No wing-fu this week. In fact, not a wing to be seen, even among the angels in residence. This week it’s all about parents and children, and oh, how difficult that can be. And it’s a week that will make absolutely no sense if you haven’t seen last week and the week before. So backtrack, return, and get ready for Dominion Part 6…
We begin in a new (and soon to be painfully familiar) set: an old casino vault (we know, ’cause Michael tells us), which is serving as the prison for the eight-ball version of Claire’s Mom. Michael is not pleased she’s still breathing. She’s an eight-ball, after all: a lower angel in a human body. “Vicious and unpredictable,” he says. He sees her as a threat to the city; he wants her dead. But Alex, growing into his Chosen One role, believes that Claire’s Mom is still in there somewhere. Alex wants to attempt an “eviction,” But Michael thinks it’s too dangerous. But it’s a risk, Alex says, he’s willing to take. Well, crap, Michael says. Oh-kay.
Over at Castle Riesin, Claire is very happy with the ‘gift’ she thinks her Dad gave her: the music box that was actually left in her room by her Eight-Ball Mother hybrid (the one she killed the shopkeeper for, that caused all this hassle to begin with). Claire is delighted: it reminds her of her mother, the woman she still misses. Riesen looks pained, but he takes advantage of her good mood to ask her for help in fighting back against David Whele’s upcoming vote of no confidence. She willingly agrees to help.
And yet more parent/child interaction. The elder Whele David confronts the younger Whele William with the scrap of black cloth that Claire confronted him with the night before: apparently this is the ‘uniform’ of the Gabrielites within Vega, the Holy Blindfold of the Black Acolytes.” Whele twists his son around a bit, but it’s pretty clearly: young William has been caught, and, Dad says, if he ever, ever gets his hands on those dang traitors, he will “end them.” Gulp.
Despite his deep misgivings, Michael makes a quick trip to the angelic aerie to visit his sister Uriel. He gives her a gift (it’s a very gift-y week in post-apocalypse Nevada!) and asks her to give him something very special: the Apocrypha. And she knows there’s only one reason he’d want that: to attempt to evict a dark angel from a human body. (This is something interesting: only the higher angels, the likes of Gabe, Mike, and Uri, actually have bodies of their own. The lower angels, the footsoldiers, have no corporeal form. They have to steal one – possess a human – to survive in this plane.) No matter: she’s willing to cough up the Apocrphya, but only in exchange for …
…a good long look at Alex and his tats. Michael assents, but Alex is none too fond of the beautiful blond crawling around and peering at his near-naked body. “Your sister’s making me uncomfortable,” he tells Michael.” “Welcome to my world,” the angel replies. She’s clearly fascinated by the letters, written in a language that not even the angels can read. But Michael can take only so much scrutiny: soon she turns over the AApocrypha. And after a bit of tattoo-voodoo, it becomes clear: only The Chosen One can read that book.
Pretty cool.
Young William rendezvouses with his black acolyte right hand and orders that the sect be disbanded for the moment – his Dad is on to them. Meanwhile, Michael goes back into the vault – rapidly becoming the place for Riesenettes to hang out — and talks more to Eight ball Mom.)
But Father and Daughter have other things on their mind: specifically a meeting between Riesen, Claire and the Sex Nun ArEEKah. It’s been interesting to watch Claire’s evolution from a callow young princess to a dignified leader, and one with bitter secrets all her own (not to worry: more to come!). But she’s not so distant that her boyfriend can’t interrupt an important meeting and drag her to meet her Eight-ball Mom, still imprisoned in the vault. Eight-ball Momma and Claire recognize each other in the worst possible way, and Claire’s mind goes to an interesting place almost immediately: “Alex,” she asks, “how much does my father know?” Alex tells her her Dad’s been keeping Eight-ball Momma a secret for years, a semi-prisoner outside the walls, in the Luxor. Claire is repulsed, panicked. She tries to walk out. But Alex stops her: he wants Claire to agree to the eviction, so he can bring Claire’s Mom back, sans eight-ball. Claire doesn’t buy it, at least not at first: she wants the evil possessed parent destroyed. (Oh, if only it were that easy!)
Even as they’re talking, William Whele’s right hand Cultie has brought together his black acolytes in their secret headquarters for a final meeting. ‘Cept it turns out not to be so secret, ’cause as soon as they’re all convened, Daddy Whele’s Royal Guard shows up and blasts ’em good.
And then, back at the maison de Riesen, we get the really big news: The Order of Helena, currently run by Arika’s luvvah-boss Evelyn (yes, it’s confusing, never mind) have held their powerful position in the world for a quarter century because they have the world’s only surviving air force. But Riesen knows the truth: all they really have is one B-52 and a couple of choppers. They lost the rest back in the war. Helena’s been running the Order of Evelyn on a lie all this time (though it’s not quite clear why Riesen has kept this a secret for twenty-five years, through thick and very thin. Anyway…) Now Riesen has the capacity to build an A-bomb with their little reactor…and Helena can use her lone B-52 to drop it on Gabriel. Ba-BOOM. End the war before it begins. Problem is, AREEKah says, Helena isn’t as worried about Gabriel as the leaders of Vega are. She’s going to take some convincing to commit her one-and-only bomber to this mission. Or maybe the sex-nuns need a new queen … hmmm…
Back in the casino vault, Claire – totally unconvinced by Eight-ball Momma, meets her face to face. Wow, that girl can be cold (watch it, Alex!). But gradually, in a rather harrowing and emotional scene, she comes around. Maybe, just maybe her Mom’s still in there somewhere. She’s not convinced, but she’s willing to let them try the eviction. Bring out…the book!
…while across town William Whele visits the not-so-secret Hideout of the Black Acolytes and finds them all dead, killed by his Father’s Guard (his right-hand guy conveniently lives long enough to tell him Who Did It). Young Whele, growing nastier by the day even as Claire is growing more regal, decides not to tell the Angel Gabriel that his in-Vega infiltrators are gone. He’ll take care of this his way.
And now: the eviction. Lots of twitching, shouting, levitating. All pretty cool. And eventually the marks of the eight-ball possession…slowly…fade. Mom’s back! Even Michael is stunned by the result. (Side note: man, they know how to use light and depth of field in this show. Almost as good as Hannibal, and we’ve said before.)
But … awww, crap. Michael knew this all along; no wonder he looked so stunned. The “eviction” didn’t work quite the way as planned after all. Mom, minus angel, is dying. Fast. The Mom-spirit swiftly passes away – one hopes to her much-delayed reward–and now there’s just a soulless, gasping body. And Claire is pissed.
It’s really kind of tense: these two storylines – Whele vs. Whele and Riesen vs. Riesen vs. Ex-Riesen – are taking place simultaneously.
As Claire deals with the death of her mother’s soul, William Whele enters the Counsel chambers, expecting the vote of no confidence that Riesen mentioned earlier…but instead he finds that Riesen has retaken control. The other Councillors are not there. Riesen’s told them all about the lack of the Evelynic Air Force, and they’ve withdrawn. They’re backing Riesen’s plan instead: Arika will return to Evelyn, depose her, and then give them the use of the B-52 to deliver the bomb unto Gabriel.
Fine, Whele says, Just fine. He stalks out, only after Riesen forces him to give the “Confidence” vote, just to rub it in. But Riesen has precious little time to celebrate his victory. Claire, still pissed, confronts him back at hom, music box in hand, about the whole “keeping possessed Mom shacked up in the Luxor” thing. Awkward.
Still, it’s fascinating: Claire’s is in control now; she is the Little Princess no longer. She has the secret to destroy her father, and she’d be more than happy to use it, so she’s calling the shots now. Thusly: the Whele/Riesen wedding will proceed (though she has no idea just how evil and twisted her fiance really is), and once it’s done, she says, the sick ol’ General will step down and she’ll take over. No arguments, no negotiations. And here, you can have your friggin’ music box, Dad.
And while one parent/child relationship folds in on itself, another’s going even worse. Young Whele confronts Old Whele about the death of the dark acolytes. True, he’s not nearly the actor that Roxanne Mckee is (come on, she was in Game of Thrones!), but he can do a good Angry Face. And besides, he’s got Anthony Head to pull the train here. This time, all of Dad’s taunts have no effect: he’s armed. And Dad’s actually pleased at his baby boy’s chutzpah. “Take your best shot,” he says, and he means that literally. He even puts his forehead head against the barrel of the pistol. And William doesn’t shoot. He pistol-whips his Dad real good, yes he does, but he doesn’t kill him.
And now one last glimpse of the third family of the night: the angel brother and sisters. Back at the angelic aerie, Uriel is scribbling down every image she remembers seeing on Alex’s body, but Michael doesn’t like that. He doesn’t want them written down; they could fall into the Wrong Hands. Just keep them in your memory, he says, and she agrees. But clearly the strain is making her even crazier than she was.
And William, we find, is far from finished with Daddy Whele. He’s convened his remaining Dark Acolytes and is bringing groggy Dad before them, where he performs the same “conversion” ceremony we saw a couple of weeks ago: he grinds a mysterious edged weapon deep into his father’s back. It doesn’t seem to kill him…but what does it do? Something bad, that’s for sure. Turn him into a Gabrieliite? A zombie? A willing slave? David Whele, sock puppet? Whoa…
And we end with a final mother-daughter scene. Claire returns one last time to the casino vault, where she lovingly embraces the soulless but still breathing body of her mother…just long enough to smother her and end her pain, humming the tune of the music box as she kills her.
Parents and children. How difficult it can be.
