Killjoys: One Blood review

This Killjoys review contains some spoilers.

“One Blood” was a busy episode that didn’t completely follow through on its many plot-driven promises, but still managed to progress the story in some necessary ways. Dutch finally came clean to John and D’avin about Khlyen’s continued harassment. Pawter was arrested for trying to find out more about the mysterious doctor behind D’avin’s amnesia. And we got some more clues about whatever seemingly horrific plans The Company has in store for The Quad.

The bulk of the action of “One Blood” centered around a “black warrant” taken out against Big Joe, a senior killjoy who has acted as a mentor for many of the best killjoys in the business. The killjoy elite are called together to fulfill the warrant — whoever recovers Joe and the weapon he stole from The Company first, gets the bounty. Dutch’s mission is further complicated by Khlyen’s continued interference. He tags her with a neural implant that allows them to see and hear one another across great distances.

It is very creepy.

Dutch’s former mentor obviously cares about Dutch (who he calls Yala) in his own way, but in a twisted, cruel contrast to Joe’s own quasi-supportive brand of tough mentor love. Interestingly, Dutch admits to not even knowing what Khlyen was training for. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem like the training is over. At least not in Khlyen’s eyes.

The episode setup implied that we would be learning more about the killjoy culture and, though we did get to spend more time with Fancy Lee, the rest of the killjoy gang was underdeveloped. This was particularly unfortunate in Joe’s case. Though his eventual death at the end of the episode was sad, it would have been a much larger blow if the show had built his character into Dutch’s life earlier in the season. As it was, Joe and Dutch’s relationship was more tell than show, resulting in a lackluster climax to the episode’s tragic story arc.

More affecting was the fact that Dutch finally told John and D’avin about Khlyen. We also learned that John already knew something about Dutch’s dark past. As soon as Dutch mentions Khlyen’s name, he offers to run and hide. But Dutch is done running, and she’s done keeping her team in the dark, fragmented and less effectual — a refreshing choice for a stoic, action-oriented protagonist of a genre show. After the revelations of the last two episodes, these three are seemingly on the same page and ready to take on the larger secrets of The Quad together.

Elsewhere on Westeros, Pawter went above and beyond to find out who Dr. Jaeger, the doctor seemingly responsible for D’avon’s missing memories. It ended in her arrest. Like Dutch and D’avin, Pawter has a mysterious past we still know very little about. She claims to be a Qreshi, but we still don’t know why she left her home planet to settle on Westerley, a place no one seems to reside in willingly. Does she have ulterior motives for wanting to help D’avin or is she really just entranced by his masculine wiles? It seems like there could be more to Pawter’s interest in both D’avin and this Dr. Jaeger.

Killjoys continued with the sociopolitical world building in “One Blood.” As we learned in this episode, The Company made a deal with discontented Westerlians awhile back: live and work for seven generations without incident, and your family will be granted land on Leith. Apparently, the first wave of Seventh Generation Westerlians are about to become eligible for their Leithian land, and many Leiths don’t seem too happy about it.

Is this related to the genetically-targeted bomb Joe was trying to steal? Who is The Company planning on taking out with such a weapon? And what of this talk of a Level 6 killjoy training program on the seemingly abandoned moon of Arkyn?

Killjoys might not have delivered on the same solid character development as last week, but this show seems to have a clear vision of where this plot is going. Episode 6 was very much a plot-building episode, but with Dutch’s crew mobilized and ready to get to the bottom of the rising tensions in The Quad, I can’t wait to see what Killjoys is building towards.