Reviews

Defiance, Season 1: Episode 8, Review

A lost astronaut, a couple of plot twists, and Votan voices in your head all come together in the latest episode of SyFy's Defiance!

By Jen Johnson | June 11, 2013 | | 0

So far, someone’s been killed in pretty much every episode of Defiance. Who’s next? There have to be at least a few characters left for Season Two…don’t there?Nolan and Tommy are driving around the Badlands, where Tommy gets to inspect his first Arkfall. This time, there’s a lot of Earth tech on board, even though it’s a Votan ship. One survivor is found inside a bag full of goo, and his first question is, “Are you Americans?” His NASA uniform identifies him as Gordon McClintock (guest star Brian J. Smith), who does not recognize the new St. Louis, Missouri at all. Connor Lang from the Earth Republic (and yes, he did send Amanda Rosewater the flowers) shows up again to try to hire the Defiance mayor as territorial governor in New York, but Amanda seems resolute about staying in town for the upcoming election and to continue keeping its residents living together harmoniously. Seems that she and Connor had a thing in the past, too, and he’d like to rekindle the romance. But let’s not forget that the ambassador from the E. Rep was returning to New York to pull up dirt on Amanda, and is close to Connor. There has to be more to this than meets the eye.While Doc Yewll is examining the wayward astronaut, she tries to hide her feelings (okay, Indogenes don’t really have feelings, call it a sense) that something’s not quite right. Suspicions are confirmed when she examines his eyes and he flips out, pushing her away. Amanda already knows that he was supposed to have died in 2013 when his space station exploded, but Nolan is thinking McClintock was abducted by the Votans and the explosion was staged.Datak shows up at the Need Want with a special request to see Kenya, but when he’s given another girl, he is certainly not pleased. Kenya claims she’s had to cut back on her list of clients, which makes him even more irritated. Is Kenya trying to throw her off because she slept with his wife…or is she just deciding to pitch for the other team? Does this explain what she meant when she told Nolan he “wasn’t her type?” When Datak returns home, he is further upset to find Stahma bathing alone (another Castithan no-no). As soon as he tells her what happened with Kenya, and threatens to send someone over to force answers out of her, Stahma manages to seduce him into the bathtub with her. How can you resist a pure white, near naked woman in a tub? Especially when you just got rejected by a hooker?Turns out that Commander McClintock is quite the celebrity, already being hounded by the paparazzi (he was even played by Robert Pattinson in a movie made about him). Nolan and Amanda take him to stay at the McCawley house, where they share drinks and reminisce about the past. Gordon is put up in Luke’s room but wakes in the middle of the night hearing Votan voices, and starts strangling Amanda as she sleeps on the couch. Rafe and Nolan stop him, and he seems glad that they did, but gets sent to lockup for safekeeping until they can figure out what’s going on. Irisa can feel his pain; Gordon knows he doesn’t belong, and neither does she, even though Nolan is her father and has protected her since she was a child. While they’re talking, Gordon has a flashback that shows he had seen Votans, freaks out, throws himself against the bars of his cell, and because he bleeds silver, it shows he is…an Indogene, just like Yewll, and she knew it. I’m a little surprised, since the good doctor has been pretty straightforward in her dealings with everyone, but I guess all of the characters hold some kind of secret.Doc Yewll admits that there was a rogue program created by the Votans, where Indogenes were altered to look like normal human beings and sent to kill higher officials. Gordon doesn’t buy it; he can remember his childhood, his wife…but when pressed, he knows his sensory memories aren’t there. Connor wants to turn Gordon in to the Earth Republic, but there is a standoff, and Gordon heads to the mines. Rafe is alerted and confronts him there, but at this point Gordon doesn’t know what or who he is, and I’m already getting the feeling this is not going to end well for him. Irisa says she knows how he feels, but at least she has other Iraths around. Gordon is the only human-like being from 2013 left, so that alone is enough to make him go ballistic.Rafe and Gordon have a little chat on the edge of a cliff inside the mines, where Rafe tries to talk him down. He hands back Nolan’s stolen gun, and we don’t actually see him jump off the cliff, but Amanda and Connor are talking about it in her office shortly after. She turns down the offer to work for the Earth Republic, even though they want into the town…meaning, they want her removed as mayor by any means necessary. Connor’s offer was an offer of protection, and he is deeply hurt by her rejection, but at least he’s warned her that she is in danger. She might be a newly appointed mayor, but Amanda Rosewater is proving that she’s dedicated, and isn’t going to back down, not even for an ex-boyfriend. Which is how things SHOULD be, dammit.Nolan pays Rafe a visit and notes that Rafe is the only person who can confirm Gordon’s death. He didn’t jump…he went back to Alabama to find his wife, who is now in her sixties. He’s still human enough to remember her, and she welcomes him with open arms in a scene that made my eyes water. Nolan goes back to ask Yewll about her involvement in the Pale Wars, but they are interrupted by a young lady who comes in with signs of a serious illness that could be a plague.Well, that’s not good….especially since it happened once already with the Irathients.Okay, there have been a few tangents taken in Defiance, but none quite like this. The lost astronaut story was compelling, but doesn’t lend much to the series and the story lines that are already taking place, which are plentiful. There were a few good lines, including Nolan questioning Tommy about his relationship with Irisa. “You hurt my daughter, your questions about God are gonna get answered…personally,” Nolan says as they walk toward the Arkfall. As Connor and Nolan argue over Amanda, and Connor says he genuinely cares about her, Nolan replies, “You and I just found some common ground.” Irisa continues to be angry and aggressive, understandably upset about her friend Sukar’s death, but still distant, and her relationship with Tommy seems to be kept undercover and questionable at this point. Nolan says they spend a lot of time together, but we don’t see it. We do, however, see a bit of the old, sneaky Stahma coming back. She may have opened up (ahem) to Kenya, but she warns her, “You need to play the game better…smarter.” She doesn’t want Kenya to refuse Datak, but how long are they going to keep their visits a secret? And if Stahma says she’s happy in her marriage, why does she keep going to the Need Want to see another woman?Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!

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