I had little trust in the series based on movie "Legion", but I said to
myself: whatever, it can be different, the creators could just borrow
one or two elements and make a nice series after all. If "Dominion" is a
nice series, it's not visible yet. There were only two episodes so far
(it airs on Thursdays), and with some series it's hard to say whether
they are good or not, especially after 2 episodes. I will continue just for the sake of some research points I can see here.
The whole story starts after Archangel Gabriel laid a war against humanity shortly after God left. He was quickly joined by the lower order of angels in his fight. Against him, and as the protector of humanity, rose Archangel Michael. I have a weak spot for the Sword of God, so naturally I had to check this series as well, as soon as I read the synopsis. So, during the devastating war when Gabriel nearly made humans extinct, Michael found a child who had been prophesied as the chosen one who will lead humanity to the victorious end (but we won't use the word "messiah", no...).
The action takes place during some unstable and shaky peace treaty, Gabriel retreated to his fortress high up in the mountains, and the remains of the humans live in enclaves protected by high walls, soldiers and stupidity of lesser degenerate angels who can't simply fly over the walls (no force field whatsoever). Also by strict stratification system and laws dividing people into some classes with V-1 being the lowest.
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| If this looks authoritarian to you, it probably is. |
There are things that seem to be quite pleasing in this series, but in overall it's so riddled with holes I could use it to rinse melons with it. We have good guys, bad guys, bad guys in guise of good guys, scheming guys, reasonable bad guys angels, politicians, some girls and some nudity. I expected a lot more of violence because the annoying mister at the beginning warned me about the language, violence and nudity, but so far I got only the last part. And frankly, I'm getting tired with all those boobs and butts (even good ones) on my screen. I have "Game of Thrones" as the supply of those.
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The frail peace is breaking right now, especially when powerful angels who sided with Gabriel infiltrated Vega, the state where the whole action takes place and neighboring ones, like Helena. The chosen one has become already known and soon the fight for him and his powers begin between Michael and Gabriel.
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I really want to like this series but there are so many inconsequences, so much bad acting and so little logic it pains me to see some pretty good elements thrown into this mess. Maybe later things will smooth down and the action will seem more reasonable and less flawed. What is nice? The prayer's gesture resembling two hands holding a baby. Another one - angel's wings playing the role of the badassest blades slashing people in half. The rest is full of clichés and used motifs.
So OK, Archangel Michael IS a soldier and it's visible, he does have some woman, but he doesn't want to get too intimate to not have a child. Very wise, we may add, because the offspring of an angel and a mortal woman is called a nephilim and it's a gigantic monster. Stories my tribe told me say that the Deluge was actually caused to kill the monstrosities that were born from such unions.
I do get why angels take on human form - because their real one is too dangerous to mere human's eye to be perceived. What I don't get is why one of Powers needed a red Kevlar suit to fight. Why even Gabriel would ever want to rebel?? Oh well, maybe I shouldn't be asking questions.
Also, God left and of course whole Heaven went rogue. This forces me to ask - where's Jeezas?? Did they forget that God had a son to smite them rebellious asses into their place? If the creators want to go along the canon (or so it seems), that seems odd. Unless it's not Christian mythology at all, and in that case I expect to see Cherubims as "one of a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. They have four conjoined wings covered with eyes, a lion's body figure, and they have ox's feet." No, like seriously. Seriously.
And speaking of the canon, little info cause not everyone might know that. The first Christian theory on the angelic order was proposed by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 4th/5th century in his book De Coelesti Hierarchia (On the Celestial Hierarchy). Later it was developped by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.Although even in 1st century there was also Clement of Rome, who proposed in Apostolic Constitutions 11 Hierarchies (1. Seraphim, 2. Cherubim, 3. Aeons, 4. Hosts, 5. Powers, 6.
Authorities, 7. Principalities, 8. Thrones, 9. Archangels, 10. Angels,
11. Dominions).
Basically, there are 3 Hierarchies consisting of 3 Orders or Choirs going from those standing the closest to the Throne of God:
1 First Sphere
Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones Ophanim
2 Second Sphere
Dominions/Lordships
Virtues /Strongholds
Powers/Authorities
3 Third Sphere
Principalities/Rulers
Archangels
Angels
The double names: every other author classified differently, ie. even Dante made Dominations out of Dominions, Hildegarde of Bingen had her own,
Archangels are the tricky group as they may come from the other Orders as well, here comes our know Michael - he's the princely Seraph. Therefore, some researchers make a distinction between archangel and Archangel.
Info: Angel Focus
Plus some books I happened to read in my life.
