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"Everything Is Broken" is the first season finale of Defiance and the twelfth episode overall. It aired on July 8, 2013 on Syfy.


Synopsis

As the votes for Mayor are cast, Amanda and Datak are locked in a bitter struggle. Nolan is violently confronted with his past, while Irisa must decide whether to embrace her destiny.

Syfy's Fun Facts[2]

  • Now we know the real truth of Colonel Marsh's intentions! Gaining control of the gulanite mines was just a pretense. Marsh belongs to a rogue element within the Earth Republic who have been looking for the Kaziri (the artifacts Irisa absorbed into her last episode) for years. But, as Marsh stated, is the Kaziri really 3,000 years old? That's WAY before the aliens arrived on Earth....right?
  • Crossover alert! Zachary Prast in this wanted poster is actually a player of the video game - the winner of a contest to have their likeness appear in the show.
  • Now dead former mayor Nicky Riordan first approached Colonel Marsh about the Kaziri back when she was a lowly clerk working for the Earth Republic. Nicky believed the survival of the Gateway Arch was a sign that the Kaziri remained buried under St. Louis. Marsh didn't believe her, so Nicky led an expedition to Missouri to find it. The gulanite that was discovered while searching underground caused a gold rush that led to the settlement of Defiance.  Marsh has been keeping tabs on the town ever since.
  • Datak mentions collecting votes on "Nehi street." Nehi is the same street where Datak's Bioman Ulysses abducted Kenya and Tirra back in episode 4. It's widely known as the worst part of the Hollows, where many illegal drugs - including Adreno - are bought and sold.
  • "Yeah, I was a monster." There have been several hints at Doc Yewll's checkered past throughout season one. Pol Madis alluded to possible involvement with something called the Biodyne Project in episode 6. She was also linked to the Indo-Sapien project that resulted in astronaut Gordon McClintock (episode 8) and Nicky Riordan (Episode 10)
  • "The poison was ON on the flask." Epicutaneous poison can be transmitted through skin contact. Notice the gloves Stahma is wearing? Clearly the woman plans ahead.
  • "I heard things out west." Rynn left San Francisco (and the Defiance game) when she heard that Nolan had crippled Sukar, Rynn's own father figure. She also learned about Nolan's history with local crimelord Varus, who placed a bounty on Nolan and Irisa's head after they stole the Libera Nova gem from him (which they used in Episode 1).
  • "I would use the contact lenses for maximum effect by darting them to the side in one swift movement instead of turning my head or putting my head down low and looking up hard through my lashes to get that reptillian feel. Sometimes I'll just stare straight forward and move my head to where I want to look which can give a really reptillian dead-eye feel. I did all three when I was holidng Kenya in my arms in the woods." -Jaime Murray
  • Jonah Keller, known as "Black Jonah," traveled to Defiance from Marin (in the video game), where he commanded a large company of Echelon forces. Echelon is a private military corporation that enlists players of the fame to participate in "Shadow Wars" - player vs. player combat used by Echelon to identify the best of the best.
  • Arkfall altered more than just the planet's landscape. Each terrasphere contained a DNA library of Votan plant and animal life, right down to microscopic life forms. Earth's horses were amongst the first casualities, succumbing to an alien microbe that acted as a deadly, fast moving equine virus.
  • Castithans have quite the double standard when it comes to gender roles. Castithan society tells Stahma to accept the many lovers Datak has had over the years, while infidelity on Stahma's part is punishable by death.
  • "Julie Benz asked the prop department to put cayenne pepper in the tea that stands in for whiskey in her scenes, because she likes the sting of it and her reaction gives the scene more reality." -Michael Nankin, Producer/Director.
  • What did Irisa do? Did she wake a great evil? What's going to happen to Defiance now that the Earth Republic's coming to town? For answers to that and more, you'll have to wait until Season 2 in June 2014 - although many pieces of the puzzle will be revealed in the game in the coming months!

Deleted Scenes

  • Alak shows up at the Tarr victory party, telling Christie a lie about how he crashed his motor bike to explain his wounded face. When Datak sees his face, he tells Alak to retaliate seven fold against whoever did this to him. That is their way.
  • In an alternate ending to season 1, we see a different version of what ultimately became season 2 after the E-Rep's takeover of Defiance. Seven months in the future, the E-Rep patrols the streets of Defiance and announces that curfew ends in 15 minutes. A Castithan man is dead on a shaming rack with a sign labeling him as a thief. Irisa is just returning to Defiance, walking past a wanted poster with her name on it. She kills an E-Rep soldier, and Amanda, now dressing in Kenya's clothes and working at the NeedWant, has night porters hide the body. She then informs Irisa that Nolan isn't dead like she believed. He's in Vegas Island Penitentiary with Datak Tarr.
    • Kevin Murphy explains that they didn't really like the footage and didn't want to lock themselves into decisions for season 2 this early, so they removed this ending from the final episode.
a wanted poster hung on a post stating "Wanted for Murder and Terrorism" above a drawing and photo of Irisa and her name "Irisa Nolan" written below her pictures

Trivia

  • This is the first time that Irisa's last name (Nolan) is used
  • This is the last time we see Kenya Rosewater alive outside of a flashback and Mia Kirshner's last episode as a series regular
  • Irisa was born Irisa Nyira. As a child, her parents joined a cult led by Thesho/Daigo, who tortured and abused Irisa, which her parents condoned, even watching [3]
  • The stratocarrier Kenya wishes to abduct Stahma and take her to is the one that she was taken to in an earlier episode, where she was held against her will to produce adreno [4]
  • In addition to working with the E-Rep, Black Jonah is one of the founders of Vegas Prison; his commanding officer, Colonel Lance Mashiko of the Earth Military Coalition, used the hotels along the Las Vegas strip as a garrison during the Pale Wars; following the armistice, Mashiko and Keller opted not to join the newly formed Earth Republic, and instead chose to convert the Mandalay Bay casino complex into a for-profit prison, accepting any prisoners from any government or independent territory, as long as they paid the steep price[5]

Votan Translations

David J. Peterson, the creator of the Votan languages, has made translations available on his Archive of Our Own page.

Translations for the Votan spoken in this episode can be found at Conlang Dialogue: Defiance, Episode 112.

Highlighted Quote

KELLER (IRATHIENT)
I am looking for Irisa Nolan, a daughter of Irzu.
TRANSLATION
Mahé énudrə Irisə Nolən, zwinya p’Irzu. 

References

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