SYFY’s Defiance S2E3 “The Cord and the Axe” recap

Warning: Spoilage Ahead!

Well we have some answers and whole bunch of new questions after this week’s episode, The Cord and the Axe. Some situations have been heating up and have finally reached their boiling point this week!

The biggest mystery of this season so far is what has been happening to Irisa. Why is she killing people and why is she being haunted by the creepy Irathient girl?! Well we don’t exactly get the answers but we are put on track to be asking a ton of new questions! The episode starts off with Irisa trying to fight the urge to kill, but she is being commanded to murder the housemaid of the McCawley’s, Bertie. Irisa tries to stop herself by handcuffing herself to something, but she ends up blacking out and waking up over the dead body of Bertie. Irisa is having a tough time so she goes to see her old friend Sukar, or is she there to kill him?! After a nice reunion, Irisa realizes that she really is there to “take him out” but Sukar seems ok with it, I mean this guy has died several times on the show already.

It happens, except this time we see a little more of what happens behind the scenes. Apparently Irisa has a vision, a spaceship orbiting earth and some flashes. In her grief Irisa kills herself only to shown the full vision of the spaceship. What we are shown are the Irathients when they were first coming to Earth and we see a male and female, the female looks very much like Irisa! They talk about the future of their race and how it will survive on Earth not to mention overthrowing the ship they are on. I’m pretty sure this is the ship that is buried under Defiance.
After all these confusing plot elements, we are totally thrown a curve ball! Irisa’s victims are not dead after all! We learn that when she “kills” them, she is actually implanting them with something via their mouths. So we have a case of invasion of the bodysnatchers! Oddly enough the victims aren’t negatively affected, as of yet. So where are we headed? Well with the mayor asking so many questions about Col. Marsh’s work, and now in possession of Doc Yewll’s files on Irisa and the ship, we are looking at these two storylines merging eventually. Oh how did the mayor get the files? He used the Doc’s finger, which he had cut off last week. Smart guy. Smart but still creepy.

The Mayor also knows that he needs the Doc’s help to continue the research that is in the files. He offers Doc her freedom and unlimited resources to make it happen. Doc takes the opportunity to ask a favor, now I know that last week it seemed as if Datak had no sympathy for Doc loosing her finger, but he does act “concerned” this week. This is enough to get Doc to ask for Datak’s freedom as well, for protection of course. So the Mayor allows it, and the white devil is free!

So what situation is the great Datak about to walk into? Well Alak has some pretty big news! He and his mother, Stahma, have been invited over to the McCawley’s for dinner. Upon arrival Stahma smells Christie and immediately knows that she is pregnant. Alak then goes over and smells for himself. After all of this sniffing, Christie comes clean and tells them all the secret. Everyone is happy. But Rafe plays the protective grandfather card and in private speaks with Alak. He reminds him of the time when Raff had him beat by the miners, and tells Alak that his dealings with his family’s criminal empire stops today. Alak is scared, especially since he is secret running tasks for his mother while his father sits in prison.

Alak actually goes to the prison to see Datak and tell him that he’s done. Datak (this is before he and the Doc get out) of course goes ballistic, but even more so when he realizes that his wife has been giving the orders in his absence. Alak leaves after telling his father off, but of course this will come back to haunt him when his father returns home. Hopefully we see a change in pace for Alak, it would be really nice not to see this kid keep slipping into the dark. Now that Datak is back, MAYBE things will change. The scene where Datak returns home filthy and walks into the bath is pretty emotional. He assaults his wife with the intent to kill her as Alak tries to fight him off. No one dies, but the master has returned and things are about to heat up in the Tarr household! I am glad that Datak didn’t kill her, she is one of my favorite characters on the show. Stahma has the ability to survive in any situation and do what she needs to do to achieve it. Datak I’m sure realized that if he killed her, he would end up right back in jail. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress from here!

This episode had some great “goosebump” situations and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. From being scared that Irisa would be caught for her acts, especially by Nolan, to the Tarr family dynamics. Defiance does a great job at challenging its characters! Just take a look at Amanda this week! What a mess she has become! Though I did enjoy watching her beat the crap out of that guy at the NeedWant!

Next week…. “Beasts of Burden”