Killjoys - Kiss, Kiss Bye Bye - Review

Killjoys, “Kiss, Kiss, Bye Bye,” was written by creator Michelle Lovretta and was directed by Paolo Barzman, who also directed Lost Girl with Lovretta as well as Being Human, Bomb Girls, and Haven. I was once again pleasantly surprised to see the show give us some closure pretty quickly on one of the on-going mysteries. The show really maintains a good balance of mystery with satisfying episodes.

I particularly liked how Dutch (Hannan John-Kamen) and D’Avin’s (Luke Macfarlane) stories parallel each other in a somewhat unexpected way – both have pasts they’d rather not remember and traits they’d rather lose. Macfarlane turns in his best performance to date, really delivering a great performance in his final scene with John-Kamen, who is also terrific in the episode. The one event that I wasn’t so happy about was Dutch and D’Avin’s hook-up.

The episode begins with the team on Leith and John (Aaron Ashmore) trying to find some information from the neural transmitter. He manages to get an after image from Khylen – and we’re treated to a pretty cool special effect – before the transmitter fizzles out.

D’Avin distracts Dutch by playing a shooting game with her – I really liked how the target they use comes back into the episode later. Dutch tells D’avin she just wants answers about her past from Khylen, she wants to know her own story. D’Avin tells her he get is because that’s exactly what he wants from Jaeger.

John decides to use the device on himself. They return and have to take John to Pawter (Sarah Power) to remove the device. Unfortunately, she breaks it while removing it. While there, we all realize that D’Avin has “faded” from their relationship. His simply not answering her calls meant that she had to spend the night in West Hall jail. I’m curious to find out how she really got out.

D’Avin is a jerk for treating Pawter in this way, but she still tells him about the other former patient of Jaeger’s that she’s found. The team break Grayson (Mark O’Brien) out of the Mental Institution where he is. Grayson doesn’t remember much, but Jaeger is the one thing he can’t forget. He leads them to Utopia which is described as a cross between a market and a club, specializing in drugs, medicine, and tech. It’s another really interesting element in the show’s world-building. I would have liked a better view of D’Avin’s leather outfit, however…

John leaves the other two on the pretext of getting some boring tech. In reality, he goes to see about getting more information on the neural transmitter. He finds out that it’s a bio-tech hybrid. The woman he goes to says she’ll try to get it working again as long as she gets to keep it if she does. I have a bad feeling she’s going to end up dead.

Meanwhile, bad move to leave Dutch and D’Avin together. He decides that he’s going to take the free sample of some drug. He blisses out on it, telling Dutch she’s beautiful and then kissing her – she happily kisses him back. I’ve already stated that I don’t think the show needs these two to be a hot and heavy romantic pairing. However, more disturbing about this scene is the casual drug use. The server running around with free samples is like any drug dealer anywhere who gives out free samples until their customer is hooked or addicted.

Dr Bliss (Sarain Boylan) tells them she used to be Jaeger’s assistant but she’s taken the treatment one better. Jaeger only removed memories, Bliss will give you memories of whatever you want.

When they return to Westerley, Dutch is thrown in West Hall for breaking Grayson out. While there, Delle Seyah Kendry (Mayko Nguyen) visits her, offering to get her out…. For a price. Delle has done her work and knows Dutch’s “real” name. She offers to get Dutch out in exchange for a future favor. Dutch agrees but sweetens the deal for herself, insisting that Delle get her 24 hours alone with Jaeger.

We finally meet Jaeger – and she’s played by Amanda Tapping! It’s always wonderful to see Tapping, and she doesn’t disappoint here. Jaeger tells D’Avin that he killed his men because he had a psychotic break and seems genuinely concerned for him, that he’s having any memories at all. Jaeger offers to complete D’Avin’s procedure and remove all of his memories, but he insists he wants them back. Dutch and John both say he shouldn’t.

John tells Dutch to give D’Avin space to work it out and he leaves to take a call about the neural device. Dutch doesn’t take John’s advice – of course. Instead, she tells D’Avin that she killed her first person when she was 8. She tells him she’s not judging him, but if there’s no hope for him, how is there hope for her? She also points out that getting his memories back isn’t about moving on, it’s just about punishing himself. And then, the show moves in a direction that I really hoped it wouldn’t as the two use their new closeness to sleep together.

John naturally walks in on them – though they don’t notice him – and he goes off to drown his sorrows with Pree (Thom Allison). Is it just me or does Pree maybe have a little crush on John? Or just friends? Pree, however, has no illusions and when John tells Pree about the other two, Pree asks if he’s jealous and says, “Finally!” He’s been waiting for John to admit that he’s in love with Dutch. I loved him telling John, you can’t be mad that he climbed the tree when all you were going to do was sit beside it… But of course, that’s not what’s bugging John. John tells Pree it’s more like his brother is banging his sister – ew! John tells Pree that both D’Avin and Dutch are terrible at relationships and now he’s going to have to choose sides.

While John drowns his sorrow, Dutch and D’Avin wake up – and Dutch realizes that John was there. Meanwhile, Jaeger reprograms D’Avin and we learn what was really going on – D’Avin was part of an experiment that went wrong. He proved himself to be too good of a soldier and really killed his squad because that was what he was told to do – with some nasty sci-fi help of course. Jaeger tells him to kill his team. The fight between Dutch and D’Avin is epic. Excellently shot, choreographed and executed.

Dutch wins – of course! – and goes after Jaeger after securing D’Avin to get Jaeger to “turn D’Avin off.” We find out that Jaeger was the one to put the kill warrant on D’Avin in the first place. I loved that they underscored how important the past and memories are by having Jaeger choose death over having her memory wiped. And I also loved that Dutch then choose that to punish her.

To make things even worse, D’Avin stabs John to get loose and go after Dutch. We get a little insight into the brothers’ childhood as John tries to get through to D’Avin by reminding him of a moment when D’Avin risked his own life to save a kid they didn’t even like. But D’Avin is now on mission. When D’Avin shows up at Jaeger’s, Jaeger is cocky at first, saying he’s no threat to her, but luckily Dutch convinces her assistant that Dutch is a clear and present danger.

Meanwhile, John tries to get help. Lucy is stymied at first, but quickly comes to John’s aid and puts out a distress call for a doctor. Pawter shows up and we once again get some pretty interesting background as she uses her family’s position to get a med ship to come for John – seems she really does still have some clout. In the hospital, Pree is seen hovering over John – see above comment! – and of course Pawter and Dutch are relieved to see him pull through, but there’s no D’Avin.

In the final scene, Dutch goes to a devastated D’avin. Macfarlane is just terrific as we see the full effect of his having to deal with not only hurting Dutch but also almost killing his brother. D’Avin begs Dutch to tell him she knows that wasn’t really him. He tells her he remembers everything. I found myself after the fact wondering if he meant he remembered everything of having tried to kill Dutch and John or whether he meant everything, including killing his squad?

But what really drives a wedge between the new lovers – for which I’m very grateful – is that D’Avin has reminded Dutch of the part of herself that she’s tried to get away from. She tells him “but it was really me.” He’s forced her to destroy Jaeger. Of course, we’ve seen how she is with John and how much she doesn’t want to be that part of herself – the part that Khlyen has worked hard to create in the same way that Jaeger used the best parts of D’Avin against him. She’s used his dedication to do the right thing by twisting it to be strict adherence to his orders. Dutch leaves D’Avin sitting there, telling him she can’t look at him because he’s reminding her of what she’s had to do herself.

Another solid episode. I really like how they are teasing out the bits and pieces of each character’s past. I’m really looking forward to how the deal with Delle is going to work out and to seeing John and D’Avin see each other. I’m betting that John is going to be understanding – assuming that D’Avin doesn’t just take off. I adored the fight scene – I can’t get enough of Dutch kicking ass! What did you think of the episode? Let me know 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, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, 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.