Defiance – Episode 306 Recap
More blood and violence on this week’s episode of “Defiance”. When we last left off, our intrepid Alak had escaped from General Rahm Tak and gone on to attack Mama Stahma, blaming her for the death of Christie (a rightfully placed accusation, of course). After a brief tussle between father and son, Datak puts Alak on the ground and Stahma crushes his hand. Their handmaiden, having run to notify Nolan of what’s going on, returns with the Lawkeeper in tow and Nolan’s more than happy to swagger into the Tarr household and get to the bottom of things. Get to the bottom of things, he does, as Alak bravely defies his parents and lets out that they’re the ones who’ve not only been spying on Defiance, but also the ones to blow up the Arch for the Votanis Collective. Datak and Stahma, naturally, run.
And where is the VC in all this? Rahm Tak gives a rousing speech to his army about having survived the winter and taking back what they consider to be their home now when a mysterious rider appears, an Irathient woman that Tak divulges to be his wife. They greet each other in a way only a couple can and she begs her husband to come home, letting us see that the VC aren’t actually the ones behind Tak’s mission! Instead, the Beast has gone rogue on what was supposed to be a simple scouting mission for the VC. Not wanting her to report back to the VC headquarters and certainly not wanting her to inform his army that their mission isn’t a backed one, Rahm kills his wife and covers it up by saying she was an assassin sent by Defiance.
Back in Defiance, Datak and Stahma are on the run, hiding out in the open by camouflaging themselves in colored robes, a sight most uncommon for these Shanje Liro. They make a plan to escape Defiance and live a simple life away from it all, but Datak must first seek the help of Doc Yewell who hands him over papers and some money to get out of town with. She also agrees to smuggle them out under the guise of going to help the Spirit Riders with an outbreak of the Irath flu. Unfortunately for these two, however, Nolan’s followed Datak and Doc Yewell and chase Datak down as he flees in order to protect Stahma who retreats to Amanda’s quarters to lie in wait.
Before Nolan and Alak encounter Datak, the pair pay the Omec a visit, where both Alak and Kindzi learn that Stahma and T’evgin have been an item. Alak leaves disgusted at the thought and Kindzi is furious. Nolan threatens T’evgin if the Omec helps Stahma in any way and they leave. Later on, after catching Datak, Nolan locks the Castithan up and threatens to do whatever it takes to get the information he needs. In true Nolan fashion, this involves threatening to kill Alak. He slams Alak to the desk outside of Datak’s cell and puts a blaster to his head, threatening to kill the boy if Datak doesn’t talk. Datak is more than willing to share the information at this point and Nolan releases Alak. Come to find out, it was all a ruse to get Datak to talk. It clearly worked as Datak was in tears before discovering the ruse.
Amanda, returning home from looking for the pair, is confronted by Stahma, wielding a gun she took from a deputized Lawkeeper she killed. Amanda knocks the gun away and the two hash it out. In a pretty intense cat fight, Stahma finally gains the upper hand and knocks Amanda out, sparing her life but cursing her to live wondering why. Injured in the fight, the episode ends when Stahma flees to the only place she feels she can seek refuge – T’evgin.
Special consideration: Though not many scenes involved her, we did see Irisa babysitting Alak’s son, Luke, and have seen one of our first conversations in three seasons between her and Alak. This has led to the shipping of Alak and Irisa (Alisa, I’ve already heard it called.) In addition, at the end of the episode, we see a moving scene with Nolan and Alak discussing the responsibilities of a parent.