Killjoys - Cheap but enjoyable

Quetesh

Well Known GateFan
I am on my way to ep 3 of this show. I like it okay. Aaron Ashmore was on my Lost Girl for awhile so it is good to see him back again.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
It is. And good to see you back! Welcome back!

:welcomewagon:

Killjoys is exactly what they advertised it as. A simple actioner in a scifi wrapper. It has had some warts but each installment has been better than the one before it.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Very nice installment!

A week after Dark Matter shows us how not to do an episode about a creepy derelict ship Killjoys does the exact opposite. Well paced, well acted, plot with a clever twist on the "derelict ship" theme and even the music fit the action properly. Tone wise it was atmospheric when it needed to be and fast paced when appropriate too. It even advanced the character stories of both Dutch and Aaron Ashmore's brother while it was at it.

Each week this show gets better bit by bit. It's almost like the director and writers got the proper feel for the cast on the job so to speak. It has its warts but the trajectory seems to be improvement week to week.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
And Killjoys follows up a nice installment with......another nice installment.

It tells a nice story of Dutch's past catching up to her with a vengeance in both her pre-Killjoy life and her Killjoy life. Plus she gets caught in the middle of a potential rift between two of the primary power brokers in this series universe - The Company and the RAC (the organization that the Killjoys belong to). We get more background on the team and meet the former Killjoy who trained Dutch.

Ultimately it concludes with Dutch reaching out to her team for help in finding the mysterious person who has been showing up from her distant past so she can be free of him. Just like the whole series so far - each week improves on the last one.
 

Joelist

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Staff member
Weak? It delivered action and also filled in more of the backstory. I thought it did well.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
I'm just not feeling this show. I've tried to give it a fair shake but to me it's just boring. The characters don't really intrigue me and the sets/locations are a total snooze. Even Aaron Ashmore isn't enough of a draw to get me to sit through an episode any longer.
 

Joelist

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Staff member
The old guy with connection to Dutch is killing it for me.

Not sure I agree. Dutch is pretty obviously a "not who she appears to be" character. And he is the connection to her other identity.
 

Joelist

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Staff member
We got a treat tonight in an episode which was mostly solid but had a couple of bad things to it too.

The treat was Amanda Tapping. She did a nice turn as a pretty brutally amoral Company scientist who was responsible for programming D'Avin. It was unusual seeing her as a baddie, and she was good at it. Given the way they ended the episode I am pretty sure we haven't seen the last of her.

On the other goods, the episode set mood well and had good pacing, and everyone turned in good performances. It also left us at the end with the Killjoy team in tatters and Dutch is going to have a big job reestablishing the chemistry of the team.

Which leads me to...the bad part. Having Dutch and D'Avin hook up was garbage. It is typical soap opera writing and extremely disappointing on a show that up to now avoided it. It also ran completely against the character of Dutch they had established - she was too much of a leader to do something so obviously destructive to her teams ability to work together.

So, mixed feelings.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
All I know is if I'm going to watch Aaron Ashmore getting stabbed with anything I'd prefer it be with my penis -- repeatedly. ;) :hump:

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Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
So you have it filed to a razor sharp edge so it can double as a bayonet?
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
So you have it filed to a razor sharp edge so it can double as a bayonet?

Well let's just say it's been known to slice buns rather easily. :winking0052:
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
This week's installment was much better.

Basically a small set piece about a hostage situation. Pacing was good and also Dutch's bad judgment in the previous episode did come home to roost, as it has indeed screwed up her team. D'Avin is gone and she is working to get things back on track with John.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
This week's installment was much better.

Basically a small set piece about a hostage situation. Pacing was good and also Dutch's bad judgment in the previous episode did come home to roost, as it has indeed screwed up her team. D'Avin is gone and she is working to get things back on track with John.

I find most every episode to be a small set piece, that's why it's so boring. Other than the pilot I can recall only one episode that used an extensive exterior location (Ashmore worked the fields and had a bomb implanted in his head). Other than that the show seems almost claustrophobic in the way the characters are always stuck in a small space talking talking talking.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
I'm not sure I would agree.

While they have had small set stuff there have also been outdoor shoots (the premiere, the working in fields, the sisterhood that was having the babies for the nobles) and also larger scale interior sets (the derelict ship and indeed last week with the people who programmed D'Avin). Plus there has been a goodly amount of action.

Overall the show does pretty well for its obviously tiny budget. Pacing hasn't been bad, acting is decent to good and except for the big fail two weeks ago it has been pretty shipping free. Plus Amanda Tapping guest starring and doing a good job as a villain (don't think I've ever seen her play a full time villain before - repli-Carter was only for a couple of SG-1 installments) was a treat.

Given the ratings I imagine it gets a second season - hopefully the turgid Dark Matter does not.
 

Jim of WVa

Well Known GateFan
...
Given the ratings I imagine [Killjoys] gets a second season - hopefully the turgid Dark Matter does not.

I fully expect both to be renewed. Dark Matter is basically Stargate Universe with a realistic budget. The bottom line is not ratings but profit.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
I fully expect both to be renewed. Dark Matter is basically Stargate Universe with a realistic budget. The bottom line is not ratings but profit.

Correct. Both shows seem to be produced cheaply enough to slide under the ratings bar for a second season.
 
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