A Well Respected Man (''Defiance'')

"A Well Respected Man" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American science fiction series Defiance, and the series' fourth episode overall. It was aired on May 6, 2013. The episode was written by Craig Gore & Tim Walsh and it was directed by Michael Nankin.

Plot

Nolan (Grant Bowler) intercepts a shipment of weapons being transferred by two of Datak's (Tony Curran) men. What Nolan does not know is that after the town lost its shield generator, there was an agreement between Datak and the town council to arrange weapons to be delivered to the town so they can defend it in case something new happens. Something that is also unknown to Amanda (Julie Benz). Meanwhile, Nolan and Kenya are getting along really well, and Kenya wants to try changing their relationship from customer/prostitute to friends with benefits.

Amanda is not happy with Kenya's (Mia Kirshner) relationship with Nolan, which leads to Kenya accusing Amanda of trying to replace their mother.

Kenya and Tirra (Brittany Allen), one of the girls who work at the Need/Want bar, are kidnapped by Ulysses (Rob Archer), the bioman who is working for Datak as a prizefighter. Ulysses is kidnapping people who are living in the street and taking them to Meeko (Robin Dunne), a human lab technician, who is harvesting their adrenaline to use as an illegal drug.

Nolan and Amanda, after finding out that the bioman took Kenya, confront Datak, who refuses to help them because they never show respect to him. Stahma (Jaime Murray) suggests to Amanda that the best way to show Datak respect is by making him member of the town council, something that Amanda accepts in order to find her sister. So, with Datak's help, Nolan and Amanda locate the lab where Kenya is kept. They arrive in time to save Kenya from Ulysses - when Kenya, in the meantime, had managed to escape and killed Meeko.

Meanwhile, Rafe (Graham Greene) argues with his son Quentin (Justin Rain), after the former's decision to seal the shaft in the mines where Luke was working. Quentin believes that his dad did it because he doesn't trust him, but the reason is the strange object Rafe found in Luke's room. Rafe believes Luke found it on that shaft of the mines and is the reason why Luke is dead. Rafe and Quentin descend into the sealed shaft and discover a set of cave paintings featuring the object.

In the meantime, via flashbacks we see what happened between Amanda, Kenya and their mother (Severn Thompson) during the Pale War. Their mother and Amanda were out scavaging away from town. When the area was attacked, their mother was going to leave Kenya behind while she and Amanda fled, believing it was not safe to go back to the town to get Kenya. Amanda refused to leave her sister, so their mother abandoned both. Amanda never told Kenya the truth to spare her feelings. Instead she told her that their mother died heroically. She gave Kenya a necklace they found while scavenging, saying their mother sent it as a gift for Kenya. Since young Amanda did not recognize the necklace as a St. Christopher's medal, she told Kenya it was "St. Finnegan, patron saint of lost children." Kenya learns the truth after her rescue from Meeko. She tries to give Tirra the "St. Finnegan" necklace as a gift, but Tirra corrects her and says it is St. Christopher. Kenya then confronts Amanda about the real meaning of her necklace and Amanda finally tells her the whole story.

The episode ends with Datak taking his place on town's council, and Nolan realizing that Stahma is the more dangerous of the two. The last scene contains an allusion to the character of Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities: as Stahma sits outside the door to the council chamber knitting, Nolan tells her "I had my eye on the wrong snake. You are the dangerous one."

Feature music

In the "A Well Respected Man" we can hear the songs:^[1]

• "Scarlet Town" by Bob Dylan
• "Rabba" by Falu
• "Royal Telephone" by Burl Ives
• "My Favorite Time of the Year" by Mike Goudreau & Friends
• "Ninety-Niners" by Bear McCreary

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "A Well Respected Man" was watched by 2.15 million; down 0.14 from the previous episode.^[2]

Reviews

"A Well Respected Man" received positive reviews.

Rowan Kaiser from The A.V. Club gave a B grade to the episode but he described it as unsatisfying as a whole, even as he respected and enjoyed most of its individual parts and scenes. "As much as I find myself fascinated by how Defiance is putting together its world and its narrative, I must say that I continue to be frustrated with its pacing. Every episode is filled with incident and has very little room to breathe, and yet it also feels like so much is missing. [...] I continue to hope that it’s just first-season jitters, but given the other things that Defiance does well, it’s easy to get impatient.."^[3]

Lisa Macklem from Spoiler TV stated that there were some excellent scenes but also a few instances of clunky dialogue. "The script for the most part was tightly written and well-paced. There were some excellent scenes with some powerful moments. There were also a few instances of clunky dialogue. However, there were a few potentially clichéd scenes that were turned on their head, and I’m enjoying getting deeper into the dynamics of the community."^[4]

Jim Garner from TV Fanatic rated the episode with 4.5/5 stating that the episode was the best one yet of the show. ""A Well Respected Man" was the best episode we've seen yet of Defiance. It featured just the right balance of heart, action, drama and intrigue to make for a very enjoyable hour."^[5]

References

External links

• Afterbuzz's discussion about "A Well Respected Man" on YouTube