Just to be clear here, this is NOT a mid-season break. The last episode was the last episode of season 1. When it returns next year, it will be season 2. Although I respect the opinions on those who couldn't get into the show, I'll just point out that it's an extremely rare sci-fi show that's outstanding right out of the gate. 99% of them need at least 2 seasons to really hit their stride and, frankly, I was surprised and pleased with the quality of most of the stories that Defiance had for us this season.
It's very true that scifi shows take longer to find their legs, since they're not only establishing characters, but the entire world they take place in, so I'm definitely more lenient towards a weaker start than for other genres. I've picked up a lot of scifi shows further into their run once they've gotten into the swing of things, then played catch up with the early episodes already knowing its potential.
Just look at Star Trek. Aside from TOS, I'd argue that all of them had serious turning points of major improvement with S3, with the first 2 season being the weakest of each of them. That's why I gave Defiance an entire season to develop despite not being interested with the pilot.
That said, there's not much in the show that showed promise to me. I certainly didn't hate it, but I didn't like any of the major characters enough to care what happens to them, I didn't like the tone/style of the show, I wasn't interested in the stories or character arcs, and I didn't like the focus on mysticism and lack of focus on the science or history that established this alternate future world. That's something I was interested in from the start, but it just picked up right in the middle of it with very little explanation, and didn't fill in many of the blanks along the way.
Personally, I'm not a fan of scifi shows that feel like the scifi is a secondary element, and not utilized to tell new ideas. A lot of the central themes of Defiance could have been told in any show imo. A lot of it is politics and drama. I enjoy when the central idea of the show includes a scifi element that allows them to tell human stories in new ways, and add an element of unpredictability. I don't get that feeling from Defiance, and I don't get the feeling that's a priority for them, or something the show at its core allows to even be included.
Even when early episodes of my favourite scifi shows have been weak, they've shown flashes of brilliance that have inspired me, and hooked me in. I never once got that feeling from Defiance, unfortunately. I found it to be a bit of a chore to get through each episode, to the point that I didn't make it through most episodes in one sitting because I got bored.
But science fiction is a very broad genre, so different elements appeal to different people. Each to their own!
I can forgive a change in wording for that piece of brass on my cosplay! 
