KILLJOYS -- "Escape Velocity" Episode 110 -- Pictured: (l-r) Aaron Ashmore as John, Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch, Luke Macfarlane as D'Avin -- (Photo by: Ken Woroner/Temple Street Releasing Limited/Syfy)
KILLJOYS -- "Escape Velocity" Episode 110 -- Pictured: (l-r) Aaron Ashmore as John, Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch, Luke Macfarlane as D'Avin -- (Photo by: Ken Woroner/Temple Street Releasing Limited/Syfy)

Killjoys: Episode 10, Escape Velocity Review – Can’t Come Back Soon Enough

Are you as worked up as I am? Killjoys‘ excellent season finale has left us with SO many unanswered questions, so many reasons to renew this show, that I’m just left stuttering and spitting. WHAT? We’re getting to the core of the mystery, but only have teasers! Khlyen is Level 6, the man with the genetic bomb on Qresh was Level 6 – but what exactly IS Level 6? And is Red 17 more than just that horror factory we see at the end? And what’s going to happen to D’Avin? And Fancy Lee? Will Dutch and Johnny find him in time? Did Pawter and Alvis survive in the tunnels after the Westerly bombing? Where are Johnny and Dutch taking Pree and the other Westerlyns?

We’ve been subtly, cleverly led to every single minute of this episode. The genetic bomb, the terraforming gone wrong, Khlyen getting rid of “the husband.” All of the pieces have a place now, even if we’re not seeing a complete picture.

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Johnny: What would you say if we told you Level 6 was real?
Bellus: I’d say yes please, I’ll have some of what you’re smoking. You serious?
D’Avin: We think we might have met one. His name is Khlyen.
Bellus: Six has been a rumor since I’ve been in this game. Agents go missing sometimes, a few every year. The RAC will say they’ve been transferred, or died in active duty, but then you hear whispers that they’ve been forced into Level 6.
Johnny: To be what exactly?
Bellus: Nobody really knows. More than just Killjoys. I’ve heard gene splicing, reanimation, crazy stuff, not a lick of proof.

That’s one of the things I like most about Killjoys – that we have lots of fascinating glimpses, and we trust that we’ll be given further reveals – and we’re not disappointed. Even the glimpses are fleshed out, well-written and not just dumped on us. Like the genetic bomb – Ep. 106 had a great story line that included that item, and if we had never seen it again, we wouldn’t be sputtering, “WAIT! What happened to that thing?” Instead, we’re left with, “gee, what a great idea, and it worked so well here… wonder if we’ll see that again.” And we do. Another show, which shall not be named, recently introduced a sort-of character, dumped her/it into a story, and then dropped it – we assume we’ll see her/it again, but it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense at the time, and it’s been a couple of episodes now with no further reference. We can trust that Killjoys won’t do that to us.

So rather than recap the episode, which of course we’ve all watched a couple of times, let’s figure out where we are, and what we’re looking forward to for Season 2 (keeping the faith).

  • Dutch: Still doesn’t know much about Khlyen. He tells her she should be proud of being from the “family Yardine” – we know nothing about them. In my interview with series creator Michelle Lovretta, she said that we can’t assume that this is one of the nine Qreshi families – “We never said Qresh,” she explained. We know next to nothing about the rest of the J. Who was the guy she was married to, that Khlyen killed, leaving her in a blood-soaked wedding dress the day Johnny tried to steal Lucy? He must have been royalty, because Dutch tells D’Avin that she’s a princess through her marriage. Why is Dutch on a “list” for Red 17?

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  • D’Avin: we know what caused him to kill his squad, we know why he doesn’t remember – but why was he made to do it in the first place? Why did he leave his family (and where are they from? Not Westerly, he’s said more than once), sticking Johnny with the abusive father/addicted mother? He’s last seen being dragged back into the Red 17 facility, whatever that hellhole is, next to a hooked-up Fancy Lee – will he be turned into a super-Killjoy, a Level 6 killer? Or something else? Of course, we want Dutch and Johnny to find him, as Dutch vows to do, before anything bad happens to him, but that doesn’t look likely at the moment! But we have to trust that Michelle has a plan for our KJs – you can’t introduce a character like D’Avin, then make him one of the “bad guys,” at least not permanently, in the next season!

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  • Johnny: I’m completely intrigued by the short conversation he had with Dutch about the day they met. Why was he trying to steal Lucy, “the prettiest ship” he had ever seen? I’d like to know how he convinced Dutch not to shoot him, but to take him on as a partner. What is it about the Scarbacks that calls to him? We can tell it does, at least a little bit. Frankly, he’s the least fleshed-out character of the three – and that’s ok, because trying to push one more character-development story would have been JUST THAT MUCH too much. But we’ll get more about Johnny in Season 2, I’m sure!

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  • Khlyen: Now there’s one scary dude. Why is he so fixated on Dutch? Murdering a husband, beating a “boyfriend” half to death…  He’s got some funky liquid plasma computer, he’s treated like a prince up in the RAC, and he teaches little girls to kill in creative ways. He’s got that GQ look, never seems to get mussed up – you get that with Level 6, the perfect hair and great boots? (Oh, sorry, I’m a little off track here.)

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  • Alvis and the Scarbacks: what is this? Where did they come from? Who is Alvis and what is his deal? Do he and Dutch have a …. history?
  • The Nine – well, maybe not any more – Families: They’re doing everything they can do to hold on to their power, and they’re bound together by what they have to do to keep their land and their role in the Company. But they’re scheming, lying, deceptive, jealous, ostentatious, insufferable… and really, really interesting.

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  • The J: There’s so much more of this fascinating world to explore! What are the worlds outside of the Quad? Does the Company only have a hand on the Quad, or are their tentacles into other planets?
  • Lucy: where did Dutch get her? Who is the “Lucy” personality patterned after, as Michelle Lovretta hinted?
  • Bellus, Pree, Pawter: Backstories, please! Pawter is still on Westerly, choosing to stay and take care of the survivors of the bombing. Pree is in Lucy’s hold with other refugees, his bar gone. And Bellus is, we assume, on Leith, but is she in danger from the Level 6 brigade, now that Dutch is on a campaign to stop Khlyen? Will she need to dust off her own Killjoy skills to protect herself, and maybe Dutch and Johnny?

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Keep the faith, RACPack! If you want a second season of this terrific new show, make that known. Tweet to @Syfy and @SpaceChannel. Use #RenewKilljoys. There’s a renewal petition – sign it! Go to the Killjoys Facebook page and show your love. Tweet to the fantastic cast and let them know you love their work. Tweet to Temple Street, the production company (all the Twitter handles are below). Most of all, tell your friends and get them to watch on either the Syfy (US) or Space Channel (Canada) websites. Hopefully, I’ll see you back here in the summer of 2016 to watch Season 2 – in the meantime, if I hear any news, I’ll be sure to report it!

Show some Killjoys love:

@hannahjk1, @aaronrashmore
@McLellanNora (Bellus), @ThomAllison (Pree), @SeanBaekTO (Fancy Lee), @RedTamsen (Lucy)
@morgansam (Alvis), @real_RobStewart (Khlyen), @SarahSPower (Pawter)
@Killjoys, @TempleStreet

Our Killjoys interviews:
Nora, Thom and Sean
Michelle Lovretta

Follow me on Twitter: @ErinConrad2 and @threeifbyspace

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