In this episode of Defiance entitled “Brother in Arms “focuses on relationships past and present. An old war buddy of Nolan’s comes to town. He is chasing after a Castithan arms dealer, who quickly becomes a dangerous threat to Defiance.

This episode starts off with a foot chase through the marketplace. Eddy (Nolan’s old war buddy) is tracking down Plo Madis a Castithan weapons expert. The Earth Republic and the Voltan Collective wants this guy. There is a giant explosion in the market place. Nolan tries to take control of the disturbance and this is when Nolan sees Eddy for the first time. Nolan takes him to the police precinct to lock up Eddy’s weapon. Then they head over to the Need/Want and Eddy sees that Irisa has grown up. We learn in this episode that he helped Nolan save young Irisa. Then Eddy wants a prostitute for the evening and then he notices Kenya in a corner. Kenya comes over to the two and she offers to have sex with Eddy. Nolan does not like this but he says nothing.
Kenya and Eddy go upstairs but Kenya backs out and sends in two different women to “pleasure” him. Kenya is debating rather or not being in a relationship with Nolan is good for her “work”.

The second story line revolves around the McCawleys’. Quentin is digging deep into the markings of the cave. While he is at the local diner, he runs into ex-mayor Nicky. She learns that Quentin has the artifact. Later on in the episode, she sends her henchman over to the McCawley home to retrieve the item but Quentin returns and the two men come to blows. Quentin pins him to the floor and strangle him to death. Quentin dumps the body in a flaming pool in the caves.

The Castithan weapon’s expert is locked away in the precinct. Then an unknown person slips the prisoner an explosive powder packet through the cell window. Madis uses it and creates an explosion from water and a salt tablet. He escapes and goes back to the market place to get his suitcase of chemicals and he kills the salesman that was “watching” it. Then he goes over to Datak Tarr’s house, poisons him with a substance he can control with a ring, and blackmails Datak into driving the getaway car. Eddy and Nolan track the two down and an epic car chase ensues.

This all ends with Nolan killing Madis and Eddy taking the heat again for Nolan. The Earth Rep that comes into town happens to be Amanda’s old fling. The Earth Rep takes Eddy prisoner on board a transport vessel. He takes out a packet similar to the one Madis had and asks for water and salt. We see Amanda with flowers on her desk. Then we see Nolan talking to Irisa about Eddy in the Need/Want.

This was a fantastic episode with good action and good drama. The only problem is the lack of development between Tommy and Irisa even though they had VIOLENT SEX last episode.

Mid-season review

Defiance returns on June 3rd after a week hiatus. This gives audiences a chance to get into the show and see what it’s all about. Defiance is a very good show about a world where aliens and humans live together. This is an immigrant story. It can be compared to Superman origin story. Aliens and humans have different cultures that create the drama on the show. At this time, it is underrated and underappreciated. This show is a western and westerns are considered a dead genre. There are aliens and sci-fi elements but the stories are structured in the same way as a traditional western. I enjoy the characters and I can’t wait to see what happens next. For those who are new to the show. I recommend four episodes to watch: the two hour pilot, “A Well Respected Man”,” The Serpent's Egg”, and “Brothers in Arms”. These episodes have the best action and the most sci-fi elements in them. People who enjoy post-apocalyptic stories and westerns will enjoy these four episodes from the show.

In the remaining episodes, I would love to see what happens to Nolan and Kenya, Irisa and Tommy, Eddy and the Earth Republic. The supernatural elements revolving around Irisa should play a bigger role in the future. Also Datak and Stahma Tarr should have some single episodes that develop them more. The over- arching story about the artifact needs some single episodes as well. So far I give this show 7.5 out of 10. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Here is the trailer for the next episode:

image: NBC Universal