Killjoys - S2E6 - I Love Lucy

Previously on Killjoys, “Meet the Parents”

Killjoys S2 E6: I love Lucy | Director: Grant Harvey | Writers: Jon Cooksey | Starring: Hannah John-Kamen, Aaron Ashmore, Luke Macfarlane, Sarah Power, Keon Alexander

This season of Killjoys has been fun-filled action, while also packing an emotional punch when it comes to the growth of our characters. Season one served to highlight the team’s strength and loyalties while season two seems to test it. Our Killjoys prosper because of their devotion to one another, but some elements are being introduced that might serve to be the internal flaw in their earned cohesiveness. But none-the-less the emotional upheaval I’ve been experiencing with each episode serves as a reminder of what a great presentation of Sci-Fi being provided to the audience by the cast and its writers; between the emotional yet fantastical world of the Quad.

We open with what our crew does best: being a Killjoy. D’av attempts to apprehend an old man wanted by the RAC for bootlegging liquid explosives. He almost takes D’av out with a cup of acid-filled Hock, luckily Johnny intercepts and the Jacobi brothers take him out and recover the explosive device.

I would like to note that Luke McFarlane is amazing with physical comedy, something I have taken for granted but really appreciated this episode when you think about the number of times he’s being beaten up, and fighting or jumping in some form or fashion, all making for a great combination of comedic and physical talent, something not every actor can pull off. Yet this episode - like this season - he’s had some great emotional scenes as well from his escape from Red 17, reconnecting with his father, and his overall feelings for Dutch.

Back on Lucy, with RAC responsibilities out of the way, the crew tries to find out just what the plasma in the moss is capable of. With D’av as the guinea pig, we find out the plasma works by activating a neural link between D’av and the host the plasma originated. This discovery leads to the theory of needing a pure form of plasma to correctly link with D’av in order to find out how it is central in what’s going on. With a quick touch base with Pree at the Royale, he provides the tracking code of a trader of rare items, Sam Romwell, who’s known to have green plasma in his possession. At that moment, Pree catches Dutch looking at D’av as he shares a moment with Sabine - D’av looks smitten with the new bartender at the Royale.

Arriving at the coordinates, they discover Romwell’s ship. To Johnny’s excitement, it’s built within an asteroid. The crew and Romwell meet, and we come face-to-face with a polished collector of rare items on the run from the law.

He shows the crew the vial of plasma he has, but is only willing to trade if they have something worth his time. He settles on Mossy. But Romwell is not there to play nice and tries to alter the terms of their agreement. When called out, he promptly takes down the Killjoys using his trio of droids. He is willing to trade their lives back if Dutch agrees to tell him the story behind her Sitar; an item only available to the highest of noble families.

We finally get the story behind the husband killed by Khlyen. I had assumed she was angry at him for taking a man she loved, but it’s because of what his death represented - freedom from Khylen and the life of an assassin. Only to find out there was never going to be freedom from this life Khylen had inducted her into, and the item of beauty he had trained her to use to woo the prince was actually an instrument of death. With an immobilized Romwell at her mercy, Dutch uses one of the strings of the Sitar to garrote him. Acting promptly, she tells the J’acobi brothers to head back to the ship while she retrieves the plasma vial they came for.

In the process of retrieving the plasma, Romwell returns, none the worse for wear outside of a bloody shirt. He calls her out for killing him as they fight, ultimately calling a truce (since he can’t die and all) and although not happy at being killed, he does note that the shared hypnosis triggered her old aggression and this is what caused her to strangle him. We also find out that Romwell is 432-years-old due to nanites injected in his body, and he’s not a level six agent. From his disdain at her mentioning them I have a feeling he might have taken on a level six agent at one point in his life.

The J’acobi brothers escape from Romwell’s droids and get an assist from transferring Lucy into one of said droids. I figured we would get an episode with Lucy in physical form soon enough and thought it was cute when she asks Johnny for a kiss as part of collecting sensory information right before she is killed by the remaining droids while trying to buy them enough time to escape.

With a truce in place, Romwell, Dutch, and the J’acobi brothers flee as the droids are no longer listening to Romwell. D’av decides to use the plasma to cause an explosion to stall the droids, an explosion that ends up being too effective when we see the entire asteroid that is Romwell’s ship blow up.

But the scenes that hit the hardest emotionally begin with D’av earnestly telling Dutch this was the first time he’s felt good about himself in a long time and she encourages him to visit Sabine with all that new self esteem. She also has a one-on-one with Romwell, in which he tells Dutch that in all the time he’s been alive he’s never met someone like her and to be happy when she can. He also gives her a copy of the green plasma he conveniently reprinted, so the endeavor was not a complete loss.

Dutch takes her newfound self-esteem and visits Alvis as she allows herself to be completely vulnerable, and although the scene looked weird with her just starrng at him; the emotion and stillness from Dutch played well against who she normally is. He also provides a pertinent piece of information to the mystery ahead: The Scarbacks method of cutting themselves for penance might have more to do with making sure they could still bleed unlike the level six agents, indicating just how far back this conspiracy goes.

Johnny gets a surprise visit from Pawter - the perks of having her own private ship. D’av visits Sabine in Old Town after a night of drinking and presents her with vale peaches. With a fun and lightness uncharacteristic of D’av, they quickly get to the business at hand when all of a sudden green goo starts to leak out of Sabine’s eyes and she goes into an apoplectic shock. D’av calls her name as an inordinate amount of plasma lies beneath her head.