Killjoys 2x01 – “Dutch and the Real Girl” returns in a way that’s loud and clear, for the most part

I’m always particularly wary when a genre show returns for another season, mostly because I always wonder if this will be the last one and the creators don’t see it coming, but my biggest fear – when it comes to genre especially – is how escalation is going to work. Sci-fi and fantasy shows are generally guilty of this trend where each season they have to plant their flag in the ground and declare that they are going to go bigger, expand the world (universe) more, and just make everything more deadly to our heroes, because we can. And in a way, it makes sense, because the creators have grown more confident with their craft, but as a viewer and also a writer, it’s something that makes me wary. Do the stakes truly need to be upped so high every time? Because I feel like I have seen this happen and fail more often than it working out in favour. And that’s a shame if it befalls a show like Killjoys.

Maybe some of those fears are there, for me at least. But the season opens strongly in something of a dream sequence. John, D’avin, and Dutch are all back together, background exploding behind them for no good reason and they’re ready to kick some ass again, ending in a kiss that gives off sparks, which I found oddly amusing. The imagery is great though, but it quickly boots us back to the real present, with D’avin being experimented on to become a level six killjoy (but failing), and Dutch and John trying to find a way onto Arkyn.

The real meat and potatoes of the episode leads to the introduction of Clara (and Alice!), a modded-out woman that carries the one thing on her Dutch and John (and Pree) need to get onto Arkyn. It is Clara though who proves to be the most interesting aspect of the episode, as she embodies much of the series’ strengths and themes of family, trust, and purpose as strongly as the main trio do. It’s likely she’ll reappear again, hopefully more often than not as she embarks on her own journey that hopefully crosses paths with the main characters.

On the other hand, though D’avin’s journey is interesting in of itself, the fact that it’s tied to Khlyen’s and that there is an ever brooding, more insidious, looming threat that makes even the straight-faced Khylen shake feels a bit more cliché. Hopefully there is more to it than that but it’s probably safe to assume it’s just greater unknown organization that hides on the dark side of the moon or outside in dark space whose plans are probably going to be inscrutable to the viewer for a while. The only relief is that Fancy is back, albeit as an antagonist, but at least a familiar one. Hopefully they use him for more than end of episode teasers where he does something vaguely evil to drive the point home that his bosses are evil.

At this point I’m probably leaning more towards how the show wants to continue or resolve the Old Town storyline, as it is a bit more personal to the characters. One of the strengths of the show is that cohesion of character tied to world building. It’s still present when D’avin realizes he’s seen Dutch in his dream-vision/old memory/green goop hallucination, but there’s not much behind it yet as much as the rest of the show’s other storylines. But I’m willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt. It is only the premiere and the show still knows how to have fun, after all. Sometimes that’s all you need to do.

Miscellaneous observations:

• Pree is a fantastic addition to the team who fits in on their first mission, no questions asked. He was a former criminal, after all. He knows his way around.
• Lucy is as sassy as ever, which is also great.
• I have the feeling the show is maybe inching towards putting John and Clara together, and I guess I like this idea a lot. Lucy probably does too.
• I found it odd that amidst the sadness of the Old Town reveal to D’avin, Dutch seemed to really only care about Pawter and Aldis. I’m sure she means well but there are clearly all the other citizens that could use your help!