In the season four premiere of Syfy’s Killjoys, we discover how Dutch and Johnny became RAC agents as well as see the early stages of their friendship. Spoiler alert the tale is badass.
We pick up some time after the season three finale, where Aneela, Dutch, and Khlyen are in the green preparing to hunt The Lady. Their common enemy is the true leader of the Hullen who is seeking to get out of the plasma. While immensely powerful, she seems to be trapped in this alternate dimension of sorts and she needs Aneela to take her out. Additionally, it seems that this being also has special plans for D’avin and Dutch’s child currently residing within Delle Seyah Kendry’s womb.
Inside the green, Khlyen takes an injured Dutch back to their hiding spot where Aneela is standing watch. He begins to tell his protégé a story that will help save her life if she pays close attention. The story turns out to be how Dutch and John Jaqobis became Killjoys in the Quad.
The Warrior and The Thief
The time was seven years ago at the Laryon Docking Station in the Outer J, where Johnny was running a small time con and soon found himself about to get beat up by a group of men when Dutch comes to his rescue by offering the goons some money to get out of there. When the group’s leader is hesitant to accept, she suggests he gets out of there or else she’s going to lose her temper and parts of his manhood will be cut off.
While he’d been grifting she actually found them a job transporting 24 crates of beet wine to a place called the Quad. But it’s not love at first sight for them and the sector that they would eventually call home. In addition, who knew that Lucy did not like Johnny back in the day! It’s super endearing to see how their relationship began too. He apparently attempted to steal the ship some months prior and as a result they got off on the wrong foot. They land in Old Town on Westerley and shortly after get into trouble with Hills Oonan from the Company. Awww I’ve missed you Oonan! Apparently only the Company and Killjoys are able to legally import anything into this area and so everyone else is smuggling. Their cargo is seized with a fine of 10,000 joys. Oh and Lucy is impounded too.
Stuck in Old Town for the moment, the duo head to the Royale for some answers and drinks. There Johnny runs into trouble again when he lifts the wallets of some patrons and one them turns out to be Big Joe, the man who would become Dutch’s Killjoy mentor. After they fight he eventually apprehends the two and takes them to the RAC base for interrogation. They both get questioned by Big Joe separately and the level five Killjoy knows that there is a lot more to Dutch than she lets on. However a hold order is issued on the two outsiders by Hills and they find out that they weren’t just transporting beet wine. The containment hold security footage shows the lid of one of their containers blasting open and the camera goes dead soon after. While at the scene of the crime Johnny finds a remote EMP device that could be triggered from anywhere and Dutch discovers that their stowaway stole poison. Big Joe tells Hills that the two had been with him for the last three hours and that the elder man should put up a big warrant for the stolen goods, he would claim it and then find the missing item. That way it doesn’t get traced back to the Company employee that this happened under his watch.
Back at the Royale, Dutch tells Big Joe that obviously a highly trained assassin is behind this because they are very particular on their method of killing. She sends Johnny off to get them more drinks while she chats with the Killjoy, explaining that it takes one (assassin) to know one. The other man asks her what’s her favorite way to kill someone and Dutch answers using a hair pin through the ear because it makes it look like a brain aneurysm. She offers to find the pro in exchange for letting them go, but he says no can do because people saw her shoot him and that can’t slide. Dutch alters her statement to just let John and the ship go today instead. Big Joe agrees and has her drink a soluble tracker so that he is guaranteed that she doesn’t just jet off.
Meanwhile Johnny has been working on modifying the EMP device so that they can track the triggering signal’s location. Upon finding the exact spot, they pretend to be Killjoys to get information from the men inside. Ian (wearing a shirt with the name Larry) gives in and said that he was just hired to steal something from the impound and apparently doesn’t know where the poison is. Dutch uses her favorite form coersion by nearly breaking the guy’s hand and he relents, saying that the drop is on a ten-year retreat on Qresh. Back on the ship, Lucy explains that Qreshi marriage licenses expire every ten years and that these retreats are a safe way for individuals to try other partners before deciding to renew their marriage.
Dutch Tries To Send Johnny Away For His Own Good
Dutch traps Johnny on Lucy and instructs her ship to fly far away as soon as they land on Qresh. She tells him that she lied and that the clemency deal is only for him. He needs to get far away because people around her always get hurt. Johnny however disables Lucy’s defense protocols and explains that he could rewrite her code so that she would have to obey him but he won’t because he wants her help not her obedience. This is the start of their beautiful relationship as Lucy agrees to let him out in order to save Dutch from herself.
At the retreat, Dutch is being shown around by a hostess when she is asked to log in her credentials to check in. Johnny to the rescue as he naturally has thought of this step and has created falsified information for them. Once they are able to get a moment alone in one of their rooms Dutch is furious that he’s there but he counters that he just saved her so she needs him. Awww they’re so cute. Reluctantly she agrees to do this last job with him but after that they are done. Her plan is for them to look for someone who has manipulated the system to match with their target. The professional would also have to plan for a bedroom date in order to administer the poison.
As she continues to survey the attendees downstairs, Johnny is back in his room going through the digital profiles. He is able to find a one that’s been blocked from matching with anyone else and he tells Dutch through their comm devices that he thinks Harvost Mueller is the target. She goes to find him and makes an offer that he can’t refuse. They head back to his room and she checks him for weapons under the guise of getting frisky. But just as they are on the bed, he starts to weep and says that he doesn’t want to do this and just wants to cuddle. Johnny though tells Dutch that he found a falsified profile and he is able to track the wearer’s bracelet, showing this person is heading towards them. However, instead of Harvost’s room the assassin has come to John’s knowing that he’s been sent there to halt her job. Dutch arrives soon after though and gets into a fight where she kicks ass naturally. She wins, but her partner gets scratched and the poison begins going through his system.
Johnny Saves Dutch
Back on Lucy, Johnny is in his room passed out while Dutch is about to start interrogating the assassin. She asks where the antidote is but the other woman refuses to say. She uses a scanner and finds the small item hidden inside the killer’s shoe, however there’s a lock around it. Running out of time, Dutch takes out her torture box and says that she was hoping she wouldn’t have to use these anymore. The other woman says that they can’t ever be like other people again. Yalena (Dutch) states that Johnny was her chance at normalcy and that the assassin would tell her the code eventually because the one thing girls like them don’t do is die horribly for a job. But before she can start, he comes downstairs having been woken up by Lucy asking for advice on how she would know if Yalena was in trouble.
“You don’t have to do this, we can both start over. Just take this first step and I will take it with you.”
Oh Johnny you and your guyliner are giving me feels! Apparently the assassin was moved too since she whistles and lock opens. The younger Jaqobis brother then quickly drinks the contents of the small vial.
They take the contract killer back to the RAC and Big Joe gives them their cut of the warrant earnings. He tells the younger man to go get himself a soda while he chats with Dutch and offers the two of them jobs. He figures that she might like a simple, clean, legal, and secure way of life. Interestingly enough however when she gets up to leave without accepting his proposal, Turin enters and we see on his badge that Yalena’s DNA had been tagged with the code Red 17 already and they were not to approach. But that isn’t a surprise as Khlyen had been watching her during this time too.
In her personal quarters, Johnny comes in and asks why she didn’t tell him the truth that she had also been an assassin. She points out that’s not the kind of thing you would easily say to someone. He does say though that the other woman was wrong and that she can change. Johnny suggests what if they stayed and joined the RAC, this time not running away. When Dutch asks what if she’s no good at being normal, he proposes a two-year deal. They try out this lifestyle and after that they can choose to renew or abandon their partnership with no blame or tears. She agrees and he gets up to get some alcohol to make it official while teasing her with the nickname queenie. Yalena corrects him though that he can’t call her that anymore because they are starting over with new identities. So John decides duchess instead and voila! Dutch is short for duchess.
Back In The Green
Meanwhile back inside the green, Khlyen tells Dutch that she needs to remember that she and Johnny saved each other. When Aneela asks what the younger Jaqobis saved Yalena from, her father answers himself. She then leaves the room upset. He turns his attention back to the injured Dutch and asks her what the real lesson of his story is. She doesn’t know and Khlyen says that when she has no strength left to fight The Lady, find John Jaqobis because he is her true north and her only way home. When he goes outside to talk to Aneela, she tells him that she should never have left Dutch with him because if they don’t do something soon The Lady will break her. The elder man responds back that this would always happen it was only a matter of when. It seems that he had sent Dutch back out to face their enemy and he had hidden something, possibly in her?
Running through the snowy forest, the Killjoy yells out for The Lady to come and get her when an unseen force attacks and she falls to the ground with tendrils of green plasma entering her body. We hear Khlyen’s voice saying that this is the story of a lonely warrior and the thief who saves them all.
Final Thoughts
- Oh how I’ve missed Killjoys. It is huge a treat to see how Dutch and Johnny first became Killjoys and witness the turning point that really solidified their friendship. Their relationship is one of the most important aspects of the show and it’s refreshing that it’s not a romantic one.
- It’s also been so much fun to know that Johnny and Lucy did not always get along.
- But I can’t wait to find out what Khlyen’s strategy is for winning against The Lady. He must surely have something planned since he’s presumably hidden something in Dutch. I wonder if it’s something that will lessen the Hullen leader’s power once she tries to infiltrate the Killjoy’s mind.
- I hope we learn more about Dutch’s physiology as a being created in the green. She’s not Hullen nor is she totally human either.
- Also I can’t wait to find out about D’Avin’s crazy power over the green. Did he get this special skill through the experiments on him during his time in the military? Or did he get this way via another means?
Killjoys airs on Syfy Fridays at 10/9c.
