Defiance seems to be back on track with another strong episode this week. Well, with one really weird exception. And we all know how that went with the “one weird exception” of last season’s sixth episode…

It picks up exactly where last week ended, with Alak threatening his mother. It seems like Alak is finally standing up for himself, even if it doesn’t go terribly well. But he’s had quite enough of his parents’ scheming ways–although time they’re actually telling the truth. Funny how it always turns out that way on TV, isn’t it? Alak tells everything to Nolan, who’s been summoned to the scene by Andina. Datak and Stahma are on the run for the majority  of the episode as a result of this, which frees up Alak to get a lot of really great scenes in with characters he usually doesn’t interact with much. Nolan’s actually understanding with Alak for once, the extent of their prior interactions mostly being Nolan roughing him up a few times in season 1 just for being associated with Datak. He also has a great moment with Irisa, which kind of left me wondering why we haven’t seen more of the two of them together. Their characters have quite a bit in common, stuck between human and Votan culture, while dealing with violent (sometimes dangerously so) father figures. I really hope this continues throughout the rest of the season. It’d be very good for Irisa’s character.

I really can’t think of another scene where these two talked to each other.

What this all results in, rather unexpectedly, is a window into just how much the Tarrs actually care for each other. I definitely wouldn’t have expected that out of an episode where they’re at each others’ throats. Datak was willing to sacrifice most everything when he thought Nolan was going to kill Alak; I’ll freely admit that I was as fooled by it as he was. Nolan has had moments on the show that make that kind of freakout quite plausible. Good way to put that inconsistency to use, though, I guess. Does Nolan like having that kind of reputation? Seems weird that he would have enough awareness of it to use it to his advantage here but not make any real attempts to change that.

Amanda and Stahma fighting is definitely not something I saw coming, either. I think everyone watching knows Stahma is far too entertaining to kill off, but Amanda is literally the only character with any kind of morals, plus she’s the main romantic interest, so she wasn’t going anywhere either. Still, it was a pretty intense moment, and I didn’t expect anyone to get stabbed, least of all Stahma. I think it’s pretty clear why Stahma chose not to kill Amanda: Kenya. Killing Kenya is one thing that Stahma truly regrets, which is not something you can say very often. Amanda is her only connection left, and they did get to bond a bit last season (lest we forget, Amanda was the catalyst for one rather disastrous tea party… oh look, that was also in episode 6). Pushing Stahma into the mercy of the Omec ought to be interesting next week.

Just… why?

Which, unfortunately, brings us to our weirdness. Kindzi is jealous of Stahma banging her father, because that’s her job, damn it! Why did we feel the need to include this? I don’t know. I feel like the writers do things sometimes just to make the aliens seem more alien, or because they can pawn it off as aliens being aliens. All I have to say is there better be a damn good reason for including this, or it’s going to be “Casti Cosplay Club” all over again. This show can’t take another one of those.

The biggest revelation to the plot this week was the fact that Rahm Tak is not following orders from the VC. I don’t really care much about seeing his girlfriend or whatever, but it was nice to find out that the VC aren’t that insane. Everyone knows how disastrous a full blown war would be with how few people are left on both sides, and it shows that they aren’t just totally evil, the way they’ve looked so far. So what are Rahm Tak’s motives, then? Is he just a madman? I hope not. But there doesn’t seem to be much more to him now. He’s a very charismatic psychopath.

Excellent hiding spot, guys. Surely no one will see you behind the transparent tarp.

The last bit was giving Berlin a connection to the arms dealer (related to the game) that provided Rahm Tak’s army with weapons. This seems like it’ll get her a spotlight episode coming up. I’m a little leery of this, but anything that gets Berlin more screen time is good in my book.

Actually, wait. This is Defiance. I really gotta watch what I say with things like that. Could turn out like Pottinger’s return or worse…

All told, it was a very exciting episode to watch, and for whatever reason Defiance seems to get lucky with episode 6s. Hopefully things keep on the upward trend next week with “The Beauty of Our Weapons.”