Genre: Sci-Fi | Adventure | Drama

Air Date/Time: June 19 at 8/7c

Network: Syfy

Writer: Kevin Murphy

Summary:

As the story of Defiance resumes, the lives of the townspeople are in drastic turmoil. The Earth Republic has assumed control of the town, with far-reaching consequences including a new mayor. Nolan (Grant Bowler) traverses the badlands to find a lost Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas), Amanda (Julie Benz) has an unexpected new role in the town as she searches for Kenya and the Tarr family desperately tries to keep control of their criminal empire in the midst of dramatic changes. Joining the cast this season are James Murray as new mayor Niles Pottinger, Anna Hopkins as Earth Republic soldier Jessica “Berlin” Rai and William Atherton as Earth Republic official Viceroy Mercado.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/StMa5ygofvg[/youtube]

This is not your Season 1 Defiance. This is Season 2 Defiance, and it is for me, well… For. Me. My kind of show. Honestly, just so much better than Season 1. Season 2 is dark. Edgy. Raw. Not a lot of happy. Also, though, and this is very important, not a lot of whining. A dark, looming shadow of its former self. And somehow, with all of that, richer. Something to sink our teeth into. And, I gotta say, better than the trailer above might lead you to believe.

The town in Season 1 started out as, in the words of showrunner Kevin Murphy, an “idyllic little Oz-like happy world” where things started going wrong (or getting worse) for the main characters, so that by the end of the season, as the finale was titled, ‘Everything was Broken.’ The season was good, I enjoyed it, but though it teetered towards ‘edgy’ every now and then, a good portion of it felt a little bit ‘network,’ a little bit safe. Except perhaps for that whatever-it-was with Irisa, especially at the end. What was that, anyway?

While you won’t get a direct answer to that in the season premiere tonight, you will see a bit of its consequences. This is also a favorite element for me, and part of the darkness of the season. That, and the bad and sometimes precarious situations in which almost everyone  finds themselves. Their personalities and attitudes reflect those bad situations, making all of the characters a little more … on edge. Even desperate.

The physical look of the series is altered a bit as well. Some of the characters have undergone makeovers, some for better, some for worse (on purpose; prison garb isn’t supposed to be a good look for Datak, for instance), and Nolan sports the coolest sunglasses since Riario’s on Da Vinci’s Demons.

Tonight’s premiere also offers a peek at a few of the other cities that have arisen out of the ashes of the former U.S. major metropolises, with landmarks equally as familiar as the Gateway Arch of Defiance’s old St. Louis. They’re brilliant.

With the town’s occupation by the Earth Republic (the “E-Rep”) comes a bunch of very cool new uniforms which are also quite dark, along with some propaganda posters throughout the town replacing the former election posters.

And here’s yet another in what are basically continuous kudos to series composer Bear McCreary; the music is perfect as always, but is most perfect of all in a new-old song on the radio in the last act. It is a truly wonderful, captivating, familiar but new scene, because of that song.

While Season 2 is nowhere near the edge of, say, American Horror Story, it’s a different kind of edge, and it suits everyone and everything beautifully. Though this review is specifically of the first episode, I have seen the first three and the new tone of the premiere is not an anomaly. Which makes me so happy.

Sure some of it’s a teeny bit predictable, but that’s to be expected in a season opener. The characters, the setting, and the season need to be defined, and sometimes redefined, for returning viewers and new. Because truly, this new season is a new start, in a good many good ways.

So if you were already a fan of Defiance, you’ll be happy to see your dystopian friends back on your screen tonight. But if you were just a dabbler, or maybe didn’t quite manage to catch the show last year, catch it now. It’s excellent.

I give Defiance, Season 2 Episode 1 “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” Five Out of Five Stars.