First, my apologies for the lateness of these reviews – it has no bearing on how much I’ve been enjoying this season, but is the result of tedious personal crap that I won’t bore you with. I have to admit that after the carnage of the first two episodes, I was a bit leary about where this season was going, but each episode has reaffirmed why I liked the series in the first place. There’s been some interesting play on the family theme as well as the conflicts that arise from the interplay between the races. Jaime Murray (Stahma) has continued to be a highlight as have Tony Curan (Datak), Trenna Keating (Yewll), Grant Bowler (Nolan), Stephanie Leonidas (Irisa), and Julie Benz (Amanda).
“Broken Bough” and “Dead Air” were both directed by Larry Shaw. “Broken Bough” was written by the familiar team of Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, and “Dead Air” was written by newcomers Gregory Weidman, whose other credits include NCIS: Los Angeles and King & Maxwell, and Geoff Tock.
In the first episode, Stahma and Datak arrive back in Defiance and tell the others about the McCawleys. Nolan is devastated and furious, but Amanda warns Nolan not to make it personal when she sends him to get intel on Rahm Tak (Lee Tergesen). Irisa and Nolan set off to the Bordeen Valley and we continue to see Irisa struggle with the violence of their existence. I really liked this new layer to their relationship. They meet up with Pilar (Linda Hamilton) who saves them from an ambush but ultimately tries to kill them to keep the baby. In the end, Nolan kills Pilar – for which I was extremely grateful as Hamilton has been simply awful to watch.
As it turns out Rahm Tak knows of Nolan – the Butcher of Yosemite – and is eager to exact revenge on him because he too was at that battle. In the end, Irisa is able to blow up the weapon under Tak’s control but can’t actually follow through and kill him, leading Nolan to tell her it’s war and she’s now an unreliable partner. This episode starts with a really light-hearted scene between the two in which Nolan teases Irisa about the book written about her, and ends with the beginning of the real rift between them.
Meanwhile, Datak and Stahma have returned home only to find Adina (Amy Forsyth) in their bath! Forsyth is excellent, and I’m hoping to see her in an expanded role this season. Adina certainly seems to have her sights set on improving her station is life. Datak tells Adina that Alak (Jesse Rath) is alive and Stahma is furious, insisting that they can trust no one. Datak insists he’s a professional criminal and knows who he can trust. We know that Stahma is the brains of the outfit, but Datak is a reasonably successful criminal too.
Datak and Stahma’s first “mission” for Rahm ends up being a success. I loved how Datak manipulates Berlin (Anna Hopkins) by trying to call in the debt she owes him for saving her life last season. He knows she will never agree to his terms. He also manages to fool Amanda by swearing to organize the criminal element to fight for Defiance. While Stahma and Datak actually do have feelings for the town, they will always put their family first. The end of the episode reveals that Datak’s plan all along was to get the bug-infested guns into the armory to destroy all of Defiance’s weapons.
This episode also begins Stahma’s relationship with T’Evgin (Conrad Coates). I loved the scene of him browsing through the bazaar because he picks up a stuffed hellbug – exactly like the one I have sitting on my table that I got when touring the set before season one! Interestingly, T’Evgin lies to Stahma – not surprisingly – that the Voltanis Collective sabotage their ships and that all the others were killed, but Stahma actually reveals that she fell in love with a human – Kenya. She offers to help him with the humans. Murray is always fantastic when Stahma goes into flirting-mode.
In “Dead Air,” the show loses its iconic arch as Stahma and Datak blow it up as per Rahm’s orders. I have to say that the effects for the arch blowing up left a lot to be desired, but maybe they were trying to make it look like the video game? I was mostly disappointed to see the radio station go as I’ve always enjoyed the soundtrack. There is also some interesting conversation between Alak and Rahm on the merits of various drummers.
Rahm’s next assignment is to kill T’evgin as he fears the power of an Omec warship – good call Rahm. Stahma is reluctant and even says that Rahm will never give Alak up! Datak refuses to give up on their son. I love Murray and Curran together, and this scene is a classic as she punishes him by telling him that fine, she’ll do as he says, but she’ll have to poison T’evgin while having sex with him! Datak is not pleased!
Stahma’s relationship with T’evgin is interesting right from the start. She goes to him, supposedly to give him his “culture lessons,” and he immediately sees through her lie. They do have sex – which seems pretty amazing – and Stahma succeeds in injecting him with the poison. But this isn’t T’evgin’s first rodeo. He tells her that the older an Omec gets – and he’s apparently very old – the harder they are too kill. The poison has had no effect on him. Surprisingly, Stahma tells T’evgin the truth about Alak and why she tried to kill him. Is she so completely won over because he’s made her breakfast? Sadly, by Stahma’s account, he’s the first man to ever do so – hopefully, she’s not forgetting that he’s likely the first man to want to server her AS breakfast too…
After blowing up the arch, Rahm appears as a hologram to create more panic in Defiance by revealing that all their guns have been destroyed. Amanda and Nolan set out to Station Arrowhead to try to get more weapons. Nolan refuses to let Irisa come because she’s now a liability. Their separation, however, results in both of them becoming incapacitated by the end of the episode.
It was great to see James Murray reprise his role as Niles Pottinger as I was disappointed when he didn’t return as a regular. Murray didn’t disappoint though I was disappointed to see that Niles had gone pretty much completely batty. I loved that he’s surrounded himself with his beloved bio-men and named the four after the Beatles.
Niles has hunkered down and made a very comfortable life for himself in the Station. We get a return of the creepy videos Niles made as Amanda finds out just why she looks like the woman in the movies, and we learn definitively that Niles was obsessed with Connor and that lead him to rape Amanda.
This episode introduces Samir (Raymond Ablack) – a former veterinarian from New York. I think Ablack is a great addition to the cast. He helps Nolan defeat George, but they aren’t in time to stop Amanda from killing Niles, detonating the singularity bomb tied to his heart and sucking the entire station, weapons and animal-DNA and all into a black hole. Why the black hole simply stops where it does is perhaps a scientific question we shouldn’t push too hard on…
This episode ends with both Irisa and Nolan in mortal peril as they both collapse from their mysterious headaches. Berlin clearly still holds Irisa responsible for Tommy’s death – anybody else really, really missing Dewshane Williams?
Any final thoughts on these two episodes? Stay tuned for my next catch-up post….
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
