There’s no such thing as a nuclear family in the J.
Killjoys Season 5 Episode 8 was spent examining the question of what family means.
In short, it was no one right combination of people.
But we did get to see many possibilities in a short 45 minutes.
The best had to be Zephyr returning to Leith and her farming community from which she had escaped years earlier.
It had always seemed that the Madelaides were a backwards people, and their garb was seemingly a nod to fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood’s Handmaids.
That didn’t turn out to be the case, however.
Supplying the history of the Madelaides was Fancy, of all people, who explained that they were the quad’s foremost natural scientists. Then their knowledge got subverted by corporations, and they renounced science, adopting a natural lifestyle.
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It’s no wonder a beautiful mind such as Zephyr felt out of place there.
Zephyr recalled seeing a creature such as the hatchling when, as a youngster, she had viewed the Madelaides’ holographic tapestry which contained all of the cult’s scientific knowledge.
There was just one big problem: her people view Zephyr as a heretic.
That’s because she had burned down the granary to save her people from the tainted grain inside. But she was shunned because she used science to identify this problem.
No wonder Zeph ran away from home.
So, Zephyr’s brilliant scheme was that she and Dutch would sneak in and steal the knowledge instead of just asking nicely.
It’s not like these farmers would guard their most precious artifact, right?
Of course, it was Zeph’s resentful sister Zaia (played by Kelly McCormack’s sister Hilary) who caught them trying to break and enter.
Dutch and Zephyr should have been suspicious when the Great Mother was offering tea and cookies rather than some type of punishment to the homecoming fugitive and her friend.
Guess she was right when she said the Madelaides were pacifistic but not helpless.
It was great to see Pip again, even if it was only in Zeph’s drug-induced fantasy. Him blaming her for his death was what helped her to break free of her hallucination.
That pit was a pretty nasty way to punish non-believers, especially young ones such as Zephyr.
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It made sense that Zeph was the Great Mother’s heir apparent, because she was willing to do what was necessary to protect her family, even if it was outside the law.
What the Great Mother didn’t realize was that the Madelaides were no long Zephyr’s family; the Killjoys now were.
So Zeph didn’t hesitate to knock out the Great Mother to gain access to the tapestry or to shoot Zaia to protect Dutch, even though it wouldn’t have been long until Dutch would have won that matchup.
It was sweet to watch the pair back on Lucy, chatting like sisters while sharing a bottle. Aneela’s name came up, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see her back next episode. Everyone has to gather for the final battle, right?
The Jaqobis brothers found themselves in the middle of an accident waiting to happen as well.
Giving guns to the prison ship’s worst prisoners, even if was just for the J equivalent of laser tag, was asking for trouble.
And, naturally, Mace even managed to lift a real gun from that obnoxious guard Durek. So when Durek turned up murdered, Mace was the obvious suspect.
Getting the prisoners to form teams to drill for the upcoming attack on Westerley was diffcult enough.
Having a staff doctor killing off prisoners certainly didn’t improve improve an already tense situation.
You had to love how Calvert managed to silence the threat and win Capture the Flag all in one move. That will teach the doctor to make fun of that training plan.
It was a hoot throughout watching D’avin trying to find a potential relationship for Johnny, first checking out the warden, then Calvert.
It’s promising that Johnny seemed to have accepted that D’av and Dutch are going to be together, even if he was fairly juvenile about it.
Besides, it was clear from that opening scene that Johnny is already in love … with Lucy.
It was great to watch the team, along with Reniker, Mace, and Calvert, sit down together for a formal meal, the calm before the storm.
This was a watershed episode for Fancy.
Up until now, he’s been that arrogant asshole and kick-ass fighter. Now he’s become a scholar and a gourmet chef as well.
He’s much more likeable now. Why did it take so long to give him a back story?
Khlyen had a chance to end this whole The Lady threat but he couldn’t pull the trigger, figuratively speaking.
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That was despite Turin urging him at take her out when he got the opening.
The Lady wants to Khlyen’s replacement daughter now? How did such an ancient being such develop daddy issues?
Does this mean The Lady’s human host is taking over her psyche? There has been evidence of her having human emotions and this appears to be a continuation of that.
Still, it’s hard to believe that Khlyen is lonely enough to go alone with this charade.
More likely, he’ll change sides once he discovers that both Dutch and Aneela are still alive, probably using up his last life in the process.
Hopefully, Pree, Gared, Turin, Aneela, and Kendry will gather with the Killjoys next episode to prepare for the battle royale in the finale.
To review the season so far, watch Killjoys online.
How did you like meeting Zephyr’s people?
Wasn’t that prison doctor an unlikely villain?
Who will Johnny end up with?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.