Dominion - 'Something Borrowed' and 'Black Eyes Blue'

And they both suddenly thought: "What am I wearing?"

Michael is training Alex to fight higher angels, while Alex struggles to overcome his grief and guilt over Bixby's death. Meanwhile William and Claire struggle to balance their public and private personas, with some of William's Gabrielite Acolytes finding his continued activity as Principe of the human church treacherous. The formerly weak Lord Alan Dale gets his groove back, forcing Evil Giles onto the back foot, before his 8-ball lover goes on the run, threatening to bring him down for good.

There's a lot of character development across these two episodes. Alex has a revelation (pretty much that he won't save anyone by being a whiny slacker) and William takes a stand. Sexy Lady Senator ends her relationship with Michael due to Evil Giles' blackmail and the fact that Michael just accepts it is a scales falling moment. Alan Dale and Evil Giles both get some much needed backstory and their battle gets more even and Pseudosapphic Diplomat gets to do some actual diplomacy, but it's Claire who does best.

"Lydia, oh Lydia..."

Evil Giles' assurance in 'Something Borrowed' that she showed strength during the events of 'The Flood' comes across as mere applesauce, but the capture and attempted exorcism (I'm sorry; eviction) of her possessed mother bring out some real backbone. By the end of 'Black Eyes Blue' she's basically positioned herself as the only significant figure in Vega's government and established a hard edge that means I can't refer to her as Impossibly Virtuous Love Interest anymore. Uriel is also established as an art lover, and manages to stake out a proper characterisation, so overall this is a good week for female representation in Dominion.

In fact, these are a pretty good couple of episodes overall. There are still developments that feel a little rushed, but the pilot season only has 8 episodes, so perhaps that is inevitable. As it stands, I will be watching a second season if it comes; let's hope that the last two episodes don't screw that up.