Defiance 1.1: Pilot

[seraphcelene]

Ok, so I'm totally in love with Irisa Nyira. I even love me some Nolan. Or maybe it's just that I love Iris and Nolan together. She is such a broody, angry, lethal teenager and she loves him SO much. And Nolan is pretty much over the moon for Irisa, as well. She's totally he's little girl. When he tells Julie Benz's Mayor Amanda that she's "a good girl," I just about fell off my bed laughing. Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and she'd skin you as soon as look at you. But I love her!

I don't think the Defiance pilot did much outside setting the stage. Plot contrivances were thick on the ground:

1) the death of the "Lawkeeper" opening up a place in this society for a man with the kind of skill set that Our Hero conveniently posses
2) super secret plot to attack the city of unknown and nefarious reasons
3) helpless children
4) betrayal from within
5) Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers

The world of Defiance is a little too sanitized. It's like someone dusted off the Firefly set and put a new coat of paint on it. There are things about this not-so-distant future that are jarring. Not least of which, for some crazy reason, was Julie Benz's heather grey tank top. Everyone seems to dress according to kind and station. Considering the terraforming and the introduction of all different species, I would expect more sort of mingling of fashion and general aesthetic.

But it's just the first episode. Other things I liked:

* Doc Ywell and her snappy condescension
* What little I've seen of Kenya and Amanda's relationship (although Kenya's position as the town madam seems a little too acceptable considering that there's only been about 30 years since the world went to shit. Granted, however, that we're looking at the world through a hybridized township.)
* the languages and the subtitles, although why Datak and Stahma speak English when they're alone makes zeros sense considering that there actually ARE SUBTITLES!
* Julie Benz!

So, we'll see where this goes. I'm in ... for the meantime ...

Comments

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I wanted to like it. We tried, bc JULIE BENZ. But mostly I felt expositioned at, and like any minute Mal was going to come around the corner and curse at me in Chinese. Which might have actually improved things, much as I hate to admit it.

[seraphcelene]

ROTFL!! Sounds about right. My affection for Irisa totally saved me. I'm willing to give it a few more go-rounds, but I'm not holding out too much hope that this going to become a staple show.