Defiance: A Farewell to Niles Pottinger

He was the Devil! But he was OUR Devil!

                Wow! Defiance is turning into Game of Thrones, killing off a lot of my favorite characters. Recently we've said good bye to our favorite sociopath, E-Rep's Niles Pottinger (played by James Murray). His appearance and departure in season 3 was too short and too soon! Not that I didn't like how he exited but they couldn't hold off on it for 3 more episodes?  

Up for a boy's day out in the woods? That came out wrong

       Pottinger was a sociopathic borderline personality (which means he over valued relationships and we've seen his museum of obsession to prove it) and he was obsessed with Connor Lang, Amanda's ex. Then once Connor died Niles moved on to his next obsession: Connor's ex Amanda. Amanda gets all the guys even the crazy ones. At first glance at the end of episode 1 of season 2 you feel like you have to hate this guy. He's a peeping Tom spying on Amanda and emotionally manipulating her by giving her drugs and going full Frankenstein with bringing Kenya to life. Jesus. But it was hard to dislike Pottinger entirely. 

School boy crush. So sweet... then it got weird & disturbing

        Turns out Niles was abused by V.C. soldiers and that's pretty bad. He also saved a Bioman's life and was loathe to sacrifice him in order to save his own life. Niles's sad face over mourning Churchill and getting torn down by his boss for a failed mission kinda had me going "awwwwww." You also got the sense that Niles knew that he was twisted. 

He's definitely crazy like Dr. Frankenstein

        Running into an hallucination of Connor showed us Pottinger at his biggest self-loathing point. Then buried under rubble he offered to kill himself so that Amanda would have enough oxygen to await a rescue. "You don't know the things I've done. I am a monster." Pretty much sums it up. He was willing to do one decent thing after causing Amanda such pain (and we learn just how much he had a hand in that). You have to admit Niles was an interesting guy. Fascinating, charismatic, clever and a bit complex. However we can't ignore a crucial fact...

"So any traumas you wanna share while we're high?"

        As it turns out, Niles was the one that raped Amanda all those years ago. He got her pregnant which Amanda aborted thereby destroying her relationship with Connor. Pottinger went full Old Yeller where we had to put him down and it was a justifiable end with Amanda fulfilling a revenge fantasy against her attacker. It was pretty satisfying. Truthfully that was the only logical end for Niles Pottinger. 

Diamonds are forever. You totally misread the situation, dude

      It's pretty horrifying finding out you got close and slept with your rapist who's been stalking you your entire life. Amanda poured out her soul to this guy about how she was assaulted and how that shattered her world and all along her attacker sat there not saying a word, looking shocked! Amanda was wrong: it wasn't by some miracle her attacker followed her to Defiance but by assignment courtesy of the Earth Republic. So I can't help but feel good for Amanda for getting some form of closure for that dark chapter in her life. 

Niles needed the gun for protection. He should have just
carried a condom if he wanted protection...

      Despite his tragic end, I'm going to miss Niles Pottinger. He made things interesting and I think if he hadn't said those fateful words: "Amanda, you're mine" then he would have stuck around a little longer to entertain us with his insanity as well as his charm. I think after Amanda refused to come to New York with him and realizing that he may never see her again made Niles snap. His goal was to insert himself into her life and without his addiction he became unhinged leading to his slip up which exposed all of his lies. So have a single malt and toast our mad Brit who delighted us with his twisted personality and stunning smile. 

His own perfect Eden. But he was more Serpent than Adam...