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| You let the beast into the garden... |
SyFy announced that Season 2 is set for June 14, 2015. At least that's what I've heard. I'm so excited! This episode was full of great scenes so it was hard picking which scenes were the best, but in all the production was fantastic with use of lights, wardrobe, and color choices all working together to make one amazing season finale. Beware those closest to you doesn't just mean to beware your friends but Gabriel is the beast that was let inside the garden of Vega and he wreaked havoc without so much as lifting a finger.
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He couldn't wait for an open forum... if Vega
had any that is... |
1. Alex outs Michael: This scene happened pretty fast but I loved the camera work. Sometimes it was steady other times like when it showed a close up of Alex as he addressed the Senate it rotated and was shaky. The image above in the Senate was in full view. It's a violent image of a soldier standing over an angel with a spear pointed at the creature ready to go in for the kill. It reminded me a little of that famous painting of the Archangel Michael kicking Lucifer out of Heaven: The avenging warrior standing over a beast, the warrior's spear and foot pushing the creature down to hell.
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| Liar, Liar, Becca! |
2. Michael is banished: This was a very nice scene for Tom Wisdom and Rosalind Halstead. Although Michael and Becca had a rough awkward time after their break up, Michael ended things on good terms. No resentment on either side. Michael feels he's learned much about himself thanks to Becca and feels that yes he's capable of love. But while we know that Michael is capable of love, we know that he'll discover that the people we love hurt us the most.
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| JAW DROP! |
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| Birds of a feather... |
3. They had us all fooled: Shivani Ghai was smoldering in her dress as usual. The shock from this scene almost knocked me out of my chair. I once jokingly suggested that maybe Uriel and Arika were working together. Not only are they working together but they're lovers! Do we call Arika Evelyn now? Shivani and Katrine both play devious, clever women and putting them together is like having one giant brain that's 10 steps ahead of everyone else. The director really pushes the envelope with this steamy love scene and I applaud the boldness. It wasn't just a titillating scene (that I'm sure the male viewers enjoyed) it was of two lovers aiming this more towards equality of gender and sexuality.
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| This water park was like this BEFORE the wars |
4. A day at the water park: How fortunate that the producers found an actual abandoned water park to film this scene. It was great that Michael was able to open up to Alex about his bloody past. Alex was very surprised but more that Gabriel used to defend humans not slaughter them. This is the first time we see Michael really open up to Alex as a friend instead of being a hard ass teacher. Tom and Christopher did wonderful in this scene with their characters' shining bromance. I still find Michael's reasons for helping Alex a bit selfish but at least he's open about the whole thing and Alex felt only a bit more pressure to succeed.
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| My safe word is "peaches" by the way |
5. Gabriel's Playboy Mansion: I loved this scene for character as much as production. As usual the set up of Gabriel's evil fortress was very decadent echoing the sinful Babylon. Kim doesn't disappoint this scene playing the good soldier ready to lay down her life. As I've said she makes me want to know more about her character. Poor Furiad was practically castrated by Gabriel in episode 3 and despite his hatred of humans I felt a little bad for our Red Bull angel. Carl Beukes pulls it off this scene delivering Gabriel's vibrant, intimidating personality that had me nervous for Noma. When he grabbed Noma from behind you could see the fear on her face. One could tell that Gabriel wasn't buying Noma's story, but still we hope she lives.
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| Do you feel the magic here? I can feel it |
6. Silence of the Lambs: Anyone else get a Hannibal Lector vibe from this scene? It's the Iron Lady vs a notorious serial killer and Claire managed pretty well until Gabriel tripped her up at the end then Claire realized she wasn't as prepared for this interrogation as she initially thought. What stood out for me was the blue light that flooded the room. Blue is a detached, cool color that symbolizes emptiness, intellect, reflection as well as truth and Gabriel was swinging some hard truths this scene. Carl Beukes and Roxanne McKee should have more scenes together in the future. There was a heated tension between their characters that sparked interest. Although Gabriel had the upper hand this time, I think in the future Claire can pull one over the Archangel and ruffle his feathers.
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| William is the boss now |
7. Honor Thy Father: Even in the light of day the Whele family home is drenched in darkness. The color palette tells you that there's always an edginess to the Whele family in their personalities and their family relationship. Where in the Pilot it was clear William was the underdog now he's switched places with his domineering father to become the Alpha in their relationship. Luke does a fine job glowering while Anthony meekly submits. But David isn't so broken as to not point out that maybe Gabriel isn't being as honest as William believes. You feel like slapping William because he's so blind to Gabriel's deception. David may have been broken but he still has enough common sense to believe that Gabriel isn't at all who he seems.
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| Gabriel is just throwing out truths today |
8. Illuminate me, Brother: Blue in this case represents reflection added to truth although the blue light is a bit diffused in this scene. Michael reflects on the past allowing him and Gabriel to have a more calm conversation unlike before where their swords were at each other's throats. But Michael also reflects on Gabriel's words on maybe the humans weren't being as honest as Michael believed. I love Carl and Tom's rapport on screen. I really do get a "brothers" vibe from them and the conversations between Michael and Gabriel are always electric. This talk was particularly interesting because Gabriel wasn't his usual arrogant self. His whole mood was sobering and cool. Gabriel didn't enjoy causing his brother emotional anguish.
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Should have told you that Michael came with a
warning label: ANGER ISSUES |
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| As educational as this is I may puke... |
9. Fringe Science with Ms. Mengele: Lighting and color can define a scene. In this scene Michael goes from the cool truth of blue into a room flooded with a yellowish very green light. Yellow and Green both have positive meanings but in this context they are negative. Yellow is associated with disease and quarantine (the disease being deception; keeping the truth hidden from Michael). Yellow also symbolizes truth just like blue and the truth is shown in an ugly light. Green represents decay (Michael's trust in humans) and the Devil or a nonhuman possibly threatening being (which represents Michael as his anger mounts). Once we get to where Louis is held we are once again in a blue room: dispassionate, neutral, and very revealing.
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| Bad Becca! Look at the mess you made! |
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| Every rose has its thorns... |
Suddenly Michael's self control that was hanging on a thread snaps and poor Becca is on the receiving end. Earlier Alex had a vision of fighting Jeep and cutting him causing him to bleed out. As Alex and Michael were fighting it was more or less an echo of Alex's vision. Not entirely sure what it meant but that cut was enough to wake Michael up then fly out in horror. I know I shouldn't but every time I watch Gabriel step over Becca's corpse I chuckle. It's just the look on his face that amuses me. Gabriel is no stranger to the carnage Michael leaves in his wake. Christopher Egan delivers as we see he's ready to cry as Gabriel smirks and gives him an ultimatum. Gabriel won this round.
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| Oh I want to give him a hug! |
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| I'd tell you to call but you know... no more cell towers |
10. Carry On My Wayward Son: David surprises us in this scene. It's probably the first time he proves that he actually cares about his son deep down. Although before I'm not sure if David would have happily murdered his own son but we would have leaned toward a definite "maybe". David admits that William was indeed a strong, loyal person when before he thought William a weak child. Luke pulls off this scene going from a neat, clean cut gentleman to a ragged, dirty urchin. His clothes are messy, his hair was ruffled from it's usual straightness. He really has fallen far from grace. I'm curious as to see how William will survive on his own.
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| "Dear Unnamed baby..." |
11. Dear John...: Alex's letter to his unborn child was possibly the best scene of the entire episode! It's emotion was powerful and tugged at the heart strings. The cut in scenes of Alex's happy childhood memories with his own father and some of Michael flying around with no destination and then Alex standing at the entrance of Gabriel's Aerie made the whole scene compelling and I found myself tearing up a little. The ending really made you hungry to find out what happens when Alex walks into the Devil's House.
Now for some Honorable Mentions. There were many:
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| Isn't it bad luck to make the bride cry on her wedding day? |
1. Warming those cold feet: Who cares if the dress isn't white? White's boring. I loved Claire's wedding dress for it's uniqueness. It sounds cliché when you're on a mission that may be suicide you have to push away the people you love to make it easier on them (as well as yourself) when or if you don't come back. But I loved this scene because of that cliché. It could have just as been easily Alex trying to make it easier on Claire so she wouldn't get cold feet and make it to the altar but later we find that there was more to it.
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You're paying for that hospital visit for what you
did to my shoulder, bro |
2. Think they bought it: Fooled you! It was all a trick! Michael and Alex had us there for a second. It's really amusing how they talk about what went down and how they fooled everyone. Alex is ready to fulfill his role and end the war and he has Michael watching his back. Love this bromance!
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If anyone has any objections to this union
now is the time...seriously no one? |
3. I now pronounce you...: Roxanne and Luke did make a cute couple on that altar. Claire's body language shifts in this scene. On the altar Claire gives William a chaste kiss but after the ceremony she kisses him with more fervor. After her father disappointing her and that fight with Alex it was nice to have a man around that was considerate enough about her feelings. Claire's ready to give William a chance.
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| Alex is not amused |
4. Stop hitting yourself: Christopher and Kim have a bubbling chemistry and it shows even though Alex didn't look at Noma the same way he used to. No amount of playful slaps could make up for the lies. I can only imagine what the wind was like playing havoc on sound but with Hollywood wizardry and on sight ingenuity the scene seemed to came out flawless. Also loved Noma's outfit from the black jacket to her shoes.
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| Talk about getting screwed in a motel room |
5. Heartbreak Motel: This just isn't Furiad's day. That was the nastiest motel I've ever seen. I bet the crew was thinking "let's make this the messiest we can" and it pulled the room together. I think even before the Extinction wars that Motel room was a 1 star. I loved Tom and Anton's little war dance in the Pilot but here we see that Furiad is at a serious disadvantage when he's taken by surprise. Poor Red at Michael's mercy.
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| Hope this isn't the last good bye for Noma |
6. The Kiss Goodnight: Despite the fact that Noma lied to Alex he still didn't want her to risk her life for him. But Noma and Alex are very much alike when it comes to diving into danger to protect the ones they love. Then Kim's take off. I love watching these angels take flight and with Noma there was a certain grace.
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| For once some truth comes out of that mouth |
7. Uriel reveals her plan: I like this scene because we finally get a view of Uriel's plan. The first time she's honest about what she wants instead of playing both sides and making vague promises. I think Arika (or Evelyn) is the only person this blond Archangel can be honest with.
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| I'm done with this town... |
8. Hit the Road, Riesen: Riesen isn't one for sitting still. Even though he's not Lord of the City anymore doesn't mean he's going to spend his retirement playing shuffle board or as he said building chairs. I just laughed when Riesen told that soldier to buzz off as he burned rubber out of Vega. Claire seems okay with it too. When Ethan said he didn't know where her father was she was like, "Okay."
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| So where's Yoda? |
9. Give up the ghost: I can't help but make Star Wars references when I watch this scene of Alex facing his father. Instead of a cave, however, Alex has a dream. I think it was meant to prepare Alex for what he might have to do in the future. He had to face down Michael, another sort of father-figure. The message I got from it is that Alex had to steel himself for what he had to do, even take down someone close to him that threatened humanity. That's my opinion anyway.
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| I don't have a white flag but a sword is good enough |
10. Throwing up a white flag: You think they would learn by now that bullets don't work when the angel's wings are up. Try flame throwers next time. Gabriel surrenders with a big wolfish smile, which means you know something isn't right here. Loved the background with the ruins of old Vegas hotels. Civilization is just on the other side of that wall.
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| All politicians are functioning alcoholic |
11. Turncoats of a different color: After all that has happened to her Roxanne played her character with all the decorum of a seasoned politician. Instead of just killing Gabriel out right, Claire considers interrogating him first. We know by now that Claire is pregnant so of course she goes for the water, but also in a way it's her way of showing David that she's approaching her job with a sober, level head. Most of the Senate seem to me like functioning alcoholics.
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| Poor Alex, always the last to know. |
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