Killjoys “Meet the Parents” was written by Adam Barken and directed by Jeff Renfroe, whose other credits include Houdini and Doyle, Beauty and the Beast, and Being Human. Interestingly, Barken also wrote episode five in the first season! This is another pretty intense episode with the action taking place on two fronts and the major season arcs seeing some developments. I really liked the parallel looks into the family lives of both Pawter (Sarah Power) and D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) and John (Aaron Ashmore) – though we got a much more thorough and satisfying look at Pawter’s. I also liked the whole Parent Trap gimmick with D’Avin and Kylen (Rob Stewart).
The episode begins with Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and D’Avin working together to bring in a warrant in Old Town. John is escorting Pawter home, and Dutch isn’t too happy about John and Pawter getting close. She also gives D’Avin a hard time about the new bartender, Sabine (Tori Anderson).
John is a bit shocked at just how rich Pawter’s family is. They are going to try to get her order of exile rescinded – and then he wants to take her to Leith to celebrate – at a place that serves drinks in pinecones! Pawter’s sister, Louella (Kimberley-Sue Murray) is engaged to one of Pawter’s old boyfriends, Hank (Marco Grazzini) – and both are insufferable. Pawter’s father, Weymer (Andrew Gillies) is the only one genuinely happy to see her.
D’Avin is trying desperately to get Sabine’s attention, and she’s just not that into him – but she would like him to bring her some peaches. She recognizes that he’s got family issues – why else would he come half way across the galaxy to drink! D’Avin suddenly collapses when Khlyen links with him. Given that D’Avin just gave the information Khlyen wanted to Sabine, I have to wonder if she’s in league with Khylen. Khlyen heads to Telen to get answers as to why Khlyen couldn’t make a level six out of D’Avin.
Pawter appeals to her father to talk to her mother about rescinding the exile. Pawter tells him that the Company is up to something and she needs to sit on the board in order to help Old Town. He doesn’t really approve, but still tries. I loved the scene in which John is skinny dipping in the family baptismal pool – oops! His comment is that “it’s like being licked by angels!” However, it’s time to get ready for the most awkward family dinner ever.
Pawter and John debate who has the scarier parent – is it Adaline Simms (Jayne Lewis) or Sheriff (!!) Marris Jacobis (Ron Lea)? Based on this episode, Adaline is – or was – way scarier. Khlyen and Fancy (Sean Beak) have no problem capturing Marris, who appears to be a sad, old drunk.
D’Avin tells Dutch he passed out on his date, and she points out that the last time his head went weird, he tried to kill her. She takes his gun, but then he starts humming the song that Khlyen wrote for her and Dutch turns the gun on him. She knows immediately that something is wrong. Meanwhile, Khlyen injects Marris with the green goo.
John is treated to the most awkward family dinner. Pawter leads him through the ridiculous ritual. Adaline doesn’t even allow Pawter to finish asking. When Pawter gets up and leaves the table, John goes after her to make sure she’s okay. John tells her that she deserves better – her family are all assholes! Before Pawter can go back in, Kaster (Damon Redfern) stumbles back in, frozen by the fog and breaks into a million pieces. Pawter tries to help, but her mother brushes her off. She also rejects John’s help.
Pawter barges in to the lab. She tells her mother it felt familiar, being locked out as that’s what she remembers from her childhood. Unlike most parents, Adaline is not proud of her daughter for becoming a doctor, she’s disappointed that Pawter didn’t take her place as the head of the family. Pawter begs her mother to let her in and let her help.
Meanwhile, Dutch and D’Avin continue to try to figure out what’s happening to him. Dutch realizes that Khlyen has found a way to mind link with D’Avin the way he used to with her. Khlyen and Fancy are disappointed in what they find – or don’t find in Marris. D’Avin’s father is not the reason he’s immune. Khylen tries to find out where D’Avin’s mother is and D’Avin picks the wrong time to improvise. First off, he leaves Dutch to deal with the Skeever brothers (Rogue Johnston and Allen Keng), and secondly, he ends up switching bodies with Khlyen. We get another great fight scene – and Dutch realizes pretty much immediately that Khlyen is in D’Avin’s body – and that body is now injured.
Back on Qresh, Louelle tries to save employees in the boathouse, only to be infected by the pathogen. In order to save her, Pawter slices her hand off with a handy sword.
Fancy takes a little longer to figure out that Khylen is D’Avin. While Khylen is experiencing pain for the first time in a long time, D’Avin really enjoys Khylen’s enhanced strength – taking out Fancy with his own giant cattle prod. Stewart does a great Macfarlane – loved watching him play D’Avin inside Khylen’s body!
John tries to work on an escape plan and bonds a bit with Weymer. He tells John he was a carpenter and Adaline had to go against her family’s wishes to marry him. John asks how he could have let Adaline kick Pawter out. Weymer tells John that when you love two people equally, you have to choose the one who will make you a better man. One has to wonder if these words will come back to haunt John considering the choice he makes by the end of the episode. However, John tells Weymer that any parent who kicks out their child is an asshole, and he would know as that’s what Marris did. Weymer points out that John may not know everything about his family.
Khlyen is desperate to get back before the Black Root arrive, and manages to insult Lucy. Dutch thinks that Khlyen doesn’t care about the injury to D’Avin’s body, but he assures her that he cares very much about D’Avin’s body – at least until he can discover the source of his immunity and what it means…
John confronts Adaline about the barrier to keep the pathogen in. She created the pathogen – but she didn’t release it. It’s an attack. John is going to blow the barrier but Adaline tells him he can’t. She’s infected herself with the pathogen because she thinks she has a cure – but it doesn’t work. Adaline tells Pawter it was quick thinking to cut off Louella’s hand. She also tells her that she created the pathogen for Qresh. The Nine are under a ticking time bomb, some of them embrace their fate while some resist it, and this was her attempt to stop it – by making the planet uninhabitable for those who want to take it. Pawter tells her that she’s not making any sense – and I have to agree – what the hell is she talking about?
Pawter wants to help her mother. Her mother tells her to use the science to help others – she’s leaving a full record of what the pathogen does to a human. She also tells her that this is what it means to be the head of the family – and THIS is what her father never wanted for her: “Sometimes to protect what you love, you must become something that you hate.”
John stops the bomb, but Adaline dies. I liked that Pawter draws on Old Town-Pawter, recognizing that Qreshi-Pawter would want to get drunk. Old Town has taught her how to be strong and capable.
Dutch tries to get more information on the green goo from Khylen. He tells her it’s the beginning and the end – which tells us nothing. He also makes vague references to his plans before he collapses. D’Avin tries to get Marris to go to safety, and Marris apologizes to D’Avin before D’Avin finally gets him to leave. Fancy wakes up and takes down D’Avin.
Weymer doesn’t seem too distraught over Adaline’s death. Pawter comes up with a plan – they have to burn everything – they just have to avoid burning all the people. John and Dutch get help from each other – without calling on the other or telling each other what’s really going on so that they can each deal with their own crisis.
John uses Louella’s diving suit to get to the gas mains to blow everything up – only to be waylaid by Hank, who is the one behind the attack. Hank destroys the detonator, and tries to get John to go 50/50 on the joy. It’s completely unclear where this joy is coming from. What is his actual plan here? Louella and Pawter actually share a nice moment, and Louella doesn’t seem to blame Pawter for taking off her hand – and at least she was trying to save their employees. Weymer sacrifices himself to save John. The only way to blow up the bomb and gaslines is for Weymer to blow them up. He tells John to take care of his daughter, essentially giving his blessing for their union.
Dutch tries to keep D’Avin’s body alive long enough for him to switch back into it. As he goes critical, she confesses to Khlyen that she’s changed. She doesn’t hate him anymore, but she misses it. Hating him was simple and now she doesn’t know what to hold onto. Khlyen sees that the army has operated on D’Avin’s brain – that’s likely what has made him immune. I did like them bringing that back in to be significant. Khlyen also mysteriously tells her that it wasn’t her on Arkon as a girl – could it have been her mother? Shocking D’Avin’s body brings his consciousness back.
Khylen comes back to himself on the ship with Fancy. He tells him that they are now going to investigate exactly what the army did to D’Avin. Fancy is looking forward to seeing D’Avin again – and not in a good way…
Pawter takes the oath to take her place as head of her family on the Council. John offers to keep being her wingman. He draws the distinction between Killjoy-Johnny and Qreshi-Fireball-Johnny. QFJ wants more than the warrant is all, he wants to give a shit, like Pawter does. He also wants to give a shit with her. Pawter tells him that he can’t tell Dutch or D’Avin anything – for their sake and safety as much as Pawter and Johnny’s. John does think back to Weymer’s words. Clearly, he thinks that Pawter will make him the better man.
John returns to the ship. He asks D’Avin about dad, and he tells him that he just seemed so small. Dutch has a new warrant for them. The two never really talk about their experiences, but Dutch surprises John by giving him a bearhug. She tells him that she’s changed a lot recently, but he’s her gravity. She asks him to tell her if anything ever changes between them – and he tells his first lie. It seems inevitable that this season will end with a huge breach between John and Dutch when she discovers he’s been lying to her.
There were a lot of holes in this episode. I did like the parallel family stories, however, and I’ll include Dutch’s coming to terms with Khylen along with Pawter and D’Avin finding closure. What did you think of the episode? How big of a mistake is it going to be for John to lie to Dutch? Do you think she’ll understand? 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.
