Irisa returns to Defiance and is arrested; Mayor Pottinger offers Nolan her release in exchange for capturing those responsible for nearly killing him; Stahma plots to keep Datak behind bars.
This episode continues from the end of last week’s. There are three things going on in this episode. The first is the Blue Devil drug that the Tarrs are in control of. The second issue revolves around Nolan and Irisa readjusting to the town of Defiance. The third issue revolves around Datak and Doc Yewell trying to escape the prison. It seems that the overarching story of this season is reestablishing the status quo. For some it is a helluva lot harder than it sounds.
With Stahma and Alak’s plot in this episode, it focused on how to deal with the Blue Devil drug. Mayor Pottinger wants Stahma to stop production on it because it makes the E-Rep soldiers act like pricks. He threatens to release Datak if she does not oblige. At the same time, one of the Tarrs henchmen is trying to kill the Mayor and Stahma. Throughout the episode, there were a series of attacks on the town. These attacks also symbolize the rift between Stahma and Alak. Her struggle for power has made her dark. It has also made her disgusted by Castithan men. And the attacks are what lead Nolan back into his old role. A bomb was attached to her car and Nolan was the only one to save her.
In this episode, Nolan was charged with the task of finding the “terrorists” in order to free Irisa from the town jail. However, that aspect of his story was not the center point. In a conversation with E-Rep Officer, Berlin, she tells him what she thinks about him. She says that he loves living in this post-apocalyptic world because he gets to live out his boy hood dreams of being Han Solo. Irisa is his "sexy Chewbacca" and he has fulfilled the aspects of that fantasy with guns, whores and booze. This may be the most intelligent line in this season mainly because it is true.
It also shows that Irisa is not the only woman that can talk to Nolan any –kind- of- way. This scene also shows the reality of their world. Berlin is a keeping a close eye on everyone by spying on them with 24-hour surveillance. Nolan is a peacemaker and protector who really hasn’t seen the harshness of the world Berlin has. She was born in the world of Defiance. He was not.
The last issue revolves around Datak and the Doc. Datak comes up with this plan to get a Castithan to try and kill the visiting Mayor Pottinger. However, Datak betrays him and saves the mayor hoping to be freed for his service. In short, Datak is still behind bars.
Overall, this was another great episode to the season. While Nolan has been accepted back as law-keeper, Irisa has found out that Tommy has moved on to Officer Berlin. In some ways it is strange. Everyone has moved into different roles except for Nolan. The town was once a free-city with hope and prosperity. Now it is a police-state right out of a dystopian novel and Nolan is the only thing that has remained constant. Defiance airs on SyFy.
Here is a sneak peek for the next episode: