wordyblerd

Killjoys Gives Us Another Fast-Paced, Plot Rich Episode

It’s been a while since an episode of Killjoys started in Old Town, which is funny considering how many of them started there in the first season. As the Westerlyn mother was singing their own macabre version of Rockabye Baby complete with references to black rain,  I found myself idly wondering what Westerlyns do now. I know Dutch and Co compelled the Nine to stick around and fund their fight against the hullen, but after everything that’s happened, is Westerley still the permanent underclass toiling in the mines for their Qreshi overlords? Doesn’t seem like TAF would set up such a bum deal for them, but they have more immediate concerns so maybe folks just fell back into the status quo. The state of the in-world economy is not a factor in the story but these are the things I think about during quiet moments of atmospheric world building.

A Ship of ‘Ships

All of what happens in this show is deeply motivated by interpersonal relationships. From romance to general familial feelings, the reason why the breakneck speed of the plot has such weight is because we care about these people and they care about each other.

Dutch and D’avin’s casual-but-I-love-you-though situationship is so appealing and sexy and sweet and timid and wonderful. D’avin being there when Dutch awakens in the middle of the night with a start hearkens back to the first night he slept aboard Lucy and Dutch interrupted his night terrors.

I have always understood why people ship Dutch and Johnny, and this season’s premiere, set as it was in the honeymoon period when the characters themselves were still trying to suss out if they wanted to bang or not, certainly pushed that idea even more to the fore. But Dutch and D’avin just make sense. From the screaming fights to soft reassuring talks to their physical chemistry it’s all so combustible and vital.

Zeph didn’t really have too much on screen interaction with Johnny in past episodes but she was the one who was in charge of examining and monitoring him so I’m sure he was very cruel to her. Even though they didn’t show him lashing out at her, I can kind of imagine how mean Hullen-Johnnie must have been to her and feel vindicated on her behalf when she shocks him with a convenient shocky thing just laying around … near the baby’s bio-reading bassinet. (Wait, what? )

Pree and Dutch. They’ve been confidants since the pilot and I really must tip my hat to the casting department because you can put any two of these people in a room and let them do their thing without a worry . The fact that no one bid the team adieu when they found out the portentous vision the Lady gave to Dutch is a testament to their bond with each other.

Fancy and Gared’s  killjoys investigation yielded great results for the plot, and established Gared’s deep ties to the community.  Did anyone else notice how intense Fancy was all episode? He was giving me hullen-Fancy vibes, in fact.  I understand why someone like Fancy would be a bit eye-rolly about some miner superstition, but the deep empathy he showed during last year’s Cleansed storyline was absent. Maybe he was just very driven to find the kids and I’m overthinking things.

Layering in both Pip and Zeph’s pasts as a roadblock for them getting on one accord in the present sets the stage for any number of outcomes. I didn’t come into this season with a lot of expectations about their relationship and I still don’t. Obviously after this incident, things will become even more strained since the core team can’t trust Pip anymore, and Zeph plays an integral part in all things TAF, so automatically Zeph’s loyalties are divided.  The conflicts in these relationships are organically arising because even as familial and close-quarters as the team has been, they are still very different folks from disparate backgrounds

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I wish the adorable infant had stuck around just an episode more. I get why they hyper aged him since you can’t really have a newborn on a show like this for too long.  I also understand why they didn’t spend a lot of time explaining where his cognitive and motor development was coming from but some explanation, even brief, might have been nice. Maybe his mind is accessing the memory pool of the green in some way.  To be fair, the science behind his rapid physical growth was done very well.

Kudos to him for jumping off the table fully ambulatory and walking himself out of the cargo bay. Granted, it ended with him getting confused and sitting down naked in the hall  like a drunk college freshman, but A for effort!

I do wonder where  this might be going. Jaeden Noel plays Little Jaqobis with an otherworldly inquisitiveness (grounded by the teenage need to eat their family out of house and home). The back half of the season should be interesting. Let’s hope it turns out far better than Katoa, the character her played in The Expanse!

Final Thoughts

Howler mythology. Mmmm I love a bit of world building.

Everyone is just so pretty on this show and I like looking at them.

The perfect old wives’ tale for a people controlled by absolute capitalism would have a boogie man tied to debt.

Stimpak fight! (Also the after effects with D’av high as a kite afterward. I swear this show is so just… strange!)

Where are all of Turin’s RAC agents? They seem very useless and absent.

No matter how cute and charming Kraven, the Computer Man is, it was too dangerous for them not to scrub it from existence.

Golden Lines

“Last time I stayed the night, you disappeared into the green.” | “True, but the first time you tried to kill me, so… progress?”

“Um hi excuse me, do you seriously have no drinks that are not alcoholic or have you all just been drunk the entire time I’ve known you?”

(Everyone’s faces lighting up at the mention of Utopia.)

“Do you know what that lunatic makes inside of his labs? If you try to rip him off , you will be shitting out your own lungs while your eyeballs melt.”

“What a stupid way to die.”

“You wanna stop feeling bad, Delle Seyah? Stop being a shitty person. Do the work.”