Defiance: The End of A Journey

Ready for one final adventure?

              Is it me or did the season 3 finale of Defiance feel more like a series finale? Well even if the show does get canceled at least we will have left the show on a satisfying ending. 

We have one rule!

      Coming Full Circle

              Irisa and Nolan's story arc though having a sad ending after three seasons where they blurred the line between co-dependency and strong family bond I feel it was the only logical ending for them. Nolan realized that Irisa has a much more sensitive soul than he did when it came to preserving life and he feels guilty for making her suffer with more death. Ever since he saved her, Nolan basically dragged Irisa everywhere but leaving her on Earth gave him a chance to give his adoptive daughter a chance at happiness; to live a life of peace without war. 

Alak & Irisa look like they're going on their own journey...
together!

         Irisa's narration also feels like it finished what she started in the Pilot where she was writing about Nolan as her father and how much she loved him and continues to refer to him as her father. She mentioned how much of an influence he had been on her but how she refuses to see this separation as a death and more of Nolan being the man Irisa knows and loves: a complicated man with a heavy heart but still full of hope and a sense of adventure. It chokes me up every time I hear Nolan call Irisa "Baby Girl" so I'll still be on the verge of tears every time I watch that scene where Nolan placed Irisa in the pod to send her back to Earth where they said "I love you" and good bye.

There's some reconciliation here that's satisfying.

   Character Arcs Coming to a Close

          I also feel like a lot of character arcs have been put to a close this season. Amanda kills the man who raped her, Stahma and Datak end with a stronger marriage, Alak makes up with his parents, Stahma and Amanda are on good terms again, Doc Yewl redeeming herself by sort of sacrificing herself to become the new arc brain to help Nolan take all the Omec away, Nolan going on another adventure, and Berlin is back to help rebuild Defiance. Amanda and Nolan finally realized their feelings for each other only to be separated again but the point is they admitted that they loved each other. 

You're never too injured for one final smooch

      Yeah in season 2 they were sleeping together but they never really had "the talk" about what that meant to either of them. And I feel like they would have been separated again at some point anyway because they're both noble characters who will sacrifice themselves for those they love. Nolan will always sacrifice himself for Irisa and Amanda will always sacrifice herself for her town.

The new HAL model is pretty awesome. Has some
lip though...

      Of course there is the whole Irisa/Alak ship that's curious. It seems that these two have a bright future and we may not see that but I feel like we don't really need to see that. We feel like it's a done deal anyway since Andina was killed and Alak has shown he has a deep admiration for Irisa that is slowly growing to romantic affection. Irisa loses a member of her family only to gain a new one which is probably one of the reasons she's not seeing Nolan's departure as a huge tragedy. He gave her the chance at a normal life and love. 

You were saying how you were done with space
exploration? We're never truly done with anything

        As for Nolan it just felt right that he and Doc Yewl go on an adventure through space. In season 1, Nolan mentioned that nobody was interested in space travel anymore but the way he looked at Earth from the Omec ship with such wonder and awe gave me the feeling that perhaps Nolan wasn't coming back to Earth. Then when he said "We're going to Jackson" before Yewl sent them through hyper drive. That was in perfect line from the beginning where he and Irisa sang that in their roller starting on their biggest adventure yet. Nolan's a soldier who I feel wouldn't have done well in peace but going on a new journey, seeing new planets, and perhaps meeting new aliens is perfect for him. Also he and Yewl were kind of antagonistic the first 2 seasons so this was a perfect reconciliation for them. I'm sure she and Nolan will have a good time keeping each other company.   

Space... the final frontier...

        The ending scene with all of them standing beneath the arc felt so final and perfect that it would sort of ruin it all if there was a season 4. Though I'm sure the show would do fine without Nolan why would you? Nolan was probably one of my favorite characters and his and Irisa's father/daughter relationship was one of the central themes to the show. Without that what do you have? The shows that I really want to see renewed are Dominion, Killjoys, and Dark Matter. Besides if Nolan came back every one would be old or dead so what does that give us? Maybe if this were a novel I'd be okay with a continuation but I feel this is too perfect and satisfying (though heart breaking) of an ending to be continued. Defiance had a good run and I would be happy with this ending if the show was canceled.