Normally, Defiance is a show whose sci-fi aspects are somewhat in the background. At its core, Defiance is a political and interpersonal drama. The sci-fi elements usually serve only to add spice through the way alien cultures and advanced technology influence the politics.

However, “This Woman’s Work” bucks the trend a little bit and puts the science fiction front and centre.

This episode sees a major Arkfall not far from Defiance. Mayor Pottinger and Nolan ride out to investigate, Nolan having been told that the Ark contains a powerful energy source.

Well, that much was true, in a sense. In actuality, the ship is a transport for the Gulanee, the rarest and most alien of the Votan races. Previously, the Gulanee had only appeared in the game, and then only with extreme rarity.

The Gulanee are a race of pure energy. They are extremely powerful, possessing the ability to channel lethal bolts of energy as naturally as a human throws a punch. However, their alien nature means they must be contained within mechanical suits to withstand Earth’s environment.

The trouble comes when they discover that one of the Gulanee has awoken from stasis. It’s been asleep since before the Ark fleet was destroyed, and it has no idea the war is over. Therefore, it sees humans as enemies to be killed on site.

As you might imagine, this puts Nolan and Pottinger in rather awkward position.

Meanwhile, Irisa continues her forced crusade for Irzu, Stahma receives backlash for her defiance of a woman’s traditional role in Castithan society, and Tommy still can’t catch a break.

After some slower episodes, “This Woman’s Work” is quick in its pacing and almost overcrowded with different plot threads. It’s an improvement, but there are still some weak points.

I find myself with mixed feelings on the main plot involving the renegade Gulanee. On the one hand, it was awesome to finally see the last of the Votan races in action, and the Gulanee itself was very well done. It was visually spectacular, and they did a brilliant job of making it seem very alien, and very dangerous. I am once again struck by how much Defiance’s production values seem to have improved since the first season.

But… we didn’t really learn anything. After knowing nothing of the Gulanee for so long, I was hoping we would learn something about them as a people or how they fit into Votan culture. It would have been fascinating to see how such an alien race views the world and current events.

But when you get down to it, the Gulanee could have been replaced with any other sci-fi monster — an unusually deadly Hellbug, say — and it wouldn’t have changed the plot at all.

Ultimately, I think the subplots may have held more merit.

It was nice to see Irisa’s story pick up again, even if it didn’t advance all that much. She does have a confidante now, and it was interesting to see how resigned to her fate she’s become. A sad, beaten Irisa is not something I’m used to seeing, and it was good to have some variety in her characterization beyond the usual “scream/cry/stab.”

Stahma may have been the highlight, though. I’m really starting to enjoy how her character has evolved this season.

In the first season, Stahma was rather scattered. At first, I thought she was complicated, but by the end, I had come to the conclusion the writers just didn’t know what they wanted to do with her.

They seem to have made up their mind.

This season has seen Stahma become a force to be reckoned with in her own right, even eclipsing her now-estranged husband, and “This Woman’s Work” continues that.

Stahma’s rise to power has set tongues wagging. In particular, the Castithan church is offended by her defiance (hurr hurr) of her husband, flying in the face of Castithan tradition and Rayetso’s will. Stahma must find a way to deal with their opposition lest it crush her family’s business and put her on the shaming rack.

I won’t spoil things too much, but suffice it to say you probably shouldn’t get on Stahma’s bad side.

“This Woman’s Work” is a bit of a mixed bag, but there’s so much going on you’re bound to appreciate at least some of it, and for my part, I found the good greatly outweighed the bad.

Overall rating: 7.8/10

If “Beast of Burden” was somehow less than the sum of its parts, then “Putting the Damage On” is more.

This isn’t really a pivotal episode. It’s not quite filler, but it is only a very small step forward for the greater storyline. Despite that, however, I found “Putting the Damage On” quite enjoyable.

This episode sees Amanda attacked in her room at the Need/Want by what appears to have been the man who raped her in New York. However, her story doesn’t add-up, and as odd happenings follow not only her, but also Mayor Pottinger and Doc Yewll, it becomes clear something much stranger is going on.

Meanwhile, Rafe McCawley lands on his feet after being evicted by the E-Rep as he is welcomed into the Tarr household by Stahma. Cue Odd Couple theme.

This episode reminds me of the first season of Defiance, but not entirely in a bad way. We’re once again in a situation where the main plot of the episode isn’t terribly interesting, but it does serve as a framework for some very interesting and/or amusing character interactions.

For sheer entertainment value, the best parts of this episode were of Rafe McCawley integrating into life in the Tarr house. Defiance has always had a healthy sense of humour, but I can’t recall ever cracking up quite this much.

Especially when Datak finds out he’s moved in.

“I borrowed your slippers. Hope you don’t mind.”

Ah, Rafe. You’re never not awesome.

Seeing where things could be going for him and Datak is pretty intriguing, too. Never expected to see those two on the same side of anything, but I suppose the enemy of my enemy is my friend…

Regardless, any day Rafe and Datak are in the same scene is a good day, and it looks like there shall be many such days in the future.

The other aspect of this episode I found compelling was learning more about Doc Yewll’s past. I do think she is one of the more interesting characters on the show — no small feat — and I wish she’d get more time in the spotlight.

On the downside, we didn’t really learn that much about her that we didn’t already know, or could have surmised. She did horrible things in the war. She’s trying to atone. “Putting the Damage On” offers a little more detail on that, but there’s still a lot left unanswered, especially regarding her current plans.

On the one hand, I enjoy the mystery. On the other, Yewll’s been a question mark for one and a half seasons now. Let’s start getting some idea of what’s actually going on with her.

There were a few other interesting things about this episode.

For one, I was surprised that Pottinger’s story of being attacked by the Votans as a child was apparently true. I had been operating under the assumption he made it up to win sympathy from Amanda.

Damn it, Defiance, how dare you make a character I dislike into a three-dimensional person rather than leaving them as a cartoon effigy for me to hate?

It also seems to me that this season is both including more references to the game version of Defiance, and being more natural about it. There are a lot of little nods to the game in “Putting the Damage On”: EGO implants (and mention of “soldiers in the West,” IE players, using them), Varus Soleptor supplying Pottinger’s drugs, and technology from Von Bach Industries.

But they don’t feel as forced or randomly tossed in as the game tie-ins of the first season. It feels more like a seamless blending of the two stories.

Finally, I found it somewhat interesting that Yewll is apparently into girls. I find this noteworthy purely because the main Indogene character in Defiance the MMO, Eren Niden, is strongly implied to be in a relationship with a human woman, Rosa Rodriguez. Makes me wonder if there’s some aspect of Indogene culture and/or biology that grants them a predilection towards same-sex relationships, at least where females are concerned.

Heck, considering that Indogenes appear to be one of the more biologically alien Votan races, gender might not work the same way for them as it does for us.

Yes, I’m enough of a nerd to be interested in such things.

But this is a fairly irrelevant tangent.

Point is, “Putting the Damage On” moves the story in interesting directions. It doesn’t move it as much as I would like, but it does enough to keep me happy for the moment.

Overall rating: 7.5/10