Dominion - 'A Bitter Truth'

"Yeah, man; I'm gonna borrow my dad's sun chariot and tear up this town!"

Okay, so it's been a while since I cracked out an episode of Dominion, so just a reminder of where we were: Claire is becoming a moderately inept tyrant with the assistance of Grumpy McTech Bear (real name Gates,) Whele is going mad and locked up on a bogus charge of sleeping with the enemy, Michael has found God, Gabriel is all pissed at the universe, and Alex, Noma and Reisen are negotiation with insaniac secret higher angel Julian.

In New Delphi, Reisen distracts Julian while the others snoop. They find an army of near-catatonic 8-balls in the basement, and when they get caught Julian uses the amphora to coax a weak lower angel into the recently-evicted Pete. He tries to do the same to the others, but Noma boots her would-be possessor and pops her wings, allowing them to overwhelm the guards. She identifies the amphora as an ancient, Angelic WMD and Julian as a dyad, a hybrid of human and angel (as opposed to a lower angel possessing a human, or a higher angel in its own physical form.)

Gabriel and Michael hook up on the ridge above New Delphi and get maudlin over the news that Uriel was killed in the bombing of the Eyrie. They argue their philosophical differences and who exactly God's last message was meant for, but agree that they want Alex out of New Delphi and figure on using Gabriel's remaining armies to get him.

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

In Vega, Claire consults with Grumpy and they get sealed in when a Higher Angel attacks. They escape, but Claire uses the attack to persuade Grumpy to come out of hiding and be a more active supporter of her cause. Meanwhile rebel leader Zoe kidnaps Whele, planning to broadcast his murder as a rallying call, but he persuades her first that he can get her a broadcast centre, and then that his access codes will still get them into secure areas. All of this is really just an opportunity for him to talk and thus persuade Zoe to buy into his doublethink, and by the time he shoots the taunting halluicination of his son in the heart, she's pretty much ready to sign up to the rebranded Team Whele.

For all that I've neglected it, Dominion continues to be better than it has any right to be, mostly on the strength of its acting. Even Alex isn't completely annoying this season.