Dominion: The Narrow Gate (review)

Coming back to the darkness that is Dominion and catching back up with Michael, Gabriel, David Whele, Alex (the Chosen One) and Lady Riesen in The Narrow Gate begins with Alex proving to Julian that he is “worthy.” The task is to find the round key around the neck of an eight ball in the New Delphi asylum. Zoe Holloway is on Lady Riesen’s most wanted list and Michael is still at Mallory and trying to understand Laurel’s motivation as well as learning that the “celebration” is really a sacrifice.

Alex goes after the key with a flashlight and a shotgun, the first things he comes across are eyeless corpses, and against the constant cacophony of eight ball possessed prisoners screaming out inanities “Monkey wants sex,” shouts one Schmiegal like voice, he eventually finds General Riesen (Alan Dale) who left Vega last season. He has been with Julian in New Delphi, as a prisoner, ever since.

Michael argues with Laurel about whether Father really talks to her. Michael angrily says that he should be able to hear him as well. Lady Riesen hunts up an old colleague of her father’s, Gates the man who, according to Riesen, helped to save and build the city. She asks for his help in hunting down Zoe. The engineer tries to beg off but the lady’s not for turning and she changes her request from a favor to an order.

*On a side note* Gates is played by Brit actor Nic Bishop. Bishop was a regular on the Aussie soap Home and Away and he feels a little like Sean Bean, rough around the edges and able to “mix it up” with the best of them. He also has that same natural approach to acting. A welcome addition to the cast and thus far, he has managed to bring a bit of chemistry to the screen in terms of Lady Riesen (Roxanne McKee).

With action switching between New Delphi; Alex and the hunt for the key and Vega; the hunt for Zoe, the small town of Mallory with its giant burning bush (so to speak) features less in the way of action and more in the arena of exposition with an emphasis on backstory. This walk down memory lane will eventually reveal a twist in the New Delphi events but that his not the most interesting part of this episode.

The flashbacks of Michael are short and reveal much of why he is so tortured and why he opted, in season one, to back up the humans in Vega. Set against the distraction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Michael, Lyrae and Gabriel have been chosen to punish the two cities and all those within it, barring, obviously, Lot and his family who don’t get a mention here, and the trio are arguing how to go about the whole thing.

Gabriel pleads for a divine punishment, using one of the Father’s jars/urns of “magical” curses with a blood drowning to finish off any survivors. Michael, however, listens to Lyrae who insists that the punishment be delivered by the blade of a sword. He jeers at Gabriel who has never killed anyone by the sword and the two higher angels go to dispense their bloody justice. Gabriel stays behind.

A survivor who escaped from the two angels stumbles into the tent where Gabriel prays. The realizes that the Gabriel is an angel and tries to kill him. The higher angel tells the man repeatedly to leave and inadvertently kills him, the first human he has ever slain with his own hands.

In the present, Michael and Laurel share a moment and Zoe’s rebels are found behind the Flamingo by Gates via the expedient method of monitoring wattage. Back at Mallory, the sacrifice ceremony begins and Michael remembers coming back to find Gabriel had slain his first human. He also remembers Lyrae getting carried away with the punishment, so much so that Michael strips the higher angel of his rank and plunges a knife into his neck, relegating Lyrae to the lower angels.

Back at Mallory Michael steps in to replace Laurel as the sacrifice. He reveals his bloody past, after taking on the town’s sins, and he insists that Laurel let him take her place as a form of redemption. She gives into his request after “Father” tells her it is acceptable.

Alex, after finding the general, who he enlists to help in his search for the key, finds the eight ball with the item around its neck. Before he can overpower the creature it swallows the round key. He kills it and Alex has to dig it out of the creature’s corpse. Several possessed prisoners attack and one has the general pinned to the ground. Alex then grabs the eight ball possessed human and releases the lower angel from the man. Riesen is stunned.

Gates and Lady Riesen attack the warehouse where Zoe’s rebels are ensconced and in the short battle, she escapes after a soldier shoots and misses her. Back at Mallory, Michael takes the town’s sins and he prepares to plunge the knife into his chest. The bush stops burning, allowing the eight balls surrounding the town to advance. He completes the sacrifice and the lower angels in the town catch fire and the bush rekindles and burns again which in turn burns the eight balls.

Another flashback to Michael and Gabriel reveals that he asked Gabriel to punish him as he did Lyrae. Lady Riesen questions the soldier who allowed Zoe to escape. The man, Sgt. Mills, claims it was due to darkness and when she continues to question him asks what she knows about guns. Borrowing a Beretta from another soldier she checks the clip and then cocks the weapon.

She asks Mills how many traitors are in her military and Mills tells her to “Go to Hell.” She shoots him in the leg and tells the others to take him away. A bemused Gates watches as she returns the pistol to its owner and leaves the room.

Alex gets out of the prison with General Riesen and Noma is pleased to see he made it out and surprised to see Riesen. Gates speaks with the general’s daughter and after a little bonding time, he reveals what Zoe and her rebels took from the warehouse when they escaped, a box used to carry food. They left behind everything else, including their weapons.

Back at Mallory, Michael, who was buried after sacrificing himself, climbs out of the grave. He stops to visit Wes and warns him that if he tells anyone or harms anyone else he will kill him. A terrified Wes agrees to the terms set by Michael.

In New Delphi, Alex brings Julian the key and he demands the alliance he came for. Julian wants Riesen to be put back in prison, “he’s a murderer,” shouts Julian, “he killed an angel in my city.” Alex tells him to pardon the general and he does. After getting his new allies rooms for the night, Julian takes the key and it is revealed to be the top to one of the “Father’s” urns.

Julian is Lyrae.

This final twist ends the show, with Julian spinning the short weapon that he had in Michael’s flashback to Sodom and Gomorrah. It is nice to see Alan Dale back as General Risen, but Anthony Head was missed this week. The appearance of what promises to be an interesting character, Gates, did make up for David Whele’s absence. Gates is to become a regular fixture, apparently, in Dominion and thus far he looks to be a good fit in the show.

Dominion airs Thursdays on SyFy and fans of intricate supernatural television should mark their calendar.