What I’m Watching: Defiance

Defiance: Season 1, Episode 7 “Good Bye Blue Sky” (C)

I thought about stopping this episode midway through and simply skipping to the next in my line of shows that I watch each week, but figured that I didn’t dislike it enough to depart from it so unceremoniously. I am, however, losing interest fast, and the gradual return of many summer shows is making me think that I may just ditch it altogether. This episode opted to give Sukar a major showcase, as well as one of my least favorite characters, Irisa. I do think that, objectively, Sukar is interesting, but I don’t love this show’s combination of religious supernatural elements with its much more scientific reasoning. A deity-driven resurrection and nanites don’t quite go together well, and I found that entire plotline, and its rather basic explanation, disappointing. Nolan killing him despite his invulnerability and his subsequent resumption of his father figure duties to an angry Irisa didn’t make all that much sense, and that’s one relationship that seems like a bit of a stretch considering their cultural differences. I was more intrigued by the two of the subplots, which were somewhat more believable. Nicky stopping by Rafe’s home to trick him into confessing to a murder he didn’t commit was interesting for the aggression it produced in both of them, and I’m more than a little worried about the hallucinating, murder-prone Quentin. Stahma coming to Kenya to ask her about pleasing a human woman had an unexpected ending which, more than anything, demonstrated Stahma’s independence and Kenya’s skill in her chosen profession.