Defiance - S1E9 - If I Ever Leave This World Alive
Previously on Defiance “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”
Aw, Shtako
Defiance is in chaos: 21 people are sick and 6 are dead. Alak is on the radio trying to inform everyone how the virus spreads (only skin to skin contact; only humans and Irathients; Irathients can be carriers, but show no signs of illness). Doc Yewll tells Amanda and Nolan there may be an anti-virus arriving from San Francisco.
Q-Time
An E-Rep squad is parked outside of town, ensuring that no one leaves. They’re trying to contain the virus. Connor Lang is also trapped in town so he decides to get drunk at that bar. He tells Amanda and Nolan that E-Rep has already found and killed patient zero, but they’re not letting anyone out.
Irisha Saves Irathients
A group of Castithans are harassing Irathients in town to get medicine for Sakur, who’s still sleeping the deep sleep. I’m guessing that means he’s in a coma. Irisa intervenes and gets the Castithans to back off. She agrees to pray with her people.
Small Council Meeting
Amanda is quickly outvoted when the rest of the council decides that putting the Irathients in the mines is the best thing. No one can tell if an Irathient is a carrier, they don’t get sick, and humans are dropping like flies.
Nolan Ain’t About That Life
Rafe and a team of men try to round up and Irisa and her people while they’re praying, but she attacks them to allow her friends time to get away. When Nolan arrives, he pulls a gun on Rafe and his men. Rafe pulls a gun on Irisa and now we have a standoff people. Irisa convinces Nolan to put away his gun since she doesn’t like their odds.
Later, Nolan gathers weapons to go break Irisa out of the mines, but Amanda tries to convince him the Irathients are safer in the mines. Doc Yewll arrives and says her distress message was received in San Francisco and they air dropped a cure in the Badlands.
Nolan and Amanda drag Connor out of the bar and try to sober him up. Nolan says Connor is going to convince E-Rep to let them out of the town to pick up the meds.
Quentin Visits Nicky
Quentin visits Nicky and asks about his mother. She says his mother is still alive, and that she will tell him more if he brings her the item that Luke had hidden. Quentin goes home to get it, and Luke’s ghost tries to talk him out of it.
Christie and Amanda are brought into the infirmary, both infected. Datak offers Christie a Castithan medicine to ease her pain since the infirmary is all out. Rafe seems skeptical, but allows it. Amanda is already in stage 2 of the illness.
Connor/Nolan Bonding
Connor and Nolan are headed for the Badlands when Nolan tries to get Connor to open up about what happened between him and Amanda. Connor finally admits that he got Amanda pregnant and she aborted the baby without telling him.
Womp, womp, Nolan. Happy now?
As expected, they meet resistance from the E-Rep troops and Ambassador Olfin, who Nolan is very surprised to see. The commander in charges of the troops agree to let them through to get the meds, provided they stay within range of their snipers. Olfin isn’t happy to hear this. As Nolan and Connor head back to their roller, Connor says, “I hate that bitch.”
He ain’t wrong. She’s a bitch.
Down in the Mines
Irisa’s people speculate that they’ll be gassed in the mines just as they were during their big depression when Castithans slaughtered them in gas chambers. As her people pray, a human guard yells at them to cut it out. When they don’t, she barges in and kicks their prayer stones. An Irathient jumps on her and another guard shoots and kills her. Irisa goes ballistic.
The Story of Pilar
Quentin brings Nicky the artifact and she tells him the story of his mother, Pilar. She was bipolar and Nicky and Rafe managed to keep her healthy with old world medicine, but it eventually stopped working. When Pilar buttered the children’s breakfast toast with rat poison, Rafe wanted to shoot her, but Nicky stopped him. She was having an affair with Rafe at the time and knew the guilt would kill him. Pilar was shipped west, never to be heard from again. Nicky offers to draw Quentin a map of how to find her, but first she snatches his access card to the mines.
Ambush!
The Irathients that Irisa helped escaped ambush Nolan and Connor. They take the medicine and threaten to destroy it if they don’t release the Irathients in the mines, specifically, their leader. Turns out, their leader was the one killed when the miner guard kicked the prayer stones. Things aren’t getting much better since Nolan is also infected.
Ruh roh.
Datak is in charge while Amanda is sick. Stahma convinces him to release the Irathients from the mines.
Datak in Charge
Doc Yewll meets with Nicky and we learn that she used to work with Nicky in whatever plan she has for the town. She won’t rejoin Nicky after learning that Birch is dead. When Nicky reveals she has the Golden Knot, Yewll begs her to destroy it, but Nicky refuses.
Datak arrives to save Nolan and Connor, but decides to destroy the medicine instead. He tells the Irathients that they’re people have been released and he believes the disease was a gift from all the Voltan gods to cleanse the Earth of humans. When the lead Irathient steps outside to shoot the case of medicine Datak has covered in alcohol and tossed, he is killed by a sniper. Datak is grabbed by the female Irathient, but Connor knocks her away. Datak kills her, then overkills her, then yells at her dead body, then spits on her. Connor asks to be released, but Datak shoots him instead. He can’t have someone walking around knowing about Thug Datak. Datak thinks Nolan, who has been passed out during the whole thing, is faking. When he realizes Nolan is truly knocked out, he administers the medicine and radios that the cure is safe.
Later, Datak takes control of Amanda’s town radio announcement to reveal that he is running for mayor. Amanda realizes she’s been set up.
