‘Defiance’ 2.09 Episode Recap and Review: Painted From Memory

Nolan, Doc Yewll, and Amanda are still trying to piece together where Kenya’s been for the last year. She remembers the last 2 or 3 weeks, but hasn’t the foggiest as to how or why she left Defiance in the first place. Once they realize that nothing else is going to be forthcoming just now, Amanda takes Kenya home to the Need/Want, where Stahma has stopped in to get her “envelope.” I’m not sure Stahma looked that disconcerted when Datak tried to drown her a few weeks back. “Shocked” is not the word.

There’s a whole lot of Kenya getting reacclimated to Defiance as a whole. She doesn’t really remember her relationship with Stahma, but she’s definitely interested in investigating that later. She remembers bits and pieces of her relationship with Nolan, but very few specifics. In fact, her clearest memories are of waking up in a glass, liquid-filled tube and being abducted by the Votanis Collective. The masked bullyboys broke in and shot everyone, sparing her only because she’s Amanda’s sister and could provide leverage. She describes a tattoo on one of the fallen humans. Berlin identifies the tat as J Division, a Special Forces E-rep unit.

What Nolan doesn’t know and Kenya hasn’t remembered yet is who else was in that facility: namely, Doc Yewll and Pottinger. The Doc says that the only way to make sure that Kenya never remembers them is to do a chemical lobotomy.

Meanwhile, Stahma is still trying to figure out what the heck is going on. She hauls Datak out into the woods where she originally buried Kenya. Datak drops the bomb that he never actually expected Stahma to kill Kenya – just get her out of the way. Stahma insists that she did the deed. She even planted a small patch of flowers on the grave. Strangely, those flowers have now spread for miles down that hillside. Datak and Stahma find Kenya’s body. So who or what is back in Defiance?

Doc Yewll goes to perform the chemical lobotomy on Kenya, calling it a new technique to help bring back the memories. Kenya has a wicked flashback before the drugs actually reach her system, and Amanda gets her out of the Doc’s office. Later on, Nolan goes to see Kenya and ask a few more questions. He’s noticing a pattern to her memory loss. Kenya only remembers things that Amanda would know. On top of that, she no longer has the scars left by her ex-husband. Only one conclusion makes sense: Kenya’s an Indogene!

Nolan tells Amanda while Kenya grabs Amanda’s gun and goes after Doc Yewll. Yewll reveals that Kenya only has about three months to live. Pottinger interrupts the standoff and grabs the gun. Evidently the whole thing was his idea. He wanted to bring Kenya home so that Amanda would see him as a hero, then be the shoulder she cried on when Kenya tragically died later. He shoots Kenya in the shoulder, but she and Yewll are able to escape.

Kenya heads for the Need/Want while Yewll goes to Datak. Datak agrees to have Rafe hide Yewll underground in the remains of Old St. Louis. Kenya empties the safe at the Need/Want, then breaks Amanda’s arm when she pleads for her to stay. Kenya grabs the first train out of town (why “Runaway Train” wasn’t playing over that part of the scene, I’ll never know). Once Amanda is patched up, she finally holds a memorial for her departed sister.

Elsewhere in town, someone is burning the mask of the man who was holding Kenya captive. The camera pans out to show us that it’s Rafe’s son, Clinton, newly returned from visiting his institutionalized mother in Vegas.

So the McCauleys have ties to the Votanis Collective, whether or not Rafe knows it. Funny, considering how adamant he was to keep Christie out of all the Tarr family’s “gangster crap.” I wonder how (or if) that’s going to cause a change in how that dynamic works.

What I’m really curious about is the hillside full of flowers. The implication was that something weird is going on in that area. My initial thought was whatever made those flowers spread so far also brought Kenya back, but they killed that theory pretty swiftly. So what’s really going on over there, and what (if anything) is it going to mean for the rest of this season?

Things to Ponder:

• Seriously, is anyone other than Doc Yewll ever going to realize how off his nut Pottinger is?
• I’m adding “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes to my list of awesome music that Syfy has brought back for me. If I can find that particular cover somehow, so much the better. (Also on that list: “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways and Garbage’s “When I Grow Up”)

Photo Credit: Syfy