In last night’s newest episode of Killjoys, “Bro-d Trip” (4×03), we get quite the massive chunk of the Jaqobis brothers.
For those who had issue with the last episode, “Johnny Dangerously” (4×02) because of the lack of Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) then this episode may have still felt lacking even though we got way more of her in various ways in this episode. This episode’s end really felt like we were finally getting Team Awesome Force back together, well, we’ll definitely see some iteration of it in the next episode if the promo is any indication.
This episode continues where “Johnny Dangerously” left off with Johnny Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore) and D’avin Jaqobis
(Luke Macfarlane) on a sort of road trip together. Johnny is still Hullen-ized and crazy while D’avin remains his little brother’s hostage through the whole thing. Johnny continues to be absolutely horrible to his brother as he drives them in the direction of his green plasma seeking probe in order to get himself more plasma in order to fully Hullen-ize himself.
The trip doesn’t go smoothly and Johnny is basically haunted by a hallucination of Dutch that is appearing very much to plead to keep her (and the good part of himself alive). I thought that this was incredibly meaningful in several ways whether you’re a fan of the show since day one or if you’ve just happened upon the show this season (and maybe haven’t gone back to binge watch it all yet — also, what are you waiting for?). Dutch and Johnny’s relationship really is the core of not only of Team Awesome Force but really of the show, but that’s I feel because Johnny and Dutch have known each other the longest. So, to me this just showed exactly how connected the two of them are and how each of them has the other in their heart and soul…and this was very much Dutch fighting to save him which in turn would save her. Looking back to “The Warrior Princess Bride” (4×01) episode where we got the origins of Dutch and Johnny’s relationship which led to them really being a team, Killjoys, and ultimately each other’s family…Johnny was really the one who saved Dutch even though he was the one dying. Johnny had kept her human and from making what likely would have been the biggest mistake of her life and she was given a chance to live as normally as either of them could in that time. In this episode, it really is Dutch (even if it’s a hallucination) giving Johnny that chance. I actually really appreciated as well the ways that hallucination Dutch called Johnny out for his actions because it was quite in character for actual Dutch, which I think also just lends to just how well Johnny knows her for his mind to create such a vivid representation of her. Though I’ve seen people argue that the reason that he says her is because of the green plasma, which might have made sense if he’d touched a pool of green some point in the beginning after being made Hullen, which didn’t happen. I am wondering how this will all play out for the whole “and the thief who was about to save us all”, whether this might be part of the plan all along (and perhaps there’s some twist coming that somehow Khlyen was able to tell Delle Seyah to do it via the green link even though she said it was radio silence)? Time will definitely only tell and whether Johnny will really be the one to save them all.
I said this about last week’s episode already, but Aaron Ashmore is just shining in his range of evil and crazy and fleeting sane moments of Hullen-ized Johnny. We really haven’t gotten to see such different ends of the spectrum and Aaron just does it all so brilliantly and seamlessly. I also feel like Luke Macfarlane’s performance was amazing as well even though D’avin’s reactions were never so huge, I think that that was truly the beauty of it. D’avin bottles everything up and he’s used to doing that, but there’s also the side where he’s gotten used to doing it (like Dutch) to protect Johnny. So,
there was clearly a lot of upset, concern, rage, grief, and the weight of responsibility for Johnny all in his facial expressions and his eyes. “He’s losing everyone he loves”, hallucination Dutch points out to Johnny and it’s absolutely true. It was played completely differently between Aaron and Luke, but so well done. The whole need for Jaqobis brothers being the center of episodes as any sort of team has been a long time coming and I mean, what better setup than for them to be out to save Dutch (even if Hullen Johnny obviously had other plans).
Though the focus is on the boys, there is still the fate of Delle Seyah Kendry (Mayko Nguyen), whom on the last episode was lured into a trap thanks to Hullen Johnny. I found the range of Delle Seyah not being able to shift her weight of being Qreshi (especially when she’s called out for being ‘dead’) and then we end up with her doing everything she said she was going to do was absolutely brilliant. She ends up not only saving herself and her child, but also the young woman who has been helping her to get to freedom after exposing the illegal operation going on there. Even though I really never have thought of Delle Seyah of being an emotional character or a caring character (unless it has to do with her survivor or advancement), but there was definitely this caring about the fate of the child she’s caring and I love seeing her bring up Aneela (Hannah John-Kamen) plus just how much she seems to care about the woman who was helping her. I’m sure part of the entire thing is that I’m personally still trying to wrap my brain around how Team Awesome Force plus Aneela, Delle Seyah, and the baby are going to be some kind of family (well if that actually ends up happening on any level). The whole different team-ups so far this season has been really interesting, though, and I feel like have really given us so much more character development.
Speaking of different team-ups, we get to see a bit of an odd team when Turin (Patrick Garrow) deputizes both Pree (Thom Allison) and Pippin Foster (Atticus Mitchell) as Killjoys in order to uses their badges (if necessary) while they go with Zeph (Kelly McCormack) in order to locate Lucy (voiced by Tamsen McDonough) in order to locate the
Jaqobis brothers (and hopefully find Dutch). I am really continuing to adore Zeph as we continue with this season, I love how she steps up and doesn’t take Turin’s crap. She’s just grown up so much. Pree and Pippin, though, as Killjoys is definitely interesting because even though knowing the backgrounds they certainly both have certain traits and experience that might lend to being Killjoys…overall, it’s not their thing and they are very vocal about it while Turin’s trying to give them the swearing in.
Things start to really look up when Zeph, Pree, and Pippin find Lucy…but it’s not the sassy AI that’s found when they get on board. Lucy has been reset to her default settings and she is not having anything with them on board, which gives them a time limit in order to figure out how to access the Lucy that they all know and love (and who normally wouldn’t be threatening to kill them). Trying the different voices to try to override Lucy’s default protocols is great, but it’s clear that Pree knows the situation much better as he explains, “She might be Dutch’s ship, but Lucy’s heart belongs to Johnny”. And really, the key is Johnny and the old PDD that Pippin finds. The key to Lucy ends up being the song that Johnny was playing when he was trying to steal her, which we just saw again in “The Warrior Princess Bride” (4×01) and Pree even says that once Johnny sang it at the Royale. When they figure out that it’s “Ain’t Nobody Home” by Lenny Mack Band, that immediately deactivates Lucy and brings her back fully online to the version they all know. It’s basically their first song, really between Johnny and Lucy but also upon Johnny and Dutch first meeting, so it carries a lot of significance for all three characters on the show. Once they have Lucy, they are able to use the tracker that Lucy had placed on the Necropolis elevator that Johnny, D’avin, and Delle Seyah had been on. They are able to make it to the planet but find Delle Seyah first and Pippin and Pree actually get to do the whole “you have been locked and served” bit with her.
The ending of the episode gives us a very done D’avin who’s been throwing up because of a device Hullen Johnny made him in order to track it (which I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s partially to purposely make D’avin feel awful). Hullen Johnny really does know exactly which buttons to push with D’avin and how to make him feel worse and worse about everything. The thing that made me actually scream out while watching the episode is when Hullen Johnny places his gun at D’avin’s side and shoots him. Hallucination Dutch comes back again before Johnny can make it to the green completely and he’s actually trying to physically fight her. If we didn’t know that she was a hallucination, it really felt like it was Dutch really trying to keep Johnny distracted in order to give D’avin time (who was wearing body armor and is actually okay).
During this entire episode, D’avin has been as restraint as possible and truly believing that his kind baby brother is still in there, which has led to him dropping his guard…but we do get to see D’avin use his powers on Johnny briefly. All seems lost when Johnny is about to kill D’avin…only to have Johnny shot by Dutch who has emerged from the green and crystalizing it once she’s fully out. That is the only action she is able to take before collapsing.
The team is finally back together and things are obviously different and there’s this feeling of brokenness and wrongness. Johnny is only getting worse and they have him restrained for the time being. He’s absolutely not the loving, kind, and huggable Johnny that we’re used to. Zeph still thinks that
their best move is to take him back to the Armada and try to cleanse him there. Dutch is unconscious and won’t wake up even though Zeph can’t find anything wrong with her, so it feels very much like a waiting game. Then there’s Delle Seyah whose water breaks at the very end of the episode after Zeph explaining she’s about a week overdue going by the baby’s size.
So, we’ve got Johnny losing control, Dutch who isn’t waking up, and Delle Seyah who’s about to deliver D’avin’s baby…so much to look forward to being addressed next week. Was this episode all that you hoped? Are you glad that the team is actually back together? What are you most looking to see them hopefully cover in next Friday’s episode? Comment below!
Photo Credit: Ian Watson/Killjoys IV Productions Limited/SYFY
