Killjoys could be called the SyFy version of “bubblegum pop,” but it is not. The show really is not that “middle of the road” nor does it fit that category of inoffensive material aimed at the masses. Last week’s episode, Harvest dealt with several different characters who worked outside the box and rules; illegal drug manufacture, slave labor and a doctor who practices her own version of the hippocratic oath. This week, Killjoys, in Vessel, broaches people being treated as chattel and a ruling organization that is too elite for the vulgarity of childbirth. It also looks at religious zealousness and shows just how little worth women in certain quadrants of this world have, i.e. Leith.
D’Av gets his first warrant, albeit a very liquidized one, and the team are approached by the “inbred” (Dutch’s wording) and oligarchical organization known as the Nine who want a surrogate pregnant mother moved to Qresh in order to fill out the Nine with a legitimate heir born on that planet.
In this dystopian future world land is all and only the richest and most powerful own it. The Nine own more than any other group and they rule the Quad where the RAC and the Killjoys live and work. Dutch takes on the assignment and D’avin Jacobi gets his level four approval outranking his little brother John.
The three head to a “nunnery” where the vessels are held by “nuns with guns” and once there, they learn that they have been followed. Moments after they arrive, Qresh troops infiltrate the building and try to take the pregnant girl by force. The Leith girls all turn out to be pretty empowered females despite their “calling.” The group arm up and head out to transfer the expecting mother to Qresh.
There are some pretty impressive moments in the episode. The pregnant girl overpowering the Mother Superior; who turns out to be a treacherous witch, Jenny martyr’s herself breaking the enemy enough for the remaining girls to escape, and D’Av’s apparent ability to bond with all the girls in what seems like seconds.
There is one moment in the tunnel which is annoying and makes no real sense. Seconds after entering the escape route, the mother is stabbed by one of the other side despite everyone having weapons at the ready. Still, it was in the script and used to up the stakes in the storyline.
By the end of the episode, Dutch has managed to make an enemy of Delle Seyah Kendry (played with exquisite coldness by Mayko Nguyen) and let the audience learn a little bit more about her backstory. D’Avin and John agree to treat their boss as family with the rule that D’Av is not meant to “plow” their sister.
Under the guise of old fashioned action television, Killjoys addresses some social issues and provides some pretty powerful empowered female characters. In this future world, women seem to have the upper-hand. Dutch is the strong and capable leader of the team, her boss is also a female and the world’s more important jobs are all held by impressively powerful women.
Both John and D’Avin appear to appreciate the powerful female’s they encounter and work for. Not all men in this world do and it is amusing to see these neanderthal’s get put in their place. The show may not be a purposeful flagship for feminism, but it could be. Providing women who rule this world, even the “chattel” in this episode are strong willed women, pretty impressive stuff.
The action filled and fast paced, yet low budgeted, production is another of the SyFy Fridays line up and the Canadian export is pure entertainment. It should also be noted that despite the weekly dose of violence, the show is totally PG with the exception of the “blood bag” filled with the first warrant of the show, the gore in this series is low key and slightly old fashioned…but damned entertaining.
Not quite “mindless” entertainment but close enough. This is not “bubblegum pop” TV, it cannot be since a talented cast plus fun scripts and an underlying backstory yet to be revealed equals great television. Well done SyFy, we can almost forgive you for Sharknado…
