“The Bride Wore Black” is a fairly typical example of Defiance. That is, the story is a bit weak, but the excellent characters carry it through.

The episode begins with Alak Tarr’s bachelor party uncovering a literal skeleton in Defiance’s closet, sending Tommy and Nolan on a murder investigation that uncovers many secrets from the town’s past. Meanwhile, tensions between Datak Tarr and Rafe McCawley rise as their children’s wedding approaches.

Again, the actual story of the episode is nothing special, really. The murder mystery is pretty weak, offering nothing but a series of obvious red herrings before a somewhat underwhelming reveal of the true culprit. The setup for the wedding is a bit better, but none of it is truly surprising.

But the writers seem to have realized where Defiance’s true strength lies, because they let the strength of the characters and acting on this series carry what would otherwise be a weak episode.

Pretty much every character can be seen at their best in “The Bride Wore Black.” We have Datak being a mean bastard, Stahma being clever and manipulative, Amanda being tough and principled, Nicky being ruthless and vile, Nolan being the wily space cowboy… Even Alak showed that he’s more than a smartass DJ.

One thing I love about the characters in this show is how each one is a puzzle that the viewer is slowly solving. Each new piece of info allows us to see the characters in a new light and understand why they’ve behaved the way they have. Couple that with the fact that the characters are continuing to grow and evolve in the present day, and it makes each cast member a rich tapestry.

In particular, two characters really stood out for me in this episode.

The first is Rafe McCawley. I’m not sure if he’s yet my favourite character on Defiance — he has stiff competition from Nolan, Yewll, and Datak — but I think he’s probably the best character. He’s incredibly nuanced. He has a lot of obvious flaws, and he’s made some big mistakes in the past, but he’s also very principled in his way, and he’s proven he can grow and do what’s right despite his own prejudices.

Odd comparison to draw, but he kind of reminds me of Varian Wrynn in World of Warcraft. He has much anger and hate within him, but he doesn’t let those things control him, and his love for his family keeps him grounded.

And Graham Greene’s acting is impeccable.

The second character to impress me is Doc Yewll. She’s a good example of what I meant about each character being a puzzle. At first, she seemed little more than comedy relief. Then we started getting hints of her past, and she took on a sinister turn. Now — at the risk of giving too much away — we see that she has moved on from her dark history, that she wants to do good despite whatever wrongs she may have committed in the past.

Again, she’s a very nuanced character.

“The Bride Wore Black” might not be quite the home run last week’s episode was, but it’s a very solid episode all the same, and it deepens my appreciation for the strengths of Defiance as a series.

And the best thing about this episode? No stupid musical montage at the end.

Overall rating: 8/10

This show is definitely getting better.

“If I Ever Leave This World Alive” doesn’t start out seeming terribly interesting. The story focuses on a plague hitting Defiance. The plague is spread by Irathients, but it only sickens humans, and this puts the two groups even more at odds than usual. The entire situation eerily echoes an incident from Defiance’s past that ended in tragedy.

It’s not a bad plot, certainly, but it doesn’t seem like anything special out of the gate. However, it ended up being far more intense, and more brutal, than I thought Defiance capable of. And I mean that as a compliment.

I hate using cliches like this, but this is an episode that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I’m not even sure what to say about it, because I don’t want to risk spoiling too much.

I will say that my main takeaways from this episode were:

1: Datak Tarr is much scarier than I gave him credit for, and I always thought he was pretty scary.

2: I really don’t see how relations with the Spirit Riders can be repaired after this. I’m sure it will happen eventually, but it’s not going to be easy. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Irisa wound up going rogue and turning on Defiance for a while, and honestly, I wouldn’t blame her if she did.

3: The main thing keeping the Earth Republic from getting truly vicious in their efforts to take over Defiance is no longer a factor. I expect this is going to get ugly soon.

4: Nicky is cooking up some bad, bad shtako.

And Quentin’s arc is progressing in interesting ways, and there was some great development of Connor and his history with Amanda, and Amanda and Datak are about to be at each other’s throats more than usual…

For the first time since Defiance began, I’m actually excited to see what the next episode will bring.

As an aside, this was also another episode featuring a tenuous connection to Defiance to the game. The plague medicine Nolan was after was, as I understand it, the focus of a new storyline that played out in the game recently.

Overall rating: 8.6/10 Easily the best episode to date. It’s gratifying to see a show find its footing after a shaky beginning. Now let’s just hope this is a taste of things to come, not an anomaly.