Watching the last
two episodes of Defiance in succession for the purposes of this
belated review almost makes me want to continue skipping a week to be
able to see how this show plays out across multiple installments.
I've complained occasionally, mostly in regards to this season's
earlier episodes, that the potential inherent to this show sometimes
isn't expressed as fully as I would like, and characters, mythology
elements, and story lines that should be at the forefront sometimes
take a backseat to things that either re-iterate points we already
know, or are just not interesting enough to merit focus. The two most
recent episodes were two of the best by contrast, showing what this
show can do when it puts its mind to it.
First up, “I Just
Wasn't Made For These Times” an honest to goodness straight up
sci-fi episode that even for a show on the Syfy Channel with
futuristic technology and aliens is kind of a rare thing. In this
case, we follow an astronaut from our time (explicitly 2013,
confirming this to be an alternate history as well as an alternate
future) seemingly kept in suspended animation on the ship that
crashed down in the previous episode. His presence creates political
tensions that threaten the peace between humans and aliens, being
living proof that aliens were abducting humans before first contact,
until a final reveal makes the situation even more complicated. The
episode is carried by its guest star, Brian J. Smith from the
criminally underrated Stargate Universe, it while the following
episode is still good in its own right, this is easily the best of
the series so far.
In short, this
episode made me cry. Now, to be fair, I do that a lot. Kind of a
little bitch actually, but rarely can a TV show elicit this sort of
reaction. There's a moment at the end when the astronaut decides what
to do with his new life, and its set to Elvis Costello's “Man Out
Of Time,” with the chorus kicking in at just the right moment, and
it had me balling. And this was in an episode that started with a
freaky big-boobed Orangutan alien (also a plus, as I've always said
we need to see more of them, but not necessarily like that). Add to
that, we get so many great mythology beats, most notably confirmation
of something hinted at in a previous episode concerning the
mysterious town doctor and her involvement in illicit activities
before and during the wars. All around, a perfect episode with
nothing to complain about.
The next week we get
“If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” back to more of a Western
plot as a plague hits the town and interracial animosity boils over
when the Irathients are found to be carriers of the disease. The main
point of this episode seems to be to get Nolan and Irisa back
together after the Razor Rain/Sukar debacle without the latter losing
her new found connection with her people, and it works, even if I
suspect the whole Irathient internment thing might be forgotten too
quickly for narrative convenience, when it would normally change the
status quo more than I imagine the producers probably want to. We
also get some much needed movement on the storyline involving the
McCawley's and the weird golden artifact, whereupon we find out there
are apparently more of them, and that once again the town doctor is
in even deeper than once thought.
Easily, the best
part of the episode is the final minutes with Datak. Like the
sob-inducing coda to the previous episode, this is one of those
moments that shows why I instantly loved this show from the very
beginning and still pull for it even through the lazier efforts. His
merciless handling of a hostage negotiation finds his backstabbing
political machinations coming to a head as he just straight up
murders multiple people just to protect his image while at the same
time setting himself up as a mayoral candidate now beloved by the
people for resolving a crisis. Its easy to forget what a bad ass he
is when his wife is always in the background established as the more
accomplished manipulator, but here he gets to unleash the beast in a
way that made him instantly jump up a few rungs on my list of
favorite characters.
Defiance is a rare
hit for this network that like its parent NBC often struggles to find
quality shows that actually snare viewers. I would argue that their
reliance on reality shows and their distinct lack of actual science
fiction in the majority of their programming is to blame, as they
seem to want to shoot for the mainstream audience of a network
instead of catering to the niche audience more suited to cable, and I
think the one great original sci-fi show garnering as high a ratings
share as it has is validation for this theory. Not that this will
stop what I assume will be the flood of more reality shows and
fantasy shows passed off as sci fi in the seasons to come, but at
least having this one to cling to for the next few years is enough
for me, and who knows, maybe it will pave the way for a few more. In
the meantime, I'm sticking with it for as long as it goes.
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