Side Note: Am I the only one who is still bugged by the change from "SciFi" to "Syfy"? I know it happened a long time ago but why?! Why would you change that? There was no need and it's stupid. Ok. Rant done.
For any unlucky souls that haven't heard of Dominion yet, let me give you the 411. This TV show is based on the movie Legion. The show is set 25 years after the events of the movie. A massive war
Michael helps the humans and is currently training the Chosen One. They live in what used to be Las Vegas. They've hence shortened the name to Vega. OK I think that's enough background. If you want more, go watch the previous 2 episodes.
I watched Dominion tonight, in the US, while it was airing in the UK. The cast live Tweeted and it was a blast. Some of their tweets will be included in the review. Check out the bottom of the page for links to their Twitter accounts.
Recap
William is sort of Gabriel's right hand man, at least in Vega. The episode starts with a meeting between the two in a dingy desert diner. (Say that three times fast.)
Clarie's father, General Riesen, is sleeping with an eight ball.
Alex is freaking out about being the Chosen One and is running away. (Way to be an adult, dude.) Michael later convinces him to stay by taking him to his childhood home. Michael tells him how his mother died protecting him and, with tears running down his surprisingly unchanging face, promises to do everything in his power to keep Alex safe.
Senator David Whele is making backroom deals with Arika from Helena for use of their air force. Anthony Head and Shivani Ghai have great chemistry. I incredibly enjoy their scenes together.
David doesn't believe in Michael. They come to heads in an awesome scene, during a senate meeting, when David insinuates that Michael is a traitor. This results in a hilarious statement later from David to Becca Thorn "Did you miss the part where he [Michael] threatened to murder me to today?" *snicker* *smirk* This snarkiness is followed by David blackmailing Becca by threatening to out her relationship with Michael. This begs the question, how does David ALWAYS have the dirt on everyone?
General Riesen finally tells Claire that he is sick. Her father's declining health and his unethical treatment of Vega's citizens prompts Claire to make a rash decision: agreeing to marry William.
William has a major thing for Claire but is oblivious to her feelings for Alex. A fact that David, William's father, points out rudely and implies that even his lion has more guts than William. William does get a jab in, however, before leaving to attend to "church business".
Arika gets a surprise package from her wife, the leader of Helena. It's the body of her sister. David sees this as an opportunity to regain the power in their "relationship". Arika, being one who likes having the upper hand, says she will start a coup in Helena if David lets her stay. She claims to have many loyalists amongst the top officials in Helena. It's always a power-play with these two.
Michael and Alex get a surprise visit by one of Gabriel's head angels. Alex comes away practically unharmed.
When Gabriel finds out that the red angel attacked his brother, Michael, he retaliates by killing the angel's girl. No one messes with his brother. Oh and apparently, Gabriel has some mad trumpet skills.
We discover that not only is William working with Gabriel but he is the leader of his church in Vega. This church is very much on the down-low and would be fatal to anyone caught being a part of it. William leads an initiation of a new member, which involves breaking ribs, and we see a whole new side to this character. There's a lot more to him than meets the eye.
A Bit more Detail
My first thought of the first scene was "Dear lord Gabriel has a nice butt!" Thank you cameraman. Haha. And excellent wardrobe choice with those leather pants. We haven't seen a whole lot of Gabriel up until now so it was cool getting to see him more, especially outside of his mountain fortress.
David is threatening to out Becca's sexy relationship with Michael, saying it will make her an outcast. I don't get why sleeping with Michael makes someone an outcast. The citizens practically worship him and call him Savior. I understand if she was sleeping with a regular eight ball but this is their freaking savior. I love the scene either way. Anthony Head is terrific as David.
Every single scene with David Whele is intense, even when he's just talking about lions. And speaking of that lion scene (with William). Wow. He makes the natural animal matting process super creepy, especially with that smile. *shivers*
David Whele's character is very interesting. Look at the scene in which he is talking to Arika as he helps her wash her dead sister's body. He starts off with a harsh "In Vega we burn our dead. When in Rome" and tosses her matches. But then helps wash the body. He does this even before Arika becomes useful again.
Arika says he is cruel and responses with "Only to those that outlive their usefulness." Once Arika says she will start a coup, David calmly, and sweetly, says he will arrange for her sister's body to be "transported to the ocean". This clearly means a great deal to Arika. Again with the contradicting actions. This brings to mind one of Anthony Head's lines from Rocky Horror "Sometimes a mental mind f*** can be nice."
David is complex. Many people say he doesn't think he's bad. He's just doing what he has to. I honestly can't tell. There are times he does or says something and I'm like "There's no way he can't see how bad that is!" I think David started off with good intentions but at some point doing what needs to be done for the good of the people turned into doing what needs to be done to keep his power. I don't know if David thinks he's a bad guy or not. Maybe he does think he's bad but thinks it's ok because it's for the good of Vega. But then we'd have to anyalize if David's moves are really for the good of Vega or if he justifies his actions by saying what's good for him is good for Vega. *headache starts* Ugh. Like I said, he's complex.
When Arika and David are sharing a drink while discussing David's lion, Arika says he cages wild animals because he enjoys controlling powerful and dangerous things. David says he saved the lion and kept it's species from becoming extinct. David thinks he is doing good but I think it's more than that. I think he does enjoy the power he has over the lion. It's all about power with David.
Fun Fact: Do you know what Anthony Head was really drinking?
Someone on Twitter suggested that David should sing sometime in the series. Some may say this would be totally out of character but I think, if done correctly, could absolutely work. I can see him now. David standing in a dark room softly singing to himself in a deep voice as he stands over the bodies of people he just killed. Perhaps he's wiping clean a knife or pouring gasoline on the bodies. (A knife doesn't seem his style but you do what you gotta do.) It would be creepy as hell and would not only be in character but could also be used to move forward his character. It could be used to show how the stresses of governing Vega, all the backroom deals, family issues, etc are affecting him. How he's slowing loosing his mind. I've already seen the entire first season so this really makes sense to me. You'll see what I'm talking about.
Side Note: OMG those eyes! Green with a speck of gold in one eye. Wow.
William is another interesting guy. In the first two episodes I found him incredibly annoying. He was my least favorite character. He was so spineless and wimpy. I kept yelling at the TV for him to grow a backbone. He seemed sort of false too but, at the time, I couldn't put my finger on why. Well, now we know why! When I saw him breaking that dude's ribs I couldn't believe who I was watching. Either William is a terrific actor or he has an impressive split personality disorder. This was NOT the same person! Outwardly, he seems spineless but in the shadows he's a bad-ass villain-in-training!
And what's up with those creepy blindfolds? Blindfold = odd. Blindfold with eyes = creepy. Add those to the unsettling baby sculptures, and vampire like eight ball angels and this show is just creeptastic. Bravo. 
I love the relationship between Gabriel and Michael. It's real. Complex. They are on opposite sides and yet still care about the other. Gabriel flips out that his solider attacks Michael. He's a typical brother, no one can hurt his brother but him. I think anyone with siblings can relate to their relationship.
I realized something during this episode that I can't believe I never noticed before: The Archangels have British accents but everyone else has American accents. So the celestial beings are British and the lowly Earthlings are American. Hhhhmmm I wonder what the writers could possibly be saying with that. *smirk*
No matter how many times I watch Dominion, it always shocks me to hear Anthony Head speaking in an American accent. It's hard to believe it's really him talking, his accent is so convincing. It's like watching him speak but hearing an American dubbing it.
I didn't even know the rest of the cast was British until I watched an interview. Well done everyone!
Interesting comparison between TV shows in the UK and US. A normal US show has 20+ episodes per season. In the UK, a normal season has only 6-8 episodes. I don't know how it's normally like for UK shows but in the US, it usually takes 6 or so episodes in the first season for it to really catch it's footing. It takes awhile to figure out their characters and get a feel for the show.
With that and the shortened seasons in mind, it's especially impressive that Dominion is so good at only it's third episode. I tip my hat to the writers. Well done. And the acting was spot on. I can't wait to see what's next.
Tune in Thursday at 10pm in the UK for Episode 4 The Flood.
David Whele - @AnthonySHead
Arika - @ShivaniGhai
Gabriel - @CarlBeukes
Michael - @MrTomWisdom
Claire - @Roxanne_Mckee
Alex - @MrChrisEgan
William - @LukeAllenGale
@DominionSyfy
@Dominion_UK
@SyfyUK
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