Alex the-petulant, Noma and their dispossessed buddy Pete
are all captured by the forces of New Delphi. Or possibly 8 Balls. Or maybe the
forces of New Delphi ARE 8 Balls since they all speak with creaking demon
voices
They’re taken to New Delphi and all marvel at the
apparently civilised, human 8 Balls. Maybe Alex could organise a mass exorcism
hug event?
They’re taken through what looks like a thriving
dystopian city to meet boss guy who is not happy about them killing one of his
men. He wants a life in exchange. Alex tries to excuse himself by pointing out
the guy was an 8 Ball (a term the city of New Delphi – of humans and 8 balls –
doesn’t use). They live in peace in New Delphi, apparently – and everything is
bartered (which still means Alex owes a life – bye Pete). Alex invokes Gabriel;
sure New Delphi is all about trade but they also hate higher angels: Enemy of
my Enemy and all that
Alex is split off from the rest to speak to the boss.
Boss man is suspicious but Alex gives him some info about the bomb and gets a
reprieve. New Delphi also has empyrean steel – special anti-angel weapons.
Which he’ll need because Gabriel is already killing New
Delphi’s patrols. In the tradition of super-villains everywhere, he wants Alex
alive so he can kill the man himself. So many shows would end quickly if the
big bads would just say “for fuck’s sake, kill him!”. But the steel means his
minions must hide who they are in the city.
Noma still spots them even as the guards find the dead
patrol. Seeing Noma, the angel attacks, Noma calmly evades the attack as
pandemonium rages leaving Noma and the new angel facing off against each other.
Meanwhile Alex decides to the fight the man guarding him
to try and get a weapon to fight Gabriel – and because beating on wannabe
allies is helpful. The guards ends up dead when the second angel reaches the
room but Alex gets his hands on Empyrean Steel which is really really bad for
angels when you stab them repeatedly.
Noma, alas, doesn’t win her fight and is rescued by Boss
man Julian, who shoots the angel with Empyrean steel bullets (couldn’t she have
just won?). And Gabriel arrives – offering trade. Julian loathes higher angels
so much he refuses to negotiate despite all his talk of trade. Gabriel also
kills one of his injured angels so he doesn’t have to leave him behind.
Julian still won’t ally with Alex because he wants the
full truth – why does Gabriel want him. Alex shows Julian his god-script
tattoos. So Julian has a task for Alex – he gets a disk-key from a room full of
insane 8 Balls (who they keep because they’re still their people). The markings
apparently don’t mean all that much to him compared to Alex’s skills.
Over to Michael and the town of Mallory. He leaves the
town and its holy fire to track down an 8 Ball which cowers appropriately in
his presence. He demands an explanation of the holy fire – which burns (I
assume it “burns” in a way beyond the obvious being fire and all). Michael the
begging 8 Ball towards the fire – and the lesser angel begins to smoke and then
catch fire.
Michael returns to town to speak to Laurel, his own shaken
faith meets her firm piety (and it’s an interesting dynamic that it’s the angel
whose faith is shaken). She wants him to stay and heal and move on from all his
guilt and pain.
She tells him about their prophet and prophecy and all
their peace and shininess. She also shows some very shrewd, prescient insight
into Michael’s past which suggests she may not be lying when she says she hears
god’s word.
The woman who saw Michael bathing last episode is walking
through the woods when she’s ambushed by an 8 ball. She’s Harper and she
manages to win free and stagger into town – but, of course, she recognises
Michael though I unable to say anything before she gets medical attention.
Harper was very close to Laurel but she ran away from Mallory due to the rules:
she refused to confess her sins to Laurel which is apparently a town rule.
Suspicious guy is, again, suspicious of Michael since he’s
sure that Harper recognised him. Like last time it doesn’t end well for him.
That night Michael is left alone with Harper – and he
shows her his wings. He introduces himself, says he’s not going to hurt her but
she has to keep him a secret. She also throws in a lot of lies about being a
secret agent for god. When Laurel hears that Harper is awake, she spends a
second celebrating before saying she wants that confession.
This includes a ritual of holding her hand over a flame
which won’t hurt if she tell the truth – she’s having an affair with a married
man which she thinks is all her fault because JEZEBEL. Of course she doesn’t
want to confess Michael – even as Laurel holds her hand in the flame, burning
her. She runs from the room.
This upsets Laurel because the prophet’s rule is clear –
every 5 years the town has to be cleansed of all sins or they will lose the
fire unless they banish her. Their faith is rigid – Harper confesses or gets
exiled. Michael speaks up for self-determination and their own will, letting Harper
chose her own path rather than enforcing a faith on her. His pleas move Laurel
Harper is tearful – the deadline is one day: confession
or exile. And the suspicious guy kills Harper
In Vega, Claire is nearly assassinated – but Claire is
much scrappier than she looks and her attacker, Zoe, is subdued by the guards
and imprisoned. Claire wants to know why Zoe deserted the Angel corps to try
and kill her – and it’s because Zoe loathes the sickening class system that
puts V6s on top while grinding the V1s to dust
Claire doesn’t seem to buy it and instead accuses David
of being behind it. David is amusingly unruffled by assassination accusations –
she’s also very sure that the V1s don’t hate her. David isn’t so sure.
Of course Claire – or, rather, Arika has a plan B that
involves a captured 8 Ball (and we have more exposition or confirmation that
the 8 Balls crave the possessions of the people they are inhabiting). Claire is
leery of this plan but Arika wants to brand David a traitor and have him
destroyed
Arika uses the objects she craves and threat of violence
to break the 8 Ball, Rose. It’s very very very creepy. Very creepy indeed how
Arika makes Rose so servile and broken. Of course Arika acknowledges that even
broken Rose can be dangerous – but that’s a risk she’s willing to take.
David finds a naked Rose waiting for him in his quarters.
She briefly tries to seduce him before showing her teeth and running as David
reaches for his gun – which leads to more hallucinations of his son. The whole
thing was caught on video – and recorded by Arika.
Arika starts the blackmail – she’s already showed the
video to all the V6s and David is dragged away.
Rose goes to Arika, begging for her photo – and Arika
shoots her in the head. Because she is just that dangerous.
Claire goes to Zoe to pledge how much she wants to make
Vega a better place.
Claire’s confidence on being beloved by the V1s makes me
wonder. I mean she’s kind but she still stands on the very top of the pyramid,
a pyramid that exists by being supported on the crushed lowest rungs of
society. It’s easy to declare yourself kind or beloved when you are so removed
from the reality
I am also very curious as to what Arika will do next – is
she leading Claire to corruption and damnation or is she providing the hard,
sharp edge that Claire lacks?
I’m again leery of an apparently brand new religious
community that-totally-isn’t-Christian but we have a lot of Christian
trappings. And now to stay safe from angels they need to be cleansed of all
their sins? Define these sins? What is the source of this definition? How much
are we going to examine this theocracy? A theocracy, considering the penalty of
exile, which is as brutal in its own way as Vega is. Especially if murder by
the second in command can be washed away with a confession
I would have loved Michael’s plea for agency – if it
weren’t just a plea for Harper to be allowed to keep his own secret. He isn’t
asking for her agency, he’s asking for his restraint on her agency to hold.
Harper’s introduction hasn’t been a great one – Jezebel, silenced secret keeper
for Michael – and now murdered. Seriously? This is the best they can do with
this Black character? For someone who was around for two episodes that was a
whole lot of tropes.
