Defiance Episode 2.04 Beasts of Burden

Datak is back, and he's on the attack! He made his point to Stahma when he almost drowned her, but just to drive it home, he tells her they'll never be partners like she wants. He then takes his dear son to breakfast, where he thoroughly crushes the young man's dreams of living a peaceful existence outside of the family crime business. Take Your Son to Work Day continues when Datak assembles his thugs and tells Alak to choose one man to die for all of their sins against him. Alak flips the script on dear ol' dad when he chooses himself - he was in charge, so he should take all the blame. Datak is about to take his son's life, but switches at the last second and runs his charge blade through some rando's neck, instead.

And it's off to the record factory! Daddy's plan had originally been to burn his son's dream job to the ground, but after seeing what a good front it is, he decides to simply burn Alak's hand in a record press. Now that Alak's debt, so to speak, is paid, the two can be a family again - that is, if Christie and Stahma don't cut off Datak's jondura.

That night, Stahma gathers all of her soldiers together and holds them waiting for Datak at his place of business. They lay into him with fists and boots, and toss his bloody frame into the mud of the street. Bet you wish you took that partnership deal right about now, huh?

Lawkeeper Nolan might be a little perturbed by all this violence, but his attention is thoroughly occupied with recovering mining equipment stolen right from under the noses of Mayor Pottinger and Berlin (and when we say stolen, we mean "Pottinger and Berlin were attacked by Raiders, Pottinger was forced to strip and he was peed on). It doesn't take him long - he discovers a gulanite boot print on the body of one of the soldiers killed by the raiders, and heads to Rafe's house where Josef (the chief perp in the heist) tries to shoot Nolan. "Tries" is the operative word: Nolan disarms the boy in no time and would haul his butt to lockup if not for the begging of Rafe to spare the boy's life. He invokes the "I saved your daughter" plea, which works like a charm. But Nolan warns them that Berlin is recovering identifying video footage of the debacle, and if Josef doesn't hightail it out of town, he'll be dead soon, anyway.

Returning the loot to Pottinger might have been sufficient, but Josef had to be a control freak and try to get that footage from Berlin. His plan goes south and turns into a kidnapping - not the smartest move - and he brings her to an all-too predictable place in the mines, where Nolan and Rafe arrive just before he puts a bullet in her. Nolan is wounded in the tussle, so Rafe carts the boy away. As Josef pleads with his godfather to get the people of Defiance to fight the E-Rep, Rafe unlocks the handcuffs and tells the boy to run. As Josef takes off into the dark, Rafe aims his gun and fires, killing him with a single shot to the back, and crumpling to the ground in grief.

Tommy is grateful to Nolan for saving his girlfriend's life, but Pottinger is still not pleased. He's been looking for a reason to evict Rafe, and he's finally found it. Over Amanda's protests, he has soldiers escort the man off of his own property to parts unknown.