Almost five years ago, Legion gave us the gritty story of angry angels comping to Earth – to a diner in the middle of nowhere, actually – to prevent the birth of a new Messiah, the only thing that could stop the upcoming war between angelkind and humankind. The babe got born, but immediately went into hiding, and the war happened anyway. And here we are, 25 years later, in Dominion. Know what? It’s actually pretty good.

True, it begins with a lengthy narration and that’s never good. “25 years ago,” we are told, “God disappeared.” (Though if you have to do voice-over, that’s not a bad opening.) Bottom line: Angry angels, led by Gabriel, blamed humans for God taking a powder and came to wipe us out. Most higher angels didn’t take sides, but Michael, the greatest of all archangels, didn’t buy the anti-Man line. He came to Earth, saved the baby who would grow up to be Mankind’s savior, and helped humans ‘win’ the war, or at least drive the bad, bad angels away, leaving the remnants of Mankind to huddle in wreck-y old strongholds, ‘protected cities’ like the remains of Vegas. Still, the conflict is far from over. Man-hatin’ angels are still out there, and angels remain “mankind’s greatest enemies.”

We begin with a pretty strong action sequence: a blond, square-jawed Good Guy Soldier kicks into the wreckage of a casino on the outskirts of Las Vegas and encounters a trio of demon-y looking types who hiss and spit and scuttle along walls and ceilings just like that little old lady in Legion did. (This is just the first of a few nice references to Legion, though the complexity and ‘mythology’ of this one goes way beyond the low-budget roots of the original film.) Anyway: Good Guy soldier manages to escape the ugly beasts, jumps in his tricked-out HumVee, and heads back for the Great Wall of Vegas, a black-winged Bad Angel in pursuit. The action-packed rush across the desert has a strong whiff of Road Warrior all around it, but what the hell: who doesn’t love a good black-winged angel-vs-human car chase now and then? Besides, it all ends well: the anti-angel artillery on the wall surround Vegas takes care of the winged monster. And in the process, we can see that Vegas has some pretty high-tech anti-heaven technology, including a scanner that can tell if you’re possessed (one of the ways the bad angels build an army: possessing humans and making them all hissy and snake-tongues and super-strong.)

Inside the gate, we discover that the Good Soldier’s name is Alex Lannen, who comes fully equipped with the absolutely required smart mouth and rebellious attitude of the Modern Hero. He was out baiting bad angels without permission, apparently, but the guards recognize him as one of Michael’s elite, so he’s hustled off to meet with the only angel in town, played with impeccable British understatement by Tom Wisdom, one of the many British actors in this thing you probably won’t recognize. Michael, who has the penthouse suite and his pick of beautiful mortal women, has become more than a little corrupted by his decades-old contact with hu-mons. We also get a hint that the offspring of an angel and a human is not something you’d want to see. Anyway: a worthy successor to Paul Bettany from the original film.)

As Lannen is escorted to Angel HQ, we get a pretty thorough tour of “Vega.. It’s a better-than-average post-apocalyptic craphole. Lots of dirty people, an obvious caste system, surprisingly lots of electricity — rather like a neon BarterTown. And obvious continued interest in the coming of the Messiah, who was supposed to have been born 25 years ago.

Apparently Lannen did the undoable and forbidden: he left the city, which nobody’s supposed to do. He also discovered some new and dangerous kind of ant-angelic soldiers, for which he gets a whuppin’, only to be rescued after a couple of lashes by General Riesen, head of the military force in Vega and a bit past his prime. Lannen, a lowly soldier but well-connected, is released, and he runs to the whiteclad pure-ish Claire Riesen, the General’s daughter, who also seems to be Lannen’s lover (they get to make out just a little after she gives us more exposition. Whew, LOTS of exposition and we’re only 14 minutes in.) “There is no me without you,”Claire opines (look it up: opines.) Clearly Claire needs to stop watching old DVD’s of Game of Thrones. And more: “Wherever you go… I follow.”) Urp.

It becomes clear that all of Vega is a self-righteous theocratic fascist dictatorship, where the peasants are ruled by a caste “numbers” system and the higher-ups live in luxury. We also meet Anthony Head, the only recognizable actor in this, playing the Evil Corporate Mastermind David Whele. And this is about as far from Giles the Watcher you can get. Everyboyd’s worried abou Lannen getting out and coming back. Everybody’s woried about the dark angels he found. And now we’re lining up a pretty huge supporting cast: soldiers, bureaucrats, angel-backers and more, including Whele’s son William, a oh-so-proper self-righteous weakling heir to Whele’s empire.

Choppers approach! Apparently helicopters aren’t as terrible an idea in a war with winged adversaries as one might think. Anyway: we are introduced to a sect of sexy lavender-draped nuns, The Order of Helena, who wear lots of make-up and have lots of kids and fertile women to trade for…stuff. Their rep here is Erika (That’s Eh-REEKah, damn it!) and her creepy oracle-child companion. They reek of the Dune, the Bene Gesserit, and Paul’s freak-ass kid sister, but never mind. We also see how it is that Vega manages to have so much electrical power to burn: the have a nuclear reactor right out of SG-1, smack in the middle of town (little did we know there was an atomic pile under Caesar’s Palace!). We’re also told that the nuns have all the best aircraft and medicine, inherited from an old pre-AngelWar military base. It’s all coming clear now: you’ve got the aging Reisen, Lord of the City, and his military; you’ve got Whele and his evil corporatists, rising to challenge Riesen. And you’ve got the lavender nuns of Helena as an unaligned third party out and about. Ooh, how very Game of Thornes-y.

And yet another new element: Michael meets in secret with a guy who turns out to be Jeep, the second re-cast member of the original film, and the Chosen One’s long-lost Dad.Seems he’s been out wandering the desert for, like fourteen years, trying to decipher the Holy Tattoos placed on his body by the angel Michael after the birth of his son. But it’s been a bust; he was just “looking for prophets whose names I’ve misspelled”. No matter: now he’s back, empty-handed, telling us “Everything is about to change. War is coming.” It’s also clear that he and Michael both know the Chosen One is no myth. Michael knows exactly who he is, and he’s hella cool.

But things are about to get complicated. Riesen wants to lift his military power, turn Vega into some kind’a damn long-overdue democracy (ew!) and even his daughter thinks it’s too early for that. And, of course, she know Whele will never allow it.Meanwhile, Whele meets more with Erika, the wet and naked sex-nun who talks about theweird-ass kid she brought along – a savant, an oracle. Who wakes up out of a sound sleep just a few minutes later, to stare up into the stormy sky and have a vision we don’t get to see. Yet. Then, barely halfway through the house, in a reveal that most “ominous” TV series would take half a season to get to: Ka-POW, after a qiuck sword-fight we learn that Lannen is the Chosen One, and he’s been under Michael’s protection ever since Dad split. Then, DOUBLE Ka-POW: Whele’s even crazier/nastier than we thought; he has one of the possessed, those crazy dark angel minions we saw before the titles, chained up in the basement.

Wow. Halfway into the first hour, and though it’s exposition-heavy, it’s pretty interesting, and not, thank God, without humor.

Onward; Lannen’s Dad brings bad news: Gabriel, leader of the Angry Angels, isn’t dead. He’s amassing “the possessed” in the mountains of Boulder, and has enlisted some bad ass enforcer angels to help in the second wave. Now the Ruling Council meets – Riesen and Whele and others – to hear the story. And Whele asserts his power: “We are the angels’ natural enemy, and the war isn’t over until they’re all dead.” Whele also insists he doesn’t believe there’s any Savior or that Michael the Angel is all that trustworthy. Basicall, “Angels my ass. I’m pro-Human all the way.” Lines, as they say, are drawn.

Cut to the big part, the Jubilee, that they probably shouldn’t even be having given the rising war-probability. But it’s a hoot: the Jubilee is kind of a Thunderdome/Cirque de Soleil hybrid., beginning with a sly Riddley Walker-like dumbshow about the war between Mn and humans. Good place to note, too, that the leaders of this weird protected city dress in a bizarre amalgam of past costumes, from Gilbert and Sullivan military to show girl to Catolic Bishop, coming from the Vegas tradition as much as the Church. Also, Jeep shares a picture of Alex’ (dead?) Mom with him, telling us that we won’t be seeing any cameos from Adrianna Palick and that she may not be all that dead after all. Damn.

Whele gets up at the Jubilee to give a speech, and we can avoid it not longer: Anthony Head’s flat, tortured, regionless American accent is really bad — so bad you have to wonder if some or all of it hasn’t been dubbed. In any event, he yowls out a new twist: Whele’s own weasly son and Riesen’s gorgeous daughter are engaged to be married – a little alliance Claire herself knew nothing about. Dad has betrayed her, and entirely the opposite of Riesen’s own “let’s set the peasants free” speech of a few minutes earlier. Whuuh?

Never mind: time for the Circuses part of the Bread and Cirucses. The Cage Match event at the center of the Jubilee Is actually kind of a hoot, half wrestling match and have roman excess. But bringing out that captured Dark Angel from the basement is a truly bad idea: it gives the previously unseen evil angel Gabriel, out there in Boulder, eyes – and hands – inside the city. For the first time. (Hey, wait a minute: Boulder … Vegas … good and evil in the apocalypse. Is this some kind of weird remake of The Stand?)

Anyway: the possessed dark angel minion bitch breaks free, kills Whele’s best warrior with a single blow, and escapes to wreak havoc on the crowd. Only Michael, with his cool carving setm can put her down…but it’s enough to bring a host of angelic bogeys – those damn enforcer angels! — in from the desert. The anti-angel gun emplacements that worked so well before te titels are useless. Crowds panic and run. Lannen’s little friend Puzzy or Glirchy or whatever her name is is nearly lost in the crowd, but he saves her and they run to escape, even as the major Enforcer Angel Furiad,, red-winged an helmeted like Magento, faces down Michael, dressed like Constnaine. They trash-talk each other in Angelic. (Woud this be considered speaking in tougues?) Sword fight! (A good one, actually – whoever’s doing combat choreography on this show knows their crap.)

Back in the mayhem of riot and escapement, we get a hint that there are other city-states, like Delphi, which has to be Philadelphia. But no matter: Lannen tried to escape with his lover and his little kid-buddy, but Claire, despite her father’s betrayal and her own unenxpected engagement, won’t leave with him. (Meanwhile his mysterious ability to leave the city when no one else can is explained: he’s the damn chosen one, the city security is his to command. Nice touch, so to speak.)

Back to the battlefield: Michael gets the best of Furiad but hesitates, and Furiad’s fellow Enforcer blacks out he city. Cameras are down. Sodliers immobilized. Michael’s on his own. (Hey, this is actually kind of exciting) Furiad, minus the Magneto helmet but with red wings intact, revives and escapes. Whele, meanwhile, is doing his best to smarcm-charm the sex-nuns, but the littlesavant with them has entirely different plans: he takes a cocktail fork off the hors d’oeuvres play and stabs Alex’s Dad, right in the belly, and kills him … but not before Jeep says, “You are ready. You are the chosen one.” Which, of coruse, Whele denies: he was hallucinating. There is no Chosen One. Screw that noise: with Jeep’s death, the tattoos that covered Dad’s arms – the last remnant of the original film – appear on Alex Lannen’s arms for the first time. Son of a bitch, he is the Chosen One!

ErEEKa and her sex-nuns are arrested. Wjele claims he meant to release the dark angel all along, to “focus the people’ on the coming war.  (Yeah, right.) Whele says that Lannen’s tats, and therefore his divinity, will stay a secret…for now. Oddly enough, Michael agrees: the higher angels now working with Gabriel have infiltrated the city, and are undetectable by their normal tech, so Lannen’s special-osity has to remain a secret. So you’ve got angel-spies, you got sex-nun spies, you got Whele’s people, all preparing for and seeking to profit form the second wave of the war between angels and Man.

The tats are the key –they’ve moved from angel Michael to Jeep to Alex, in a language even the Archangel Michael can’t read. And neither can Alex Lannen – so far. “I believe you are theonly one who can end this war,” Michael says to Alex, who of course disagrees. “I’m just am man. How can you be sure?” ‘Cause of the tats, dude. What’s in the tattoos will help in lay out the path to a future of hope. “Nothing is ever certain. But Jeep had hope – faith in you. And so do I.” Alex strains to read the tats and gets just a glimpse: “Beware of those closest to you.” So when Michael asks if Alex can read any of the tats’ unreadable language, of course he lies and says “No.” Hey, what aspiring your messiah on the run wouldn’t?

While at the temple in Boulder, Gabriel’s minions arrive with the word: The Chosen One has been found. Crap. So much for that state secret.

And that’s episdoe one! Final thoughts:

• Visually, it remains mostly gorgeous, painterly, and as step above almost anything south of Hannibal.
• The juxtaposition of Renaissance-level religious art in all its rich colors and shapes is kind of a wonderful contrast to the gaudy, angular crassness of resurrected Las Vegas. Makes for some great, jarring production and costume design.
• Re: that last shot of Claire praying in a room full of candles and looking oddly…fulfilled. Given her “relationshiop” with the now-revealed Chosen One … could there be a Son of the Chosen One on the way?
• This is Anthony Head’s second corrupted king, after Merlin’s Uther, and he was pretty good there, too. He does Evil even better than he did Fussy Watcher.
• Good sword-fighting. Good action. We could do without the Bartertown references, but having the city wreathed in light, surrounded by darkness, Is a nice touch.
• A nice big cast where a lot could happen, all of it fun.
• Mercifully little of the sweaty, intrusive sex-scenes of Sparacus, GoT, and Penny Dreadful. Thank God.
• Some real chemistry between the characters of Claire and Alex – a welcome surprise in a plot where the ‘undying love’ cliches could get pretty stenchy. (And Clarie’s first melodramatic declarations make a lot more sense after the hour ends, especially since pretty much everybody else is far more cynical.)

So finally: once again, the Hollywood Reporter doesn’t get it. Yes, there was a whole lot of talking, but there were some decent action sequences as we[[. And yes, it was expositoin-heavy, but the ambitions here are large: to tell as wprawling, politically complex story in the context of rock’em sock’em angel action, and its done pretty well. All in all, it’s not the steaming pile of vomit-inducing angel-shit that THR insisted it was.

In fact, it’s worth watching again next Thursday at 9:00. And that’s an heavenly miracle in itself.