This Killjoys review contains spoilers.
Killjoys Season 5 Episode 2
“Move now; bitch later.”
After a season premiere that leaves viewers still a bit confused as to the intricacies of The Lady’s master plan, “Blame it on the Rain” brings the alien entity’s agenda more clearly into focus. Pacing has never been an issue for Killjoys, and tonight is no exception as Zeph and Dutch perform surgery on a gunshot wound, wake the Jaqobis brothers, and put into motion a plan to foil The Lady’s attempt to make Westerly the new home for her body snatching species. Just another busy day at the office for Team Awesome Force.
Though she’s not at full strength, Zeph determines they have just twenty-seven days until The Lady’s terraforming plan takes hold eliminating the breathable air. On the one hand, it’s excruciatingly painful watching her operate at less than optimal intellectual power, but Zeph’s refusal to lie back and allow The Lady to roll over the human race on Westerly simply reinforces what we’ve known for some time. She is an integral card carrying member of Dutch’s team.
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However, before they can execute their plan to eliminate some of the chemical factories The Lady has prepared for her terraforming endeavor, Dutch and Zeph need to test the protein inhibitor theory before employing it in the field. It’s a forgone conclusion that Zeph will test it on herself, and it’s her visceral reaction to the crushing loss of her best friend Pip that reminds us experiences both joyous and painful make us who we are. “Make this bitch pay,” she implores Dutch. With duct tape holding her body together after the surgery to remove the bullet and sheer force of will directing her mental focus, Zeph helps Dutch wake the Jaqobis brothers, and it appears the team is one step closer to stopping The Lady. There’s room for another character to step forward, and Zeph continues to make the most of the opportunities presented.
Though Pree, Fancy Lee, and Turin appear briefly, their limited roles serve merely to add a bit of narrative flavor to the tale. Dutch’s priceless exchange with Turin when she procures antibiotics and painkillers for Zeph ends as we know it will with Dutch stealing the drugs and running back to her friend. Fancy’s appearance seems to be more about reminding us that the RAC agent is still around, and while Pree’s encounter with D’avin plays into the manhunt for Dutch, his role is minimal at best. Still, it’s always great to see these three no matter the limited scope, and as Fancy points out, “Sexy people have feelings too.”
Read more: Killjoys Season 5 Episode 1 Review “Run, Yala, Run.”
Khlyen’s appearance last week with The Lady on Aneela’s ship raises more questions than it provides answers, and now, with a new corporeal host, The Lady’s body jumping ability presents a new narrative wrinkle. Though she’s loathe to admit it, Khlyen’s confidence that his girls will find a way to stop the alien’s insidious plan to take over and control Westerly produces a noticeable impact on her. “Still think I fear your Yala? Perhaps I’ll wear her next,” she tells him, but it’s clear she’s losing patience and maybe even her focus. Has The Lady committed a tactical blunder by bringing Khlyen out of the green allowing him to get inside her head at the same time Dutch moves ever closer to saving Westerly?
To this point Killjoys has deftly navigated the science fiction trope waters, most notably with its handling of the Dutch/Aneela doppelganger plot point, and hopefully, the writers will resist the urge to have The Lady jump from body to body as Dutch and her team increase the pressure on her. Of course, that presupposes that Team Awesome Force has one more escape plan left in its arsenal now that The Lady’s forces have taken them into custody just seconds before executing a clean getaway. Does this mean starting over from scratch, all recovered memories lost once again?
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Once Zeph and Dutch wake Johnny and D’avin, their memories of destroying the green plasma return, and they learn that The Lady escaped to create this alternate world on Westerly. It’s here that we’re treated to a visual science fiction television trope that never seems to lose its effectiveness. With a pronounced J. J. Abrams Alias vibe going on, the camera gives us the ubiquitous slow motion shot of Dutch striding down the street flanked by Johnny and D’avin who tease each other about D’av’s admission that Dutch is his girlfriend. Classic. Unfortunately, it’s short lived, and it appears we’re back to square one after Zeph loses communications with the team, and the rain begins to fall.
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In many ways this season’s principal narrative arc follows a well worn science fiction approach as an alien race seeks a new home for itself on a less than welcoming planet. However, the physical and metaphysical powers of The Lady keep the team and viewers on alert that things may not always be what they seem. As she prepares to blow up one of The Lady’s factories, Dutch notices and then torches the eggs/babies/whatever The Lady has clearly stored and prepared for the next phase of her mission triggering an immediate physical and emotional response that leads to the team’s capture.
After the writers wisely bring Dutch, Johnny, and D’avin back to full strength without significant delay, hopefully the rain doesn’t send them back to memory square one, further postponing the next of several confrontations leading up to the series’ finale. It remains unclear exactly why The Lady wants Jaq, but he does possess a sort of hybrid genetic makeup that may appeal to her for some reason. Still, it’s the Sophie’s Choice dilemma The Lady presents to Khlyen that stands as the next hurdle the team must face. Given the opportunity to save either his daughter or his grandson, Khlyen somewhat cryptically tells her “You know who I choose.”
Given their long and storied relationship, it seems highly improbable that Khlyen will choose Jaq over Dutch. Even though we’re not quite sure what we actually have in Khlyen, he does seem confident that he’ll play a role in finding a crack in The Lady’s armor. So while it appears that it’s Dutch, Johnny, and D’avin who need rescuing, their situation opens a perfect opportunity for the secondaries to step up and be counted. Kendry will likely search for reasons to avoid the fight, but Zeph, Gared, Pree, Fancy Lee, and Turin remain available even if they don’t yet know it.
“Blame it on the Rain” spends the bulk of its time bringing Dutch’s team back to the real world, and while Killjoys typically avoids the back and forth narrative traps to which many shows fall prey, that danger seems evident. Nevertheless, The Lady presents a fascinating and formidable foe for whom it will take a total team effort to defeat. As always, the question is at what cost.
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Dave Vitagliano has been writing and podcasting about science fiction television since 2012. You can read more of his work here. He presently hosts the Sci Fi Fidelity podcast.