Dominion

I’m always up for angelic/demonic fiction so naturally Dominion caught my eye.

Even if it claims to be a descendant of Legion, a movie that didn’t leave me all too happy, I was ready to give Dominion a chance.

    So, without further ado, SyFy’s Dominion. Snorts a laugh. Can you believe this poster?

Let me tell you, season two’s cover isn’t much better:

    Which brings me to the first issue. The tone. The posters aren’t necessarily bad but establish up a much more ridiculous, over the top feel, while the actual series has a much more sombre, serious mood even if overly dramatic at times.

    Dominion, in a nutshell, is a story about political games, romantic triangles, forbidden intra class love, personal struggles, angels dealing with internal issues, and a post apocalyptic society struggling to survive under the threat of Gabriel’s, the human exterminator, return.

It doesn’t look bad either. We get nice, if questionable, CGI, and artsy scene setup. Though at times it can seem a bit fake, more like a tacky art project, or out of place fashion magazine in an otherwise gritty environment.

My verdict is: hilarious in how seriously it takes itself. That doesn’t necessarily mean bad, the series can be fun at times, but I definitely wouldn’t call Dominion a masterpiece as it is often bogged down by unnecessary drama. It’s more about political games rather than action.

Oh yeah, and Anthony S. Head is in it. Playing the human villain. Kind of.

So let’s see what the pilot episode has to offer.

It opens with a “what happened before” narration. I cringe already, but at least the powerpoint looks pretty. Yada, yada, god fucked off, led by Gabriel, angels decided to destroy humanity, some refused to join, lesser spirits had no problem possessing humans left and right to serve as a cannon fodder. And, of course, one archangel, Michael, chooses to fight for humanity, because otherwise we wouldn’t have much of a story, poor Earth would be singed in minutes. Then prophecies, chosen ones, you know the drill. Not the most original story, well maybe not by now, and the worst part is the nice apocalyptic war happened in the shitty movie, and we’re stuck observing the aftermath. So forget anything you just heard about angel against human wars, and turn your eyes to the small flea infested refuge of Vega, former Las Vegas.

I do have to give them points for location though. The series was shot in South Africa, and we get some real nice scenery.

About minute and a half in, we meet the protagonist Alex, played by Christopher Egan, as he scavenges for supplies on his own. But fear not, he was not sent on a fool’s errand by an equally foolish authority, no he decided to sneak out on his own.

It was well shot though, and the reveal of the possessed humans  was startling enough. If we can ignore all the cheese because a lot of the shots and developments drip with it.

The possessed do serve as a nice monster, a challenging enemy with creepy visuals and supernatural powers that is only outmatched by the angels themselves. Though a lot of that threat fades as angels are killed or drop dead left and right. Even our main stars, the archangels often struggle in their fights. Having it hard is nice and all, but there’s nothing quite like an enemy who can roll through hordes of humans without a scratch. And we don’t get much of that, we get gritty, physical fights, where even the angels often find themselves threatened or on the brink of extinction.

They are too earthy, too human, you just lack the mystery and threat of the supernatural. A monster is scary until you drag it into the light and showcase its weaknesses.

But moving on.

Naturally, Alex’s superiors are not too happy with his actions, sending him away for the Archangel to take care of.

The archangel himself, Michael, played by Tom Wisdom, poutingly stares through his windows from the highest tower of the city, after what appears to have been an orgy. I got to give it to them, the establishing scene with all the ladies was quite artsy though someone poured too much cooking oil on them.

Michael is upset, because all the ladies want him, and he’s too afraid to have a child, yet he indulges anyway. I find this whole theme/storyline laughable if not unnecessary. I guess they were trying to give him a conflict or a personality or something, but it just sticks out like a fragment that couldn’t quite blend but someone forgot to cut it out in the final version.

And of course, this scene could not end in any other way than Michal plunging out of the window and flying away.

The city itself, its layers and classes was an interesting idea that they tried and somewhat pulled off, introducing class problem, religious cults and the challenge to rule a post apocalyptic society and keep it from sliding into anarchy. As in any society, the poor are pretty fucked over, though what baffles me is why the army is held with such a low regard considering how necessary it is. If anything, the army should be above the petty aristocracy, considering it’s all that keeps the angels, and the possessed at bay. Granted, the first “ruler” is a general, but the rest of the council-thing are all civilians.

And we’re introduced to yet more intrigue. Alex, our lowly soldier, is having an affair with the ‘president’s’ daughter. Gasp! Which is problematic because the power families intend to join by marrying son of one to daughter of the other. One of the episode sub-plots is the lovebirds’ plan to fly away unless the big man lets them marry. That, will naturally be hindered by other events.

I’m kind of itching for fight scenes. Not that it drags, but I imagined more bloody battles between angels and the like and less human drama.

Actually, the series often has the feel of a family drama, which I’m not really a fan of, but I guess it does introduce tension and intrigue. The resolutions can be quite satisfying too when in the end you dump the whiny, useless character whose face you had to bear throughout, in the middle of the desert. Thought that means that he’s still alive and we’ll probably see more of him later. Ugh.

But it’s time to meet the damsel of the series, Claire, played by Roxanne McKee, who could not be more of a metaphor of the virgin mother. For heaven’s sake, in her first introduction she is in a white dress, with flowers in her hair, preaching to children under candle light about the chosen one.

We also see the orphan of the series, Bixby, played by Betsy Wilke. A pasty, thin blond girl with bags under her eyes who is dressed in rags and the protagonist feels personally responsible for looking after her. Yeah, she’s so dead.

A delegation from Helena, a neighbouring/rival city, arrives and the political games begin, each city trying to haggle something out of the other. The catch is Vega will soon have a nuclear reactor, and Helena, supposedly, has an air force. Again it was an interesting idea with the city relations and organisations, while Vega has a more cast like system, Helena seems to be a total tyrannical matriarchy.

A lot of things are introduced in the first episode themes, characters, plots, and at some point it begins feeling crowded. I just prefer more subtle or straightforward story lines. So I will speed-tell the rest so we don’t have to be here all day.

Alex’s father returns, drama ensues because he left without a word. Problems arise among the politicians because the delegation brought in angel infiltrators. All hell breaks loose. Oh and Alex is the chosen one. But the upper cast will cover up everything to keep the masses docile. The end.

The series are not bad, they bring a lot of ideas to the table, but I feel we can’t really focus on them all. A for effort, and if you do like overly complicated, intrigue clad dramas, give it a watch.