Killjoys Review [2×01]: “Dutch and the Real Girl” [PREMIERE]

The always enjoyable ‘Killjoys’ storms back onto our screens with a lightning bolt of a premiere: flashy, loud and always a thrill to see.

We were instantly reminded of why we loved ‘Killjoys’. The always fantastic choice of music. The stupendous fight choreography. The witty one-liners—helped massively by Pree (the magnificent Thom Allison). Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen): determined, fierce, badass. Johnny (Aaron Ashmore): still cracking his charming smile and endless intelligence. Lucy (Tamsen McDonough): “Five, four…oops!” and D’avin (Luke Macfarlane), our lost soldier frantically searching for his team. And a whammy of a double-fake.

No, the warrant wasn’t ‘all’ this episode. This was about finding a way into the Red 17 Facility on Arkyn, a nice nod-back to ‘A Glitch in the System’.

With Arkyn’s force-field too difficult for Lucy to breach, the team consulted with Bellus (Nora Mclellan) for another solution. The only known entrants were the Connaver Gang, and to gain answers meant going to ‘Eulogy’. To enter Eulogy meant being a known criminal with something to sell.

In a horrendously entertaining portion, Johnny and Pree role-played as criminals to get inside. Meanwhile, Dutch had contorted herself to fit inside the weapons box smuggled in by the duo. Boasting a Neolution-like (‘Orphan Black’) eye, Dutch used it to find the tech that would get them past Arkyn’s force-field. And it wasn’t an item: it was a woman, Clara (Steph Leonidas).

D’avin was quickly becoming a pain in the Level 6 arse. ‘Immune’ to conversion, Khlyen (Rob Stewart) observed until he surprised everyone by killing his team and letting D’avin go. With D’avin reunited with the team, Clara said her fond goodbyes. As the team saw Oldtown under gridlock, Dutch ordered a new mission: get Pawter (Sarah Powers). Get Alvis (Morgan Kelly). Take Oldtown back.

Ultimately, we were fed more questions than answers. We know as much about ‘Killjoys’ as theoretical physicists know about space. And that’s what makes it so zippingly fun.

Introducing Clara and Alice. One’s a bionic arm by the way: guess which. Welcome to ‘Killjoys’!

Steph Leonidas’ Clara was surely ‘Killjoys’ best guest star by far. She was tortured, brave, and immediately as kickass as all the women in the ‘Killjoys’-verse are. With her mod, Alice (a massive, machine-gun type robo-arm) Clara and Dutch pulled off easily the best fight sequence of the episode. With the duo simply bossing their way out of Eulogy, there was a funnier side to Clara exhibited too.

Don’t kill a Killjoy, dick! – Dutch

Well, your game needs some work. – Clara

Oh, shut up and find your arm. – Dutch

With so many mods making up 26% of her, Clara, by Company standards, wasn’t even classed as human. It voided the warrant, as Johnny spotted. But it also gave mods such as bionic hearing, and communication with interfaces. Which allowed for this goldmine of an exchange, upon Clara calling Lucy a ‘beautiful ship’:

Thank you for the compliment, Clara. You are also attractive. For a human. – Lucy

Clara’s back-story provided an abundance of interest and insight into gang cruelty too. Used as a tool, she was literally robbed of her humanity. She was, by all means, a slave. It gave us insight into The Company, too. Who exactly decided that there’d be a hack-mod percentage line you couldn’t cross otherwise you’d be inhuman? Because from what we saw, Clara was perfectly human.

The ending offered up hope we’d see more of Leonidas’ brilliant Clara again. Her banter with Lucy and ease with Johnny was a blast to watch. And we’d buy everyone a round of Hokk just to see her come back and fight like that with Dutch again.

#SquadGoals seems apt for any team-up in ‘Killjoys’, but Pree’s addition to Johnny and Dutch’s space-zooming fun was ridiculously brilliant.

It cut close, between Clara and Thom Allison’s Pree, but Pree was so ridiculously hilarious this episode (more-so than ever) that at most points, it was literally laugh-out-loud. Aboard Lucy as Oldtown was under containment, Pree was a more than welcome guest. Thom Allison’s perfection as the ‘I’m so beyond all of this’ Pree was show-cased to gold this episode. With brilliantly delivered one-liners and a teeth-smack to be replayed about seven times just for the laughs, the clear winner was surely this:

You ready? – Johnny

Locked and cocked. Let’s give these bitches some stitches. What? I rhyme when I’m nervous. – Pree

The hilarity of Johnny and Pree’s partnership (which they definitely had too much fun plotting) was on fire at Eulogy’s techy-casino. It has to be said, particularly for Ashmore, that the chemistry is not just strong within the team. Everybody has their moments with everyone, and to expand connections as cleverly as ‘Killjoys’ does fits superbly well with its thrilling expansion of its universe.

The last question to be asked, really, is what skeletons are Pree hiding in that Hokk-filled closet of his? Do we want to know, or do we want to keep it a mystery? How did Bellus instantly know? Lastly, can Pree stay aboard forever with his box of skeletons in the Killjoys’ mission to take Oldtown back?

D’avin, D’avin, D’avin…so, how’s it hangin’, bro?

D’avin has always been a mystery shrouded in enigma. Firstly, as the brainwashed soldier. Now, as something else entirely. If Khlyen could spot something off with D’avin, surely there is trouble abound. With D’avin immune to conversion to level 6, it put forth questions such as ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ What exactly were D’avin’s visions? Why on earth was Dutch there?

With Fancy, sadly, not immune, as D’avin had spotted, they had to shoot him off Lucy’s deck. Yet Fancy returned to kill the Black Roots who’d seeded Khlyen out and captured him. It became a messy tangle of loyalties and lies:

Yala is on her way to you. Find her and get her away from Arkyn. I’ll deal with the Black Root. – Khlyen

If she thinks you’re here, she won’t leave until she finds you. – D’avin

Then do what I’ve always done. Lie to her. – Khlyen

Among the questions D’avin held within himself, it posed further questions for the narrative. Ones that maybe Alvis could answer once retrieved. What on earth were the Scarbacks doing in D’avin’s visions? Why were they at war? On Arkyn? Was Dutch on their side? And with their Blessing:

And the roots grew.

The seeds travelled from a home we’ve forgotten, finding soil on Qresh.

And the roots grew.

From one world to two moons, one mother tree to unite us all.

And when we rise her branches hold us,

And when we tire her trunk shelters us,

And when we die her roots will carry us home.

Praise the trees.

A long punt, but do the Scarbacks have anything to do with the Black Root? Religious zealots at the top, with the Scarbacks fighting them?

Final Verdict: ‘Killjoys’ releases a new underwear collection called Not Dying Underwear and it’s advised you wear this every week, on Friday, upon viewing. It’s a genuine shame they didn’t warn us before airing one of the most thunderous season premieres we’d seen!

There aren’t enough words in the world to describe that stunning season premiere. Right from the flashy new credits to the fight choreography we all knew and loved about ‘Killjoys’, to the one-liners firing like a sub-machine gun gone mad…it was a breath-taking roller-coaster. That is how to utterly nail a season premiere. The music was so top-notch it was difficult not to grin like a madwoman the entirety of the fight sequences. Stefan Pleszczynski‘s ballsy, fun direction paid off immensely, as did Michelle Lovretta‘s fiery script. But most noticeably was the significant improvement in the CGI department. ‘Killjoys’ always excelled there, but in this episode it absolutely amped it up.

We’re still missing Pawter and Alvis—though we’re hoping to catch a glimpse next episode. Pawter’s presence, especially, was sorely missed. However, the regulars were still reliably excellent. Allison in particular was on fire the entirety of this episode, and boasting such a strong cast with such intrigue set up, ‘Killjoys’ has made its statement loud and clear. Do not miss the next episode.

Questions and Comments:

• I literally think Pree stole all of the one-liners (take any show, all their one-liners of all their seasons, and Pree would still win. Just with this episode) available.
• I need to make a quid jar for every time I use ‘kickass’ or ‘badass’ in relation to ‘Killjoys’.
• “Who the hell is Alice?”/”My good arm.”—Did anyone else punch the air at that?
• I need to buy ten rounds of Hokk for the music supervisor, because throughout both seasons I have fist-pumped silently like an idiot.
• Touching goo is highly ill-advised…I think D’avin missed the Syfy memo.
• What makes D’avin ‘immune’ to becoming a level 6? His previous military experience? The memory blockers implanted in his brain?
  • He just permanently injured a Level 6 too…
  • Why was Fancy essentially brainwashed as a Level 6, whereas Khylen maintains his own agency?
• The biggie: who on earth are the Black Roots?! Is there really another level beyond Level 6?!
• Can the week move faster, please? And may I request another Dutch Slide Across The Floor?

Catch the next episode of KILLJOYS at 9l8c on Syfy and Space.