In this week’s episode of Killjoys titled “Johnny Dangerously” (4×02), we finally get to see what happened to Johnny Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore), D’avin Jaqobis (Luke Macfarlane), and Delle Seyah Kendry (Mayko Nguyen) after the elevator was severed from the Scarback Necropolis. Though this episode doesn’t pick up right where the season three finale left off, we do get a glimpse of what it was like for the unlikely trio as they’d passed the time at one point through which is more fun than anything else. Though I’m personally itching for Team Awesome Force to be reunited once again, this episode did not disappoint.
The trio has found their way crash landed onto a planet, which is outside of The Quad given the moons in the sky and is immediately set upon by hostiles whom a very pregnant Delle Seyah chases off with a very large gun. A kick from the hostiles leaves Johnny in worst condition than he was when he landed, his punctured lung was already affecting him…so this just makes it all worse. In case you forgot how that happened, Johnny had gotten stabbed by Aneela (Hannah John-Kamen) on Lucy (voiced by Tamsen McDonough) at the end of season three with the spikey de-Hullen-izer. They are able to get to the depot five miles away and demand to see a doctor, but when no one is there they are forced to wait around. With Johnny obviously not going to make it until a doctor arrives at the depot, they do the only thing they can even though it’s definitely not what any of them really wants. They use the bit of green plasma that Delle Seyah has been carrying for communication and injects it into Johnny in order to save his life.
After deciding to take turns taking watch, we get a very awake Johnny attacking a sleeping D’avin and blaming him for being Hullen-ized and then plays it off as a joke. It’s clear from these short moments that this is not the Johnny that we’ve known and loved for the past three seasons. From this point onward, there’s a lot of Johnny being very Jekyll and Hyde from this point forward in the episode (and likely into at least the next episode as well). Johnny refers to it as “an upgrade of awesome”, but it’s clear from D’avin’s face that that’s not what he would call it. When Johnny and D’avin return to the common area, the farmers ask that since Johnny and D’avin are Killjoys if they’d talk to the overseers and make a deal for them because they don’t have the full crop promised. Johnny flips out on one of the works and D’av is able to talk him down but it’s a hairy moment for sure.
With Hullen-ized Johnny scaring the crap out of D’avin, he confronts Delle Seyah wanting to be prepared for anything else that might come up. She informs him that because he didn’t get enough of the green plasma he’ll be craving it until he gets enough, but the worst part is the neuro purging which is much harder for someone like Johnny who “is a hug wrapped in a puppy”.
When the overseers arrive, the farmers want to trade Johnny, D’avin, and Delle Seyah which really backfires for them as Johnny goes on a quick targeted kill spree to take out every threat in the room. Johnny doesn’t seem anything wrong in the moment even though D’avin is taken aback by it all, he immediately points out all the clues that he’s seen and explains that the depot has to be a prison of some kind. We find out that it’s not a labor camp or a regular prison, but an organ harvesting farm where the people there have their organs harvested, regrown, and repeat. It’s their way in order to clear debt, but they are also charged for food and shelter so they basically can never get out of debt. They’re just at their wit’s end which is why they offered up the Killjoys, Delle Seyah is amused that she wasn’t intended as part of the trade. When the ID chips of the dead start to go off, they realize that they have to make a move before the ship full of guards make their appearance.
D’av tries to get the farmers on board with his plan while John electrocutes himself while taking off one of the ID chips. It’s at this point where he starts to hallucinate Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) who begs him to fight what’s happening to him and that she’s not ready to say goodbye though he doesn’t seem so emotionally fazed. It’s unclear if Johnny continues to push getting electrocuted so that he can see Dutch more (and it’s just not shown) or if it’s just because he’s that screwed up.
Johnny convinces D’avin that they need to put a transmitter that he made onto the elevator in order to signal Lucy to where they are. Instead of sending Johnny, though, D’avin sends Delle Seyah with the big gun and one of the farmers. There’s an extremely awkward goodbye between D’avin and Delle Seyah…and Johnny is very openly not pleased about what this whole thing means for their family dynamic. When Delle Seyah is placing the beacon, we get flashbacks to what happened between her and the Jaqobis brothers on the elevator while they were floating and there are some definitely hilarious moments.
Evil Hullen Johnny comes out at the end of the episode when we find out that the beacon was not in order to signal Lucy, but to bring the guards to grab Delle Seyah. That’s not all, though. He lulls D’avin into a sense of safety and gases him before knocking him out and having a super psycho moment where he yells “I’m the smart one!” at his unconscious brother. He knows exactly what planet they are on and loads D’avin up into a truck and handcuffs him so that they can go find a green plasma pool so that he can get his fix. Delle Seyah is left behind because Johnny says “not my kid, not my problem”.
Meanwhile back in The Quad on the Hullen infested RAC, we find Zeph (Kelly McCormack) and Pippin Foster (Atticus Mitchell) who have been just trying to survive and stay safe. Fortunately, the Hullen that had taken over the RAC are still frozen in place. Zeph takes charge to leave via Black Root ship. She’s definitely changed since the first time we saw her. She’s definitely showing that she’s learned so much from Team Awesome Force. Thinking back now, how we saw Johnny teach Lucy how to deal with humans in “The Warrior Princess Bride” (4×01) reminds me a lot of how Johnny taught her about taking care of their team in “The Hullen Have Eyes” (3×03) and “The Wolf You Feed” (3×07)
Meeting up with Turin (Patrick Garrow), Fancy Lee (Sean Baek), Pree (Thom Allison), and Gared (Gavin Fox) on Aneela’s Hullen ship, Zeph and Pippin are shown what they’re calling dolls (aka the frozen Hullen drones). This is when Zeph finds out that John and D’avin are not there, which was the whole reason she made her way there in the first place because she wanted to help her team. There’s this amazing moment where it’s suggested that they just space the Hullen drones and Turin asks Fancy is they can do it and Fancy says “no”, which leads Turin to go on about how he’s on a “moral redemption arc”.
They figure out that Team Awesome Force had been going to the Scarback Necropolis and that without the elevator they can’t access it. Zeph is determined and immediately comes up with a plan to get them in using a jump ship and the mirror cube and challenges Turin. Pree is immediately impressed with how bold she is and exclaims, “Damn Zephyr”, which is the first time we hear her referred to anything other than just Zeph. Needing a map basically of the inside of the Necropolis to make it work, Gared brings up that he knows an ex-Scarback. Zeph works on the tech to jump the mirror cube into the Necropolis and starts to doubt her own abilities. Pippin comes in and gives Zeph a pep talk because he believes in her and tells her exactly how brave she is knowing that she can do it.
In order to get the help of an ex-Scarback, Pree and Gared travel to a familiar location we’ve seen before in “Dutch and the Real Girl” (2×01) Eulogy on Westerley, where you have to be a criminal to get in and have something to trade. They meet Fairuza (Anna Hopkins), who is an ex-Scarback turned dominatrix who agrees to help them when they explain that they’re looking for the person who killed Scarback leader, Alvis Akari (Morgan Kelly) and to avenge his death.
Zeph is ready to go onto the Necropolis and it ends up her, Pippin, and Fairuza being on the team to go. The jump mirror cube works and they make it onto the Necropolis to find a whole lot of dead Scarbacks. Zeph and Fairuza look around while Pippin goes to check on the tech room so he can see the visual records of what happened. Everything is definitely not dead, though, as we see the familiar form of one of the many spiders we saw come out of the green plasma pool on the Necropolis at the end of “Wargasm” (3×10). Fairuza saves Zeph from one of the creepy plasma spiders while Pippin ends up being likely taken over as a host body for one while in the tech room. He is able to get the information about what last happened on the Necropolis and creepily returns with Zeph and Fairuza to the Hullen ship with the others with no one the wiser.
They are able to update Turin and the others about what last happened on the Necropolis, which was that Dutch and Aneela disappeared into the green plasma pool and then D’avin, Johnny, and Delle Seyah were on the elevator that Lucy disconnected from the Necropolis. Zeph knows that Lucy wouldn’t just allow Johnny to be lost and recognizes that one of the sounds on the recording they have is of a tracker that Lucy has placed on the elevator. So, all they have to do is find Lucy who can find the boys…and then the boys will find Dutch.
This episode was such a great surprise as I had enjoyed this episode way more than I had originally expected. Aaron Ashmore’s performance as Johnny Jaqobis is just amazing in this episode, he really deserves the recognition of just how amazing his range is. I expect the crazy to continue in the next episode (if not further). Another stand out was certainly Kelly McCormack as Zeph who has grown so much and it shows, I never thought I wanted to see such a commanding and confidant Zeph until this episode. I can’t wait for the next episode and what the rest of the season brings.
What are you most looking forward in the next episode or future ones? Are you loving the separate storylines we’re getting or can you not wait until Team Awesome Force is back together? Tell us below!
Photo Credit: Ian Watson/Killjoys IV Productions Limited/SYFY
