Defiance Episode 2.09 Painted from Memory

So, in case you didn't hear the big news, Kenya Rosewater is BACK! From the dead? We're still not sure, but Amanda's not asking too many questions. She's leaving that to Nolan, who doggedly pursues the story of how Kenya left town and what happened to her in the past year, a tough course, considering Kenya only remembers bits and pieces of her life. Doc Yewll isn't in any hurry to hear the story... wonder why that could be? Kenya is dying to get to know herself, but can't seem to hang with the process - every time a memory comes up, she kinda flips out.

Stahma is having her own anxiety over Kenya's return, probably because she can't understand how a human could survive being poisoned and buried. She drags Datak, who declares she must be lying about killing Kenya, to the grave in the woods. After hours of digging, they do, indeed, find Kenya's skull. So there, Stahma's not a liar! (Not this time, anyway.) Um... wait... if Stahma's not a liar, then who's that in Defiance?! Oh my gosh, zombie ghost Kenya!

Or, Indogene spy ripped by Pottinger from Camp Reverie and transformed into a looky-loo by Doc Yewll. In fact, this nasty doppleganger plot is the whole reason Pottinger freed Yewll from Reverie. Pottinger has this delusional notion that if he were to stage a magical reunion between Kenya and Amanda, Amanda would fall in love with him and/or give up the booty (either would be just fine). As for the grossly shortened life span of the science experiment unlucky Indogene, well - he could always comfort himself by knowing his girlfriend was the hottest woman in Defiance.

Yewll has a plan to keep her extorted self and her extorter, Pottinger, from getting caught: a chemical lobotomy disguised as a state-of-the-art protocol that will return Kenya's memories. Yewll fits Kenya with hypnotic vision goggles and sets her up with an IV of Mind-Be-Gone, but the hypnosis brings back frightening memories, and Kenya rips off the gear and runs to Nolan's arms. He'd normally be down for what this look-alike has in mind, but when he sees that the scars her ex-husband left her are gone, he fits all the pieces together. Her only memories are ones involving Amanda - interesting, considering Amanda was recently under the thrall of a memory stealing device.

Kenya, herself, suspects something's up, and when she goes to wash her face and peels off a chunk of skin, revealing Indogene scales underneath, the truth comes flooding back. The incubation tank, Pottinger and Yewll peering in at her, Votanis Collective terrorists killing the humans there and ripping her from her artificial womb - she knows who she is, and there's no way she can cozy up with humans and pretend to be one of them.

She demands Yewll change her back, but the doc says it won't work. As Kenya Rosewater, this creation might have a normal lifespan, but if she wants to go full Indo, she has a couple months, tops. Yewll outs Pottinger for his masterminding of the scheme just as ol' Potty walks in, gun ready. He wants to erase any evidence of his perverted dating strategy, and that means killing Kenya - and Yewll. They both manage to get away - Kenya on a landcoach and Yewll to a deep, dark cave that only Rafe, Datak, and a select few others know about. She needs to hide out for a good long while. Pottinger, however, is back in Defiance, and not a soul present knows what depravity he's truly capable of.

Amanda, Stahma, Nolan - the whole town, really, is heartbroken that their sweet and sexy woman is truly gone. The only solace is that they now have an answer, and can finally grieve her loss and try to move forward.