Killjoys “Schooled” was directed by Ruba Nadda with a story by Jennifer Kennedy and Julian Doucet and Doucet providing the teleplay. Nadda has primarily directed films and shorts that she’s written herself, and Kennedy’s other credits include Justified, King, and The Wilkinsons. It’s another fast paced episode that reveals more mysteries than it answers.
The episode starts with a nice tease between Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane). D’Avin tells her that he’s ok with anything that might happen between her and Alvis (Morgan Kelly). The only lead they have from Turin (Patrick Garrow) about Khylen (Rob Stewart) is his connection to a school for gifted students. Turin gets them a warrant to escort children from Westerly to the school. As it turns out, neither Dutch nor D’Avin are comfortable around kids, but luckily they plan on picking up John (Aaron Ashmore) – who should be done rescuing Pawter (Sarah Power) – to babysit.
When Dutch and D’Avin arrive at Pree’s (Thom Allison), they get a lead on the kid they are supposed to pick up, but also learn that Pawter got out of one jam and into another. John finds her as a captive on the Salt Flats just in time to see her arm wrestle her freedom from Big Borna (Natasha Bromfield). Things get more complicated when Borna finds out Pawter is a doctor – and a good match for one of her boys. We get a nice bar brawl – but with a few too many cuts and shots up too close for me.
Dutch worries about John putting himself in danger to save Pawter, but D’Avin points out that’s what makes them a great team: “You lead. I shoot. Johnny gives a shit.” D’Avin also points out that even their father couldn’t beat the hero out of John. And the episode does a nice job of giving us a bit more information about D’Avin and John and reflecting on the sibling relationship.
Pawter tells John about the information she stole from SpringHill. She’s concerned that Qreshi Royalty is a big part of the problem – if not the problem – as they are planning to construct walls around all the cities in Westerley. She tells him she can’t just sit by and let the company do whatever it wants. John convinces her to hole up in Lucy (Tamsen McDonough) until she figures out what to do next.
When Dutch and D’Avin arrive to take Jake (Jack Fulton) to Prodigy, they hear a scuffle between him and his father Lans (Stephan Park). D’Avin puts him in his place because he doesn’t like bullies. Lans doesn’t want to lose the last of his family, but eventually lets him go. Jake is nervous about seeing his brother Olan (Ricardo Hoyos) again – they haven’t heard from him for three years.
They arrive at the school to find it deserted. But they are welcomed by a familiar voice – Delle Seyah Kendry (Mayko Nguyen). They discover cryo-pods – John suggests they’re making kid-sicles! Still plenty of humor throughout the episode – most often John’s one-liners. Delle shows up to collect the kids and locks down Lucy until they can all figure out what’s going on.
Delle asserts that she only arrived just before Lucy. They weren’t expecting a new class for another six months. Delle is testing a new “teaching method” – essentially they input the students’ education directly into their brain. The only person who should have access to the children – Malta Chambers (Jane Johanson) is also missing.
I loved getting to see Delle and Dutch “hate-flirting”! But Delle knows that there is more to Dutch being there than simply delivering kids. John and Pawter make a great team as they “science this shit” to figure out what happened to the kids. As it turns out Pawter and Delle grew up together – as all the Nine did. Pawter tells John that “chemistry’s a bitch, and so am I” – she and Delle have a complicated history.
Delle’s bodyguard, Bruxton (Jake Michaels) is taken out by Chambers. And Pawter discovers what’s left of the children – and it’s not pretty. Delle refuses to leave until they capture Chambers and find out who’s behind the children’s death. Pawter insists that it was the “neural-feeding” that killed them, but Delle refuses to believe it.
Chambers wants Delle to answer for her crimes. Dutch shoots Delle when she refuses to act as bait! Dutch has figured out that whatever Delle is up to, it’s not being sanctioned by her own people.
John tells D’Avin to speak to Jake, who’s bonded with D’Avin. Jake wants to stay with D’Avin rather than go home, but of course, that can’t happen.
Dutch tells Delle that they are at Prodigy to try to recover Khylen’s last transmission. Delle says it doesn’t make sense because she and Khylen always communicate on a schedule – but she doesn’t say what about. Chambers doesn’t trip the sensors because she is merely a digital ghost – a holo-projection. Pawter discovers that Chambers was liquefied with all the kids, but not all the kids where liquefied – Olan is still alive! D’Avin is attacked and electrocuted by a tiny robot after the kids hear an announcement at a frequency only they can hear.
Olan is going to cut off the life support and steal Lucy. Olan is clearly not ok, though. He’s suffering from visions, but he’s determined to save his brother – and not return to their father. Jake tries to convince him that the others are good people, but Olan refuses to believe that Killjoys can be trusted.
Delle offers to pay Dutch back with two lies and a truth: “One. I drink the blood of the innocent. Two. I love your hair. Three. The Prodigy program is a living, human, seed bank to protect all Qreshi culture and knowledge.” Dutch points out that there a two reasons to keep a seed bank – winter or war – and Delle tells her that the reason depended on Khylen’s message.
Jake comes to John for help. He knows there’s something wrong with his brother. Pawter and D’Avin put the other kids in the cryo-chambers. Pawter tells D’Avin the pods are safe. The other children were liquefied by a massive data surge – Khylen’s data dump, right? But at least it wasn’t Olan. However, the data dump is now IN Olan. Olan is terrified that John is simply going to hand him over to the company for more experiments.
John tells Olan that Chambers was trying to save him and that the data dump has affected him. John tells him he wants to help him.
Meanwhile, with the kids in the cryo-pods, D’Avin and Pawter argue over who should take the last pod to keep from suffocating. Pawter tells him that his brother is a good man. D’Avin agrees – but tells her he snores! Dutch and Delle make it to the control room, but Delle appears to be unconscious. When Dutch asks how to turn on the life support, Delle kisses her – breathing her own biometrics into Dutch to turn on the life support – way to go Delle!
John tells Olan that he’s a crappy big brother. He left Jake alone in a crap town with a terrible father – and John knows exactly what that’s like. He’s fooled Olan with a projection of Jake, so Jake never has to know anything about what Olan has done. John tells D’Avin that he played the little brother-guilt card – and D’Avin teases him about which girl John was trying to save – Lucy or Pawter?
Dutch knows that Delle can’t take Olan to any of her people to get to Khylen’s data. Dutch gives Delle her own two lies and one truth: “One. I’m your best shot at keeping Olan safe because he’s just as important to me as he is to you. Two. I’ll share with you whatever he reveals. Three. I didn’t hate that kiss.” Delle accuses her of telling three truths, but lets her take Olan. She also points out that whether Dutch likes it or not, they’re allies now.
Dutch takes the kids to the Scarback Monastary on Leith. She asks Alvin to help unlock whatever is in Olan’s head – and keep them secret. They still need the key to the skinscrolls in order to unlock the encrypted text. There’s plenty of chemistry between these two again!
The final scene almost seems like a dream sequence as it is shot semi-focused and with a blue filter. It’s Fancy (Sean Baek) rescuing Khylen. They are headed to Telen – the Jacobi’s home planet. Khylen wants to know why D’Avin was immune. Fancy tells him that the Black Root will know they’ve deviated from their course and will come for them. Not surprisingly, Khylen isn’t too worried.
It was nice to see the return of Delle. I’m hoping we get more interaction between Delle and Pawter at some point in the future. I’m really liking the dynamic between Dutch and Alvis, and I hope we see more of it. Khylen and Fancy are also going to make a great team. I’m starting to see more of the attraction between John and Pawter too. What did you think of the episode? Any guesses as to what’s in that data dump? I’m wondering if we will see more of D’Avin and John’s family coming up… 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
