Episode 9 of Syfy’s sophomore season of Killjoys begins on a much darker side than we are used to seeing, with that dark tone continuing on throughout the whole episode. Our killjoys must find Jelco (Pascal Langdale), take out The Wall, and stop The Company from doing whatever they’re doing. This episode takes place in the present, and also in the 12 hours leading up to the present.
“Wall’s down. People on the streets. Company’s on the run.” | The opening scene shows a pile of bodies inside of Old Town, then cuts to Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen). She is being locked up and bound with nerve cuffs inside of Pree’s bar. Herin (Stuart Hughes) is interrogating her and lets her know that there is an angry mob outside that wants her. Herin wants to know where Jelco is, and suspects that Dutch is working with him.
The scene momentarily switches to show D’avin (Luke Macfarlane), Jelco is alongside him. D’avin is threatening Jelco, telling him what will happen if Dutch gets harmed.
“You. Me. Blaze of glory.” | Back with Dutch, Herin reveals that he saw Dutch and D’avin help Jelco escape Spring Hill. He then admits to giving Dutch micro leeches, which feed on her internally whenever she lies. Herin asks her again where Jelco is, this time she begins throwing up blood after saying she doesn’t know. Pree (Thom Allison) is not pleased with Herin doing this, and draws his gun. Lucky for Herin, Dutch is able to talk Pree into lowering the weapon. Dutch turns to Herin and tries to warn him of retaliation from The Company, but Herin ignores it. He talks, instead, of the people who died in the streets the night before. He claims that the people of Old Town want justice. “Either Jelco hangs today, or you do.”
The next part of the episode goes back approximately 12 hours and shows how our killjoys got into this predicament.
“Those are schematics of mood controlling technology we found last night on Arkyn.” | D’avin and Dutch enter Pree’s bar, weapons drawn. At first glance everyone seems happy, then they notice bodies everywhere, all near cans of rations. They quickly find John (Aaron Ashmore) and Pawter (Sarah Powers) and discover that they might have gotten married while in this drug induced state. Dutch quickly stuns them both, and when they wake they are all on the ship. D’avin, Dutch, and Lucy (Tamsen McDonough) quickly explain that they learned The Wall pairs with neural pathways and controls moods. The happiness that John and Pawter felt while in Old Town was not real. They go on to explain that the sample also contains compounds that target the frail and feeble. The Company is using the rations to kill the sick and the old, leaving only those that are worth most to them. Dutch wants to go into Old Town and tell the people to stop eating the rations, but Pawter says it won’t work. She says she wasn’t effected by her dear friend Arune’s murder because of The Wall, so the people will not listen. “The only way to take down The Wall is to overload it somehow, or take out the power source in Spring Hill.” Dutch decides she wants to join forces with John and Pawter to bring down The Wall and kill Jelco.
“My asshole’s bigger than his asshole.” | Our killjoys break into Spring Hill with all weapons set to stun except Dutch’s, hers is set to kill for Jelco. The whole compound seems empty. John begins to interact with the compounds equivalent to Lucy, Julian, and tries to take over. Julian says there is a Company mandated system wide changeover occurring and knows John doesn’t belong there, he is very rude about it.
We go back to Dutch and Pawter, where Dutch is giving Pawter a gun set to kill so she can take the shot at Jelco if Dutch can’t. Pawter doubts her ability to take a life because she was a doctor trained to save them. John interrupts them over the radio and says he can’t shut down the generator. Dutch replied with her usual sass, “Have you tried shooting the dick out of it?” John ignores the comment and tells them the controls for The Wall are in Jelco’s office and they need to shut it down. Pawter tries to use the controls but it trips a security switch, causing Jelco to appear via holocall, and calls security to get them. John traces the holocall’s signal, and it turns out Jelco is still in the building. They set off after him, but are soon met by guards. Dutch leads the guards away and down to the service floor, Pawter tries to gain access to Jelco’s controls, and John uses Lucy to take on Julian.
Lucy gets Pawter access to the mood controls for The Wall and tells her to set all the levels to zero. She does, and we see the people of Old Town begin to come out of their dazed state. Pawter then broadcasts a message to all of Old Town: do not eat the rations provided by The Company. Lucy soon discovers that Jelco does not have authorization to kill The Wall, they need a Qreshi access code, and Pawter knows just how to get one. She calls Seyah Kendry (Mayko Nguyen) to discuss terms of turning off The Wall. Instead Kendry threatens to pin Arune’s murder on her. Kendry continues on, revealing The Company’s plan: make it look like a disease is killing the people of Old Town, the other town’s will be begging for quarantine. They will move on to the next town and do it again. And again, until The Company controls all of Westerly. Pawter is unable to get the code, and John promises her that they will save everyone together.
“I’m sorry. Everyone needs martyrs.” | Pawter takes it upon herself to take down The Wall. She broadcasts herself to Old Town once again, this time telling them to fight and take down The Wall. As she is saying this she is turning up the mood controls, making the people obey her. Several people begin to run into The Wall, causing it to overload but killing those people in the process. This is where the pile of bodies from the opening shot came from. John comes in and realizes Pawter brought The Wall down, and how she did it. Then he notices the people of Old Town are on their way to Spring Hill.
“The Company isn’t trying to make slaves, they’re making Six’s. A whole moon of them.” | Dutch is poking around the service floor and discovers a lab filled with plasma. She spots Jelco and holds him at gunpoint and questions him about the plasma. He promises to tell her where she can find more plasma than she’s ever imagined, but she must save him. She decides to save him, and when D’avin learns the plan he goes along with it because he trusts her. As they are making their escape they come across an angry mob from Old Town. Dutch stays back and lets herself get caught so D’avin can get Jelco away.
Back in the present, Dutch is still lying to Herin about Jelco’s whereabouts, causing her to vomit more blood. John arrives and tries talking Dutch into revealing Jelco’s location. She looks at Herin and says, “Maybe Jelco’s in…your ass.” This, of course, causes her to vomit more blood. Herin leaves John alone with Dutch, so John seizes the opportunity to tell Dutch that Pawter got The Wall down, and how she did it. ” There are two kinds of people who can take down The Wall like that; those that die on it, and those that kill for it. Don’t assume you know which one you are until you face that moment.” Dutch reminds John that he can’t judge Pawter for her actions until he is placed into a similar situation. Dutch then tells John that she needs him, that there is a monster inside her that he keeps from coming to the surface. That is why she is scared to lose him, but she also wants him to be happy. “What makes me happy is to live in a world where I can have my Dutch and eat my Pawter too.” Then John begs Dutch to tell Herin where Jelco is, and she agrees. She sent D’avin away with Jelco, and she’s been stalling ever since so they can blow up Spring Hill.
D’avin and Jelco go to the trader known as Big Borna (Natasha Bromfield) and use Jelco’s money and security codes to trade for a missile launcher. D’avin shoulders the launcher and fires the missiles at Spring Hill. As soon as the missiles hit Spring Hill Herin orders for Dutch to be hung, and John begins to protest. “Johnny. You don’t whip up an angry mob and then just tell them to go home. One way or another, someone was always gonna hang.” John grabs his gun and turns it on Herin, saying he is never leaving Dutch’s side. At this time Seyah Kendry arrives, saying she is there to negotiate for Westerly’s independence. She tells Pawter that she won, but it will cost her. And cost her it does, Pawter later tells John that she must give up her title and her land, that it is the price for winning. John then invites her to live with him and the other killjoys on their ship, she could be their doctor.
Later Pawter, Herin, and Kendry meet to sign the accord. After they all sign, Kendry turns on Pawter and stabs her in the stomach. John tries frantically to save her, unfortunately he is unable to and Pawter dies. Dutch and the others are forced to flee after realizing all the guards are Level 6’s. Kendry does not follow the Killjoys, instead she speaks to a Scarback monk who is working with her, then she pulls out another accord. This accord is actually a Qreshi Peace Agreement that makes Westerly a part of Qresh, and she uses Pawter and Herin’s blood to sign it.
The final scene of the episode finds the killjoys back on their ship discussing Jelco, when suddenly Fancy Lee (Sean Baek) appears. He says Dutch needs to go with him to see Khlyen (Rob Stewart) and see how he’s involved.
Wow, what an intense episode! It was darker than most other episodes, yet it was still full of hilarious one-liners! Where will next week’s finale lead our heroes? Will Dutch get the answers she’s seeking from Khlyen? Will D’avin finally learn what happened to him and why he can control the plasma? And how will John deal with Pawter’s death? Comment below with what you think will happen during next week’s finale!
Killjoys airs Fridays at 9 pm on Syfy.