Killjoys Review [2×02]: “Wild, Wild Westerley”

Our Killjoys are soaring into the unknown as the show carries on accelerating to fantastic new heights in a wild, wild second episode.

With the team intent on officially reinstating D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) as a Killjoy, this meant a visit to Turin (Patrick Garrow). Also, it meant they were here for a reason: to get Oldtown back, as Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) had said. They were issued a warrant that sent our motley crew there, contained by a wall that more-than-excited Johnny (Aaron Ashmore):

Whooh! Forgive me, I’m aroused! – Johnny

Things went awry when Pree (Thom Allison) was detected as a threat. Unconscious, the team were strung up and encountered Company fixer Liam Jelco (Pascal Langdale). The warrant was to capture eight prison escapees, with one in particular. Tarren Tighmon. He’d stolen a tank of potent, toxic gas that’d evaporate a body at an impossible rate.

Also, we got our promise. The return of Dr. Pawter Simms (Sarah Power) and Scarback Alvis (Morgan Kelly) was stupendously welcome. Underground, they’d worked together to score supplies and medicines. Hills (Frank Moore) was rescued there too. With the team needing to fulfil the warrant, and Alvis knowing Tighmon personally, they met. Only to be bombed by The Company, who’d planted tracking devices on them whilst unconscious.

Jelco tracked the shit out of us, we’ll shit the track out of him. – Dutch

That makes no sense. – Johnny

In a tight climax, Jelco killed Hills, Alvis attempted to gas Spring Hills, and Pree gleefully got The Royale back. Pawter said her goodbyes to the team as Johnny kissed her—only to reveal that it was his way of planting a communication device behind her ear. As Dutch and Alvis discussed revenge, Lucy was brought down by an illegal beacon. It was the work, surprisingly, of Turin. He needed answers. The RAC and The Company weren’t to be trusted. He wanted the truth. They all did.

Welcome back, Dr. Pawter Simms. We see your briefcase of supplies include medication and a soon-to-be magnificent story arc!

Pawter Simms had been in many ways underrated in season one, but so often stole the show. Despite her imperfections it remained clear in this episode her dedication to the welfare of her patients:

Don’t joke. I’m about to lose half of my patients. And half my mind. – Pawter

To think of her being the only capable doctor in Oldtown, with masses of casualties, would be awful. Yet as we saw, Pawter chose this fate. She wouldn’t escape with the Killjoys because her humanitarianism rooted her to where she was needed. And it’s a heavy question to ask: if Pawter had gone with the gang, how many more civilian deaths would there have been?

It wasn’t just Pawter’s impeccable human decency at heart here. Humorously, in this episode, she showed her utter disrespect for Gared (Gavin Fox) when threatened with a knife. There was talk from Hills about using her status. It gave us insight into Pawter’s history, her complex familial relationships and potential for a brilliant arc.

Lastly, Pawter’s underhand intelligence was a dangerous road to walk down but she chose it anyway. It was obvious—we all knew Pawter too well to believe she’d be allured by Jelco—but excellent. ‘Killjoys’ could give us 007 Pawter any day. Furthermore, there was a hint of romance with Johnny as he kissed her. A plot device, yes, but it felt natural. Real. Even platonically, Pawter and Johnny’s relationship was easily one of the best on the show. But regardless of that, it isn’t romance that excites us about Pawter’s potential journey. It’s the sincerely thrilling set-up we have for Sarah Power to kick some royal ass from within. With Power’s acting prowess boastfully exhibited (especially in ‘Come the Rain’) we cannot wait to see more of Pawter.

Quarantine and tyrannical control: ‘Killjoys’ is going off-the-books with its usually procedural-type season, and it’s working.

The Killjoys were going to be going wildly off-the-book by the time the end-scene approached, but from the premiere episode it was clear this season would be vastly different to the last. Whereas the last seemed far more procedural in ‘a warrant per week’ (while still holding up excellent back-stories, especially for D’Avin and Dutch), this season, perhaps the warrant isn’t all.

‘Killjoys’ is tackling the themes of oppression and the control of society with gusto. If The Company were the tyrants then Oldtown was certainly its ant farm. Pascal Langdale made for an excellently unrepentant villain. Often, you may ask yourself: are there truly bad guys? But Jelco was so vindictively awful, cleverly encased in a courteous manner.

Everything about this episode showcased the horrifying oppression of The Company. The revelation that Tighmon would’ve returned the gas tank if Oldtown was set free. The ease at which Jelco had the entirety of Oldtown turn on Dutch. The usage of Alvis as a scapegoat for the terrible crimes inflicted upon Oldtown. And Alvis using this status bravely as bait, to score medicines for Pawter. Pawter could play the game as she healed others, but Alvis, beaten over and over? Using himself for the greater good? It clearly took its toll, and the beauty of this episode was that we didn’t just outright see the damage The Company had caused upon Oldtown. We saw Alvis, so decent, so good—willing to murder anyone in Spring Hills for his revolutionary cause. And Morgan Kelly played that lost, torn soul to perfection.

Just when you think Dutch couldn’t get more mysterious…

If we don’t fawn over Hannah John-Kamen in a review, it’s simply because there are no words. John-Kamen is quite simply brilliant in all she does—with the subtle unease at the beginning of the episode, to her outright badassery and stunts whenever some massive, ripped guy thinks he can get the better of Dutch.

Of everything that’d happened in this episode, it boiled down to one simple thing for Dutch:

I just want the truth. – Dutch

So what is happening with Dutch? Firstly, the most prominent question would be the mirror incident in the beginning. What on earth was that about? Is there some alternate version of Dutch out there? What had they done to her as a kid, in the harem, besides teaching her to kill? If the Scarbacks’ war on Arkyn was two-hundred years ago, how was Dutch there? She’s not immortal…so do we dare say cloning? What about the other kids at Khlyen’s harem? Where are they?

The conversation that hit the hardest was perhaps the conversation with Alvis. The talk of vengeance and losing oneself must’ve ricocheted deep within each of their souls. Dutch and Alvis are not bad people. But losing yourself to badness isn’t something good people can always escape from. John-Kamen and Kelly played their conversation to near-perfection, but it gave a new perspective. Dutch has always been the protagonist of this story, but they’re Killjoys. Dutch killed her first man when she was eight. Dutch is an undoubted hero, but does hero equate to good when awful acts are committed along the way? We’ll always root for Dutch, but John-Kamen has played her inner see-saw of emotions quite the way the lead should. To a tee.

Final Verdict: ‘Killjoys’ hits a bit of a season two ‘sophomore slump’ but that didn’t stop the episode from being all-out fun, whilst harbouring dark, political undertones.

It was always going to be hard to follow that season premiere, and ‘Killjoys’ was no stranger to falling victim to the ‘second episode slump’. It didn’t quite live up to the jumping joy of having the show back, nor the ridiculously cohesive fun. It missed a lot of Lucy and crammed in a lot more that almost insinuates that we’re going to be clinging onto a high-octane ride this season. For this episode, however, not all of it quite clicked into place. What was promising was the premise of a tighter, serialised season with some nice plot-arc set-ups, and the fabulous return of Pawter and Alvis. Less so was where they left Pree—after his hugely expanded role in the premiere, what role would be play for the gang now?

Sean Reycraft’s script was cheeky with one-liners spectacularly delivered especially by Johnny. It was a difficult episode to write, considering all the set-ups for this season’s arcs. But it was still so charmingly ‘Killjoys’. The production—especially of the scenes in Spring Hill—were lovely to see, as was the effects of Oldtown’s wall. And this, perhaps, should be said every week—but Alicia Turner as Hannah John-Kamen’s stunt-double was a marvel to watch.

It’s promising. You cannot grow plants without sowing the seeds, and it’s still early days for ‘Killjoys’ this season. We can only brace ourselves for what Michelle Lovretta has in store for us. And we’re definitely lapping it up.

Questions and Comments:

• CARL!
  • Also: never push red buttons. I don’t know where you’ve been hiding, Carl, but you should’ve learnt that one!
• I’ve been ranting and raving about Pawter’s development this season. Am I convinced Sarah Power will slay me? Yes. Am I going to enjoy it? YES.
  • We should perhaps get down to Pawter/Power puns. I might stockpile them for reviews. ‘Pawter Powers through…’
• How far will the tyrannical Company go to make Oldtown suffer to make its point? Its status?
• I think Johnny Jaqobis is my genuinely favourite male character of the moment.
• Dutch’s ‘transformation’ is going to be a fun one to guess. Any guesses?
  • Were D’Avin’s ‘visions’ a vision of the future, or dreams of…two hundred years past? So how is Dutch possibly there?
  • Can Alvis really offer up some answers here?
• Much like Person of Interest did in B.S.O.D., Jelco turning the entirety of Oldtown into a manhunt for Dutch was insidiously clever and scary. He’s using Oldtown, utterly under his control, as pieces on a chess board.

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