As unready as I am for this season to be over, everything has to have an end. Or at least a pause. And that’s what we hit tonight – since we already know Killjoys is renewed for Season 3, it’s just a pause, not an end. And good thing, because if the show ended right now, I’d never be able to get my breath back.
But I’m not at all sure I understand what I just watched, are you? I get that Aneela is Khlyen’s daughter, but we don’t know why Dutch looks just like her. Maybe we’ll find that out next season. I’m somehow not surprised that Khlyen is the person ultimately responsible for all of this mess – after all, he discovered and unlocked the secrets of the plasma. OK, I get that.
And I’m happy to learn that some of the theory I proposed a couple of weeks ago turns out to be true – that there is an alien force at work here, going back a long, long time, finally calling in the chips. Got that. BUT, and this is where I’m more than slightly confused – what’s the relationship between the plasma and, as Khlyen calls it, Hollan? Is the plasma, a neuro-parasite, connected in a link to the Hollan? Is the plasma Hollan? And when Khlyen discovered and disturbed it, did that cause the Great Eye to turn toward the Quad? Had the Hollan already been using the plasma to, what, power their technology? Make slaves all over the galaxy? And when they found out that there was a supply on Arkyn, that made them interested in conquering this remote little corner?
The interesting flashback, with Khlyen trying to find a way to use this new discovery as a food supply growth supplement, showed that early on, he realized there was something very wrong with this substance. And his lab assistants – and his daughter – were eating fruits (looked like cherry tomatoes!) grown with the plasma. It was from this, he says, that Aneela was driven insane – she was too young, and her brain not fully formed, to handle the transition. But how did Khlyen himself become part Hollan? Oh, I’m hellsa confused.
So he tells them about the big deception – that the Hollan came to the ancestors of the Nine Families, and offered them “eventual assimilation or immediate execution.” If they cooperated, and pulled all the valuables out of the Quad – minerals, resources and more – they would be guaranteed safety, in the form of becoming part of the ruling class of Hollan, rather than slaves. So that’s what they’ve done, for generations. Who knew about this? How was it passed on? Was this something that Pawter’s mother knew, as one of the rulers? Was she fighting against it, and that’s why she developed the deadly freezing fog? Was she trying to protect Pawter from the knowledge and the consequences by exiling her and keeping her from becoming a Council member?
The Archive was fascinating. Putting the pieces together between the Scarbacks (and didn’t you gasp along with Alvis when Dutch ripped the pages out of his sacred book???), Aneela, and the star chart was terrific.
There it was, clear as day. And the Archive itself reminded me a bit of a high-tech Gringotts, complete with traps. D’Avin and Fancy’s quips – “You guys union? Contract?” and “I didn’t hate what you did there” were terrific – they make a great team. Not that D’Avin and Johnny don’t – but maybe they like each other too much to make a fabulous buddy movie. I love seeing the two of them – when D’Avin closed Lucy’s ramp with Fancy still outside, I cracked up. I hope we get more of their fun team-up next season.
The other personality that sparkled here was Lucy. Last week, she reminded Johnny,
And this week, as they’re attempting to escape the Black Root ships at the Archive, he tells her to “put your dancing shoes on.” “I’m a ship, John, I don’t have feet. Oh, I get the reference. That was funny, John. You’re funny.” Perfect!
Dutch will now never get all the answers she needs, since Khlyen sacrifices himself to save her and the Quad. “I could lose you, like her, or I could train you to survive the transition. Everything I did, every cruelty, was to protect you and to prepare you.” (Raise your hand if you’ll miss Khlyen’s handsomely devilish performance!) Dutch now has to live with this major emotional conflict – she better understands why he did what he did to her as a child, but she has trouble accepting, and ultimately forgiving.
But Johnny tries to help. “Speaking as a member of the shitty dads club, you don’t have to forgive someone to miss them.You don’t need anyone’s permission to love someone that you hate.”
A shout-out to Pree – the Royale is empty, Pree is definitely subdued. It’s been a pleasure to see more of him this season, and learn about his checkered (and bedazzled) past. Warlord! Who’da guessed? But he stands up for Old Town, his friends, and his bar.
One thing bothered me in this episode – I never really got that Johnny is completely torn up by Pawter’s death. Yes, it’s discussed, but I just didn’t see it! But I did love that he killed Delle Sayeh just for Pawter. “So you know, that wasn’t for all the people that you killed. Or the millions more that you would have enslaved if you got another chance. I am not a hero. I just loved her.”
But then he goes and does the big hero thing after all – and Dutch would tell him that it’s misplaced. Not wanting to bring the wrath of the Company down on his team, he abandons them. He may think he’s saving them from a fight, but does he really think anyone will actually believe Dutch and D’Avin when they say they don’t know where he is? Don’t you think they would rather fight his fight with him, than feel themselves lucky to be rid of such a threat? If he really trusted his team, he would trust them to have his back, and to want to take his burden on as their own.
But Lucy loves John in her own digital way, and offers her forgiveness – and benediction, in the form of contacting Clara, the enhanced girl from the beginning of the season. “You need a wingman. And she has a gun arm.” What a great place for her to turn up again! She says they’ll need to steal a ship, and Johnny tells her he’s already had some success in that area – that’s how he got aboard Lucy, attempting to steal her (wouldn’t you love to hear that story?). So what do they steal? Khlyen’s ship, of course – “one of them won’t need it any more, and the other one’s an asshole.”
Speaking of ships – here comes Aneela in one of the scariest ships we’ve seen. She’s pretty scary herself – insane and scary. What will happen when she learns about her doppelganger Dutch? And next season: “We finally have our answers. We know who’s behind the RAC and what they’re using it for. We have two choices – take our local win, hope the fight doesn’t come back to us, die old and boring in our beds. Or… take the chance that Khlyen and Pawter bought for us. Make their deaths count for something. There’s more Hollan. There’s more plasma. Aneela is not going to stop unless I stop her. Let’s stop them all. I don’t want to win just one battle. I want to win a whole bloody war.” Lots of mysteries still remain, lots of action to come in Season 3! Thank you, Killjoys, for a fabulous Season 2!
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