I Watch TV: Killjoys
So Killjoys is over. It started as a space bounty-hunting-problem-of-the-week show, and despite all the hints that there was something bigger along the way, I kind of felt that it was at its best with the three of them doing something ridiculous in a weird place to try and get their man. Still, in the end they saved the galaxy from The Lady, Dutch turned out to have a twin who was millennia older than her and had been hidden in The Green, and Johnny and D’avin manage to come to terms with their various pasts and hang-ups.
So what did I like about it? I liked that it kept putting them into more and more difficult situations, especially ones that their skills (D’avin – kicking ass, Johnny – technical stuff, Dutch – yet more kicking ass) didn’t help with. And then technical stuff and kicking ass when that goes wrong. I liked that they put the concepts that drove it into the text:
“That's what us a great team. You lead, I shoot, Johnny gives a shit." (D’avin)
"I thought you were just the funny one."
"I multi-task."
"They don't call me the mouth because I'm bad with my hands."It’s direct with its words but clever with it.
Having said that, when they left the Quad (one planet and three moons that was the main setting) in later seasons, and the over-arching plot got complicated and weird, I felt that it lost its way. It would have done better to drill deeper in the Quad. Which it did on occasion, exploring politics and weird communities and stuff, but in the context of what had gone on before rather than some random place we’ve never seen before and don’t care about.
Anyway Killjoys is done, they saved the galaxy, but they didn’t actually do a very good job as the alien monsters are still out there for them to have more adventures. They finished it before they went on too long, and they managed to get to a finishing place. So I’m pleased with it.
Watch This: For fifty episodes of space opera violence and plotting that is at its best when it pretends it’s just a fun adventure
Don’t Watch This: If you don’t like it when a fun adventure show drops the pretence and reveals there’s some deeper sci-fi meaning and questions that have been there all along.
Due To A Mix Up: This is not the last TV series I watched in 2019, but it is the last one that I finished in 2019 to appear on the blog, making it a poor indication of my backlog, but a fair one of my organisation.
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