2.8 Slouching Towards Bethlehem But, that’s a minor point, because the way that this story is constructed entirely gives away what’s going on with the mysterious masked Batman fan that she’s held captive by. The fact that when she knocks him unconscious she then fails to remove his mask was very silly, unless you’re keeping that revelation for later. But, that he wore the mask only makes sense if he intended to release Kenya, and then he’d be likely to see her again. If he’d intended to kill her, it would be pointless. So who could that be? It’s Niles… because there isn’t anyone else it could be, I’ve concluded. My other annoyance with this story was a number of sloppy events, some of which made little or no sense. How Kenya kicked with rubber boots a metal concrete anchor and got it out was laughable. As was how the block moved, showing it was very thin and not set into the ground. The idea that you need three signals to triangulate a location is also rubbish, because that’s only if you want altitude also. Maths, they’ve heard of it. I only mention these things because in general the show doesn’t deliver such badly worked ideas or half-baked notions. So what made it worth watching? A few things I liked, mostly the Tarrs. There was no Alak or Christie this week, who appeared to have gone on vacation, but the sections with Shahma and Datak did make up for whatever they’d have contributed. How Stahma entirely ruined Tommy’s day while being interviewed by Berlin was masterful. The Casti sense of smell is a powerful virtue, and her ability to sense the overlapping aromas of Nolan on Berlin is a nice diversion from the main story. If you were wondering, that’s to what the title alludes. Because the phrase comes from a Yeats poem called The Second Coming, in which it says: And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? The arc is the beast, and it’s slowly getting to the point of being re-born, presumably. That Mahsuvus Gorath knew this was going to happen was an unexpected twist and it might be that he doesn’t stay dead very long because of that. Overall, this story was the first misstep I’ve detected this season, because Defiance has been getting progressively better as it has gone along. I’m hoping this is just an awkward chicane through which we can move on to better things that seem less designed to hold back information for no other reason than to reveal it later. The skill should be to do that without making it so bluntly obvious. Read Billy’s review of the previous episode, If You Could See Her Through My Eyes, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
