Killjoys - S2E5 - Meet the Parents

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Previously on Killjoys, “Schooled”

Killjoys S2E5: Meet the Parents |Starring: Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, Luke Macfarlane, Sarah Power | Writer: Adam Barken

The warrant is all. That is the Killjoy oath, and the first thing I am reminded of when we see Dutch and D’av take down two men who are wanted by the RAC. D’av does so looking handsome and at ease in a cerulean cowl neck sweater, leaving me to wonder if the sweater was part of his undercover wear or for the new bartender at The Royale? But within minutes of arriving at The Royale he loses consciousness, and is taken back to Lucy and a worried Dutch. When D’av starts humming a tune that Khlyen used to hum to her they figure out his mind has been linked to Khlyen’s and Dutch urges him to fight against it, which leads to its own host of problems.

Arriving on Telen, Khlyen and Fancy get to the business at hand: experimenting on D’av’s father, which proves unsuccessful. Khlyen - in trying to access D’av again - switches minds. I watched this episode several times and each time I actually forgot each actor was playing the other’s character. They are able to emulate each others mannerisms to the smallest detail like the flick of a hand when D’av reaches out to cup Dutch’s cheek, and that can be only be attributed to the wonderful acting done by Luke Mcfarlane (D’av)and Rob Stewart (Khlyen). Even the intonation of their voices are similar.

But Dutch and Fancy are able to spot the difference in their respective partners within seconds and this allows D’av to enjoy the perks that come with being in Khlyen’s body; namely increased strength and agility. It was a bit unnerving when D’av, in Khlyen’s body, has a confrontation with his father, who eventually recognizes him. He begs for forgiveness, but D’av just pushes him out before Fancy fully recovers.

But what this mind switch really provides is opportunity for Dutch to get some answers from Khlyen and D’av to confront his father. It turns out the Black Roots normally report to Khlyen, but no longer, which most likely means there was a coup within his own organization. With this bit of bad new comes another: D’av’s body is going into critical shock, rejecting Khlyen’s presence.

I was happy to see some emotional growth with Dutch this episode. We’ve seen her be this badass fighter, but here she lets that go a bit. She’s honest with Khlyen about the effects he’s had on her life and how she no longer hates him. In the process, Khlyen lets her know she wasn’t the one in D’av’s vision and will get the answers in the intercepted transmission. Which leads me to wonder if she’s a clone, or related to the person in the vision? Are the figments she sees and speaks to of herself or another person?

While we have more questions than ever for Dutch, Khlyen gets the answer to his question about the source of D’av’s immunity. He spots an anomaly in his brain, possibly brought about by the unsanctioned experiments from his army days. When you think about all of the torture he’s gone through (this episode we find out his father made him live in a cave for a summer as a child) it’s a wonder he’s still able to be optimistic and smile as much as he does.

Khlyen is shocked into returning to his body, and confident that it’s actually him, Fancy gives him back his taser baton. They head off, still being hunted by the Black Root, and planning on finding out just what the army did to D’avin and Fancy looking forward to the next time he gets to go toe-to-toe with D’av.

If Dutch and D’av are dealing with their daddy issues, Pawter is dealing with her mommy issues. She returns to Qresh with Johnny as an escort to get her mother to rescind the order on the walls around Westerly. Her mother, Adaline Seya Simms, is the backbone of the family, her father its heart, and her sister Louella comes off as the young socialite of the family. Her fiancé a complete tool from the beginning.

Adaline Sims is not only the head of her family and the council of nine, but a talented scientist in her own right, and her father a talented lower class craft man. This dynamic is perhaps shown to the viewer that in spite of their class differences it is possible for Pawter and Johnny to be together, if she is willing to fight the status quo. But her request to have her order of exile be lifted turns into a murder plot gone wrong. A gas has been released into the air and it’s killing people immediately on contact by freezing them.

The fog ends up costing Adaline her life when she injects herself with a sample of the gas (She created the pathogen) her sister Louella loses an arm when she tries to check on their servants, and their father, in order to save his remaining family, sets of a bomb to eradicate the fog from the atmosphere. We also find out that the culprit behind all of this is none other than Louella’s fiancé Hank, although we’re not really privy to his motivations. (Who kills an entire island of people to rob them?) It does cheapen Pawter’s reunion with her family, because all it does is is speed up Pawter’s ascendancy to being the leader of the council of nine.

Pawter takes her mother’s place as head of the council, and I love that we see Delle Seyah Kendry at the proceedings, now a subordinate to her. Johnny comes to say goodbye and tells her he wants to “give a shit together” remembering her father words “You pick the one who make’s you a better person.” But she also asks him not to tell Dutch or D’av about whats going on for their own good, which seems uncharacteristic of Pawter.

The story given to Pawter this episode seems like something thrown in to drive a wedge between our Killjoys, which inevitably happens when people start keeping secrets that affect the team. Sharing an intimate moment with Johnny, Dutch asks if he’d tell her if things ever changed between them, and he lies to her face and says yes. By the look on Johnny’s face when she walks away I think he’s quite aware of the mistake he’s made, but is willing to make it anyway.

Favorite Lines

I am going to go full Khlyen on your ass.

You’re my gravity Johnny Jacobi.