Killjoys, “The Sugar Point Run,” was written by Jeremy Boxen and directed by Chris Grismer, who directed the pilot, "Banarang." Boxen should be familiar to fans of Lost Girl. I liked that they used the same director to help establish a look and tone for the show. Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch is the best thing about the show so far. I was really happy to see Michael Therriault guest star as Simon as I really enjoyed Therriault on Reign as Castleroy. The characters continue to develop in this episode, which has some pretty good action sequences.
The episode jumps right in to the action as Dutch and John (Aaron Ashmore) are serving a warrant – to a salt smuggler – Gush (Brock Johnson). It’s a nice little slight of hand as John seems to be trying to stop him with Lucy (Tamsen McDonough) and it turns out to be a ploy for Dutch to “lay hands” on the cargo by slipping on Gush’s ship. Our first shot of D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) is of him having another nightmare of his time in the army.
John isn’t happy at how the job went, but Dutch knows the way to his heart – or at least his forgiveness and “buys” him off with plundered gear – in particular a plasma torch that comes in handy later in the episode to get John out of a tight spot.
Dutch wants D’Avin off her ship, brother or not. John promises to talk to him, but before he can, Dutch tells D’Avin that it’s time for him to move on. His dilemma is that he can’t leave Lucy because he doesn’t have any papers or a job. He refuses to get a “crap” job working in the mines. We learn that he was in the army for 9 years and now just wants to be free. In a huff, D’Avin leaves the ship, giving Hills (Frank Moore) even more ammunition with which to blackmail Dutch into taking a warrant she doesn’t want to. In addition to fining her for letting an illegal off her ship, Hills threatens to take away her docking privileges.
The warrant is working for the company to perform a hostage exchange. Vena (Clara Pasieka), a politician’s daughter in exchange for Simon, their prisoner, and brother to R’yo (Irene Poole). The exchange is to take place in the Sugar Point of the title. This is a nice way for the show to demonstrate what the people of the Quad are up against. Sugar Point was the site of a rebellion, and to deal with the rebellion, the Company bombed it. No one was allowed in or out afterwards, and the survivors were made to scratch out a living working for nothing, stripping out anything that was left. The only ones living in the area are “Warlords” or “Scavengers” and Sugar Point is basically in a constant state of war.
Lucy ends up getting shot down on the wrong side of the border between factions. Feeling sorry for Simon who was feeling really sick – and throwing up to prove it, John loosened his restraints enough for Simon to get loose and take off. John has to stay with the ship. There’s a nice moment when neither Dutch nor D’Avin want John to stay alone. D’Avin wants to stay to protect him, and Dutch wants him to come with her. In the end, John insists that the two of them go after Simon.
John lies to Dutch, telling her the defense systems will stay at full. His lie leads him to find a secret that Dutch was keeping. John finds out that Dutch had Lucy beef up the security and then erased 10 minutes from Lucy’s memory/hard drive. D’Avin has also lied to John, and for some reason decides to tell Dutch that he has when he tells her he’ll be leaving when they get back, but he won’t be getting a job like he told John – he’s going to go to the Badlands. Dutch tells him that at the very least he needs to give John a heads up that he’s taking off again. I like the way they each look out for each other without one seeming to be the caretaker of the other – it’s a nice give and take that is also mirrored in John’s fumbling with whether Dutch is his boss or partner. It really is complicated.
Dutch and D’Avin learn a lot about each other as they chase down Simon in an attempt to carry out the warrant. They track Simon to a family he stayed with, and we get another glimpse into how difficult life can be for the average person. They encounter an old woman (Joan Massiah) who is a “jack” addict. D’Avin’s impressed when simply showing the warrant and explaining it’s not for them gets them out of a tight spot. It does seem unlikely that he would have so little understanding of how the Killjoy system works. It’s likely a more clunky exposition scene to remind us that the Rack doesn’t work for the Company but operates outside it.
The two catch up with Simon outside his old home, and he seems somewhat disoriented and knows that he’s a dead man. Dutch points out that his sister went to a lot of trouble to get him back but he shows them marks on his arm – scars she inflicted every time he screwed up. Before they can take him to her, they’re attacked by Scavs who use a pretty awesome kind of taser to stun them all into unconsciousness.
The episode features more flashbacks to Dutch’s time with Khlyen (Rob Stewart), and these are nicely woven into the present storyline. We see Dutch worrying about the red box that’s just been sent to her and then flash to the past with her receiving her first box and learning that each contains one weapon and one name and she has one week to complete the mission. When young Dutch (Ava Laferriere) asks what happens if she doesn’t do it, Khlyen tells her very bad things.
Coupled with waking up, tied to a slab and waiting to be carved up into spare parts, we have the second flashback of the very bad thing that happens. Young Dutch is tied to a chair across from the man she was supposed to murder. Between them on a table lies the weapon. Whoever gets to it first must kill the other. Clearly, the man who she was supposed to kill has no qualms about killing her. We see Dutch push through the pain to dislocate her shoulder to get out and kill her target. Dutch in the present pulls the same move to get free and free D’Avin.
Unfortunately, Simon is hovering between life and death by the time they get to him. Dutch tells him to let go, he’s home, and he dies at least somewhat at peace. This is another nice indication of Dutch’s compassion. Dutch discovers that Simon was hiding a “Smugglers Nut” inside him and it had basically killed him. Clearly, this is what R’yo wanted and was why Simon told them she would slice him wide open when she got him back. D’Avin is ready to abandon the warrant, thinking it’s undeliverable, but Dutch knows better.
They discover that the Nut carries launch codes for missiles, and D’Avin asks Dutch to use him as a soldier. He promises that he can get all three of them out – including hostage Vena – without giving up the launch codes. In order to gain Dutch’s trust, D’Avin admits that he’s back in the Quad to look for a doctor because he needs her help.
The sequence pitting Dutch against R’Yo is really interestingly shot, and I quite liked the use of light and shadow combined with interesting camera angles to make an old warehouse look like it could be on another planet. R’Yo wasn’t interested in Simon as Dutch suspected. Dutch and D’Avin somehow manage to pit the Scavangers against R’Yo and her men and Dutch tosses a flash bomb into the fray to give them cover to get Vena out. Only D’Avin has goggles, and he’s pretty impressed that Dutch was ablt to memorize the entire floorplan of the warehouse to get Vena to safety even though both Vena and Dutch were blinded by the flashbomb.
Meanwhile, John pulls off his own fast one back at the ship. The power drain caused by the increased defense system means that John doesn’t have enough time to fix the ship. He needs to actually replace the part that burnt out when they were shot down. Meanwhile, the scavengers have almost broken into the ship. John lets them break in and sneaks out while they’re in, purging all the oxygen. While they suffocate, he takes the part he needs from their Mad Max-like vehicle. Unfortunately, when he goes back in the largest is still alive. I do wonder that John’s fighting skills really don’t seem up to the level of Killjoy! He defeats him using the plasma torch – gruesome, but off camera!
When it seems that they are outgunned and trapped by the missle launcher, D’Avin is most interested in making sure that R’Yo can’t use it as a weapon of mass destruction. When R’Yo shows up, D’Avin tries to tell Dutch to take Vena and escape – proving that he’s a pretty nice guy too. John, however, shows up in the nick of time and they all escape.
The final flashback is Young Dutch asking why she was supposed to kill the man. Khlyen tells her “Why is a question little bird must never ask.” This dovetails nicely with John asking Dutch about the erased memory and increased security measures. She lies to him, saying she was just paranoid about D’Avin.
This mission has left them flush and gotten D’Avin a visitor’s permit to find a job. D’Avin is about to come clean to John about heading to the Badlands when Dutch jumps in to suggest that he become a Killjoy. She’ll even be his sponsor and offers him a berth on their ship. It’s interesting that D’Avin seems genuinely pleased, but John looks a lot less happy about the possibility of working with his brother.
The episode ends with Dutch tracking down the name in her box and using the weapon – a knife – to pin his hand to the wall, demanding to know why Khlyen wants him dead. Looks like she’s asking why again.
All in all this was a pretty solid episode. I’d like to see stronger performances generally from the guest stars – Therriault excepted – and even some of the recurring characters. But I like how they are developing the main characters as having some layers and complex histories. The universe of the show is shaping up nicely with the Company clearly poised to be the bad guy, and I’m looking forward to seeing that develop. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
