Review: 'Defiance: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times'

'Defiance: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times,' 2013, SyFy Channel. Written by Clark Perry. Directed by Allan Kroeker. Starring Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, and Stephanie Leonidas. Rated TV-14 for language, sexual situations, and violence. Airs 9.00 p.m. Mondays on SyFy Channel, or catch up on full episodes at http://www.syfy.com/rewind/.


In this episode, Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Tommy (Dewshane Williams) go to the Arkfall and discover a man (Brian J. Smith) in cold sleep still alive in the Ark. The man turns out to be famed NASA astronaut Commander Gordon McClintock, who was presumed dead in 2013. No-one seems to know what a human was doing aboard a Voltan ship, and McClintock doesn't remember anything about it, either. 

Meanwhile, Datak Tarr (Tony Curran) is gently rebuffed by Kenya (Mia Kirshner) -- something which doesn't go over well at all. And while everyone is busy fawning over McClintock, Mayor Rosewater (Julie Benz) gets a business proposition from her ex (Gale Harold).

But all is not well with McClintock, happy as everyone is to see him. Not only does he miss his wife (who must be in her 60's by now), but he's having flashbacks which turn him violent. When he attacks the mayor, Nolan has him brought in; but McClintock gets violent again and begins hurting himself. It's then that a secret is discovered, one which involves Doc Yewell (Trenna Keating). 

This is a good episode, not only for the twist with McClintock, but for the bits with Yewell, who's quickly becoming one of our favourite characters. The scene with Kenya and Datak just adds spicy flavour to the mix -- and we're sure that's building to something bigger.