Defiance

Series Finale:     
Episode #38 — Upon the March We Fittest Die
So anyway, Kindzi killed Andina, knocked Alak out cold and brushed Stahma aside to get at tender little veal-like Luke. Now that Kindzi has the screaming ball of chubby in her hands, Stahma offers herself as a slave (sex slave, friendship slave, food slave, all the kinds of slave) in return for the baby. Alak rouses long enough to hear his mother’s sacrifice and be truly moved. He also hears Kindzi’s rejection of the offer.Fortunately, Datak has been hiding in the bushes with his fist-blade drawn, waiting for the most dramatic moment to enter. That moment is now. He stabs Kindzi through the neck, pinning her like a to-do list against the doorframe. She’s not dead, of course — just stuck — so the family Tarr decide it would be best to run like hell before she gets free. Hesitantly, wary that this could still be a trap, Alak begins to forgive his parents as they all drive toward town to stop the influx of Omec.Yewll, who knows a thing or two about Omec warships, devises a plan that requires four volunteers, including herself. Requirements: You must love Defiance, have a karmic debt to settle, be a little bit crazy, and/or have a little bit of a death wish. The obvious choices, in that order, are Amanda, Datak, Yewll and Nolan. And yes, Nolan has a little bitty death wish –- remember, it’s only a matter of time before the Votanis Collective gathers their resources from down south to scoop up the man who assassinated their beloved leader, so he’s mostly dead already.

Even if no Omecs kill them while they board the ship, set an explosion, and run away, they still have to pray that the transport pods are operational in the “Down” direction. But as they prep for the mission, Kindzi whips her earthbound crew into beast mode, and one of her soldiers slashes Amanda in the stomach. Yewll can’t let her sweet little crush bleed to death, and Nolan won’t leave her side, but when she revives and orders him to finish the mission that holds the town’s only hope, he complies. She knows he’ll be back and seals that certainty with a kiss.

Irisa says she’ll take Amanda’s place, and when Nolan objects, she hits him with that “Live or Die Together” mantra they’re both so fond of, thereby steamrolling any objection he may have. Once aboard the ship, Nolan gets googly-eyed at the sight of Earth from space, and Irisa has to be like, “Yo, moon boy, time to save the world.” She and Datak assist Yewll in hooking up her brain to the ship’s ark brain (bow chicka bow bow! Can we show that on basic cable?) while Nolan heads to the engine room to manually override the heating system, redirecting all of the heat into one strategic spot to get it to go BOOM.

But look out, the ship’s drones try to kill him! Yewll overrides them and saves him. But look out, Kindzi realized someone had been using her transport pods and got really mad and tries to kill him! Yewll can’t override this one; Nolan has to initiate a different kind of manual override –- with his fists! Luckily, he brought them along. They almost give up, but at the last minute, the fists throw Kindzi into the conveniently open hatch above the seething mass of gulanite that powers the ship, which vaporizes her like the cherry vanilla tobacco juice in those e-cigarettes the kids are so fond of these days. Poof goes the lady villain.

By this time, Datak and Irisa have plugged so many pointy cords into Yewll’s body and seen her lose so much vital fluid, they know she’s not making it back to Earth with them, a fact she knew all along but didn’t tell anyone so they couldn’t try to stop her. She’s part of the ship now, and knowing they can’t do anything about this, Datak and Irisa thank her for her sacrifice, say their final goodbyes and head for the transport pad.

Datak beams down, but Irisa waits for her pops. She tells him she’s not leaving — the people on board this ship are just that, people, no more monstrous than she or Nolan have been, and she chooses to save them. Nolan grumbles. Why does she have to be so damn ethical? He asks Yewll to redirect the energy from Explosion Mode to Propulsion Mode so they’ll blast into unchartered space to find a home for the li’l Omecs. Yewll hates this idea, but her prospects are severely limited, so she might as well.

Irisa runs to her dad to give him a big bear hug for doing the right thing. He returns the embrace with a blast from Kindzi’s Space Taser (our new band name) and places his daughter on the transport pad. He’s just a used-up war hero on the lam from the VC, but she has a future that he won’t let her waste. If she could move, she would surely fight back, but she can only listen as he tells her how much he loves her and how incredibly proud he is of her before he sends her back to Earth. Nothing like a father-daughter goodbye to kick up the dust in the room and make our eyes water!

Nolan makes for the captain’s chair of this incredible vessel, missing his family but filled with purpose and excitement at exploring the cosmos. Yewll will be his co-pilot as they sail through the inky blackness of cold space — remembered, loved, and thanked by the people of Defiance. (Courtesy Syfy.)
First aired: August 28, 2015.