The Death of Defiance

So, it seems that on 19th October, the very day that I finally got around to watching the last two episodes, SyFy announced that Defiance would not be returning for another season.

I can't say I'm terribly surprised. The show had been in limbo for some time now, with no statement or renewal or cancellation even when other shows like Killjoys and Dark Matter had been renewed, but when I got around to watching the finale, even without knowing about the cancellation it was clear to me that Defiance would not be returning.

How could it? (Spoilers follow) The season ended with hero Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler) shooting himself into space on a ship full of aliens to get them as far from Earth as possible without the necessity of annihilating an entire race. Now Nolan might not always have been the most interesting character in the series (for me, that honour is held jointly by Datak (Tony Curran) and Stahma Tarr (Jaime Murray)), but he was the lead, and it's hard to see how the show could have continued without him. The last episode even ended with a voiceover by Irisia (Stephanie Leonidas) Nolan's adopted daughter, talking about how the town is getting back on its feet and such, and voiceovers like that rarely presage the resumption of the story.

So, much as I liked Defiance, I'm not particularly upset about the fact that there won't be a fourth season. It had a good run, and it wrapped up its story in a mostly satisfactory manner (I would have liked confirmation of Alak x Irisa, but never mind). I'm not entirely sure what people petitioning #RenewDefiance were expecting to happen. Do you want the show to carry on without Nolan? Didn't it seem like the natural end of the story to you?

I don't want that to sound too harsh, but I think it's important to remember that there are cancellations and cancellations, and I would rather that the series wrap up with an actual conclusion rather than get the plug pulled with half the plot points unresolved, like Revolution.

Defiance was a good show (although I do wish that the conflicts had been a little more internally driven at times, as it stands only Datak and Stahma were consistent drivers of their own story, which is one of the reasons why they were the best characters on it) that showcased the strengths that make SyFy shows decent in spite of the fact that there's never any money: a willingness to write around the budget, decent effects when effects are absolutely necessary and most crucially a cast that was game for all of the silliness that got thrown their way (I'll be talking about this more in another blog post). It was a good show, and it had a good innings, and it got the chance to retire before being bowled out. It had an ending, which is more than a lot of shows can say, and that's something to be thankful for, not regretful of.

Personally, I'm just glad they didn't cancel Dark Matter.