wordyblerd

Something interesting is happening with the Lady. Like a bored child looking to gain the attention of an inattentive father, she sits by Khlyen’s side as he refuses to get out of bed, despondent at the loss of Dutch. And later, she expresses what could easily be read as sibling rivalry with Dutch and Aneela in absentia. Human emotions and attachments seem to have fully taken up residence in our chitinous alien antagonist. Does this make her more vulnerable or more dangerous? We’ll soon see.

I wish the show paused to explain the Lady’s physiology somewhat. I see in some fan communities they’re not too keen on this youthful seeming petulant portrayal of the Lady. Since I’ve already arranged it in my mind that ancient or no, she is a being unaccustomed to memory and its emotional effects except as an academic reality, she is having trouble experiencing their power first hand through the brain chemistry of a teenage girl. Without explicit real canon that’s all just head-canon stepping in to make sense of what’s going on.

Things are looking up at the Supermax. With Dutch and Johnny’s killjoy “one-year” agreement in place, it seems TAF’s unit cohesion is back at optimal levels. That’s good because now we can have some fun. There is a whole lotta silly in “Cherchez La Bitch.” There’s also a lot of heart. We find out that Calvert has a daughter she’s desperate to get back to. Dutch and D’av start to talk about the future. And Pree has a much needed talk with an awakened Gared over in Old Town.

Pree and Gared have come a long way since the latter’s aggro, bar-stealing days in the aftermath of the Company bombing Old Town. Thom Allison and Gavin Fox’s chemistry is what drove the writers to explore their dynamic more than just the brief antagonistic scenes they initially had. I’m grateful they did.

In the previous episode, Gared was crestfallen when Pree didn’t confide in him about what’s going on in Westerley during their post-rendezvous conversation. To his credit, Pree did seem conflicted about it but ultimately stuck with the plan to keep Gared in the dark that he and his fellow resisters had agreed upon. That decision comes to a head in this episode when Pree finally catches back up with Gared. Pree opens up to Gared and tells him that at his age he just wants to protect all that he values, but Gared is not buying it completely. He demands equality in their relationship. After they make up it’s back to the business of fending off the apocalypse.

Maintaining a mature, loving, and at times, fraught relationship with Gared is just one way Pree breaks the mold for his archetype. Pree is whole. He has his own wants, values, and allegiances, which he protects fiercely. I’ve seen the wise, snarky, queer (or queer coded), man of color trope before. But in other shows, they tend to be the one chocolate chip in the cookie who helps all the white people figure their shit out without a whisper of backstory or true agency for himself. Or perhaps he’d be put in situations where he’d be bullied so the protagonists can rack up hero points coming to his rescue. But on Killjoys, if you try to bully Preema Dez you’ll get a knife through the hand and a sultry celebratory dance of victory for your trouble. (But then you might wind up marrying him in a beautiful hand-fasting ceremony hours before an interstellar battle so there’s that!)

The best part of the episode is that all of our heroes meet up again. Good thing the Lady isn’t a huge stickler for securing her prisoners or destroying the ships of her enemies. They still need to save Pree, Gared, and Turin from Old Town then the rest of the human race. No pressure.

Roses

• Pree and Zeph running through the gauntlet of in-world and meta ways him carrying her could read as problematic then finally setting on “she is hurt and needs him and he is her friend so he carries her.”
• Nice to have a spot of fun before the penultimate episode
• Culvert being a chipper guide through D’av’s waking nightmare
• D’av “winging it” with Leithian history accompanied by Dutch’s high quality sound effects
• Turin, Zeph, and Pree dealing with their squeamishness over the alien baby
• Pree basically sharing the adage “Black don’t crack.” lol
• “She’s our baby, John!” “Stop.” “We had a baby.” “She has your eyes.”
• Zeph looks so pretty and clean at the end of this episode

Thorns

• Guess humans can breath the terraformed atmo after all??? They’re running and gunning without so much as an oxygen mask. I call shenanigans!
• Wow… I honestly don’t want to say good-bye to this show. 😦
• I wish they had come together 1 or 2 episodes ago. We don’t have a lot of time left for the family to be working together.