Dominions humans find themselves behind the 8-ball in tonights suspenseful, action-packed episode.

They didnt just grunt, these possessed hoststhey were grunts.

And tonights episode, Mouth of the Damned, certainly bears this out in the shows opening minutes.

Spoilersfrom this point on.

Dominionis an example of world-building at its deepest.

Best of all,Dominionpopulates its world with morally complex, fallible characters.

But more on this last point in a bit.

This is certainly an evolved way of thinking, given what we know of 8-balls being violent savages.

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But Alex isnt interested in 8-ball cohabitation.

He doesnt know Alex from Adam, as it were.

He values honesty as much as he values a good barter.

Soon enough, Gabriel and his army find their way into New Delphi.

On the flip side of this, Claire proves herself to be a worthy adversary to David Whele.

She is also something that can be trained.

Claire and Arika are not women to be trifled with.

What is it about the post-apocalypse that gives rise to strong, resourceful female characters?

This is not a complaint, merely an observation.

FromThe 100s Clarke to The Walking Deads Michonne toMad Max: Fury Roads Furiosa, these womenowntheir respective apocalypses.

Which brings us to Laurel, Mallorys spiritual leader.

She appears to know a lot about Michael, too, even though she doesntknowhim per se.

He is an enigma wrapped in a divine riddle, a walking question that both baffles and intrigues her.

(So much so that it seems she wants to know him in the biblical sense, too.)

Whats most interesting about the Mallory storyline is the introduction of the mysterious Prophet.

It seems like a small price to pay for guaranteed survival.

All in all, tonight was another strong episode.

With David out of the way, Arika could very well make a bid for control over Vega.

As for Alex, Im looking forward to next weeks trial by 8-ball.

Some closing thoughts:

I thought for sure Pete was redshirted.

Instead, he seems to be serving as some sort of comic relief.

But I do like that hes a newbie to this post-apocalypse.

Its not every day that Buster Keatons classicThe Generalgets a shoutout in current pop-culture.

Keaton was a genius who was definitely ahead of his time in the nascent days of early cinema.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5