Dominion

The Archangel Michael: he can row my boat ashore anytime he likes

I've been watching Syfi series Dominion, because it came out shortly after Cover Him with Darkness was published and I was all "Argh, it's about warring angels - I have to know the angel zeitgeist so I can't be accused of copying!" (Copying from centuries-old sources like the Bible counts as research, not plagiarism, lol).

Dominion is set after a war between angels and humanity which humanity has comprehensively lost. The last major population centre exists only under the protection of the Archangel Michael, who has decided they shouldn't really go extinct ... for reasons that may or may not be altruistic.

It's surprisingly good, IMO. The visuals are a bit too American-TV-squeaky-clean, but it has a bunch of neat ideas - like that the remnant of US civilisation, being based amidst the ex-casinos of Las Vegas, has adopted the kitsch faux-historic setting as part of its culture. Which is a clever use of pre-existing sets.

The plot is VERY political, quite gritty, and the writers seem to delight in subverting your expectations of who is "good" and who is "bad". Also there are a several important female characters who do not fit into neat virgin/whore boxes but are genuine political playas. This is SO obviously post-Game-of-Thrones as a piece of writing, and that is no bad thing.

Also Anthony Head makes my skin crawl :-)

Best character though is the angel Michael, not just because he is very very pretty and WAY cool as a warrior, but because the actor manages to convey an air of detachment from normal human emotions that is actually pretty unsettling. He's saved humanity (this time round, anyway), but everyone hates and fears him. He's charismatic but all but impossible to read, rather like a sexy Vorlon.



"Don't be afraid." Yeah, right.

This is a series that definitely deserves a chance, and I'm glad I came across it.