Killjoys - S3E1 - Boondoggie

Previously, on Killjoys

We are back for the third season of Killjoys, a must watch for me each summer, but compared to the past two season openers, this premiere left me wanting.

Season two ended on a high note with the discovery that Dutch 2.0 was Aneela, Khlyen’s psychopath of a daughter, which led to Khlyen’s death and sacrifice to destroy a portion of the green goo. I went in eager and excited. But this episode annoyed me because I just wanted to catch up with our characters and the addition of two new characters, Ollie and Pippin was lackluster. Although, with those names, maybe that was the intention. Of course, this is just the first episode so the ship might self correct by episode two, but after two seasons, the writers of Killjoys should know that they’ve spoiled their watchers by writing characters you can relate to, even those who come in just for a one-off.

While Johnny Jaqobi’s split from Dutch and D’avin to deal with the loss of his lady love, Pawter, is understandable, it will wear thin if he’s not reunited with our main crew soon. Although, with him going off we get to explore more of the hackmods’ background.

Hackmods, having had their bodies illegally modified with tech beyond an acceptable limit, have been deemed by the law as more machine than human, leading to the loss of their basic human rights. The coupling of Johnny with Clara in season two started the exploration of that storyline, and the two actors played well off each other, and exuded an easy back and forth magnetism.

But now with Johnny looking for Clara, who ran off, he meets Ollie, a mod with Clara’s gun arm who assists Johnny with his plan to destroy the main hackmod factory. While undercover, Johnny is discovered to be a basic human and forced to get a mod to prove they can trust him. He gets a cute, tiny laser implanted into his finger that I am sure will come in handy throughout the season. He also finds out that hackmods have been disappearing at a greater rate than normal, which I’m sure is also connected to the 437 missing RAC agents, and only serves to intensify his search to find Clara.

Meanwhile, Dutch and D’avin try to find more information on the Hullens’ whereabouts and to actively start the war before Aneela and the Hullens get all-powerful. I like that Dutch has accepted her role in the coming war; season two had her wrestling with whether to involve herself in the conspiracy that is the Hullen agents planning to take over the galaxy or remain a RAC agent. But season three looks to be her taking the fight to them.

The mission this episode is to buy a beacon capable of drawing out the Hullen and this leads to our team enlisting the help of a black market dealer named Pippin. Now I don’t know whether to blame the actor or the writing, but he did not work for me and if this guy is meant to replace Johnny for the time being with his flat jokes, thats going to be a no for me, dawg. Once our crew has the beacon they plan on enlisting the help of other Killjoys to poison the green plasma pools throughout the galaxy.

They do end up using Pippin’s connections to get said beacon from a dealer named Sweet Janet. (The second new black woman we see this episode; the first being the new boss of the RAC, Banyan.) This is one thing Killjoys continues to do well: provide a platform for people of color we normally wouldn’t see represented on a sci-fi show.

The search for the beacon leads them to getting captured by a group of Hullen/RAC agents, which was, of course, all part of Dutch’s plan, because this is Dutch we’re talking about; Khlyen ain’t raise no fool.

We see some sweet hand-to-hand fights along with scenes where our Killjoys’ techs do the fighting for them. Both impressive whether it’s Dutch taking down a Hullen agent or Fancy Lee coming in to save the day with his boomerang stunner.

We also see the return of other familiar faces: Pree and Alvis. Both are favorites fans have been clamoring for, and it would be a shame if their plot lines were not expanded this season. Their chemistry with each other as well as the main cast is on point.

Overall, it was a good season opener, one that doesn’t suffer upon a re-watch. I love how even though Johnny is separated from the main group he’s able to keep in contact with Dutch using holographic messages, and it’s those scenes that show the emotional weight of their friendship (Maybe romance? I don’t think Dutch has figured out which brother she wants to get with for good yet.) The fact that they both lie and keep things from each other to allow the other room to breathe and grow is sad and regretful, but it’s also these moments that elevate the show.

Worth Mentioning

Lucy still rocks with her no nonsense attitude towards guests on her ship.

The mod guy whose face was completely darkened chaffed at me.