Killjoys: One Blood
July 24, 2015 1:57 PM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Dutch must compete against top Killjoys to find an elusive fugitive or her teammates will die. Plus: John and D'Avin face an old foe.
Yes, I'm really starting to like this show. It's a nice bit of fun after I watch Hannibal :-)
posted by Pendragon at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2015
posted by Pendragon at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2015
I thought this was their strongest episode yet. The story unfolded in an interesting way, with some nice turns (the thing with Khlyen at the end, at first I was like "Yeah, way to go Dutch!" But then I was like "Whoa, wait, what?!?" That storyline just became a lot more interesting).
I also like how the story on the planet developed, although the factor that spared the father was a little clunky given how deep his feels were about the land having been in his family for ten generations. The world-building in general continues to interest me.
I thought the acting by the guest stars was quite good. I especially liked the performance by the older company guy. He made it feel like that character really had some backstory, and his active listening in his big conversation with Pawter was very good. He seemed like a real person. I also like how Pawter unapologetically just goes for what she wants, and I enjoyed her interplay with Pree in this episode.
I was encouraged when Dutch decided to start playing offense at the end of the episode. I get a bit tired of shows where the main team is always on defense, so I really approved of her resolve. I'm also glad they're letting John and D'Avin in on the secrets earlier in the run rather than trying to keep the secrets going longer-term. I think the team working together on this is going to produce way more storytelling fruit than keeping the secrets would.
There was still some shorthanding going on for the sake of moving the plot along, but all in all I felt that this episode was a big move in the right direction with regard to storytelling.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:11 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also like how the story on the planet developed, although the factor that spared the father was a little clunky given how deep his feels were about the land having been in his family for ten generations. The world-building in general continues to interest me.
I thought the acting by the guest stars was quite good. I especially liked the performance by the older company guy. He made it feel like that character really had some backstory, and his active listening in his big conversation with Pawter was very good. He seemed like a real person. I also like how Pawter unapologetically just goes for what she wants, and I enjoyed her interplay with Pree in this episode.
I was encouraged when Dutch decided to start playing offense at the end of the episode. I get a bit tired of shows where the main team is always on defense, so I really approved of her resolve. I'm also glad they're letting John and D'Avin in on the secrets earlier in the run rather than trying to keep the secrets going longer-term. I think the team working together on this is going to produce way more storytelling fruit than keeping the secrets would.
There was still some shorthanding going on for the sake of moving the plot along, but all in all I felt that this episode was a big move in the right direction with regard to storytelling.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:11 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm also glad they're letting John and D'Avin in on the secrets earlier in the run rather than trying to keep the secrets going longer-term.
Does John already know? When she said her mentor found her, John immediately pops up. I was really surprised, so I'm wondering if I got it wrong.
posted by humans are superior! at 1:29 PM on July 26, 2015
Does John already know? When she said her mentor found her, John immediately pops up. I was really surprised, so I'm wondering if I got it wrong.
posted by humans are superior! at 1:29 PM on July 26, 2015
No, you're right, and I agree, I was pleasantly surprised that John already knew who Khlyen was (and was immediately down with a "we will do whatever you need" plan) when she said his name.
I agree that this was an excellent episode, though I do wonder how long our heroes are going to be able to stay on the legitimate side of the law, if things keep up this way. The guest stars were all excellent, which was nice to see - both Fancy (was nice to see him again!) and the company guy were excellent and everybody else was at least solid. I also thought they hit a nice tone with the level of camaraderie/rivalry amongst all the Killjoys.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:16 PM on July 26, 2015
I agree that this was an excellent episode, though I do wonder how long our heroes are going to be able to stay on the legitimate side of the law, if things keep up this way. The guest stars were all excellent, which was nice to see - both Fancy (was nice to see him again!) and the company guy were excellent and everybody else was at least solid. I also thought they hit a nice tone with the level of camaraderie/rivalry amongst all the Killjoys.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:16 PM on July 26, 2015
This was much better than all the previous episodes excepting the first. I've been very disappointed with the show after the promise of the first episode, but in this one they did everything right that they haven't been managing to do previously. I looked up the director and writer -- Michael Nankin and Annmarie Morais, respectively -- and neither had these credits in previous episodes. However, Morais is the show's story editor, which is interesting. She's going to have a strong grasp of the show as a whole. But this was both good writing and good direction. Nankin is a producer and a long-time television director. But I think it's the writing and direction (and editing) that made all the difference in this episode. It flowed and was tight.
I'm about to watch last night's episode -- I'm really hoping they will maintain this level of quality. I agree with some of the comments above -- all of the guest stars and other actors were very good in this episode. The bartender, "Pree", played by Thom Allison, was very good in this episode, as he has been previously -- but not always. That's the case with the rest, such as "Turin" (the RAC boss), played by Patrick Garrow, and "Dr. Pawter Simms", played by Sarah Power -- they have been uneven in the past, but when they're good they're pretty good.
The two guest stars were both quite good. I recognized Ian Tracey, who played "Lucas Kotler", from his work on another Canadian show, Continuum; and Tony Nappo, who played "Big Joe" seemed very familiar to me, though I don't see anything familiar in his IMDB listing. But he's worked a lot. Anyway, both were very good in their small but important roles. And then Sean Baek as "Fancy Lee" hit all the right notes.
The show aims for a certain sense of style and because it's following a familiar genre formula, it really succeeds or fails on the basis of how tightly coherent and even is its execution. When it's uneven and incoherent and feels lazy, then it drops precariously into barely mediocre territory. But when all the parts are pretty good and they are fitted together well, then it jumps way up in quality. That's an easy diagnosis, but it's so very hard to do. One thing I think that audiences don't really appreciate about film and television (and especially television in some respects) is just how much a vast collaborative artistic project these are -- it's very easy to make something suck that would otherwise be good. You can have good actors but bad directors and editors, or vice-versa, and likewise with writing. Sometimes you can get away with very uneven work when one part of it is just very brilliant and worthy -- but with workaday television following well-trod formulas, that's not what happens. In those cases, everything has to at least be slightly above average, or the whole thing falls apart into forgetability.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:45 AM on August 1, 2015
I'm about to watch last night's episode -- I'm really hoping they will maintain this level of quality. I agree with some of the comments above -- all of the guest stars and other actors were very good in this episode. The bartender, "Pree", played by Thom Allison, was very good in this episode, as he has been previously -- but not always. That's the case with the rest, such as "Turin" (the RAC boss), played by Patrick Garrow, and "Dr. Pawter Simms", played by Sarah Power -- they have been uneven in the past, but when they're good they're pretty good.
The two guest stars were both quite good. I recognized Ian Tracey, who played "Lucas Kotler", from his work on another Canadian show, Continuum; and Tony Nappo, who played "Big Joe" seemed very familiar to me, though I don't see anything familiar in his IMDB listing. But he's worked a lot. Anyway, both were very good in their small but important roles. And then Sean Baek as "Fancy Lee" hit all the right notes.
The show aims for a certain sense of style and because it's following a familiar genre formula, it really succeeds or fails on the basis of how tightly coherent and even is its execution. When it's uneven and incoherent and feels lazy, then it drops precariously into barely mediocre territory. But when all the parts are pretty good and they are fitted together well, then it jumps way up in quality. That's an easy diagnosis, but it's so very hard to do. One thing I think that audiences don't really appreciate about film and television (and especially television in some respects) is just how much a vast collaborative artistic project these are -- it's very easy to make something suck that would otherwise be good. You can have good actors but bad directors and editors, or vice-versa, and likewise with writing. Sometimes you can get away with very uneven work when one part of it is just very brilliant and worthy -- but with workaday television following well-trod formulas, that's not what happens. In those cases, everything has to at least be slightly above average, or the whole thing falls apart into forgetability.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:45 AM on August 1, 2015
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Sure, it's probably got two or maybe three seasons before it gets a bit stale, but for now it's the most fun on TV.
posted by prismatic7 at 6:57 AM on July 25, 2015 [2 favorites]