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| Irisa's got the visionary blues. Courtesy Syfy |
So last week we learned a little about Castithan culture, and this week we get to see some of the Irathient ways.
The Irathient, with their red hair and yellow eyes, seem to be the polar opposites of the albino-esque Castithan. They wear bright, mismatched clothing while the Castithan appear to wear whites and grays almost exclusively. And finally, the Irathient are emotional and act out, while the Castithan appear to be more cunning and sneaky. Since the Volge attack, the Irathient have taken to calling Irisa "Little Wolf." While it seems to fit, I find this odd, since wolves are an Earth animal.
It looks like Stahma's plan is going well. Christie is currently living with the Tarr's. Datak wastes no time in offending her by putting down her cooking skills. Seriously, the man is all class. He thought he was being clever by saying it in Castithan, but Christie understands him. The disastrous dinner is interrupted by a hellbug attack. It should be noted that Alak fell on the floor scuttling backwards, much like a hellbug, while Christie defended him until Datak shows up. He pulls his pretty little glowy knife which turns into a sword. He finally emerges victorious and the pale family heads off to Rafe's house to get cleaned up. Of course, Stahma paints a pretty picture of how Alak protected Christie from the vicious crustacean. The stupid girl doesn't seem to even know it didn't really happen that way.
Turns out there have been quite a few hellbug attacks. Hellbugs are a mutant critter that was created during the terraforming. They basically look like large red crab-like bugs, complete with pincers and big circular mouths full of teeth. Oh, and so far they've grown from small-dog to cow-sized. It seems like someone is targeting people with hellbug pheromones to cause them to be attacked. One was in the local brothel during a little fetish activity. He forgot his safe word.
Do you remember the visions Irisa has been having? Well they are getting worse. She has a doozie of one at the brothel, as well as one talking to a Spirit Rider woman, Rynn. Sukar, the Spirit Rider leader, helps her expand her mind with some Irathient ritual in order to locate Rynn while a protective Nolan watches.
During the ritual, Irisa learns that Rynn is the daughter of an Irathient entomologist who was killed for his land. Rynn is now using the hellbugs as a means to take revenge on those who killed her parents. All of this weirdness appears to make Nolan very uncomfortable. I can't say I blame him. I wouldn't want to watch my little girl hugging on a big old sweaty dude either. This, of course, prompts Irisa to have another one of her teenage meltdowns.
She's angry with Nolan for making her afraid of her visions. Once again she feels like she has to remind him that she's an alien. Anyway, the Lawkeepers and Sukar head off to find Rynn in her hellbug lair. But first they have to smear themselves with hellbug dung. It's a good thing, because they walk right into hellbug central.
They need to kill the queen to kill the hive. Sound familiar?
Before they can set the explosives, Rynn shows up and shoots Sukar, her adopted father. Thankfully he's only wounded. I like him; it takes a strong man to wear a furry green coat and a top hat. Irisa tries to reason with the crazy Irathient woman, but she's having none of it. She throws a canister of pheromones at them; Irisa responds by throwing a knife at her. Tommy quickly chucks the canister onto the Queen Hellbug which causes her offspring to attack her. Hmm, ungrateful children seem to be a theme this episode.
The group gets away with Rynn firmly in hand. She gets to go to prison while the Irathient get their land back. Mayor Amanda gets to deliver a pretty speech about how this is a turning point, blah blah.
It looks like it might be a turning point for Nolan and Irisa too. Irisa sits alone at the bar in the Need/Want when Nolan and Kenya come in, presumably after finishing some "business." She whispers to him gesturing slightly in Irisa's direction and Nolan heads to the bar. Before he gets to Irisa however, Sukar sits down next to her and they seem to be bonding. Poor Nolan wanders away.
The next episode of Defiance, "A Well Respected Man," airs Monday May 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.