Syfy’s series Defiance continues with a new episode tonight called, “Beasts of Burden.” On tonight’s episode, Nolan is ordered to hunt down and destroy those responsible for a vicious attack in the badlands on a badly shaken Pottinger and his caravan.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, in the year 2046, it’s a new Earth – with new rules. Over thirty years after various alien races arrived on Earth, the landscape is completely altered, terraformed nearly beyond recognition. To the town of Defiance, on what used to be St. Louis, comes the mysterious Nolan – events begin to unfold that threaten the fragile peace this border town has fought for.
On last week’s episode Irisa continued to experience blackouts at a terrifying and increasing rate, but she tried to keep a worried Nolan in the dark about her situation; and under Stahma’s self-appointed leadership, the Tarr family business prospered, while an increasingly suspicious Datak remained… Did you watch the last episode? We recapped it all right here for you.
On tonight’s episode Nolan is ordered to hunt down and destroy those responsible for a vicious attack in the badlands on a badly shaken Pottinger and his caravan. Tensions flare when Nolan’s investigation turns up evidence implicating one of Rafe’s miners. Meanwhile, Datak sets his vengeful sights on reclaiming control over the family business.
Defiance airs at 8 PM on SYFY and we will be live blogging it with all the up-to-the-minute details. So make sure to come back to this spot and spend the evening with us! Make sure to refresh often to get the most current details and updates!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
A military-style convoy heads down the road. Pottinger is on board and is being recorded. He says – welcome to the Badlands. Then he talks about state of the art mining equipment he has with him and says that he’s bringing it to Defiance – a small town with a big heart. He stops and asks if she’s filming his good side. Berlin tells him that he looks like someone the people will appreciate. They are set on by snipers and the lead vehicle crashes. Pottinger tells her to get down but she’s shot. The drivers of his vehicle are shot.
A pickup truck pulls up and the hijackers approach. Pottinger cowers as does Berlin who is still alive as they break into the truck. He tells her the bandits are there for the equipment not them. A soldier creeps out of the wreckage and shoots a couple of the bandits. One surviving bandit tells the other to suck it up when he panics over his lost friends. One opens the door to Pottingers truck and he fights with him. Berlin fights as well and she’s knocked out.
Pottinger is held at gunpoint and asks the bandit to show him his face. He tells them he’s a high ranking office of the Earth Republic and says he promises he won’t let them investigate. The guy holds a gun on him and says he’ll strip him of his rank and clothes. Pottinger takes off his shirt. The bandit tells him to get all his kit off and he takes off his pants too. He’s in his boxers and the guy tells him to get on his knees. He asks Pottinger if he likes to hurt people and pss all over them and then he pees on him.
The other bandit tells the main guy they have to go. He zips up then knocks Pottinger into the dirt covered in piss and grime. He’s glaring. The bandits drive away with his mining equipment (and some of his dignity).
Datak tells Stahma he barely slept in jail and would think of her face to help him sleep. He says he’s glad he left it unmarked. He says back on Casti, he would have done the traditional thing and carved open her belly. He says they live in a new world and his love will spare her. Stahma says she’s blessed to live in a new world where a man and woman can be equals. She tells him profits are up 20% and says they should be partners and says she’s earned that right. Datak tells her he’s sure she’d like that then walks away.
Nolan and Amanda are in bed getting busy. She says he has to go because she has a staff meeting. He says it’s ironic that he can’t have sex because she has to go work in the whorehouse. Irisa comes in and tells her dad that the mayor wants him. Amanda asks if she knocks and Irisa says she was raised by Nolan. He tells Amanda that’s a good point. Nolan goes to see Pottinger who asks if he can describe the masks the bandits wore. He says one was oriental style and had antlers and another was like a red hockey mask with spikes. He says six men are dead and his equipment were stolen.
Nolan tells him raiders steal and move fast and are likely hundreds of miles away. Churchill volunteers to go and Nolan says it’s a waste of time to cross the Badlands with no lead. Amanda says they need an army. She tells Pottinger to keep an eye on the black market for clues. He tells her to remember her place and she says she’s glad they didn’t kill him. He tells Nolan to get going. Berlin tells Tommy she thinks she got a shot of one of the leader’s face when his mask slipped but her hard drive got smashed. He tells her she needs to go to the doctor but she wants to try and get the footage.
He calls her Jessica and she tells him to stick to calling her Berlin and asks if Irisa let her coddle him. He says no and Berlin says she sees the way they look at each other. He says if he had it his way, Irisa and Nolan would be on the first land coach out of town. He says he wants nothing to do with Irisa. Berlin says that’s good. She’s mollified.
Rafe sees the bandit leader’s mask on his counter and then Josef unloading the mining equipment. He tells him they did it. Rafe backhands him then asks what the hell he’s done. His nephew says he had to take it. He says if the e-reps cut through the hard deposits with the laser equipment, they’ll kill hundreds of miners. Josef tells him that he always said there will be time when blood had to be spilled but Rafe gets mad and says now is not that time.
Rafe asks who else was in on the job and Josef says Raul, Bink and O’Grady but Raul and Bink didn’t make it and O’Grady has taken off. He says he thought Rafe would be on his side but his uncle said he thought wrong.
Datak tells Alak that he’s glad he stepped out of his shadow while he was gone. Alak wants to go back to his music now that his dad is back. He says he never wanted this life for Alak but wanted him to have his own career but he was wrong. He says he’s a Tarr and his blood is in his veins and there’s no escaping it. Datak walks Alak out. Soldiers come up and hassle them and ask how he’s free. He says he got parole. They tell him Marsh was a good man and didn’t deserve to be stabbed by a dirty haint like him. The soldier spits in Datak’s face. He starts to pull a weapon but then doesn’t.
He tells the soldier he’s right to be angry because of what he did and offers an apology. The soldier shoves him down and Datak gets back up and speaks in his own language and says he offers him his regret. The soldiers finally walk away.
Amanda works the bar when Pottinger comes in to apologize. He say he values her input and she says the stolen tech must be important. She asks if that’s why he’s so mad and he says one of the raiders made him strip down and humiliated him and it brought back some bad memories from his past. He says he’s going to tear apart the man that did this to him. She pours him a drink and offers to listen but he says he doesn’t want to talk about it. She keeps working while he drinks. He says in the war his parents sent him to boarding school when he was 15.
He says his parents thought it would be safer but then one Sunday he was headed to chapel when the church windows shattered and the Votans came and they locked them in and kept them there with no food or bathrooms for 11 days. He says the floor was covered in piss and broken glass and his hands got cut up when they held him down. He stops and she takes his hands and says she’s sorry. He says there are lots of stories like his. She says dragging them in the light makes it where they can’t hurt you anymore.
Yewli looks at one of the dead bodies from the robbery. She sees a GSW and a bruise. He asks how she got pardoned and she says raw sex appeal. Nolan says the gunshots are precise for raiders and they spot a footprint. Nolan wipes it away and Tommy asks if he’s burying evidence to protect Rafe. Irisa tells Tommy to stop it and Nolan walks out.
Stahma walks in the market and the soldiers who hassled Datak approach her. She pays them off but is annoyed they couldn’t provoke him to violence.
Nolan goes to see Rafe. He tells him that Berlin caught one of the raiders on film and it’s a matter of time. He tells Rafe to come clean now before it’s too late. Josef creeps up on Nolan and puts a gun to his head. Rafe tells Nolan to go easy on him and Nolan knocks him down. Josef tells him that Rafe didn’t know anything. Rafe tells him he’s a good kid who got in over his head. He cuffs Josef and says he killed people. Rafe says they took his mines and he fought to protect Irisa for him and says he should do the same for him.
Nolan sighs and uncuffs Josef. He says they have video footage of his face and as soon as they recover it, he’ll be in trouble. He tells Rafe to get him on a land coach out of town before it’s too late. Nolan gives Pottinger the mining equipment and says he found it in a cave in the canyon – a raider stash point. Pottinger asks how he explains the gulanite dust on the dead soldier and Nolan says it’s dirt. Pottinger tells him Tommy said otherwise. Nolan says he can take his badge if he believes Tommy over him. Pottinger goes.
Datak tells the others that Alak will be by his side working from now on. He tells them they followed Stahma’s orders instead of the ones he sent from prison. One says he followed Alak’s orders but Datak tells him to be quiet. He says that their history says one will bear the shame of many and tells Alak to pick a sacrifice. He asks should it be Raga or Stondak or one of the others. Alak says his decision is that he can take him as the sacrifice. He says he could have stopped Stahma but he was weak and didn’t. Datak pulls his laser knife and kills another and says he’s his legacy. He tells them to clean it up.
Rafe comes back with a ticket for Josef but he’s not at the house. Berlin works to recover the footage. She has it but Josef is there with a gun and tells her to hand it over. They grapple and he holds a gun on her and says she wasn’t supposed to see him. She’s in shock when she sees who it is. Pottinger looks at a small yellow container in a larger briefcase then locks it up. Churchill tells him Amanda is there. They do some drugs together and he tells her Nolan recovered the equipment and that’s what matters. Amanda says he doesn’t believe that.
She asks if he sees VC soldiers when he closes his eyes. She says she sees blinding light and it’s a man with a powerful flashlight. The man who raped her. He asks her when and she says she was in New York working at e-rep and it was late after work. He covered her mouth and held a gun on her. She says she never told anyone because it would make her look weak and ruin her career. She says she didn’t even tell her fiancee. She was engaged to Connor Lang. He says everyone knew him. She says life went back to normal until she found out she was pregnant.
She says she let Connor believe it was his but she knew better and then got rid of it. She says Connor didn’t understand and it ruined their relationship so she took her sister and went West and the rest is history. Pottinger asks why she’s telling him this and she says she didn’t want him to think he’s alone. He says it’s the kindest thing anyone has done and thanks her. Tommy comes in and tells them Berlin has been taken.
Nolan pledges to bring her back safe. Tommy demands to know if Rafe is behind this and he says no. Pottinger asks where he found the stuff and he says it was tucked away in town. Pottinger says if he punishes Nolan, it will break Amanda’s heart but next time he will. Nolan says he needs to go find her. Nolan calls Rafe and tells him to find Josef and Berlin. He says if anything happens to Berlin, they have blood on their hands. He says he has some ideas.
Alak shows Datak where he makes records and says they’re making 2,000 units per week. Datak calls it cute. He tells him that he had different intentions for the day and says he was going to burn his music business to the ground but he’s shown him that this business can be a useful front. He says offering to sacrifice himself was clever. Datak tells Alak to hold out his hand and says it can’t go unpunished. He crushes his hand in a piece of the record making equipment and burns it horribly. He tells his son to put some ice on it.
Christie is outraged over what Datak did but Alak says it’s his fault. She says his father is a monster. He tells her she doesn’t get it because she’s not Castithin. Stahma comes in and asks what happened to his hand. He says it’s an accident. She doesn’t believe him. Stahma goes to Datak and finds him reading their bible. She reminds him he said he would never open it again. He says the holy teachings resonate with him. She says to scar their son is deplorable and says he has turned into his father.
He says his father’s treatment of him made him stronger. He says the holy teachings make them strong. She says he has no sense of balance and he says that’s true in the past. He says she and Alak have misbehaved but now they can all move forward together as a family. He holds out his arms and tells her to embrace him. She stands and goes to him. He touches her and smiles evilly.
Josef holds up signs with lines on them he wants Berlin to read about how cutting through the hard lines will cause the mines to collapse. He says that hearing an e-rep say the truth will make people listen. She rattles off the dead e-rep soldier’s names whose families will suffer because he killed them. He slaps her and knocks her over and tells her that she’s screwed herself. He says he’s sorry and goes to finish her but Rafe is there with Nolan. They cuff Josef and save Berlin.
Rafe tells Josef he should have gone on the land coach. He says Defiance is his home but Rafe says he has to go. He uncuffs him and tells him to run. He hugs him and sends him off before Nolan can come up after them. He goes to run but then he’s picked off by a gunman. Rafe breaks down into tears when he sees his nephew shot down.
Yewli treats Nolan gunshot wound and asks Berlin if she’s okay. She says she knows he took a bullet for her and she won’t forget it. He tells her any time. Tommy comes in and says to thank God she’s okay but she says to thank Nolan. He does. He says next time he’s planning to stab him in the back he should think about that. He leaves. Tommy kisses Berlin. Irisa is there in the shadows and sees then walks away.
Amanda talks to Pottinger and tries to get him to back off the idea of punishing Rafe. She says he shot the kid and that Rafe didn’t start it but he says it’s a cruel world. Shadows are outside his windows. Pottinger comes in to Rafe’s house and gives him an immediate eviction notice. Rafe stands and looks at the mayor then walks away.
Datak walks in the market. He heads into a tent and sees Stahma and Alak there with his business partners. Staham greets him. Alak and Stahma watch as Datak is severely beaten. She tells her son to not look away. They watch. He’s beaten and then thrown out into the streets barely alive. Stahma tells him he should have made her a partner. She leaves him there bleeding in the dirt.
THE END!