Killjoys Season 2: Paths Diverged 

As TV fans, there’s a degree to which we have to trust our TV overlords, and remember that they, for the most part, love their babies more than we do (Penny Dreadful is the exception). In the early days of press around Season 2 of Killjoys, we started hearing that the team would diverge from each other.

It’s been proven out over the years that I do not do well when I am accidentally or even sort-of spoiled or given teasers about “new dynamics” because it sets me on a path of assuming or dreading that “X” will be no good, very bad, awful and then I preemptively check out to avoid getting hurt. I am also a grown up who realizes I’m not owed anything, so I if I choose to check out, that’s on me. Y’all know we don’t hate watch at TV Goodness.

I didn’t check out of Killjoys, but I definitely didn’t watch it with the same degree of ardor I had last year, mostly to head off getting TV fan ragey (as I did about last season’s finale) about the fabulous formula of the threesome being broken. Now that I’ve seen almost the entire season, I know I had nothing to worry about, but I also think I was a healthier TV viewer because I watched it as a fan who enjoyed it but didn’t get consumed by it. I found a weirdly happy medium that completely worked for me.

Separating Dutch, Johnny, and D’avin (not as much as I expected, it turns out) also opened the door to us getting to know both Alvis and Pawter, allowed Dutch and D’avin to find their footing with each other, and gave us a glimpse into Johnny beyond the funny guy who’s nerdy about tech and particularly loyal to Dutch. At some point when I have a spare 10 hours, I’ll probably sit down and watch it all over again with fresh eyes.

This season has been about fractured loyalties, personal growth, and a new, larger mystery that’s given Dutch and D’avin a very specific focus. It also excluded Johnny, who, in a pique of being left out, found himself in love with Pawter and on a new mission that was mostly hers, but he was happy to have the purpose. I want to see what Johnny’s mission is when it’s 100% is own. I think we will get there.

The larger story of the 6s (Sixes, take your pick) went a little bit over my head but I got the  gist–it’s Jason Bourne for the Qreshi crowd as they manufactured, or bankrolled the manufacture, of people who were “more.” We just don’t know what they are designed to do, if anything, beyond kill.

That also put the startling suggestion on the table that maybe Dutch wasn’t always, or isn’t, Dutch, or maybe she’s a Six/6, too, but she’s dormant or was in some way rehumanized, as we saw with Sabine–another character who became so much more than we expected in just one episode (look for Tori Anderson on The CW this fall in No Tomorrow).

If Dutch is/was Aneela and just doesn’t know it, has Khlyen been suppressing her all these years, or has he brought her forth when he needed, as on Arkyn in the vision shown to D’avin? Why does he want Dutch to kill her *now*? If she’s another physical being–a clone/sister/twin–where has she been and why is Dutch seeing her now?

It’s jarring and a bit sad that Johnny doesn’t know she’s struggling with that, now that he’s removed himself, to a degree, from Dutch’s daily life. He’s out of the loop, painfully so, after she confessed to him that he’s her gravity and he sort of ghosted on her. It’s all over her face when she tells him, while he’s trapped in Jelco’s hamster ball, that she’ll call Pawter to come get him and then walks away.

I love that D’avin, without condemning his brother, has stepped in to remind Dutch that she is Dutch. I love that for himself, he’s really trying to embrace and hone whatever this new Sensei gift is. As someone who’s been broken time and again by people fiddling with his brain and DNA, he’s decided to own that bitch this time.

In this last episode, we found out just the degree of creepy the Qreshi will stoop to, and it’s terrifying and about to get worse (again, no spoilers). If you’ve read me at all, you know where I land on bodies not in control of themselves while the mind is aware or hijacked (*cough* Haven *cough*), so I was not a fan of the helpless Pawter and Johnny being all shiny happy and defenseless (when I was sure Jelco would kill Pawter in front of Johnny).

All bow down about the extraordinary scene where Aaron Ashmore is doing three things with his body as Johnny fights to surface through the drug–he’s saying lines about how terrible he realizes things are; he’s smiling as he says the words in a sing-songy tone that belies their gravity; and he’s crying. Seriously, go watch it again.

Sarah Power has also been terrific to watch this season as Pawter assumed the mantle of her actual title, recovered from really losing her parents, consciously chose to leave her Old Town patients behind to go undercover for the greater good, and unexpectedly fell in love with Johnny. She’s had a lot going on. There’s a great moment in the next episode where she has a chance to verbalize her drive this season, and her struggle of doing that against who she was, who she is, and who she wants to be.

The other bonuses this season have been Dutch finding a little peace with Alvis, who had the extremely hot line, “There are other ways to worship,” when Dutch seduced him in the middle of his prayers and apologized afterward. I think they are romantic in their own way but Michelle Lovretta is on record that it’s a convenient arrangement, no strings. I like to think it’s a little of both. It may not be a great romance with longterm potential, but I think there’s a genuine affection, protection, and history between them that goes beyond friends with benefits. My nickel opinion.

We also got to see the fabulous Pree go on a mission and then go home to his beloved bar, even if he had to stab someone to take ownership. And he’s recurred when we and the Killjoys have needed him, as a sassy sage and hilarious liaison to contacts from his warlord days.

Bellus and Turn remained in the mix as a sounding board for the crew when they needed a gut check or a reality check, and I love that Turin (and his fabulous head of hair) is so damn crusty about helping and being helped by them.

And Delle Seyah is continually devious and sublimely, “so what” and Heathers about it all. I wish you could all find the Canadian series ReGenesis, which is where I first saw Mayko Nguyen. Love her.

We haven’t actually seen Khlyen much for all the talk of him, so I hope by the finale, we get to have a little–or a lot–exposition fairy action about what the hell it’s all been about.

Two episodes left this season, and I’m going to guess we’re down for a Season 3. I don’t see how we couldn’t be. Ratings are solid vs. last season, and it’s a Syfy/Space marriage, so there’s that.

So, file this under lesson learned–just watch the damn show cold. I don’t want or need to know anything ahead of time because then I set expectations in my head before I see how it all actually plays out when the show airs.  If I do or don’t like it at that point, I’ve taken it as presented in real-time, as TPTB intended.

Killjoys airs at 9/8c Fridays on Syfy. All our coverage and interviews are here.