Defiance, “If You Could See Her Through My Eyes,” was written by Brusta Brown and John Mitchell Todd and directed by Allan Arkush who also directed last week’s episode. Brown and Todd’s only other writing credit is for freshman series Dominion. The title nicely underscores the theme of perception even while echoing the gruesome, literal truth of harvesting Votan eyes.
The storyline of cross-dressing as a Votan is an interesting one, but I thought its actual execution was a bit disappointing. It is really interesting that Christie (Nicole Munoz) should still feel like so much of an outsider that she resorts to this to feel more like Alak (Jesse Rath). It creates a really interesting dynamic between the two. Christie wants to experience life from the perspective of what she loves and respects – it’s particularly telling that she wants Mercado (William Atherton) to call her Stahma. Clearly, she has grown to respect Stahma (Jaime Murray), she also wants Alak to find her beautiful – she is married to a Casti, so she finds them attractive herself. Ironically, Alak finds solace in a human’s arms.
The budding relationship between Christie and Mercado is creepy in the extreme for me. I have to wonder if Amanda (Julie Benz) will leverage her knowledge about Mercado’s kink against him. Certainly, he seems to think he can re-establish her as mayor and control her – but will he be able to? It would seem inconsistent with her character to be so hungry to regain her power that she would abandon her moral code – remember that she resisted the E-Rep all last season. However, it’s been hinted that there is a new threat about to oppose both.
This episode reveals clearly how Deirdre (Kristina Pesic) had manipulated events to her advantage. We get more background into her and have yet another survivor story. Hers is horrific but not so different from others we’ve heard – like Berlin (Anna Hopkins). I found it interesting that in an episode with a title about seeing we see nothing of our Queen of surveillance – Berlin. I have to say that while this storyline is interesting, I was more disappointed to see the loss of the happy relationship we saw in the first season between Alak and Christie. That relationship was really the greatest hope for human and Voltan cultures to come together harmoniously and in some healthy way. This season seems to be focusing more on the older generation simply forming alliances between races.
Tony Curran is again outstanding as Datak. The episode also offers us this interesting look into the Casti practice of handmaidens – and shows how hierarchical their society is and how different from human culture. The handmaidens are clearly simply slaves, yet both Datak and Stahma are genuinely devastated by Jalina’s (Karen McCormack) death.
A lot of the fun in this episode again is watching Datak deal with his “allies” Yewel (Trenna Keating) and Rafe (Graham Greene). I loved the scene with them burying the body. I also loved Yewel basically telling Datak to deal with it. It’s also great watching how he is trying to weave his way back into Stahma’s life – and regain his power. It’s very clear that he’s got a hard road ahead of him by the response he gets from his old crew.
This episode actually had almost too much plot, but at least the three storylines dovetailed in a somewhat contrived way as Jalina is killed by Scheck (Sean Arbuckle) for her eyes, and he is caught trying to harvest Rynn’s (Tilo Horn). How creepy was it watching her get her eye carved out? I feel a little badly for Horn who seems destined to wear a patch in addition to her other makeup from here on out.
It was great to see Horn back – I’ve always enjoyed the dynamic between Rynn, Sukar, and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas). I liked the twist of having Rynn bring Miko (Robin Dunne) into Irisa’s life, starting to unravel the mystery of her visions. It was also a relief to see Nolan (Grant Bowler) finally uncover exactly what’s been going on with Irisa – at least to the extent that we mostly know at this point. Bowler and Leonidas are both fantastic in the scene.
What did you think of the episode? Are you sad to see what seems to be the beginning of the end for Alak and Christie? Do you think Amanda will get the upper hand? Where do you think Miko is going to fit in to what’s happening with Irisa? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
