Nikolijne Troubetzkoy Talks Killjoys “Blame It on the Rain” [Exclusive] 

[Warning: spoilers for the episode.]

See? What did I tell you about your face hurting from smiling? Tonight’s Killjoys packed in a lot of emotion–goofy, giddy fun, happy reunions, near-death experiences, a body swap, and more! Nikolijne Troubetzkoy penned “Blame It on the Rain,” and she kindly took time out from her current project, CTV/NBC Universal’s Transplant, a drama about a Syrian refugee who finds work as a doctor in a downtown Toronto trauma center, for an e-mail Q&A about it.

Troubetzkoy was the first writer out of the gate behind showrunner Adam Barken and creator Michelle Lovretta to tackle writing the reset Season 5 versions of our beloved characters, and she says they worked hard to retain the essence of who each of them are. “We tackled our characters’ alternate personalities with the idea that the new personalities coming out under The Lady are actually hidden aspects of their subconscious,” she explains.

“I think that really helps build the innate familiarity you’re talking about and keep the ‘new’ versions of our characters feeling grounded. Dutch as a bartender? Johnny as an awesome father and a loving husband? It just kinda makes sense, doesn’t it?”

As a self-confessed D’av (and Luke Macfarlane) girl, I was totally down that it was him who Dutch made another run at to to try to shake him out of The Lady’s fog, but for me, that also brought up an interesting wrinkle about which brother she’s closer to when you could definitely argue Johnny is her other half.

“To me when we were writing, this really spoke to the physical intimacy that Dutch shares with D’av but not with Johnny,” Troubetzkoy points out. “She may have an emotional closeness with John that she will never have with D’av, but she and D’av have gone to a physical place that she will never go to with Johnny.” 

I loved the scene of Zeph remembering everything, and the run up that preceded it as Dutch was more demonstrative than we’re used to about how much Zeph means to her, and how much she needs her. We’ve known all along that Zeph would take a bullet for Dutch, and in the premiere, she actually did, without actually remembering that bond.

When Dutch is trying so hard to coax her out, and then the protein inhibitor works and everything about Pip floods back, Dutch is right there with her, feeling all that pain again for her friend. And I was a sniffly mess in front of my laptop.

Trounetzkoy loved writing that scene. “I always knew that scene would be fun to write, what surprised me is how emotional it ended up being,” she shares. “The Dutch and Zeph relationship is a fairly new one and it was so interesting to get to the beginning of Season 5 and have the opportunity to take stock of it and really see how far these two women have come. One of the things I love best about Killjoys is how much story we manage to cram into each season. This scene sums that up in a very visceral way.”

And of course, those tears were balanced out by Dutch going full peak badass in thigh-highs and a trench coat wielding a flame thrower at The Lady’s spawn a la Ripley in Aliens. As much as we enjoyed it at home, Troubetzkoy sums it up this way, “Literally, THE MOST FUN EVER. That’s all I have to say about that. Was it all my writing dreams come true? Why, yes… yes, it was. Am I eternally grateful to Michelle Lovretta and Adam Barken for letting me write it? Yes. Always and forever. It is the greatest gift anyone could ever give me.”

And about The Lady and whatever game she’s dangling in fron of Khylen, Troubetzkoy advises us to have patience, grasshoppers. “It’s a centuries-long relationship and we’re just starting our last season, so… I guess you’re going to just have to wait and see,” she teases.

When the Jaqobis finally do remember, we skim right past any heartfelt moments and get right back to the banter and ass-kicking and Troubetzkoy reminds us that is 100% on brand. “At its heart, Killjoys is an action-driven show. We try to have most of our emotional stories take place in the heat of the moment…so when we got down to breaking the structure of the first two episodes, it became very clear that we wouldn’t have time to linger on more than one or two of our characters while they got their memories back,” she says.

“The relationship between our main trio is so solid that it felt more interesting to us to play out that moment of remembrance with Zeph that with either John or D’av. The Dutch-Zeph relationship is newer and it offered an opportunity to say something new to the audience.”

“So…the plan was always to get back to business and unpack the ramifications of Dutch, John, and D’av’s alternate lives as the season unfolds. I love [writing] those fast-paced emotional moments. You have to do so much with a look and a line. It really speaks to the strength of this particular show.” 

Killjoys airs Fridays at 10 pm/9c on Space Channel and Syfy. All of our Killjoys coverage is here. You can catch all four seasons and the Season 5 premiere on demand on the Space Go app and Syfy app and website. This episode should be on demand tomorrow. ICYMI, click here for my exclusive interview with Peter Stebbings, who directed tonight’s episode.

Photos Courtesy of Space Channel and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy.