In the penultimate episode of Killjoys season four, we say good bye to a memorable character who departs in a blaze of glory while remaining in our collective hearts forever.
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SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SEASON 4 EPISODE 9
When we last left Pip, he was on his way back to Aneela’s armada with Zeph after she whisked him away from the rest of Team Awesome Force to prevent him potentially working on behalf of The Lady. She discovers that the spider that had entered his body while at the Necropolis fused with a part of his brain and is now keeping him alive. She tries a number of dangerous procedures and is able to disrupt the spider’s connection to his impulses to hopefully prevent further control from their green adversary. However, the insect wasn’t meant to live outside the green for long and so it’s also dying. Pip asks Zeph how long he’s got but she just answers that she’ll find a way once they are back on the armada and she has access to Aneela’s lab.
We first met Pippin “The Mouth” Foster in the first episode of season three with Dutch and D’av kidnapping him at the Veluvian Steam Baths on Leith . They Killjoys needed him to find a beacon that would help draw out an organized crime syndicate moving into the Quad. As a black marketeer, Pip is able to find the beacon and sets up a sale. However this was just an elaborate ruse because D and D were actually trying to lure the Hullen out of hiding.
We next see him in episode nine where his help is needed to find a device that would record memories. D’av and Zeph had come up with a plan to save Dutch and take Aneela out of the picture without killing the Hullen leader. They were going to plant a false memory of Dutch and D’av arguing about her going into one of the Hullen cubes alone in the green and that would hopefully trigger Aneela into going after the other woman. She would then be trapped inside the cube because Khlyen had designed the space to be a prison for his daughter. Their plan though also hinges on the Hullen Kitaan and initially they are able to implant the memory into her through D’av’s abilities. However, things get crazy after a knife that was keeping her paralyzed falls out and she accosts Pip, forcing him to fly Lucy to a planet with plasma so that she can warn her people about Team Awesome Force’s devious plan.
When war comes to the Quad, Pip is on Leith with Pree and the Ferans as they guard a device created by Johnny that would disable the tech on Hullen ships. In the aftermath Zeph and Pip end up on the Hullen occupied R.A.C. at the beginning of season four. The two are alone and all the other inhabitants have gone dormant as The Lady has been battling Aneela, Dutch, and Khlyen in the green. Eventually the scientist is able to hot wire a Black Root ship and they fly to Aneela’s armada where Turin, Fancy, Pree, Gared, and the rest of the good guys are. In order to find Dutch and the Jaqobis brothers, Zeph, Pip, and an ex-Scarback head to the Necropolis to find out what happened to the trio. Inside the tomb, a plasma spider gets into Pip’s body and he wakes up with no memory of what happened to him. The insect lays dormant though until Team Awesome Force (with young Jaq) are at Utopia. There The Lady makes a move and controls Pip into almost taking the heir to the Quad. He is knocked out and sedated with Zeph eventually flying him back to Aneela’s armada.
With the Hullen holding Westerley kids prisoners on the R.A.C., the good guys are trying to figure out a way to rescue them. Meanwhile, Zeph is also trying to figure out what the scars on Dutch’s back mean and the closest match she gets is an old Scarback language. She and Pip head to Eulogy to speak to Fairuza who tells them that the symbol is a Shadow Scar, the language of their dead. Apparently every Scarback creates their own to be carved on their body at their death. She goes on to say that each symbol tells a story and this particular one is actually a combination of three characters. They mean evolve, elixir, and the last one being disappear or dissolve. Zeph can’t understand why The Lady would carve that on Aneela and therefore on Dutch as well and tells Pip that she needs to think. This is code word for some intense love making and so the duo rent a room and get busy. The aftermath is actually a rather tender scene between the two where Zeph begrudgingly reveals that she was a farm girl on Leith where her sisters were traded like cows after Pip asks her why she wears a necklace. He says that he knows they are just banging buddies but he wants to get to know her and that he respects her. He asks for some understanding that this is hard for him and that he’s trying to find the middle. She moves in closer to him in bed and agrees that the middle is good.
Once they return to the armada, Pip volunteers to help rescue the kids despite Zeph telling him not to go. He says that he thinks it’s about time he tries being brave solo and with Johnny and her staying behind someone needs to be the designated geek. She hugs him and makes him promise that he’ll ride with Dutch, which he refuses to at first. Zeph insists though that the Killjoy won’t let him go unless she can spider watch him anyways and in that way the master assassin will also be able to protect him. He then asks her if they are doing a goodbye kiss or if they’re keeping it professional and she quickly gives him a passionate smooch. He joins Dutch as the third team and goes with her into the room on the R.A.C. where the liquid green pool resides. Dutch then drops in transponder that is supposed to allow Lucy to transfer it to the armada. Things go terribly wrong though when Johnny feels the bio shield that the Hullen erected around the R.A.C. dying. Earlier another team commanded by Weej (the woke Hullen) crashed into the shield and the Black Root ship exploded because undercover Killjoys who were not Hullen were on board. Johnny surmises that this caused irreparable damage and the R.A.C. will think it’s a virus and do a hard reboot to keep the ship from imploding. This is bad because that means that the their enemies will now have access to the R.A.C.’s heavy cannon and be able to blast the armada. With the green crystalized on their own ship the Killjoys won’t be able to raise shields or get away. Over comms, Turin tells D’av, Dutch, Fancy, and Pip that they’ll need to use his master code to essentially cause the R.A.C to self-destruct, the only problem is that it will have to be entered manually. Dutch is quick to volunteer first but D’av grabs her and says no he’s going to do it. Fancy then says in annoyance that he’ll do it just so he doesn’t have to watch their sappiness. But then Pip tells the group that he’s drawn the short straw and that whatever R.A.C rises from these ashes it’ll need Killjoys and a designated asshole. He goes on the say that it’s ok he knows he’s a dead man walking and that doesn’t scare him. It’s the thing that put a spider in his brain is that frightens him and he knows that their the only ones that can stop it. Dutch can’t let him though because of Zeph, but he cuts her off and explains that Zeph will never forgive herself if she can’t save him however, she will get over him saving them. She gives him a tight hug, D’av thanks him for his service and Fancy nods with gravity.
As Johnny has to break the news to Zeph that Pip volunteered to put in the auto-destruct code, what comes next is heartbreaking. She contacts Pip over comms and tells him to get out of there right now. He counters back that he can’t do that because then she’d get blown up and he’s not cool with that. Zeph is trying so hard not to cry and says that she hasn’t figure out how to get into the green yet and they have so much thinking to do. She wants him to find Dutch because she’s magic and will get him out of there. Pip reminds her that scientists don’t believe in magic but she argues that she will if that means he gets to come back. At this point my eyes are just brimming with tears and I want to hug these two so bad.
“You’re looking at it the wrong way Zephyr, genius farm girl from Leith, almost falling for a spoiled loudmouth from Qresh, hells if that ain’t magic.”
Zeph struggles to get the words that she wants to hell him out and he says its ok he knows. What a very Han Solo and Princess Leia moment there! He then inputs the code and says to her to meet him in the middle. She calls out for him a few more times and then we see the R.A.C. explode as my heart implodes with it. Much like Pawter’s sudden death in the penultimate episode of season two, this is so horribly gut wrenching but amazing television.
Pip has grown and evolved so much and this was such a heroic way to send him off. He started out as a side character that served as comedic relief, but darn if he didn’t grow on you from last season to now. His relationship with Zeph was incredibly surprising and surprisingly endearing. You couldn’t help but root for them. They were two individuals who didn’t really fit into the molds of their respective backgrounds and were thus outsiders in many respects. It was also so refreshing to have Pip as the male character be the one more interested in seeing their friendship grow into something more. But what was most heartfelt about Zip was that Zeph made him want to be a better man and in the end he became one. He chose her over himself and his sacrifice was so that she and the other Killjoys could live and fight their enemy. I would never have expected that from the Pip we first met in season three. He’s come an incredibly long way and Atticus Mitchell did a tremendous job playing him.
What was also such a treat to watch was seeing how Pip in turn affected Zeph. When we first met her last season, she was a lot more clinical and detached from her emotions. Her time with the black marketeer however allowed her to tap into her feelings more and lower some of those walls she erected from the life she had been born into. She has been reluctant to admit to herself that she cared deeply about him given her past experiences with men, but when she discovers the spider in his brain she comes to the realization that she doesn’t want to lose him. Ultimately when he sacrifices himself to save her and the others, Zeph finally realizes that she loves him even though she can’t say the words. That final scene between these two really destroyed me. Kelly McCormack’s performance in their final scene was masterful and I was a ball of weepy sobs.
Pip’s journey was unexpected but grew to become a deeply meaningful narrative this season. While we say farewell to him, we’ll always remember that boy from Qresh who became a hero.
Killjoys airs on Syfy Fridays at 10/9c. Relive all the epic moments from seasons 1 – 3 now on VRV.
