Killjoys “Wild, Wild, Westerley” was written by Sean Reycraft and directed by Martin Wood. Both are new to the show, which may help explain why this episode felt different for me. Reycraft’s other credits include Finding Carter, The Vampire Diaries and Degrassi: The Next Generation, which might explain the increased humor and somewhat less serious tone. Wood’s other credits include effects and sci-fi heavy shows like Cedar Grove, Sanctuary, and Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate SG-1.
This episode picks up from the first – the team is going to pursue the meaning of D’Avin’s (Luke Macfarlane) dream about Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) fighting the scarbacks with Khylen (Rob Stewart) on Arkon – but first they are going to rescue their friends in Old Town. There's a nice mirror image of Dutch, which will no doubt figure in as a recurring theme.
They need a warrant to get in so they head back to the RAC only to discover that Turin (Patrick Garrow) is still alive! And not a level 6 – ouch! He assures them that the RAC is back to being neutral and provides them with the only warrant currently active in Old Town.
The team arrives to find Old Town is now surrounded by a high-tech wall – which John (Aaron Ashmore) immediately falls in love with! We also see that Pree (Thom Allison) was once a warlord named Prima Dezz!! SO many layers, Pree! Jelco (Pascal Langdale – another alumni of Bitten like Garrow) is in charge of the wall and the holder of the warrant. There’s been a prison break, and he wants the team to catch the escaped prisoners, especially Tarren Tighmon (Kedar Brown).
Heading into Old Town the team discovers that someone has taken over the Royale – and Pree is pissed! Dutch challenges Gared (Gavin Fox) to fight for the bar – for Pree but also for a distraction so that John can scan the patrons of the bar. We get a good fight scene – but not the show’s best and it’s played a little too much for laughs for me. They do also identify one of the escapees (Tyler McMaster), but he kills himself rather than surrender. Pree stays at the bar while the other three head to the prison, even though they know it is likely to be an ambush.
At the prison, they find Carl (Jameson Kraemer) the last of the guards who pushed the red button that caused the mummification of the prisoners – which they find in the cells. They learn that Tighmon has escaped with a lot more of the mummification gas.
The team goes to Pawter (Sarah Power) – finally! – for help. She’s been working tirelessly to provide medical attention for the people of Old Town – and she’s hidden Hills (Frank Moore) who is also – miraculously – still alive! Hills gives them some insight into Jelco, telling them that his specialty is more extraction and torture, not management of a town.
John is clearly happy to see Pawter – and she is happy to see him. He wants her to appeal to her mother for help to get off Westerley, but she’s determined to stay. I did love the bit when they warn her about the body being gruesome, and she laughs at them, telling them the last guy she saw came in holding his own intestines, but “ew, mummy….”
I also did love Pawter taking Gared out when he tried to steal all the painkillers from her! She is able to tell the team that the only way to neutralize the gas is with water… a lot of water. They also turn to Alvis (Morgan Kelly) for help, but he is in a very dark place when they find him. He does agree to help and Tighmon agrees to talk to Alvis and Dutch. He insists that he is trying to protect the miners and their families who the Company have completely abandoned. He insists that Dutch needs to speak for them. However, while Jelco had them, he put trackers on them, and the Company drones are able to locate them and kill Tighmon.
Jelco offers them free passage out if they bring him the tank. Pree refuses to leave the bar again. Alvis takes the tank and is going to gas the Company until the others tell him that Hill and Pawter are with Jelco. Hill is trying to do the right thing in helping to get Pawter out. He tells Jelco that in saving people, he saved himself – and then Jelco kills him. Pretty sure this time he’s really, really dead.
In order not to kill Pawter and Hills, Alvis ends up breathing the gas in himself, and D’Avin risks his life to save him by tackling him into a tank of water and almost drowning him. It’s nice baptism/re-birth imagery that goes along with Alvis re-discovering his faith – continued in the next episode.
When they return to Jelco, he tells them that Old Town is being used as an example of what happens to those who rebel against the Company. He also tells them that Pawter is now a guest of the company – which she doesn’t deny. John kisses her goodbye – clearly some unfinished business between these two – though why anyone would want to hook up with a sibling’s old flame is a bit beyond me – regardless, John uses it to plant a device on Pawter’s neck so that they can communicate with her.
Dutch asks Alvis to come to Arkon with them. Alvis agrees but points out that there have been no Scarbacks on Arkon for 200 years – another mystery of the vision. However, as Lucy (Tamsen McDonough) tries to leave, she is suddenly brought back to Westerley. It’s Turin. He tells them that the RAC is actually completely compromised and the Level Sixes are in control, but Red 17 is gone. He agrees to help them with unsanctioned warrants if they help him. They are all being used until they know the RAC’s end game.
The last we see of Pree, he's not letting anyone else fight his battles for him - in case you were worried he really needed Dutch to protect him. And of course, Gared suffers one more very painful defeat at Pree's "hands."
I liked the title “Shaft” because it works on two levels – always an easy sell for me. Of course it refers to the mining shaft the team goes down – and specifically the one we first see Dutch through, but it also refers to the team getting the shaft from Turin and Turin getting the shaft from the RAC… The episode was written by another newcomer – Jon Cooksey – and was also directed by Martin Wood. Wood really manages to capture the lighting effects and contrasts which really caught my notice in the first season. Cooksey’s other credits include
Arctic Air,
The Collector, and
Rugrats. The emphasis does seem to be on the more cartoon potential of the show, which is a shame in my opinion. And don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of graphic novels and comics, but I'd rather not see
Killjoys as a Saturday morning cartoon...
This episode does begin more traditionally – for the show – in medias res. Dutch appears to be trapped somewhere and suddenly Khylen is there and cuts her belly open to prove she’s a level 6! And then it’s 12 hours earlier, and we’re back with the team with Turin on Westerley…
Turin tells them that Khylen is behind a covered up rescue signal for a team of Killjoy salvagers that came from the Northern Badlands. The team is interested because Khylen was interested, so they head to the rescue. We get a lot of tight shots of them driving around the Badlands – which seemed like a cheap and somewhat boring way to avoid a lot of CGI… The do find the ship from the salvagers and it is mysteriously covered in moss – on the inside!
John makes contact with Pawter. She tells him that she’s determined to do some good – as a way of getting justice for Hills. In the end, her father, Weymer (Andrew Gillies), refuses to rescue her from Springhill anyway.
Meanwhile, Dutch seems to grow closer to Alvis. He tells her that he’s thinking of leaving the Scarbacks. Dutch is shocked and tells him not to give up his faith.
Dutch, D’Avin, and John find Tania (Lina Roessler), who is frantic for them to come down into the mines with her to help save her sister Deanna. She tells them that Paulo (Zach Apostoleris) attacked them. Tania tells them that they were sent to salvage a monk. Alvis comes in handy as a former miner, and tells them that the Scarbacks all started in the mines.
Jelco, it turns out, is also a Kreshi, though not a 9 like Pawter. He is clearly smitten with her. He also insists that she drain the fluid from around his heart. She uses the opportunity to trap him with his own explosive leg monitor device, which she takes off of her own leg and puts around his heart! Nice work, Pawter!
The mine is a pretty cools set. I liked the use of the crystals and blocking walls as well as all the twisty, turny tunnels. Lots of great use of blue flashlights too! This episode did feel like it captured the Killjoys look.
The team is separated after John tries to take Tania back to Lucy and Tania freaks out and causes a cave in. The moss turns out to be a disgusting organism. I loved John’s description that they look like angry vaginas! And it’s brilliant to call them moss-ipedes! In the end, they eat Tania – and have clearly eaten Paulo and Deanna. Their bites cause hallucinations. They realize that the mine hasn’t been played out at all – there are still lots of crystals – but it was shut down because of the moss-ipedes.
After D’Avin stomps one, he asks, “What’s filled with green goo and you can’t kill it?” Apparently moss-ipedes and level 6s. Dutch has been bitten and hallucinates – taking us back to the opening scene. She’s afraid that Khylen is going to make her kill all of them.
Meanwhile, Alvis has found the Monk – and apparently his faith as well. He takes the knife from the Monk. Alvis is the one to save Dutch, but telling her that he’s not leaving without her, so if she wants to save him, she’s going to have to get them both out of there. On their way out, they make another discovery – the moss-ipedes run away from D’Avin!
Pawter has discovered that there are walls around all of the cities of Westerley – but not what that means. The team heads to pick her up, but before she can rendezvous with them, she is knocked out.
Alvis goes to check on Dutch in her cabin. She tells him that it’s time to accept what she is – a weapon. Alvis tells her that he feels that there was a reason that she brought him to the mine, to find the Monk. He also tells her that the Monk cut off a piece of his own skin to leave a message. There is an old adage from the faith – 12 left to fight the devil on Arkon and only one came back. Alvis is going to go to a monastery on Leith to check the old scriptures for more information on what it all means. Just as Dutch is about to kiss Alvis (YES!), they are interrupted (NO!).
The episode ends with Dutch telling Turin that she’s done taking orders. From now on, they’ll do things her way. So lots of interesting mysteries set up and already starting to dovetail together. Ashmore has settled back into his character a little more quickly than the others. We never got to see much of Alvis last season, so I hope they don’t just sideline him on Leith. I like the idea of a bigger team – and us getting to see more of Alvis – and more Pree, please! What did you think of the episodes? Theories on who has knocked out Pawter? 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, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
