Killjoys, “One Blood,” was written by Annmarie Morais and was directed by Michael Nankin. Morais’ other credits include Rogue, Haven, and Combat Hospital. Nankin has impressed me on Defiance and his long list of credits also includes Caprica, CSI, Flashforward, and Battlestar Galactica. Killjoys really gets stronger with every episode. While the structure of each episode feels familiar, the stories each week are entertainingly varied. Aaron Ashmore (John) and Hannah John-Kamen (Dutch) continue to deliver solid performances each week.
The episode opens with Dutch and Khlyen (Rob Stewart) having tea. She thinks she is laying out the ground rules – she won’t kill, he stays away from her team, and he tells her why he’s in the Quad – when in reality, he’s already set everything in motion to force her hand by releasing poison gas in the tea house. Dutch holds her breath while somewhat hilariously rescuing the package Khlyen wanted from the dead man’s wooden leg.
Khlyen implants a neural link in Dutch that connects the two of them and leads to some pretty cool special effects. The link appears to be severed when it’s removed from Dutch, but Khlyen comes to Dutch wanting her to get the device they’ve all been chasing. She manages to stab him multiple times. He tells her he’s not a monster and he came to the Quad for her and he’s not leaving without her – before he walks away, seemingly unharmed! And in that final scene, he didn’t actually seem like a monster. I like how they are making him somewhat ambiguous as he does seem to care about Dutch on some level.
What I really liked about the Khlyen storyline is that Dutch finally tells John and D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) what’s going on. And when she does, we find out that John already knows all about Khlyen. I loved that that wasn’t a secret between the two of them – I was very pleasantly surprised at that revelation and that they didn’t drag on her secret for the entire season. John offers to go off the grid immediately, so he clearly knows how dangerous Khlyen is. Dutch explains to D’Avin that Khylen was her “tutor” in the “Harem” where she grew up. She confesses that she’s not even sure what he was training her for. Dutch tasks John with using what’s left of her own neural link to track Khlyen. She wants to go on the offensive and kill him once and for all.
The main part of the episode focuses on a Black Warrant. It’s a competitive warrant open to the best Killjoys with the best team winning. We get to meet a few more Killjoys and meet up again with Fancy (Sean Baek) and Turin (Patrick Garrow). As it turns out the warrant is for a fellow Killjoy – Big Joe (Tony Nappo) who is a good friend and was a mentor to Dutch. Nappo is actually also currently guest starring on
Defiance.
Dutch bugs out on her own at Khylen’s insistence, and John and D’Avin end up working with Fancy – who continues to be an ass. But a useful one with good equipment. I loved it when Fancy uses a directional dart that he’s designed himself and John remarks, “You really are fancy!” Loved Ashmore’s delivery! We also learn a little backstory on John when D’Avin comments that John should be able to find Big Joe because he’s the family thief – there’s some backstory there that I’d like to hear more about.
Dutch finds Big Joe, but not before he shoots her, and they are both captured by the Kotlers. Once again, I like how the show teases out the rich background of the world. Big Joe started out serving a warrant on one of the sons of the political radicals who take them prisoner, but he’d ended up stealing for them. He’s become jaded about the RAC, telling Dutch that their “beloved brotherhood” use them up and spit them out. We learn that the Kotlers are about to lose their family farm that has been in their family for ten generations. A seventh generation clan on Westerley can claim land on Leith. Because Lucas’ (Ian Tracey – love Tracey and hope they find a way to bring this character back!) family had a couple of bad crops, they are losing their farm. Did anyone else catch that Hills’ (Frank Moore) family is a seventh generation Westerley? Might explain his suddenly turning up at the bar…
While the warrant was to bring in Big Joe and his stolen ship, the real target is the device he’s stolen. While the device looked like a repurposed kitchen scale, its actual use was pretty sinister. It turns out that when it’s programed with someone’s DNA, it kills everyone related to that DNA within its blast zone. I also liked how the show explained why only some of them were blasted right away – the fact that Lucas wasn’t killed makes me wonder if we won’t see him again.
There were a couple of good scenes at the bar in this episode. I particularly liked the banter between Pree (Thom Allison) and Pawter (Sarah Power) as he “shrinks” her. More Pree please!!! I’m really loving Allison’s cheeky character.
Pawter seems a little too determined to keep D’Avin as a patient when he tells her he wants to stop treatment and see a specialist. She promises to help him if he promises to come back to her for treatment. This leads to her seducing – EW – Hills and drugging him to get information on Jaeger. When Hills comes to arrest her for it, she threatens him with her family on Qresh, but he tells her that nobody there gives a “shit” about her. When she won’t tell him who Jaeger is, he sends her off to West Hall. With D’Avin going off to help Dutch, I wonder who’s left to help her?
Hills also prevents Turin from being able to protect Big Joe. This also points to some coming conflict between the Company and the RAC. The best Turin can do is ensure that Big Joe meet a swift end by upgrading the warrant to level five. Dutch can’t kill her friend, but Fancy does. Baek has also created another great recurring character. Fancy is a loner because he’s considered to be an asshole, but as he tells John and D’Avin, “The asshole may not be liked by the will always be needed.” He proves this by killing Joe, stating “the warrant is all.” I loved that Nankin set up the first and last shots of Fancy to mirror each other, with him sitting alone with his back to the rest of the room.
This was another solid episode for me. With such a short season, it’s unlikely that the show will really be able to make much use of some of the very strong recurring characters. I hope that Syfy and Space decide to renew this show and are able to secure the actors – Allison and Morgan Kelly (Alvis) are two I’d really like to see more of, along with Baek. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
