Defiance - S3E1 - The World We Seize (Part 1 of 2)
Previously in season 2 of Defiance
Starring: Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Graham Greene, Jesse Rath, Trenna Keating, Anna Hopkins, Nicole Munoz, with Lee Tergesen and Linda Hamilton | Director: Michael Nankin
Season three begins 7 months after the Arkbrain incident, in the cold and crowded region that is Earth’s debris field. A dark ship full of spikes and other sharp angles slowly creeps into orbit. It’s configuration has never been seen and neither have its passengers; a pair of armored, shrouded and purple-skinned aliens hiss at each other about their vague plan to search for large quantities of gulanite, a mineral that, as you know, powers pretty much everything.
The first sight of Defiance is awfully sad and Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz) – Mayor once again – is compelled to reserve as much power as she can and that requires her to shut down all of Defiance for hours at a time. This also includes the status nets that protect the town; practically no one is left to raise arms against any attack, so Defiance is left wide open for anyone to raid or assume control. Meanwhile, those mysterious purple-skinned folk launch themselves from their ship and land in a field not far from the abandoned McCauley mines.
Amanda enters the NeedWant, which still has power thanks to the employees riding on stationary bikes. Hey, every bit of effort helps! Dr. Yewll (Trenna Keating) remains her charismatically acerbic self and is killing her competition at the poker table. A group of gunmen rush the place and demand all the winnings and script from the patrons’ pockets. While Amanda tries to calm the situation, Berlin (Anna Hopkins), slinks her way down the staircase to take out the lead gunman. She is grazed on the arm, but no worse for wear in neutralizing the threat. Amanda, tired of everyone’s shtako, kneecaps the wannabe robber for good measure.
The pair of newcomers (now revealed to be father and daughter) easily make their way down the mines thanks to advanced drone tech that appears capable of doing anything. The purples discover the gulanite mother lode… as well as the remnants of the ark that collapsed the mine. Lil’ Purple finds the status pod Nolan snuck in with Irisa during the season two finale and deactivates the device. She didn’t free them out of the kindness of her allegedly existent alien heart. After a couple sniffs, Purple Girl decides she wants to show off her double rows of teeth and make a snack out of poor Nolan.
Thankfully, Poppa Purple stops her in time, claiming they could have some use. He detaches the umbilical shared between Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas), which immediately awakens the gruff human. Nolan doesn’t like what he sees and goes for his piece but is knocked back to dreamland by Poppa Purple. He and Irisa reawaken covered in snow. The two don’t have an exact bearing on where they are, but the sight of the Gateway Arch over the tree line lets them know they aren’t far from home.
Having spent months on the road to find Christie, Alak and Luke, Rafe, Datak and Stahma (Graham Greene, Tony Curran and Jaime Murray, respectively) have finally found Rafe’s estranged wife’s compound outside of Oklahoma City. Pilar (Linda Hamilton) has taken everything in stride, assuming all the motherly responsibilities for her grandson. Quentin (Justin Rain) on the other hand, continues to distrust Alak and stays vigilant in fear they run into a rapidly amassing Votanis Collective. Datak, Stahma, and Rafe head back to their runner and find the VC surrounding it and taking their supplies. Knowing they’d be killed on the spot, Datak decides to pretend Rafe is their bounty in order to stay alive long enough to think of another plan. The Castithan couple are introduced to General Rahm Tak (Lee Tergesen) also known as “The Beast”. Stahma attempts to work her magic on the General, but he isn’t having any of that. The Beast is completely focused on accomplishing his goal and isn’t afraid of sharing it with his new best pals: Now that E-Rep has completely left the region, the VC plans to storm Defiance and kill every human within its walls. He sounds like a lovely guy.
Tired of all the craziness and threats on her life, Doc Yewll is two seconds away from leaving Defiance for good until Amanda and Berlin jump in the scene and somehow, someway convince her to stay and deal with their goofy antics. While this is going on, Nolan and Irisa find a shack in Sunflower Flats to warm up and recall their thoughts. Neither one remembers much of what happened after the Arkbrain was destroyed but Irisa knows she doesn’t want to return to Defiance because nearly everyone wants her for dead. After killing thousands in New York City and being personally responsible for the deaths of Nolan and Tommy (the former obviously restored to life), the guilt Irisa feels is overwhelming. While holed up, Nolan recognizes a wormhole flare being used and tracks the people who shot it. Nolan takes one out with ease, but Irisa freezes and is overtaken. Unfortunately, the message is received in Oklahoma City by General Tak’s men, confirming that Defiance’s status nets are offline.
Nolan and Irisa make it back to Defiance and find it completely defenseless. Amanda is shocked to see Nolan stroll in her office like it ain’t no thing and informs him just how long it’s been since they’ve gone missing. Amanda further explains since the Ark destroyed the mine, there’s little to no gulanite left to keep Defiance lit. Seeing as he and Irisa just left the mine, not all shafts have collapsed so there must be a way to harvest the mineral.
On the street, Irisa is harassed by the new deputy about a novel written about her exploits, titled “Amazing Goddess of the Badlands”. Whoever illustrated the cover took immense creative liberties with Irisa’s uh, appearance. She refuses to sign the crap, and gets a gun to the back of her head courtesy of a vengeful Berlin. Irisa offers no resistance as Berlin beats the hell out of her. Nolan is not too impressed by her behavior yet he, Irisa, and Amanda work together to find out what’s going on at the McCauley mines.
The three discover the mines are operational again, with tech none of them have seen before. Amanda is quickly stunned by a drone and Nolan and Irisa make chase after it. They return to where the Ark crashed to find drones mining the gulanite into a massive floating ball. With their eyes on the sky Lil’ Purple gets the drop on both of them (with a lick on Nolan’s face for good measure). Amanda wakes up in time to have her sights on the Lil’ P but she doesn’t care for her mess. Before Purple could strike, she takes two to the gut from Amanda. Having never seen this race of Votan before – if she is a Votan – the team decide to take her back to Defiance to treat her wounds.
On the warpath, the Votanis Collective find Pilar’s safehouse and immediately surround the place. With Alak and Pilar out to gather supplies, Quentin tells Christie to hide and keep Luke quiet while he buys time. General Tak isn’t impressed by the human at all and decides to give him a bullet in the head for good measure. Rafe cries out in rage while Datak and Stahma become very aware that “The Beast” is out for blood. The General invites his Castithan brethren inside and Rafe breaks free with the hope he finds Christie. McCauley enters the house guns blazing and finds his daughter, but as he’s about to pick her up, Rafe is gunned down in the back by VC. Christie curses them all in Castithan, an act General Tak takes with great enmity. Tak hands Stahma her husband’s charge blade to cut Christie’s throat as she was the one who taught the young McCauley their language. Stahma hesitates and Tak ups the ante by putting Datak’s life on the line if she doesn’t do what he wants. Christie stands defiantly and proclaims “I am not afraid”. Alak and Pilar return to the house at the worst possible moment to view Stahma cut his wife down.
General Tak is satisfied with Stahma’s actions and the VC move out to continue their death march to Defiance. Datak looks at his former rival and friend, completely distraught. He leaves as the lifeless father and daughter lie next to one another as poor Luke begins to cry out nearby. Holy hell, Defiance. Way to shake things up.
