Nolan is not thrilled with a Castithan ritual involving the torture of a man who has shamed his liro or cast by running from the battle to protect the town. In the eyes of the Castithan he must go through a cleansing ritual but Irisa and Nolan are not going to let that happen. Just before Nolan starts a small war, Amanda shows up and stops Nolan telling him about the near extension of the Irathians from Defiance under the previous mayor and why some things must be left alone.
Those behind the attack on Defiance revive Ben and give him a second chance to complete the task he was set out to do, destroy Defiance. Rafe and his family are not having an easy time. With the death of his oldest son, there are questions as to why Luke was meeting with Ben, the man behind destroying the net and allowing the attack on Defiance. Christie has agreed to marry Datak’s son Alak.
Ben has gone underground with a large amount of explosive and they soon find out why. Buried deep under the newely terra formed earth is old St Louis and an old nuclear power plant that he plans to use the explosives with to create a large atomic bomb. With the size of the explosion, the radiation would reach beyond the ground and seep up into defiance killing everyone.
This episode was a perfect follow up to the pilot focusing on a few core story lines which allowed us to connect with a few of the characters. We learn, that Nolan use to live in old St Louis when the arks first arrived and Rafe used to be a dog food tycoon before the war. The biggest character development was the McCawleys versus the Tarrs. The two ruling families of Defiance hate each other but their two children hope to bridge that divide.
Jamie Murray (Stahma) plays a very seductive, scheming wife who will do anything to get what she wants, without the use of her husbands brute methods. Granted she uses his brute when its needed but she is the one pulling all the strings in the Tarr family.
Nolan’s character doesn’t really grow on me with this episode, though we watch as he slowly starts to dig in and make roots in Defiance as he pisses off Datak at every turn. Amanda’s character (Julie Benz) grows as she is tasked with running a town on the edge of inter-species war and peace. Amanda’s friend and former mayor continues to prove that she has something to hide but what is she looking for?
Another solid episode for Defiance with steady character development and movement on the story line. With so many characters starting out, the show cannot hope to progress them all in every episode, but if they do it properly they can slowly develop and shape each character over the season while keeping the story line intact. We got to like Irisa a bit more, but next weeks episode is all about Irisa and the Irathians.
I personally liked the song at the end of the episode and it was hard to find but for those who want to know, its Come As You Are covered by Civil Twilight.
