Killjoys – S1E3 – The Harvest
Previously on Killjoys, ‘The Sugar Point Run’
We continue this week’s episode with the last week’s plot line: Dutch proposes the idea of D’avin becoming a RAC Agent. John and D’avin are at RAC headquarters with John acting as D’avins sponsoring agent, they are also taking the time out to rib each other until the arrival of Agent Keera Deen. She has been tasked with reviewing and approving D’avins application. She immediately demands to know the real reason he wants to join the RAC outside of the tests and doesn’t take a bullshit answer from him. He admits that he doesn’t feel like he fits in anywhere, and the RAC is his best chance at normalcy. She tells him to place his fist over his heart and recite the RAC oath. He is now a RAC agent and not only that, he outranks John, pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Wondering what Dutch has been up to since last week’s episode? We come back to her and the man whose death Khlyen has ordered. After a couple of days without food and being scared straight, Dutch returns and further threatens his life if he does not tell her the absolute truth about all he knows. He continues to plead his innocence; Dutch frees him and tells him to run very far away, unless he wishes for a worse faith than he can imagine. He runs out of the room, Dutch sets the room fire and walks over to a window. A sign reads: All Harvesters Welcomed.
The Jaqobi brothers walk through town and continue to rib each other in what can only be seen as adorable sibling rivalry. As they walk through the streets, they come upon some guys in hazmat gear spraying something highly toxic and flammable called Jakk. They continue on and arrive at Prees bars and that’s when we find out from John nothing is free including all those drinks Pree throws their way.
The Jaqobi brothers run into the bar to break up a disturbance, and D’avin immediately starts brawling. John goes to the bar and downs some shots between the fighting. D’avin starts to lose it, really getting into the moment. John calls out to D’avin to stop, but to no avail. Dutch walks in guns blazing and everyone calms down. Pree announces the Sexers upstairs are having a 20% off sale during The Harvest. Dutch walks straight to D’avin ignoring John in the process. She finds out D’avin has been made a level 4 RAC agent pending his psychiatric evaluation and tells him to get it rubber stamped by the resident doctor, who was thrown onto D’avins laps during the bar brawl just minutes before. The look on D’avins face says his interest has been piqued in said doctor.
Upstairs, it seems John has decided to take advantage of The Harvest sale with the Sexers, and - of course - agrees to take on the plight of retrieving the husband of the Sexer he is currently in bed with. She needs him to find her husband who hasn’t returned and since she cosigned his bond, she will end up being sent to jail to serve hard time in his place. John convinces Dutch to take the warrant as a favor to his friend. She eventually capitulates, but advises John not be friends with everyone he sleeps with.
D’avin is in Pawter’s office, being treated after the bar fight. She mentions the wound on his head and he tells her he got it from passing his RAC test. He also mentions still needing to have a doctor sign-off on his Killjoy psychiatric exam. And she rightly asks what’s in it for her. He, of course, replies like a man who is used to getting by on his looks with women for a very long time and tries to trade dinner for a sign-off on his psych evaluation. Obviously, this doctor might be for bending the rules and being crooked but she still knows the value of what she has to offer. She trades her cooperation for a ride to the Bazaar on the ship with Killjoy crew. He says yes, and then she asks him if he needs some pain meds and he asks her for some copazenol in order to sleep. She tells him she’s out with a look that says more than words and D’avin leaves.
Johnny and Dutch start their undercover mission and he checks in at Martell’s farm as a migrant worker while Dutch checks in first with her handler and then goes to the Martell vineyards as a Hokk Distributer. We find out from her conversation with Bellos that Dutch knows something is up with Johnny, but doesn’t know how to approach it.
John continues to work the farm land and try and find out information from the migrant workers. He strikes up a conversation with a pretty woman nearby by the name of Shyla. While offering water to a weary and exhausted older man, another farm worker runs off. (Where did he think he was running to in an open clearing?) Maybe it’s just to show the viewer an example of what happens when people try to leave, since the implant in his head explodes. While Dutch settles in, John arrives and fills her in on what he’s found out so far, including the tracking device/bomb in his ear.
At the Bazaar, Pawter threatens her way to getting medication she needs from a seller while using an unaware D’avin as her muscle; he does not seem too pleased at her actions. D’avin tries to chew her out for using him and she rightly points out they’re using each other. Around them D’avin notices a group of people at the Bazaar playing with fireworks which triggers his PTSD. Pawter is able to snap him out of it, and he walks away from her.
On the other side of the world another Jaqobi brother continues to make bad life choices when it comes to women. He strikes up a conversation with Shyla to find out what she knows about Vince, and she provides him with just enough information to keep him interested. Dutch continues to investigate Martell’s interests during a Hokk tasting, which leads to a Dutch tasting. She begins seducing him and in the process applies pressures to his neck which causes him to pass out. She takes his ID card and links the information he has on it regarding Vince to her communication device.
Dutch and John perform some night time reconnaissance work using the information Dutch retrieved from Martell’s phone. They locate Vincent by seeking out the tracking device and are led to a pit of buried ears. Dutch and John come up with an exit strategy and John is not too pleased to hear it involves calling D’avin in as a backup. From the beginning of the episode it is apparent John is feeling conflicted about having his brother around. In a way, he’s happy him being there after being gone for so long, but he’s also annoyed and determined to show he is living his own life away from the shadow case by his older brother.
The doctor and D’avin are on the ship again and she tells him she triggered him on purpose and bluntly diagnoses him with stress response syndrome. He also diagnoses her as having a messiah complex and being a fraud.
John tells Shyla he is leaving the farm and she tells him if he does the westerlings are going to make life difficult, including up to prison time and more debt. He leans in to kiss her and his palm brushes her hair. Her ear has been cut off. He tells her he wants in as long as she tells him what she is involved in. She pulls out a dagger and asks him how brave / dumb he is. We find out in the next scene when Dutch finds his ear buried in the forest.
Shyla leads John deeper into the forest while D’avin readies Lucy, while Dutch is returning to her bedroom and finds that its been disturbed. She is ambushed by Martell and his men, and she takes him and his men out in a well choreographed fight scene, demanding to know where John is. He admits he recently called the authorities, who will be arriving soon to take out the collective of Jakk growers. John meanwhile is being introduced to the gang of Jakk growers by Shyla in the very woods the authorities will soon be approaching.
John meets Vince, Shyla’s love interest. Vince attacks John and demands to know who sent him; he reminds him about his wife N’oa and her cosigning his work contract. Vince does not seem fazed by the idea of her having to serve time for his misdeeds and even passes the gun to Shyla and orders her to kill John for bringing him into their camp. John throws his dagger into the pile of Jakk and jumps off to the side to avoid damage.
D’avin prepares Lucy for the meeting poin,t while Dutch arrives at the camp and finds John has disabled the rebel group. Vince agrees to come with them showing an innate lack of character while the remaining rebels remain and are killed when the authorities arrive. They also destroy the area of the forest they are in.
The crew returns to westerly with Vince, N’oa comes in and, for a second, I was afraid she was going to take him back. But after being happy that he’s back and alive she socks him in the face for being a treacherous being. John then gleefully handcuffs him and gets ready to take him back to the proper authorities for violating his work visa by a mere couple of hours.
The crew then arrives at Pawter’s place to fix Johns ear, and D’avin and the doc call a truce. He asks her to be his doctor and treat him since he likes her. She asks what’s in it for her.
Dutch and John also come to a truce, and he tells her what’s had him so frustrated lately and we learn a new word for a showboating; D’avin-ing. Dutch tells John he’s irreplaceable in her eyes and D’avin will probably leave once he finds the doctor he’s looking for. John asks her if she’s not going to tell him what’s going on with her, and she says no, but can promise its over. (I really don’t think so.) They make up and John works up the courage to go in and get his ear reattached.
Overall Thoughts:
All in all this was a good episode; I enjoyed getting to see more of the difficult side in the relationship between the Jaqobi brothers. I also enjoyed seeing the introduction of new characters, and although the plot line did seem predictable at times, I think that owns to the foundation being built around these characters and the world they inhabit.
Who else thinks….
Dutch letting the guy go, who Khlyen wants dead, is going to come back and bite her in the ass?
