Syfy really wants another “Battlestar Galactica,” since the series itself was one of the most compelling and unique pop culture landmarks in the 21st century. But with “Defiance” I really doubt they’ve caught lightning in a bottle twice. In face one of the main caveats of “Defiance” is that it’s so heavy handed in its pursuit to explore racism and prejudice, that it becomes the bases for the entire series. So far with a two hour pilot movie, and two one hour episodes, as well as a game, “Defiance” has proven to be a well produced, and beautifully constructed science fiction epic that when watched is just… okay. It’s by no means a lemon of a science fiction offering, but I’m not going to be following its mythos any time soon, either. In fact, I had a hard time remembering any of the characters’ names, even after three episodes.
One of Syfy’s first attempts to market a multimedia franchise, “Defiance” is basically a commercial for the game, while the game promotes the television show. I imagine you can’t know one without the other. There’s even a point in the show where four of the series characters have to sink down in to local abandoned mines and shoot down a bunch of infectious bugs that have been murdering locals in Defiance. I sat through the entire moment thinking “This must be in the game.” What’s disappointing about “Defiance” is that most of the series is set in the St. Louis village now known as “Defiance,” a setting where nothing really interesting happens. When we first open the series, we meet Joshua Nolan and his daughter Irisa, an alien hybrid of the Irathient who dons long red hair and a large forehead slumped over orange eyes. She and her adopted father spend their days in the Bad Lands fighting off nomads known as Spirit Riders looking for a mysterious sphere that could grant them riches.
When they’re attacked by the nomadic spirit riders, they barely escape and flee in to the wilderness where Irisa is rendered near death and Joshua is saved by humans. When the pair awaken again, they’re in the peaceful city of “Defiance,” which has now become a place of salvation for all breeds of aliens and humans that live on the newly terraformed Earth. The circumstance for the new world of various aliens and tribes is convoluted and incredibly complicated. And let’s face it, I just didn’t care enough to delve deeper. Stephanie Leonidas (from the excellent “Mirrormask”) is unrecognizable, but steals the show as the knife wielding warrior Irisa, who approaches Defiance with suspicion and irritation, as it enters in to a new era with a new mayor (played by Julie Benz) who hopes to bring a new age of peace among the various peoples. As is obvious from the outset, “Defiance” is by no means a peaceful village. With alien species, mutants, and humans living among one another in a big boiling pot, tensions are rising among the various families in the city, and a civil war is brewing among two very wealthy families who help keep Defiance running from the inside.
This is where “Defiance” plays on the entire themes of racism and prejudice like it’s going out of style. “Defiance” can often be preachy and ridiculously hokey, sparing no sense of subtlety and diving head first in to wagging its finger at audiences about treating every individual equally. Even your friendly alien species. The Castithans are a family bordering on Albinos struggling for respect, who hate the humans. And they especially hate the McCawley’s, a wealthy Native American family that own and operate the local mines. The family are at war with one another and of course, two of their children begin to fall in love with one another, despite their parents protests. The entire arc for the season seems to be leading in to what the ultimate plan for “Defiance” is, and why the foes in the shadows seem intent on “purging” the city of its residents. The first episode is based on a small battle, as a murder mystery leads in to a larger scheme involving the town’s security defenses.
From there–like previous Syfy show “Eureka”–hero Joshua Nolan as the town’s new sheriff, along with his no nonsense daughter Irisa, struggle to uncover new mysteries every week, and figure out the larger plan for “Defiance” before outside forces bring the walls down around them. True, the series is called “Defiance” but it’s disappointing it chooses to primarily base the show on the bland and cliche city every single week, rather than giving us a larger glimpse at the new world, now inhabited by mysterious animals, and various breeds of alien. “Defiance” may keep me interested thanks to the great interplay between Leonidas’ character Irisa, and Grant Bowler’s tough talking sheriff Joshua, but it has a long way to go before it can rise above mediocre, and transform in to science fiction I can actually care about. It may or may not pick up with its melodrama and preachy overtones, but the jury is still out on whether I’m going to find out or not.