Defiance
SyFy, Mondays 9PM
“Pilot”
Written by Kevin Murphy, Rockne S. O’Bannon, and Michael Taylor
Directed by Scott Stewart

I popped in the screener DVD of the premier of Defiance, expecting to take a quick look at what they’ve done to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and then maybe let it run in the background while I concentrated on other stuff — the way I normally watch television.

But the story drew me in; the characters, the writing, the production values. I wound up watching the entire program without actually doing any other work. So I guess that’s a positive review: Defiance managed to hold my interest, despite my best intentions otherwise.

So, the quickie story review: sometime in the near future, the aliens arrive on Earth. Those seven alien races traveling together land and spark a globe-encompassing war. Three decades later, the war has just recently ended, but the planet is devastated (have to ignore the misuse of the “terraformed”), and pockets of people (human and aliens) are struggling to survive.

Nolan (Grant Bowler, Outrageous Fortune, Liz & Dick) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas, MirrorMask), an Irathient, have a difficult, supportive relationship. They’re driving through a blighted landscape toward the landing point of the latest piece of alien spaceship to crash land on the planet (the alien fleet was destroyed, and low Earth orbit is now littered with debris and broken ships). They’re scavengers, hoping to make a big score out of the hardware that’s just come down. But they run into an alien biker gang, who don’t understand what this Irathient is doing with a human. They manage to escape, and make their way to Defiance, the town formerly known as St. Louis (the remains of the Arch are still standing, but I can’t figure out where the mountains in and around town came from).

They arrive in the midst of a celebration, the anniversary of the armistice that ended the war. New mayor Amanda (Julie Benz, Dexter, Angel) knows the town, but she’s trying to grow into her position, out from under her mentor/predecessor’s shadow. She introduces two leading citizens, who’ve funded the celebration: the human mine owner Rafe McCawley (Graham Greene, Twilight: New Moon, Die Hard: With a Vengeance) and the Castithan loan shark and underworld boss Datak Tarr (Tony Curran, The League of Extraordinary GentlemenRomeo and Juliet enters into the story line, in the forms of Rafe’s daughter Christie (Nicole Munoz, Defying Gravity) and Datak’s son Alak (Jesse Rath, Mudpit, 18 to Life).

There’s a feud, a death, and wanderer Nolan is convinced to stop wandering, at least for a while, to help solve the murder when the sheriff (“Lawkeeper”) is suddenly unable to fulfill his duties. Nolan also meets up with the requisite big-hearted madam Kenya (Mia Kirshner, The L Word, The Crow: City of Angels), and then proves his worth as a tracker, just in time for our heroes to uncover sabotage and the oncoming destruction of their town. Nolan and Irisa have a spat; she leaves, he tries to help, and, well, you can write the rest.

After watching the show, reviewing it in my mind before writing this up, the inevitable comparisons arose. As with any post-apocalyptic story, one first thinks of Mad Max. In this case, Nolan at the beginning of the show: the wanderer, passing through the land, trying to eke out a living, without putting down any roots. And then the comparisons to The Postman (the film): the drifter who comes to the functioning town, and makes himself a necessary and respected member of the community, but who may soon disappoint that community based solely on who he is. And there are echoes of several recent short-lived series.

Overall, it was a good, satisfying story that also served its purpose of introducing the characters and the setting: bravo. Unfortunately, they had to tack on a coda right at the end, introducing us to the villains who the careful viewer now knows will be controlling all the events in the rest of the series, masterminding all the evil that is going to befall our heroes in Defiance throughout the series, as well as setting up the Macguffin whose discovery should herald the end of the show.

I know, the terribly complicated, overarching story has become de rigueur for episodic drama television since Babylon 5 and Lost, but I keep holding out hope for a series that doesn’t require me to watch every single episode in order to follow the story. Because I just know I’m going to miss an episode or two, and if I lose the story, there won’t be much reason to go back to it.

But if you’re committed, Defiance may be worth your effort, if this two-hour opener is any indication.