Defiance S03 E04: Dead Air

On the last episode of “Defiance,” Shrills ate Defiance’s weapons; Irisa lost her mojo; Nolan shot Pilar; Stahma hit on T’evgin, and Baby Luke is finally with family. That ear-eating-rascal, General Tak, wants Stahma and Datak to blow up the Arch. Will they? Will Stahma tell us where to purchase the special bath crystals?

The Arch

While Amanda is playing politician and telling the townsfolk that everything is okey dokey, someone is listening in on the hidden recorder. Nolan finds some old files that mention an E-Rep cache of guns hidden on a farm. We wondered if Stahma and Datak would go through with blowing up the St. Louis Arch. Hoped that they wouldn’t, but they are what they are and the Arch is destroyed along with the unfortunate disc jockey. There will be no more music; dead air.

What do you know about the Gateway Arch to the West? The 630 foot Gateway Arch was completed on October 28, 1965 as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States and typifies “the pioneer spirit of men and woman who won the Western frontier. We won’t go into detail that there were already people living on those lands. We’ll save that story for another day.

While General Tak’s hologram is inciting the Votans to rise up against their human neighbors, Alak is shocked that his parents blew up something he loved so much. Alak loved music, loved being a disc jockey and, correctly identified Buddy Rich as the best drummer, ever! Tak might consider humans nothing more than pink meat, but he loves our rhythm. Boris and Natasha are given another assignment from General Tak, kill the Olmec. Seems, the General hates T’evgin more than humans.

While our favorite female fatale mixes up her own special blend of fast acting poisons, Nolan and Amanda go looking for the E-Rep’s arsenal. Nolan and Amanda are greeted by the Fab Four: George, Ringo, Paul and John. No! Not the Beatles, but for bio-men. The arsenal looking very much like Area 51 is under the control of Niles Pottinger played deviously by James Murray. Amanda realizes that Niles is the ultimate stalker and we meet a new character.

Stahma had the shock of her life, well maybe two shocks. Stahma’s poison didn’t work on T’evgin and, he was an excellent sex partner. Jaime Murray has, over the last three seasons, made the Stahma character, hers! She is the only actress that can do this character justice.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this episode. The bio-men were hilarious, think of a blue Herman Munster. They’re mostly brawn and no brain, but funny except when they’re beating the crap out of Nolan. What is causing Nolan and Irisa to suffer disabling headaches? Does it have to do with those wounds on their foreheads?

Julie Benz was at her best this episode. Niles claims he loves her, but he’s been following her ever since he raped her in New York. He not only keeps the souvenirs from that attack, but he plans on keeping Amanda with him. When she finally gets to visit the screening room, she understands why bio-George recognized her. There is nothing funny about a stalker. There are so many newspaper accounts of women being harassed and then killed by their stalkers and a lot of times, the law can’t do anything to protect these women. Stalkers should be dealt with as seriously as we deal with terrorists because they are just as dangerous.

Niles has been secretly taping Amanda’s private moments. Even though Niles has a Singularity bomb programed to go off if someone tries to kill him, Amanda shoots to kill and gets rid of her stalker for good. Unfortunately, by killing Niles, Amanda also lost the needed weapons. Samir, a Veterinarian, escapes with Amanda and Nolan.

Irisa finds Tommy’s badge and even though Irisa tries to explain that she wasn’t responsible for what happened to Tommy, Berlin won’t hear her out. I hope we find out what’s going on with Irisa and Nolan because they’re both having seizures. While Samir and Amanda take care of Nolan, Berlin leaves Irisa to die.

The only person with a happy ending in this episode is Stahma. She’s found herself a worthy opponent and one hell of a great lover. We learned a bit more about T’evgin. He is centuries old, is a war hero, is feared by General Tak and, he makes great after-sex breakfast. I’m starting to like the purple people eater.