Defiance Episode 1.08 I Just Wasn't Made for These Times *** SPOILERS***

Television, Movies Games and Books Defiance
#1

Episode Summary via en.wikipedia.org:

Nolan and Lasalle investigate the Arkfall object, and discover a human in hypersleep; they awaken him and discover he is Gordon McClintock (Brian J. Smith), an American astronaut whose space station was supposedly destroyed in 2013. They return with him to Defiance, where Yewll examines him and pronounces him normal; however McClintock suffers a vision incorporating Indogenes and reacts with some discomfort. Amanda and the new Earth Republic representative, Connor Lang, meet again; he offers her a position with the Earth Government in New York and it is revealed that they had a previous relationship. Stahma and Kenya continue their relationship; Kenya tries to avoid Datak as a client, but Stahma counsels her not to refuse him. Nolan, Amanda and McClintock visit Rafe McCawley, attempting to acclimate the astronaut to the terraformed Earth; McClintock suffers another vision and attacks Amanda. While locked in the cell at the Lawkeeper’s station, he begins to harm himself and bleeds silver; Nolan realizes something is wrong and confronts Yewll, who reveals that McClintock is actually an Indogene modified to appear human and implanted with the original McClintock’s memories, intended to serve as a spy and an assassin by the Votans before their arrival. The McClintock Indogene seizes Nolan’s gun and escapes; he meets McCawley in the mines and apparently commits suicide, although it is later revealed that he leaves Defiance to reunite with McClintock’s widow. Lang warns Amanda that she is in danger; the Earth Republic wants her out of Defiance and will use any means necessary to remove her. Nolan confronts Yewll about her involvement in the Indogene spy program, but they are interrupted by the arrival of multiple humans suffering from a hemorrhagic fever.

Please utilize this thread to discuss the series 8th episode, “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.”

#2

I watched and liked this episode (in fact I don’t think this show has had a bad one yet)…but it was at 1am on Monday after a VERY crabby and crappy ice hockey game that night and I was flat out exhausted and can’t remember a damn thing about it…I’m hoping to have some time this afternoon to re-watch and actually commentate on this…

#3

I liked the premise — after the fact, it reminded me of Buck Rogers — but I wish they would have done more with it. Nice episode, though.

#4

It was a nice peek into the state of Earth before crap fell outta the sky though…and that the Votans may have been here MUCH longer then expected…and there’s a BIG secret the Doctor is hiding (more of this was shown this week too)

#5

Perhaps. I was a little confused on that point about the Votons being here longer or not. I got the impression that everything happened with the Bravery Space Station after the Votons arrived.

Or Flash Gordon. I’m sure we’ll see Gordon McClintock again. If the E-Rep gets wind that he is still alive he will still come into play in the future. I get the impression that they are doing their damnedest to close the door on any space travel or space-related episodes whatsoever with the radiation and debris around Earth. Very disappointing

#6

and now this week we learned “now they look like us too”…the former mayor was a damn skin job!!! :eek:

#7

Thanks for the spoiler sir! =)

#8

I waited all week to talk to SOMEONE about it…sorry!!! Can’t blame an old fella for getting a little excited, a LOT happened Monday…get on that DVR sir!!!
(that barely scratches the surface in this episode!)

#9

I’ve been fervently attempting to catch up with Falling Skies, Continuum, Defiance, Through The Wormhole, Futurama, and Venture Bros while trying to get ready for vacation and taking care of a family, rewatching Star Trek TOS and listening to The Mission Podcast, rewatching Person Of Interest, watching Arrested Development for the first time and watching Buffy/Angel for the first time. It’s been a busy couple of months.

It’s all good stuff, I just NEED MORE TIME!!!

#10

Just watched this episode last night myself – I can’t help but wonder how far they’re going to take this storyline. Let’s face it; the opportunity to snatch humans in orbit in 2013 were probably pretty limited if we’re using today as the baseline.

Dammit - Cmdr. Hadfield is a skinjob!

Overall, I felt it was a strong episode, probably stronger than the nanobot-mystic story, with no visitations from mysterious dead brothers, and I’m excited to dig further into the Indogene doctor’s past. I loved the setup for the plague storyline and can’t wait to see how they tied in the episodic content from the game.

#11

Unless they were replacing the people with doubles…but that doesn’t seem the way…though the other astronaut was a sleeper model… there are enough space missions going back and forth that if you replaced the folk you could get away with it…as long as you made a good enough copy…

this felt like the stages being laid down for the BIG finale in a few weeks…I’m amazed they didn’t stretch the wedding out till then, but it was nice to see McCawley see and realize how the two kids felt about each other and did the right thing (the mine donation was nicely played too…)

and yeah forget skeletons…that damn doctor has a cemetery in HER closet…

#12

Hey! Let’s not forget that this was Tommy’s FIRST Arkfall. And what did he get? A dead/skinjob astro-nut. That’s a pretty good storyline haul if you ask me. Tommy’s batting 1000!

I love Gordon McClintock’s name. McClintock is one of my favorite John Wayne movies and Gordon is my son’s name. It’s a win-win-win for me!

So Doc Yewel is an amazing manipulator in her own right and a downright bitch as well. There is definitely more behind her past and I suspect it may well be years before it all comes out. Who knows? Maybe she not only ran the tech program, maybe she was the Voton equivalent of our Sectretary Of Defense! And maybe SHE activated Gordon with her eye scanning.

I suspect that Amanda sees right through Connor Lang’s offer and his presence. It might still emotionally hurt her but mentally she KNOWS that Olfin is attempting to play and manipulate her.

Eeeeewwwwwww. Datak and Kenya. I just don’t want to think about that. Heck, I don’t want to think about Stahma and Datak. But Stahma and Kenya? Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I loved the little bit where Graham Greene (who plays Rafe McCawley) said “Don’t look at me” when they started talking about Robert Pattinson in Twilight. I’m not a Twilight fan nor have I seen all the movies but even I know that Graham was actually IN Twilight. I laughed a while on that.

Okay. Problem. Why we don’t fly anymore. If radiation was deadly above 400 feet poor or Alec Tarr would be toast on the top of the 630 foot high St Louis Arch. And 400 feet above what Amanda? Sea level? On the top of mountains? Is there even a sea anymore? Also - there is NO debris IN the atmosphere except when it falls from orbit. Granted, that might have been often shortly after the Voton fleet was destroyed but it should be calming down by now. Space travel I can understand, but flying? I’m still struggling with that explaination.

I love Stahma and Kenya’s scene together. Stahma’s comment for Kenya to play the game better and smarter while paying her was priceless. Also, I’m sure both know that this is not just a physical or emotional relationship but also a political/spy relationship as well. Pro-tip from Stahma to Kenya. Niiiiiiice. Then Stahma plays the game AGAIN by distracting Datak with sex in their bath. I’m loving that Casti woman. I can only imagine what she does to Sean’s head.

Hey! We learn Kenya’s been MARRIED before. I can’t wait to learn more about that backstory.

Lake Nothing is beautiful. All these underground scene=scapes are amazing. It ALMOST makes up for no space ships.

Rafe’s advice to Gordon was really insightful. As long as Gordon has his life and memories that would be worth living. Also that no Indogene had the emotions that Gordon displayed when he found out he wasn’t human. I really enjoy Rafe, but wonder what the heck he did that everyone that works for him is so afraid of him? Rafe runs a tight ship at home and at work. What inspires the loyalty of his workers?

Gulamite is the reason Defiance is such a force. It’s a mineral that powers everything in the new Erf society and Defiance has a lot of it. I can see why everyone wants Defiance now. He who controls the power controls the world.

Did you catch Connor’s last dig on Amanda? “Earth Republic takes what it wants and it doesn’t care who it hurts - Amanda would have been a good fit with that.” Wow. Apparently Connor was telling Amanda she was like the Earth Republic. I’ll be interested to learn more about that.

And Nolan is not stupid. He knows that Gordon is still alive “where ever he is.”

Poor Charlie Rivers. The first Viral Hemorrhagic Fever victim. He was a good kid - just learning how to cook alien Thai food. I’ll miss him.

I’m looking forward to the next episode!

~Shooter Out

#13

OK I’ll admit it, I’m digging this plotline, esp now that Nolan has shuffled out of Kenya’s life. As you said; Mmmmmmmm. I actually liked the Nolan/Kenya combination more than Nolan/Amanda couple, but it looks like Nolan’s moved on, especially with Amanda snuggling up to Nolan on the couch and with how they bonded in the Cass episode a few back. Initially, Kenya struck me as the stronger character but Amanda has been growing into her role as Mayor.

One thing kinda bugs me though: Kenya is the Madam of the Need|Want, and she keeps letting her sex-life and emotional attachment dictate her actions. She realized this with Nolan which was why she ended the relationship, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. This behaviour seems out of line with how you would expect someone in that line of work to conduct themselves.

Stahma, while cultivating a deeper relationship with Kenya, is making it clear that the relationship still has a customer/client aspect to it with respect to the payment of scrip at the end. I think that for as much as she might like Kenya (or might like what she gets out of the relationship on either physical or intellectual basis), she wants to keep that clear. Although, Stahma is a master manipulator - so who knows what her endgame is there. She could just be doing it to drive a rift between Kenya and Amanda or to screw with Datak somewhere down the line, or some combination thereof. As I said; she’s definitely playing more than one angle here.

Yeah, I like Doc Yewel, and think that there’s amazing potential to develop the whole Indogene subplot. I was wondering if she activated Gordon (low likelihood as she wanted to keep it quiet, and there would be no benefit to her in activating him), or if she was one of the Indo’ faces around the table in Gordon’s flashback. If I hadn’t deleted the episode off the PVR, it would make sense to go back and see if she was around the table.

With the dialogue around the upcoming election, I fully expect E-Rep to back a candidate sympathetic to their cause, and to fight dirty while doing it. Probably while pulling more shtako in the background to discredit the Mayor and destabilize the town. I think in the last episode they referred to Defiance as a city-state, which is a good way of looking at it. I also caught the reference to the Oregon Nation/Protectorate or something to that effect. I’m wondering if they are going to start looking for other allies.

Well, in the Plague Episodic content in the game we learned that the Indogene Flu (what Doc Yewel referred to as Viral Hemorrhagic Fever) progresses through 4 stages. It’s treatable in stages 1-3, but stage 4 is effectively zombification and is untreatable. Charlie might be back if he’s treated!

#14

FYI - I checked slow mo on the DVR before I deleted it tonight. None of the faces were remotely recognizable to me as Doc Yewel. I could be wrong, but I didn’t see her. None of the eyes matches hers that I saw anyway.