Killjoys - S2E4 - Schooled

Previously on Killjoys, “Shaft”

Killljoys S2E4: Schooled |Starring: Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, Luke Macfarlane | Writers: Julian Doucet, Jennifer Kennedy | Director: Ruba Nadda

This week’s episode of Killjoys opens to the image of a child locked in a pod, screaming to get out. From that we are transported to one of the steamiest of scenes in Killjoys history. Dutch and a shirtless D’av sparring and showing off their skills in a wrestling match that brings the sexual attraction between them to new levels of hot. D’av points out mid grapple that he understands her attraction to Alvis because of his simplistic nature and their complicated past. That says a lot as Alvis is part of a monastic order and a fugitive from the company, while D’av is not only just a team member, they’ve had sex that resulted in a brainwashed D’av trying to kill her and led to him being experimented on by her father figure Khlyen. Simple and complicated is one way to put their history.

In the middle of their banter they are interrupted by Turin calling in regarding the destination of Khlyen’s last transmission: a school for the gifted of Westerly. They agree on a ruse to locate Khlyen’s transmission, and warrant in hand they head to Oldtown to round up three new recruits for the program. With a stop at The Royale to say hello to Pree, they find out the location of one of the kids and recover a message from Johnny, who is currently on the hunt for a missing Pawter.

To be honest, of the many outcomes I thought might occur due to Pawter being knocked unconscious, that she would be taken out coincidentally by a desert gang was not one of them. But she manages to arm wrestle her way out of their clutches as Johnny arrives, causing a distraction in the form of a bar brawl in order to get her away from her new friends. But the recent events have also taken a toll on her and although she wants to keep her distance from Johnny, she tells him of the plans she discovered in Spring Hill to put a wall across the quad; and he persuades her to take a breather on Lucy while she figures out her next move.

Dutch and D’av pick up one of the kids, Jake, from his disgruntled father and return to Lucy, followed by Dutch and Johnny having a one-on-one about Pawter staying aboard with them. Johnny correctly points out that she allowed Alvis to stay, and she agrees on the condition that his focus remains on discovering the mystery surrounding Khlyen.

Upon their arrival to drop off the kids at the school, a whole other set of issues arise in the form of our favorite Khreshian royalty from season one, Delle Seyah Kendry. (She was working with Khlyen in season one to destroy the family of nine and solidify power through the power vacuum.) She arrives directly after the Killjoys discover the school’s students and appointed guardian missing, prompting a team up between Delle and the Killjoys.

With D’av running around the majority of the episode trying to protect the kids, we get to see a paternal side of him. He’s able to connect to Jake from his experiences with Johnny, whether offering advise or encouraging him to speak about his emotions - like Jake’s dad being an asshole. We also find out that the person who has been setting traps is none other than Jake’s brother Olan, a student in the school, and the face we see in the opening, screaming to get out of the pod.

Delle reveals some truths about the program of Prodigy and Dutch figures out it’s being run outside of the scope of the remaining royal families. It’s with this information that Dutch reluctantly gets Delle to work with Dutch, and they head to the control room to override Olan’s commands. They play a game of cat and mouse and use Delle as bait to draw him out. In the process, Dutch finds out the disturbing news that the children of Oldtown are being used as a human seed bank to protect all Khreshi knowledge - whether in advance for an upcoming war or calamity will depend on the message Khlyen sent.

With time and oxygen levels running out, Pawter and Johnny put the remaining kids in pods, Delle and Dutch eventually arrive in the control room to manually override Olan’s controls, and Johnny is able to use Jake to talk Olan down off the self destructive ledge, in addition to letting him know that he’s been going crazy because the transmission from Khlyen was rerouted into his brain.

With Olan secured and Lucy wrested from his control everyone is ready part ways, and Delle agrees to let Olan remain with Dutch on the condition that whatever she finds out she will share with her as she is now an ally. Dutch takes Jake and Olan to Leith and into the hands of Alvis at the Scarback monastery. She asks of his progress with the message the monk wrote on his parchment of skin, but he hasn’t gotten any further with decoding it, even with the help of the older monks.

The episode takes us full circle from a sexy opening to one of its best choreographed fight scenes. Fancy secures Khlyen’s release from the hands of the Blackroot soldiers by killing them with the gracefulness of a dancer or expert assassin. They are headed to Telen, the home planet of the J’acobi brothers, in order to see if they can uncover the root to D’avs immunity to the level six goo.

Emotional Hit this episode: D’av reminding Dutch that they all work because of who they are; she leads, he shoots, and Johnny gives a shit.