Killjoys “Attack the Rack” was written by Shernold Edwards and was directed by Jeff Renfroe. Edwards’ other credits include
Sleepy Hollow,
Haven, and
The Listener. Dutch’s (Hannah John-Kamen) war is off to a bad start in this episode. She seems to have won the battle only to have victory snatched away by Aneela.
Interestingly, the episode seems to be bookended by uncomfortable (for us!) sex. The episode begins with an hilarious scene involved Dutch and D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) waiting for Captain Cardiff (Gord Rand) to finish his session with a female sexer (Brandy Dawley) in order to kidnap him. Dutch is particularly uncomfortable as they wait in the closet, telling D’Avin that “My ears need a shower… and counselling!” She then tips the sexer – because she did all the work!
The plan is to kidnap the Captains of the other RAC sectors and show them how to get rid of the Hullen in their ranks. They also capture Fahruk (Brad Austin) and Duhane (Sharon Forrester). While Dutch, D’avin, and John (Aaron Ashmore) show them how to clean up their own RACs by cleaning up their own, Turin (Patrick Garrow) and Fancy (Sean Baek) use Kitaan (Tara Spencer-Nairn) to demonstrate the danger of the Hullen – after establishing that the Captains are all human too.
The plan also is for John to release a nerve gas into the RAC ship and paralyze everyone, allowing the team to test everyone and kill the Hullen. Which, if they poisoned the pool in their quad, shouldn’t they all have been cleansed like Fancy? Almost immediately, Dutch, D’avin, McAvoy (Erik Knudsen), and Banji (Luc Trottier) discover that the Hullen aren’t paralyzed and we get a great fight scene.
Dutch has assured the newbies that if she gets them in, she’ll get them out, but she isn’t able to save Benji when the Hullen he tests turns out not to be paralyzed. I loved how Dutch’s desperate bid to save him was shot with her fighting her way down the table top and the white background backlighting the entire sequence. I liked the use of variable speed her, but as always not the numerous quick cuts.
It’s clear there’s a mole in their ranks and they’re out-gunned – not having expected to have to fight. As they make their way to the armory, they are captured by Radek (Noam Jenkins). Dutch fights her way out and into the trash compactor – a la Star Wars! Radek proceeds to torture John in front of D’avin – using a machine to destroy John’s memories and mind!
There were some really nice brotherly moments coming out of the torture scenes – and Ashmore gives a great performance as we see the devastation on his face when he realizes that he can’t remember his “first time.” Later when he can’t remember what a banana is, we get some hope that any damage done will be repaired as he does eventually remember what the fruit with a yellow peel is.
McAvoy turns out to be the mole, and basically gets what he deserves when Radek shoots him. However, D’avin uses his green superpower when things get desperate, and we get to see him blow out someone else’s eyeballs! Does anyone else not think that Macfarlane’s face is silly as he does this?
Naturally, D’avin doesn’t manage to kill the right Hullen, and Radek tries to escape with D’avin – the brother he was after all along for Aneela. Meanwhile, Dutch gets to the armory – after taking off all her stinky clothing. Sorry, show, but the fact that they’d “smell her coming” isn’t a good enough excuse for this somewhat gratuitous “under-clothed” look. Ordinarily, I’d applaud putting a woman in bare feet rather than high heels to fight…
Dutch faces off against Banyon (Karen LeBlanc) in the armory and the two fight. Dutch stabs her thinking she’s Hullen, proving that Banyon is human – and as dedicated to cleaning up the RAC as Dutch. It’s another blow to Dutch’s war when Banyon ultimately dies and they lose this potentially helpful ally. Dutch also discovers the genetic bomb from last season – Turnin had it stored in an old box! John and Dutch set it off, exploding all the Hullen and saving the day. My big question here is shouldn’t the bomb have affected D’avin??
Meanwhile, Turin is explaining that the Hullen are master manipulators and don’t experience any real emotions. This actually ties in well with the Aneela storyline as she plays Gander (Ted Atherton) and Delle (Mayko Nguyen) against each other to distract them while she sends her squad to the Quad to pick up her package – D’avin.
Turin sends Fancy in to interrogate Kitaan, and she starts to plant a seed of doubt in both of them. She encourages Fancy to come back to them and asks if he misses how the green connected them all. We know that Fancy has always felt like an outsider and longed to be part of the group – it’s his weakness. Turin hesitates to let Fancy out of the box when Kitaan gets the upper hand, proving that he doesn’t quite trust Fancy.
In the final scene in the bar, Dutch changes the usual toast and pledge – the warrant is all – to the WAR is all, as the Captains all pledge their support. Turin tries to apologize to Fancy, but the damage has been done. When Turin asks if this “is the designated asshole corner?” Fancy tells him it is, and leaves him there. Hopefully, Fancy will join the rest of the team, but does he really feel like part of the team?
On Aneela’s ship, she tells Gander and Delle that she’s pleased with them. Delle realizes how and why she’s manipulated them. Aneela then blows up all the RAC ships. She tells Delle that when she kills Dutch, she wants her to be completely alone – which makes me wonder who else we are going to lose this season! The two are clearly turned on by their mutual bloodthirsty hatred of Dutch and the episode ends with them sharing a kiss.
What did you think of the episode? Is Dutch going to be able to win this war? Is Gander right? Will Aneela tire of her new toy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
