Defiance Episode 1.08 Good Bye Blue Sky

There's a storm a-comin', and Irisa is headed straight into it after seeing a vision of her (other) adoptive father, Sukar, getting stabbed with a piece of arkfall shrapnel. Nolan follows and learns that the storm (which everyone thought was a normal storm, as in, water falling from the sky) is actually razor rain: hundreds of tiny shredded bits of Votan ships tearing through the atmosphere, ready to kill anyone they hit. Nolan rushes back to alert the town and order everyone to take cover, but Irisa has just learned that Sukar is dead. She'll stay for his Sinking Ritual - the Irath tradition of MELTING the flesh off of someone's bones as a way of sending them to the next world. His belongings go in first - sizzle, pop, they're gone. His body is lowered into the broth... sizzle... pop... HE'S NOT REALLY DEAD!

He leaps from the acid wash bath and declares that the spirit of Irzu (top god, dog) flows through him. He's on a mission to - um - he's not sure to do WHAT, but he's sure it's holy, and Irisa goes along with him into Defiance to make sure he doesn't freak out and burn the whole town to the ground. First on the to-do list: steal a bunch of cable and electronic devices. Check. Second on the list: stab the proprietor of the electronics shop. Check. Irisa hits the brakes. This ain't no shopping list like she's ever seen! But the razor rain keeps her from running to get Nolan, and in the shelter of the roller, Sukar preaches: “Yea, verily, Irzu said unto his people, ‘I love surprises, thus I tell you to act but keep from you the meaning of my plan. Move forward in my name and the surprise will totally be worth it.'” Irisa loves surprises, too, but she goes along mostly to keep Sukar from stabbing anyone else.

And she succeeds... sort of. He doesn't stab Doc Yewll, but he does beat the stuffing out of her before stealing the Votan device that lets her communicate with her machines, and her machines with each other - aka the ark brain interface. Nolan and Amanda discover this when they deliver Tommy - badly wounded from a piece of razor rain - to her office. They soon learn that Irzu directed Sukar to the arch, where the radio transmitter is, and if he can connect the ark brain to the razor rain-brain, he can send the largest piece of debris - almost a full ship - right at Defiance, obliterating the whole dang place. Nolan knows there are five more episodes in the season, so he hightails it up to the top of the arch to save them.

Sukar clearly does NOT care about story closure the way Nolan does, and since he still has a magical ability to heal from any fatal wounds, it seems he's going to win. Nolan is determined that the world should see the rest of season one, and does all he can to allow it to air, even knocking out Irisa when she tries to bind his hands and feet. He reaches for his gun and knocks as many blasts into Sukar's body as he can. Before Sukar falls on a crane (he's not dead!), he tells Irisa that Irzu's force flows through her, too. She steps to the radio console, where the last step remains to be taken in Irzu's plan, and flips the switch. The arkfall that was headed for Defiance changes course and clears the town by kilometers.

Kenya and Stahma have been oblivious to this whole crisis. Stahma, who went to visit the madam in hopes that she could educate her soon-to-be-married son in the ways of human female sexuality, got a lesson, herself, in human behavior. Not only does Kenya let her know that most human girls don't like to share their men with prostitutes, she also lets her know how freaky-deaky she, herself, can get. Though Stahma lets herself be seduced, she warns Kenya that if Datak ever finds out, he'll kill them both as if they were bugs.

Rafe and Quentin McCawley have had an eventful visit from ex-mayor, current-conspirator Nicky, who arrives at their house under the subterfuge of a broke-down roller. She's really there to find out what happened to her lanky assistant, Birch, whom she last saw on his way to burgle the McCawleys. Quentin can't stand the pressure of her visit combined with the continued visitation of the ghost of his dead brother, and skitters away. Rafe manages to get the truth from him (though he leaves out the part about not throwing away the artifact that this whole mess centers around), and that done, tells Nicky to get lost. He says he killed Birch and will kill her, too. Rafe's false admission shows Nikki what she wanted to know: Rafe didn't kill Birch - he'd never admit it if he had - but someone from his family did. She hollers to Quentin that if he really wants to know what happened to his mom, he should call her. Ominous.

Nolan tries to soothe the reft he created with Irisa when he totally SHOT her spiritual mentor. He brings her to his comatose body where he counsels her to pull the plug. Not the best plan, Big N. Yewll says that nannites from the razor rain, imbedded in Sukar's body, healed the man long enough for him to save any Votan life in Defiance - it wasn't Irzu, after all. Nolan's plan backfires, naturally, and Irisa brings Sukar's limp body to the Spirit Riders, who care for him as best they can.