Defiance Syfy Episode 2 Recap: Nolan And McCawley Head Into the Ruins of Old St. Louis

The second episode of SyFy's Defiance arrived on Monday, and with a shorter runtime, it's probably a much better indicator of how the show will be handled from here on out.

The show starts out with Elah Bandik, on the run after his cowardly flee from the big battle at the end of the first episode. He's soon caught however, and is forced to undergo the Castithan "cleansing" ritual. This involves him being strapped to a rack like device for hours, with heavier weights torturously stretching his limbs. Nasty stuff.

Obviously, our new sheriff Nolan doesn't take kindly to that, and tries to put a stop to the ritual. He's soon interrupted by Mayor Amanda, who decides to call Nolan off, and let the cleansing continue. Apparently, not too long ago, a massacre of sorts accidentally took place when the previous Defiance leadership decided to make vaccinations mandatory, against the cultural traditions of one of the alien races. Since then, it's become an unspoken policy to allow the alien races to hold their traditions, without interference from the law.

Meanwhile, ex-Mayor Nicky and her associate are still plotting Defiance's downfall (for whatever reason). Ben Daris is awoken from his coma with a pretty crazy looking injection to the brain, and told this is his last chance. Threats to his family ensue, and Daris embarks on another mission to destroy the city.

Daris steals some explosives, and heads down into the tunnels below Defiance. In the episode's coolest bit of world building, it turns out that entire sections of the old St. Louis are still standing underneath Defiance. The alien terraformers actually built the ground over it, leaving much of the city intact.

Rafe McCawley and Nolan head off into Old St. Louis in pursuit. It turns out Ben was planning on using the explosives to vent radiation from a wartime nuclear power plant into the population above. McCawley and Nolan arrive just in time to put a stop to that, but not before Ben kills himself to avoid capture. His last words are, "Tell Amanda I'm sorry."

Back on the surface, Irisa can't bear witness to the torture ritual any longer, and proceeds to cut Elah down. She's about to be lynched by the Castithan, when she's rescued by a fellow Lawkeeper, who takes Elah into a sort of protective custody. Datak Tarr isn't having any of that though, and gathers up his gang to retake Elah from the police. A Mexican stand-off occurs, and just as it looks like a bloodbath is about to go down, Mayor Amanda manages to keep the peace.

The episode ends on a touching note, with the entire population of Defiance showing up to pay their respects to the recently deceased. Meanwhile, Rafe finds evidence that his son might've died trying to get away from his controlling father. At the same time, Datak Tarr personally murders Elah, leaving him on the doorstep of the Lawkeeper headquarters as a message. It looks like the situation in Defiance is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

The next episode of Defiance airs next week on Monday, April 23.