POV of the show, it looks to me like either Jesus didn't exist or if he did exist, then everyone messed up whatever he was preaching.

[MrHufflepuff]

Just  a random thought I had.  But the writers of this show don't seem to have any idea what's interesting about it, at least from my perspective.  If I want to watch rebel/government machinations like in Vega, I'll go watch Game of Thrones or any number of TV shows that do this type of plot and do it far better.  It's boring and there's nothing unique about it.  The only thing remotely interesting to me about this show is the supernatural stuff.

 

But it would be kind of novel to me to see angels trying to actually interfere and participate in that sort of government storyline.  The angels have sexy times and work at convenience stores, so why couldn't they also be up in the intrigue of who gets to sit on the throne?   I just feel like they've always kept the government plot fairly separate from the supernatural stuff (with the occasional interference by Michael), when they could have gone a completely different route.

[Human]

I find it unlikely that Noma and Alex would now how to behave perfectly in a supermarket.  Sure, they've both probably checked out the shops in Vega.  But it's not the same.  It was just really weird.  

 

I agree with Huffle in that the writers don't really understand their own show.  The supernatural stuff is why I'm watching the show.  Vega with it's lack of anything supernatural is so boring to me.  I find it impossible to be invested in this plot since I started watching the show because it was a supernatural show.  They need to start connecting this plots.  

 

I kept expecting this to be the episode Gabriel or Michael to finally woke up and acknowledged that their father is an insufferable prick who routinely throws deadly temper tantrums when he doesn't get enough attention and then abandons his children who have no idea how to live without being mass murderers.  I keep expecting these words to be voiced.  I'm sick of hearing even a single sentence about how much they miss their father.  

[Ottis]

Well, that was an interesting flashback.  Basically, Gabriel was the father (biological?  Or his caretaker?)  of David from the David vs. Goliath story in the Bible, and helped him defeat the big guy (who wasn't a giant, but just a very big dude.)  But then King Solomon killed the real David, and the David following that was an impostor.  This pissed Gabriel off to say the least, and he was the one who cursed/killed all of "David's" children.  Probably my favorite use of the Bible since it was revealed that Michael was the actual flood from the Noah's Ark story.

 

 

I agree, and yet also I am confused at to what Michael and Gabriel actually are. I assumed that, as arch angels, they existed before/apart from man, and showed up on Earth from time to time to carry out God's will. But this ep seemed to indicate Gabriel was simply a man at some point (before he became an arch angel?). Yet he could see Michael (though David couldn't) and I think Michael was an arch angel then? I'm lost. The fire guy has to be Lucifer, I assume? I'm no theologen so I don't know how many arch angels there are left to meet. 

 

Meanwhile, Claire and Zoey have a summit in order to try and make peace, and it actually goes off pretty well.  Which, of course, means that David fucks it all up by having a sniper dude shoot Claire, and cause everyone to be at each others' throats again.

 

 

This part made no sense. Zoey says yep, I agree with your offer - and THEN has a sniper shoot Claire? Why go through all the motions to have a cease fire and then have a minion shoot Claire? It so obviously was set up by someone aside from those two, and Zoey's first step should be to tell Claire that. In fact, I'm not even sure why Zoey ran. Why didn't she have her guys shoot at the sniper, too? If Claire now goes on a rage bender directed at Zoey because "I lost my baby," I may quit watching. That's idiotic on multiple levels.

[Greta]

I was a liberal arts major so the political science, history, theology, narrative theory, etc threads thrown into Dominion are probably one of the major reasons I stuck with and then got hooked on this show. I do find it frustrating (as a lot of you do) when the themes aren't presented as well as they could be or followed through on (or alternatively, overdone). The Vega story could have been much more coherent and compelling with just a few tweaks. I feel as though the writers expected us to fill in too many blanks, particularly regarding the V1 simmering resentment.  Yes, it's obvious that the bottom of any hierarchy will be unhappy and dangerous but we need to see the specifics of how and why they are in this particular world and why it's exploding now.  Instead of David torching the housing Claire intended for the V1s, it should have gone forward but been resented as a small gesture that didn't really help the thousands of V1s living in tunnels. And then Claire could have been stuck because the resources really are limited.  Vega also should have thought Gabriel and most of the angels had been killed (informed by an overconfident Claire eager to regain the love of the masses) because without a truly dangerous outside enemy, the people of the city wouldn't need the soldiers and defenses and would be more likely to turn on them. Vega's civil war seems both under- and over-written, while it was well-conveyed in two scenes with Janeck openly questioning or ignoring orders that Gabriel's command of his army is extremely tenuous. (I also appreciated that the show (at least for now) let stand without comment that Present Day Gabriel seems to prefer killing in ways that get blood on his hands and/or involve throwing people from high places.)

 

I really wish they hadn't pushed Saviorism off to the side because I hate Alex and am still hopeful that he's going to be killed or revealed as a red herring Chosen One, but I'm really interested in the theology of that religion (and that of the Black Acolytes and Helena's worship of the divine feminine). What did Michael think of Vega's apparent worship of the Chosen One as a deity?  How did it even get started as a religion because who told the story?  

 

The 8-ball mart was well-shot (and played to Chris Egan's extremely limited strengths), but it seemed to go on two segments too long. I wanted to see more of Noma's fugue state with the fire guy (not Lucifer, but probably connected to Mallory, imo) and her struggle to adjust to the loss of her wings. Instead she just had to follow stupid Alex through yet another miscalculation on his part. I think the writers might have been trolling me personally when he couldn't even make the right decision between paper and plastic.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Greta

[frenchtoast]

Alex, Noma and Michael near Vega; at the same time, Julian presses Riesen for the location of the amphora by dredging up his past. Meanwhile, a military standoff ends in disaster, forcing Claire to make a harrowing decision; and an unexpected face wanders the city streets claiming to be the Chosen One.

[thuganomics85]

William is back!  And already seems to be forming another cult.  The man knows how to get followers, it seems.  And I have to think he and David will reunite at some point, which should be fun for everyone.

 

Gates gets proof that Arika was a traitor, so Claire uses her to get bad info to David and the rebellion.  They make it look like they are going to hit to armory, but hit the food place instead, and actually blow up the armory.  Of course, this being TV, both David and Zoey happen to be just faraway enough to not get killed, but Zoey is trapped, so David abandons her.  Zoey gets locked up briefly, only for Claire to show up and flat-out put a bullet in her head.  I wonder if Claire will ever find out that the sniper attempt was all David, and Zoey was actually innocent on that front.  Either way, Claire really isn't going to fuck around.  Well, she hasn't executed Arika yet and only lock her up, and I'm guessing Arika is going to slither by, because it looks like she poisoned Gates, and I'm guessing she's going for some kind of "I'll give you the cure, if you release me!" type deal.

 

Michael shows up and bails Alex and Noma out, although Alex did get one brief badass moment with a chainsaw.  Noma tells Michael about the whole mysterious dude and the "go East" thing, and Michael seems intrigued.  It does seem like the guy is connected to whatever is going on at that camp he was at.

 

Meanwhile, Julian takes a break from torturing Gabriel and instead decides to "prove a point", by screwing with Gabriel's mind, and having Gabriel think he's having a foursome with Claire, Noma, and Arika, when instead, it was with three.. random women?  Really not sure what the point was that, except Carl Beukes must be on great terms with the writers, in order to get a sex scene with all three of the women regulars.  But Gabriel does find out that his mind control powers won't work on Julian's eight-balls, so that's a bit of a downer for him.

 

Oh, and also that Julian has the amphora again.  Yep, Riesen finally folded and his now a Dyad.  We also get a flashback, and it turns out he apparently isn't "Riesen", but some civilian worker, who was at the base for the initial attack, and stole the real Riesen's outfit from his corpse.  I guess you can never fully trust a Alan Dale character!

[Greta]

I think Michael is now as done with Alex as I've been since episode two. It was all over his face when the Chosen Ass whined and pouted (and practically stamped his tiny foot) when told Michael had the audacity to not kill his twin before escaping New Delphi, where he'd only gone (and brought Gabriel along) to rescue Cletus the Slack-Jawed Chosen from his own idiotic decisions. I swear Alex also seemed annoyed and confused when Michael asked Noma about her wounds, again with the audacity to express (awkward) concern about her physical and emotional well-being without first referencing that it was done for Alex.  If Noma had ripped off her wings to save Michael (or anyone else including a small child) from torture, Alex would whine that she'd selfishly deprived him of her wings as a defense mechanism. This isn't just Egan's performance anymore, this is deliberate writing of Alex (for this entire season and most of the last) as completely lacking in empathy.  It's awesome as long as it leads somewhere.

 

How Noma feels about Michael (or Gabriel) is still unclear, but her compassion was a nice contrast. Plus,

we're getting Noma flashbacks in a few weeks

!

 

"Chosen" Wiliam seemed like a better, more compassionate and altogether more useful savior even though he literally killed for a beer and the sudden bringing of the light is a neon sign pointing at Lucifer (the Lightbringer) as the "God" he saw.  Even when he was a Black Acolyte his charity and general good will towards people seemed genuine; I still think he would have been a sincerely loving dad to Claire's baby. I really need William to stick around and hopefully create some real doubt about who is truly the Chosen One.

 

Except for the fact that Vega's impenetrable walls are apparently opened up freely if you roll up to the front gate and announce your name, Vega was finally interesting and the story moved smoothly for once.  Catching out Arika was well done by Claire and Gates. I liked that Arika was so protective of her girlfriend; it was a good character note. I loved that David did try to help Zoe at first after the explosion and then chose to abandon her to save his own skin; that's David Whele in a nutshell.

 

50 Shades of Gabriel was trippy (literally), hot, funny and creepy all at once. (Me:  You should watch this show!  There are archangel orgies, but it's not like they're just gratuitous! They're totally full of character insights.)  So Gabriel likes to be tied up...of course he does! That's just a logical extension of everything we've seen from our overdramatic, PTSD-suffering, family-oriented alleged villain- not even joking.  I still speculate that there's another shoe to drop about history between Gabriel and Noma because even in the leadup to the orgy, there was just something underlying their interaction. Even if it was all in Gabriel's head, Noma's the only one of the three he actually knows so he wasn't just making up her personality.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Greta

[Human]

Gosh I hope William is Chosen and I hope someone offs Alex.  He just sucks all of the life right out of the show.  It's almost unwatchable at this point.  I'm glad for the recaps here because otherwise I wouldn't have any idea what's going on as I seem to zone out through half the show. 

[Happytobehere]

Gosh I hope William is Chosen and I hope someone offs Alex.  He just sucks all of the life right out of the show.  It's almost unwatchable at this point.  I'm glad for the recaps here because otherwise I wouldn't have any idea what's going on as I seem to zone out through half the show.

Gabriel and Michael and their scenes together are the only things saving this hot mess of a show. Whenever they are on and together, like last week, the show is incredible. When the focus moves back to Alex the self-important jackass the show tanks. Claire is almost as bad. I keep wishing that both Alex and Claire would be killed off.

[Ely]

I proudly carry my torch for Alex - he's certainly not perfect but I can always relate to why he makes his decisions. I think the writers are very carefully developing him and it's always a pleasure to watch Chris Egan. I also love the Alex/Noma-relationship and I dread the day when he's reunited with Claire. Noma's such a rare and wonderful female character and Kim Engelbrecht plays her so well (with that name, it's a given, anyway).

 

I think season 2 has changed so much for the better. Season 1 was pretty good but now they've worked out some kinks. Michael's is more approachable and relateable. Gabriel has become 3-dimensional and is so much more interesting that in season 1. I'll happily watch the whole show entirely with Alex/Michael/Noma/Gabriel. Oh, and crazy William, bless his heart.

Claire, OTOH, has improved as well but I still cannot warm up to her. I would not mind her dying. I'm glad she's lost the child, it was such a contrived plot-device.

 

Season 2 feels like the writers have made up their minds where to go with this and have found their own footing. Season 1 felt like a try-hard GoT. With angels.

 

I still want to know if they'll ever introduce demons to us?

[maczero]

Meanwhile, Julian takes a break from torturing Gabriel and instead decides to "prove a point", by screwing with Gabriel's mind, and having Gabriel think he's having a foursome with Claire, Noma, and Arika, when instead, it was with three.. random women?  Really not sure what the point was that, except Carl Beukes must be on great terms with the writers, in order to get a sex scene with all three of the women regulars.  

I have never been more jealous of an actor than I was watching that scene.  And props to the actresses for selling the seduction.  Arika is pure sex so no real stretch for her character.  However, Noma and Claire as seductresses was something I never expected.

 

Speaking of Noma, what's the deal with her condition?  At first, she stated she was dying due to losing her wings.  Moments later she was able to hoof it from Julian's place to wherever they're holed up now.  After that she was able to fight off and kill multiple 8 balls alongside Alex.  Now it seems that she's only experiencing relatively minor pain.  So is she still dying?  Is she just a normal human now (I doubt this one) or does she have other angel attributes minus being able to fly?

[frenchtoast]

Alex, Noma and Michael hit an unexpected road block; Claire’s judgment call threatens the security of Vega; Julian changes tactics; Arika and Gates wrestle with the cost of survival.

[Jul 68]

After last week's episode, this one came off rather dull. The Arika flashback was useless. Alex was useless. William has serious potential, but essentially did nothing this episode. Gabriel is back to being one dimensional.

On the plus side, Gates brilliantly saved his own life and foiled Arika.

One question. Why would the pull of Mallory be of greater impact to Michael than the Amphora's effect on Gabriel?

Edited September 4, 2015 by Jul 68

[Greta]

IMO, noting that Alex was useless is like commenting that there was a title sequence. But I rave on the subject anyway.  Claire's (who I'm otherwise liking more and more) tearful apologies to ALEX about HER miscarriage (while Alex looked constipated) reminded me of General Hospital's Carly apologizing to Sonny for the pain he suffered when he shot her in the head and she had the nerve to fall into a coma and wake up with brain damage.  Alex is a post-apocalyptic MiniMobster. At least Michael continued to be completely over Alex; he'll keep him alive because he's the Chosen One but Michael has no shits to give about Alex personally and is getting openly snippy with him.

 

I loved every interaction between Noma and Michael because she actually gets to voice disagreement and her own opinions without immediately caving like she does with Alex. I really don't think it's as simple as she's always been Michael's lieutenant. I wonder if her mysterious past was as Lucifer's ride or die chick because terrible taste in men is the only explanation for her Alex fixation.  

 

Shivani Ghai must have made a pact with the devil to be able to look as young as she did in those flashbacks. But I didn't quite understand most of what was being said in those plane scenes.

 

Mallory having more of an effect on Michael than Gabriel's torture doesn't make sense to me either, since we saw Gabriel feel Michael's "death." Unless Michael deliberately severed his side of their bond? Tom Wisdom is doing a nice job of showing that Michael is thinking of/worrying about Gabriel all the time even if he's not actually feeling what Gabriel's going through. I'm really curious to see whether Darth Gabriel is purely the amphora or, more likely and better, all of the resentment and anger Gabriel never allowed himself to express towards Michael finally being expressed.  But OTOH, there was something weird about "allowed ME to take control" in his little monologue and he didn't sound like himself at all, so maybe it's a different possession( my favorite MacGuffin Lucifer?) I love that the season two arc for last season's genocidal maniac is "Poor Gabriel is turned evil and crazy, poor bunny." He did do one thing I won't ever forgive: he let fucking Scrappy Pete live.  (Is this just not rock solid evidence that Pete is of the devil?)

 

Gates better live.

 

Edited because one wrong letter makes a different word and makes baby angels cry a single tear of dark blood.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Greta

[thuganomics85]

I usually try not to give Christopher Egan too much grief, because while I find him/Alex to be a weak point, I tend to just faze him out. But, wow, I found his reaction to finding out what happened to their baby to be hilariously underplayed.  Whatever flaws she might have (she can be a bit hit or miss, although I think she's been way better this season), Roxanne McKee at least is acting like someone who lost her child before he/she even had a chance to be born. Alex was just like "Wow... that's a bummer."  I've seen bigger reaction from those who lost old pets.  To be fair, maybe this was all on purpose and Alex just wasn't that invested in the child, but I just found the whole thing weird.

 

Anyway, they did managed to get them all back to Vega, even if it cost them the nuclear plant.  Well, that, and also Noma is realizing that she might have ripped off her wings for nothing (you deserve better anyway!), and now this Prophet guy is causing Michael to fritz out and collapse.  Really not looking good for most of them.

 

At least Gates not only figured out he was poisoned by Arika, but even was smart enough to figure out how she did it and cured himself. Well done, Gates!  Despite that set-back, Arika seems to still be smug, so I guess she has a Plan C (and probably a D and E too), to get herself out of execution.  The flashbacks were a typical "character looses a family members that makes them harder and 'stronger'" type of deal, but at least it allowed Shivani Ghai to play a different type of character.

 

The Wheles reunite and it's kind of underplayed for now, but I'm guessing William is up to something.  Have to think he has some kind of plan for David.

 

Julian tries to take over Gabriel, but all he does is make Gabriel become even stronger and "dark" a.k.a. bad again, and back to wanting to kill Michael (and probably Alex.)  At least he stabbed Julian, even if he foolishly didn't finish him off.  I'm glad since this should mean more Simon Merrills, but he really should have just decapitated him to be extra sure.  Rookie mistake, Gabriel! Expected better from you!

[Gudzilla]

Gabriel, Rule #2 the double tap, it's not just for zombies.

[MrHufflepuff]

Gabriel:  I think something I ate isn't agreeing with me.  I'm, oh, dear...

 

[Gabriel vomits out an angel.]

 

Julian:  You gonna eat that?

[Greta]

I usually try not to give Christopher Egan too much grief, because while I find him/Alex to be a weak point, I tend to just faze him out. But, wow, I found his reaction to finding out what happened to their baby to be hilariously underplayed.  Whatever flaws she might have (she can be a bit hit or miss, although I think she's been way better this season), Roxanne McKee at least is acting like someone who lost her child before he/she even had a chance to be born. Alex was just like "Wow... that's a bummer."  I've seen bigger reaction from those who lost old pets.  To be fair, maybe this was all on purpose and Alex just wasn't that invested in the child, but I just found the whole thing weird.

 

My big problem with Alex has always been his utter lack of empathy and compassion. Even if he wasn't personally invested in the child, you'd think he could muster up some sincere sorrow for Claire who he claims to love.  Most decent people would even feel something for a complete stranger. The whole scene played out as Alex feeling what little he felt about the news solely as it related to him. And I really think it's the writing and direction purposefully showing us this about Alex because there was no dialogue or anything used to offset what could have just been Chris Egan's usual blankness.  When he had no reaction to Louis' torture which triggered Michael's breakdown (which Alex has conveniently forgotten if it ever even registered) in the finale last season, I mostly put it down to bad acting. But Alex has never even shown a second's hesitation in killing eightballs knowing full well eviction is a possibility. He stabbed the higher angel Nero again and again but never delivered a killing blow, leaving him to a slow death (cruel and dumb since you should never leave a wounded animal at your back) and I think even smirked when Nero stumbled out slowly bleeding out before he got his mercy kill from Gabriel. (If the show needed that mercy kill it could have been for the angel fighting Noma that Julian ended up killing, but the writers deliberately made it Alex's victim.) He was still all about working with Julian (or at least getting Julian to work for him) even after seeing what New Delphi was all about.  He trapped Michael  and then "forgave" Michael for "abandoning" him, again with no mention of why Michael might have had reason to be upset. The only times he's shown a twinge of kindness is after he remembered Michael saving him as a child and when Noma ripped off her wings for him but even then every single time, he cites it as what they did for him.  People willing to be of slavish service to Alex are the only ones that count. His overarching hatred for Gabriel could be a blindspot (and a legitimate one considering everything Gabriel's done) but it's not that in the story I'm seeing. It's just more of the same from someone devoid of anything but self-interest.

 

If all of this plays out and Michael has to acknowledge that the child he chose (and semi-raised in a feral sort of way) is the AntiChrist, I will be a happy, happy viewer.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Greta

[Tippi Blevins]

Alex's "slight case of gas" reaction to Claire losing the baby was painful. I feel so uninvested in what happens to Alex and he's ostensibly the focus of the show.

 

I really need to know Tom Wisdom's skincare regimen. He looks so dewy fresh all the time!

[Ottis]

Gabriel is back to being one dimensional.

 

 

The most unfortunate outcome of the past few episodes, IMO. The interplay between Michael and Gabriel, and their respective perspectives on humans and purpose, had become complex and interesting. I'm holding out hope that all was not what it seemd on this topic.

[frenchtoast]

Michael faces the repercussions of his time in Mallory; Alex and Gates try to save Vega from destroying itself; David comes to terms with his past; Gabriel unleashes an unspeakable evil.

[SimoneS]

Clearly Alex has never seen The Wrath of Khan or he would have known that Gates was going to his death. I was just relieved that Gates did not utter a version of "I have been... and always shall be your friend." I might have thrown up in my mouth.

 

So was the black angel, an acolyte of Lucifer? I was not clear what was going on, to be fair I was doing other things during the episode though. I predicted that Lucifer is alive and is behind the fire keeping that town safe.

 

Poor Gabriel. I expect that Michael will save him before it is too late, Riesen too.

 

David is never going to die, not sure why they keep pretending otherwise. There really is only one The Walking Dead. All other shows refuse to get rid of characters even if keeping them damages the show.

Edited September 11, 2015 by SimoneS

[thuganomics85]

They really did make it obvious that Gates was a goner.  Even before Gates' "Hey, you stay here, while I go into this obvious room of doom" bit to Alex, him being all lovey-dovey with Claire about finding out her favorite food and taking her dance, was an obvious anvil. Only thing missing would have been him proposing to her or being two days away from retirement.  Fare thee well, Gates.  You at least had more chemistry with Claire then Alex.  Which means, I really hope they don't attempt Alex/Claire again.

 

Riesen is no longer Riesen, it seems, since Gabriel killed Clementine, and now the angel part of the dyad has taken over.  I'm guessing though that he'll see Claire or something and snap out of it come finale time.  But Gabriel's now unleashed the weapon in Vega, so who knows what damage that will cause.

 

Michael plays a card game with The Prophet, and avoids having to sacrifice himself or the Malory town, but now has to bring Alex to The Prophet's boss.  Who seems to be... Lucifer?!  Hell yeah!  I was wondering when The Devil was going to crash the joint!

 

David is now back in Claire's clutches and on his way to get executed, which means he'll somehow escape.  I don't see them ever being able to kill that cockroach.  Will though, is still out there and unknown to Claire, so I wonder what he's got cooked up.

 

Even Noma seemed more upset over the death of Claire/Alex's baby then Alex did.

[Tippi Blevins]

Aw, poor Gates. I liked him way more than Alex. At least Alex was polite enough to give him and Claire some privacy, taking out his ear thing. 

 

I hope Noma's wings are growing back and that's why her nubbins hurt.

 

I always enjoy seeing Michael's crochet sweater. My head canon is that he made it himself.

[Phantomizer]

What an intense episode. I expected Gates was going to go and this episode confirmed my suspicion. It's pretty sad since i was growing on the character. I'm glad he never swayed from who he was.

I feel bad for Claire. She had to endure so much through the season. First she thought Alex died, then the whole Zoe and civil war situation, losing her baby and now losing Gates. I wonder how she's going to feel when she finds out General Risen became a Dyad and is leading the army to take down Vega.

 

I'm also glad they're introducing Lucifer. Was he mentioned at all during the series? I don't recall them mentioning him in season 1. Since we're talking about archangels, I think the way they wrote off Uriel was dumb....but that's none of my business.

[Human]

Hmm, for some reason I thought it had been mentioned that Gates was already dying.  The make-up they used on the actor made him look as though he had a terminal illness so I guess I was surprised that he went out by radiation poisoning and kept waiting for him to remind Claire that he was going to die anyway.  

 

As we all predicted, LUCIFER!!!!  I'm glad to see him being introduced.  Though, not gonna lie, I'm really ticked that the only black character introduced in a show filmed in South Africa is 'the bad boy'.  Real subtle, showrunners, real subtle.  Assholes.  I can only hope that they don't go the stereotypical "Lucifer is the devil" route.  That story is so boring.  

 

I still wish they would wake up to the fact that their father is an asshole and be grateful that he's gone.  I mean seriously, every time they speak about him, how he would throw temper tantrums when he didn't get his way and how his tantrums resulted in mass genocide or total abandonment, I just wonder how on earth the writers aren't even thinking about how these angels should maybe stop pining for the dude.  

 

I also realized that I forgot to watch last week's show.  I don't think I missed anything.  

[Greta]

 

Even Noma seemed more upset over the death of Claire/Alex's baby then Alex did.

I know, right?  Noma and Claire should hook up; they both deserve way better than Alex.

 

RIP Gates. Vega is now doomed.

 

 

As we all predicted, LUCIFER!!!!  I'm glad to see him being introduced.  Though, not gonna lie, I'm really ticked that the only black character introduced in a show filmed in South Africa is 'the bad boy'.  Real subtle, showrunners, real subtle.  Assholes.  I can only hope that they don't go the stereotypical "Lucifer is the devil" route.  That story is so boring.  

...

 

I also realized that I forgot to watch last week's show.  I don't think I missed anything.  

You missed concrete evidence that eyedrops (or anything involves anything near eyes) are a window into evil, but that may just be me projecting. Also, great monologuing by Darth!Gabriel and NotDead!Julian, the delicious prospect of Pete's death (sadly averted by the evil within Gabriel overriding his good sense), Alex being useless and staggeringly insensitive, and Michael swooning (literally) into Noma's arms.  Also, William and David's reunion- great acting on display on both sides.

 

I don't think the Prophet is Lucifer, just one of his acolytes.  Although it is kind of jarring that two of Gabriel's chief minions (Furiad and Janeck) during his first evil phase and random rebel redshirt killed by David are the only other black (male) characters that I can recall.  I really hope Daria (Dalia?) turns out to be Raphael and the show semi-redeems itself on that point. The actress hasn't had much to do, but she seems like a calm, observant type that would be a counterpoint to Uriel's hyper crazy. The only other possibility for a Raphael we've already seen was that tall redhead who got offed by David. Random and never gonna happen now, but i think it would have been a great choice for Riesen and Claire to be black, with the general as a Colin Powell type instead of an impostor.

 

Uriel, Furiad and Ethan were all apparently cut for budget/network notes reasons and I miss them all. (If I was a network executive, my notes would be "Get rid of Alex! Now!" scrawled on a post-it note).  Uriel at least seems like she will be back and the writers used her "death" well, to bring her brothers together and set up the possibility that she's working her own agenda, possibly involving taking control of Gabriel's army.  Ethan, although he wasn't someone who particularly interested me last season, should have had at least a few scenes providing the perspective of a V2; the nuclear reactor scenes would have been more dramatically tense if he was the one who'd finally turned on Claire (and Alex) and took control of it.  Furiad, sniff, I miss most of all.  He didn't have that much to do last season, but the character made an impression on me.  A few scenes of him revealing his disillusionment with Gabriel (who I believe he really loved and was loyal to for a long time), deciding not to bring the army to New Delphi, and maybe changing sides (to Lucifer? Michael? His own?) would have been great. Plus if his angst about it caused his shirt to feel too heavy and he walked around emoting without it for half those scenes, it might have made up for having to endure the crayon scrawling-covered Cabbage Patch's shirtlessness.

 

I've written a book and didn't even say that much about this episode, so I'll add that the Anakining of Riesen over dead again Clem was blah; slowly giving into the angel by becoming addicted to its strength would have been better. OTOH, Lucifer's wardrobing decisions for Michael made me instantly love the Son of Morning. "I'm going to summon you, threaten you, and make you wear plaid!"  Finally, Alex is the last pure heart?  Go home Michael, you're drunk.

[Ottis]

I don't buy at all that Whele has any emotional connection to his son. The show is wasting a lot of time on that, and it makes no sense ... especially when, in the midst of groveling to David, Whele reverts to form and stabs a woman to death. Did I miss something? Whele is almost treating David like David is a God.

 

Very sad to see Gates go. He seemed like an adult among a bunch of kids.

 

Why does Lucifer have power over Michael? And who would Lucifer be listening to? Playing cards was kind of cheesy.

 

Also sad that Gabriel is a cartoon again.

[frenchtoast]

The Darkness overtakes the citizens of Vega; William wrestles with the truth about his time in the desert; Arika becomes the victim of her own manipulations; Michael grows concerned about Noma; Alex searches for the Amphora.

[Laha]

Hi does anyone know the name of the song that played when Michael was at the church??

[thuganomics85]

Ends up being one of those hallucination episodes, that I'm never a huge fan of.  Also couldn't quite figure out what the Amphora's powers were.  It seemed like it was making humans off themselves (some quick then others), but then Noma's hallucination was getting her wings back.  I guess the endgame was suppose to be her attempting to fly and then that would have been how she died, but it was just weird that everyone else seem to get much darker hallucinations.

 

I did enjoy seeing "eight-ball" versions of David and Claire at various points.  Anthony Head and Roxanne McKee seemed to be having fun in those scenes.

 

To summarize the hallucinations, William was remembering what really happened to him in the desert (kidnapped by eight-balls), combined with visits from eight-ball versions of Gabriel and Claire.  Claire was living a happy life with Alex and their child, until it suddenly vanished.  David got his ass kicked by an eight-ball version of himself and told how horrible he is.  Michael kept watching Alex die and thought Noma was secretly trying to kill Alex.  Noma thought she got her wings back.  Arika switch places with that Rose character from episodes back, and got manipulated to "seduce" David (even got in some patent Dominion ass shots: wherever that was Shivani Ghai herself or, more likely, a body double.)  But Alex was never effected, and somehow closed the Amphora, and all the regulars are still alive (although, Claire was looking pretty bad.  It seemed she slit her wrist?)

Edited September 19, 2015 by thuganomics85

[themadman]

Was bored to tears with this pointless episode.

[AngelKitty]

I really don't know why I'm still watching this show. It's too dark for me since I like at least a little humor to break up the darkness. Plus I have to put the closed captions on to understand what they are saying. Everyone talks with such gravelly voices.  I guess they think it's more dramatic that way. And, I'm not really sure I understand everybody's motivations. It seems to me that if the angels really wanted to kill all the humans, they would, well, kill all the humans. Of course one reason I may not completely understand this show is because I may doze off every once and a while.

 

As for this episode, I suppose our main characters had their hallucinations so they could gain insight to their true natures. David learned he is evil, William learned he's a fraud and just wants revenge, Noma learned she misses her wings, Claire learned she misses her baby and the life she could have had with Alex, Michael learned he really does care for Alex.  Did I miss anyone? Oh yeah, Alex who didn't have a vision but learned he and his markings have the power of angels.  And well, didn't we know all this stuff anyway?

 

How many episodes left?

[Greta]

Yep, this was easily my least favorite episode of the entire series, starting with Michael, Alex and Noma apparently following up the Lucifer revelation by deciding to stand in a row staring at Claire staring into space. The only parts I really thought added to the story were William's and most of Noma's (except the part where she was healed by being reminded the Chosen Douche still needed her as a backup slampiece so she needed to set aside her silly regrets over being a celestial being forever exiled from her home.)  William's story was great; I felt for him and I legitimately wonder if it turns out Lucifer didn't get involved at all and it really was all William's re-imagining of what he endured just to deal with the trauma. While I loved that in William's head Gabriel is coiffed with a giant phallic troll 'do, I will be so pissed off if we don't get a scene between real Gabriel and William again.  There are so many parallels in what they've endured this season and everything Alex incessantly whines Michael did to him, Gabriel actually did do to William.  Plus you know a Chosen Impostor would hit some buttons.

 

Kudos to Roxanne McKee for playing 4 different versions of Claire and doing it well.  I also found a certain dark humor in that in Claire's mind, darkness manifested as a slow death by bleedout while being stuck with Alex and baby. I also now understand that it wasn't a miscarriage; Baby Riesen-Lannon commited suicide in utero upon realizing that she would share genes with Alex AND be named Willow.

 

Just saw it was also a series low in ratings after a big spike last week. That makes me happy in the sense that hopefully someone might realize that an Alex-centric  episode last week followed by a promo promising more Alex did not attract repeat viewers. But OTOH, I love so much of this show to an absurd degree and am so emotionally invested in what happens to Michael, Gabriel, Noma, Claire and, as of now, William, that I'm also worried. Please let the Michael/Gabriel fight and the Lucifer dangle draw in more viewers next week.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Greta

[ZoqFotPik]

How many episodes left?

There are two more episodes.

 

I wonder what percentage of the Vega population died during this attack. With the damage done during the civil war, the reactor beginning to fail, and now this, I'm wondering if they intend to take the show out of Vega if there is a third season.

[Greta]

Since it's been way more than 2 weeks, I'll double-post because I want bragging rights if I'm actually right (for once) in this speculation.  The only tattoo that has mattered all season has been the new one- is it really part of God's markings? Or did someone else add it?  The SyFy site has a little bio of Raphael that says she wrote a warning on the wall that everyone was going to die in Babylon (something that really is in the Bible) just to see what would happen.  Maybe she's trying to warn her brothers about Vega/Lyrae and Lucifer or just stir things up to see what they'll do.

 

And that's also the tattoo that evicts eightballs. Maybe she wanted to see what the Chosen One would do if given that ability and the answer thus far is not very much. 

[frenchtoast]

With Vega smoldering, Michael squares off with Gabriel; Noma’s past is explored; Arika contemplates her escape; William makes a decision that seals Vega’s fate; Alex tries to save everyone.