Dutch and John. Again. Ashmore brought me to the brink of tears at the beginning, and then when Dutch and John had their scene I sort of lost it...
Lucy's anguished "He's getting it everywhere, John!" – oh, Tamsen McDonough is brilliant.
Fancy Lee's ridiculously fun banter with the team (especially his antagonistic back-and-forth with D'Avin).
It was as if this episode served to remind us just how much we loved all the characters (Delle. Seyah. Kendry.) and in particular, Morgan Kelly's Alvis was brilliant. I'd watch a whole episode of a distraught Alvis watching as Dutch tears into the Scarbacks' sacred books.
I genuinely can't think of any right now. Objectively I'm sure there will be many flaws with this episode—there must be. But subjectively, that was truly a perfect wrap-up of season two—and as I said before, the booming best of the series.
My only wish is that we'd seen more of Delle before John shot her. I'm certain she's dead but that ever-haunting curl of the lips as she sinks to the floor is masterfully done by Mayko Nguyen. I want to see more of Delle's history. I want to see what she means with that smile.
‘Killjoys’ reaps the fruits of a joyously-oiled season two plot machine in its best episode…ever.
Holy hells. Everyone okay?
We join our ‘Killjoys’ as they prepare to take down the level sixes and the ‘RACspiracy’ once and for all. Headed up by a determined Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) and a quietly vengeful John (Aaron Ashmore) they reluctantly join forces with the dastardly partnership that is Khlyen (Rob Stewart) and Fancy (Sean Baek). It’s only after Khlyen has, in true Khlyen fashion, used the Killjoys as bait for the Black Root in order to test his level six killing toxin. (It works).
You may be excused for thinking that this episode serves only to knit the many loose plot-ends together this season. ‘How to Kill Friends and Influence People’ does do that. In order to kill the level sixes, they need to poison the root. It’s how the Scarbacks and Alvis (Morgan Kelly) are sewn into the plot. The ‘magical tree’ they worship? You’ll bet it’s the big-ass tree in Aneela’s Swiss bank deposit box.
We sacrifice Khlyen and leaves us unexpectedly grieving for him. We also reflect on the earlier loss of Pawter (Sarah Power) as it breaks the moral pillar that is John, who emphasises that he’s not a hero—only someone who fell in love. As Dutch says, they solve the season-long mystery but there’s still outstanding credit. Upon gaining Pree and Fancy, they lose John. John loses Pawter but meets Clara (Steph Leonidas) once more. Delle (Mayko Nguyen) loses everything—but is that smile as she dies (does she die?!) one of peace or one of conniving? Lucy (Tamsen McDonough) loses John, in possibly the most horribly tear-inducing scene of the show. Our protagonists triumph, ultimately, but everyone loses, as ‘Killjoys’ leaves us on a heavy juxtaposition of a finale.
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Khlyen makes his triumphant return.
Rob Stewart so often blatantly stole the show as the deep-voiced, authoritative level six—the only level six capable of holding a twinkle in his eye. As he kills people. Yes, Khlyen was back in proper fashion with a juicy proposition:
What if I told you we could use [the toxin he’d made] to save the Quad? One glorious suicide mission. Who’s in? – Khlyen
Through Khlyen’s back-story we discovered the truth regarding the ‘green goo shit’ that had our Killjoys running everywhere this season. He believed the plasma to be sentient, and through his scientific process and discovery, had also uncovered a toxin capable of killing the Black Root militants and by extension, capable of killing the original source of the plasma—the original tree.
And it was ultimately for the greater good, or for his love for Dutch—Yala—that Khlyen sacrificed himself. Trapped with the choice to do that or to die anyway and bring Dutch down with him, Khlyen chose to give himself up to save Dutch…as he’d always done. It was in his final scene we finally saw the depth of Khlyen and Dutch’s twisted love for each other, and the fear he held for Aneela, as he died in her arms. Now with her powerful mentor gone, admitting he had nothing left to teach her, did Khlyen teach Dutch enough to take down Aneela? Did Khlyen die in vain? We don’t think so (he’s far too clever for that). But thank you, Rob Stewart, for the enthralling Khlyen. Quite the suicide mission it was.
We also discovered he smelled like chicken (thanks, Dutch).
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Hannah John-Kamen has been legitimately firing on all cylinders—she roasted our nuts off.
“We’ve come for Khlyen. Where is he?” – Black Root
“Did you lead him here, you green shit-stain?” – D’Avin
“I highly suggest you give us what we want.” – Black Root
“How about a dread-nought in your eye? I happen to have one.” – Dutch
John aptly summed it up: it hadn’t been their best twenty-four hours. But in their turmoil we were treated to Dutch’s finest hour on ‘Killjoys’ (and also John’s). Dutch was everything and more this episode. She was the fearless leader; the heartbroken young girl; the vengeful bounty-hunter. We’ve consistently lavished the love on Hannah John-Kamen but we have to fawn over her a bit more.
If anyone ever doubted John-Kamen’s leadership through Dutch, certainly it was swept away by her performance in this episode. Powerful, skilled and a true killing-machine with a big heart, Dutch fought and fought until she achieved her goal. She fought through her mentor’s death; she fought through all the events of the season to reunite, properly, with John. That’s something we can’t wait to watch unfold—how will Dutch, who so genuinely rekindled her unique friendship with John, handle his departure? There’s one thing we know for sure: whoever is on her team, Dutch’s bigger battle is between her and Aneela. Judging by Aneela’s frightening, green-plasma-drinking appearance—she’s not going to be an easy one to topple. Season three may hold Dutch’s biggest challenge yet.
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The last fifteen minutes could easily be one of the best I’ve seen all year.
Truthfully, it’s all subjective. But there was something incredibly touching about that last sequence, and something that swelled our hearts with hope. Fancy—regular asshole Fancy—returned, and whilst level six Fancy was fun and snarky, Sean Baek’s subtle transition back was lovely.
The final sequence was magical in bringing every together. Hannah John-Kamen rounded out the season with the quote of the show, surely:
I don’t wanna win just one battle. I want a whole bloody war. Who’s in? – Dutch
John-Kamen has always been the sturdy shoulder to lean on throughout the series. This season was all John-Kamen’s and rightfully so. But the final sequence was niftily stolen by Aaron Ashmore. John has always been the heart of the Killjoys, and as we watched John’s inevitable fall from grace, his heartbreaking goodbye with Pree and even more heartbreaking goodbye with Lucy (there was full-on crying at this point—I’m glad I didn’t watch this alone. Do not watch this alone). It offers us two massive plot-points next season, focusing on arguably the two big characters who’d drawn us to the show: John-Kamen and Ashmore.
We need to know more about the smug, hip-sashaying baddie that is Aneela. We need to make sure Clara (a welcome return for Steph Leonidas) cushions John’s spiral. And we need a Lucy/John reunion. Where this year’s plot arc was heavy on the RAC conspiracy and beyond, next year’s is looking to be a huge test of the two hearts of the show. And boy are we glad to be returning somewhat to the roots of the show. Looking back on season one it’s unbelievable how far they’ve come, and how much more we’ve yet to see.
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We’re making a new section just for D’Avin and Fancy Lee’s team-up.
Oh my God.
Fancy Lee’s return was always going to be all shades of fantastic, but we hadn’t quite anticipated this. Fancy butting heads with both Jaqobis brothers was grin-inducing to watch. Particularly enjoyable was D’Avin’s constant antagonising of the once-hotshot Killjoy. Sean Baek gave us a wonderfully exasperated nutcracker (we do pity your situation, Fancy, immensely). Holding up the other end of this diabolical duo was the fiery Luke Macfarlane, whose D’Avin took far too much pleasure when he discovered how he could use Fancy’s level six powers to their gain.
I heal, remember? You’re the one having an existential crisis. Don’t worry. I’ll tell everyone you died sexy. – Fancy
I forgot. You survive anything less than instant brain death. Right? – D’Avin
Why? …Don’t say human shield. – Fancy
[They jump out from behind the wall. Fancy is a human shield. D’Avin cackles in delight].
We’ve missed Fancy a whole bloomin’ lot this season. His stilted partnership with Khlyen was unexpected and fun. But it was always Fancy’s hate-[love] relationship with the Killjoys that had been so charming, from day one. This episode reminded us why Baek’s Fancy should always get teamed up with Dutch, D’Av and John. And we really need more of Luke Macfarlane yelling “human shield, bitches!”
Welcome back, you Regular Asshole.
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Final Verdict: Pitch it to me, then? How was that the best ‘Killjoys’ episode yet?
Throughout both seasons, ‘Killjoys’ have mustered up some supremely funny episodes, some heartbreakingly gorgeous ones, some dark, thumping action-thrillers—yet never before has it so seamlessly managed to fuse all those qualities into one, jumbo-sized, jumpy ride. That’s not to say previous episodes have dropped in quality compared to this; it’s just to say that Jeremy Boxen’s ‘How to Kill Friends and Influence People’ was really, really good.
Good riddance for the season three renewal. Following this mic-drop of a finale, we can’t imagine a ‘Killjoys’-less 2017. And it’ll probably take us that long to emotionally ready ourselves for season three, because we can guarantee there wasn’t one dry eye in the house following that final sequence.
It says a lot that the most heartbreaking scene of the show is between a man and a ship. ‘Killjoys’ isn’t like any others, and that’s a terrifically good thing. It’s so buoyant and unapologetically enjoyable, yet amidst a heavily plot-reliant season two, Michelle Lovretta’s wonderfully talented cast kept us pinned to our beloved characters: the heart of the show. Some episodes didn’t click this season but ultimately it all gelled together and formed a quite magical hour of television. Wipe away the tears and snot, everyone. See you next year.
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Questions and Comments:
- Have we praised Tamsen McDonough enough this year?
- And then everyone bawled their eyes out at the end. I’m not sorry for crying that hard at this show. I think I was teary from the beginning, actually…
- “Were you not going to say goodbye?” – I was a goner at this point.
- I—AM—SO—GLAD—THE—PLOT—CAME—TOGETHER! And it didn’t just give us a tiny bite—it truly let us sink our teeth into the many meaty plot-threads woven together. I know I said some parts of the season did feel as if we had many threads left outstanding. And it did feel a little crammed sometimes, but this episode made up for it.
- The use of music has always been brilliant (and continues to be so—see: archive/Dutch fight scene) but this episode’s backing score was also excellent.
- I love that Pawter’s drink burns the hells out of John and Pree. Girl can handle her Hokk!
- Pree’s gorgeous toast to Pawter had me, yes, teary again. This. Damn. Finale.
- “Argh, shit-balls of bitch-sticks!” — I’m so glad John had his ‘Star Wars’ moment.
KILLJOYS will return for a third season in 2017.
Killjoys Review [2×10] “How to Kill Friends and Influence People”
Nicola Choi