Tuesday 22 August 2017

Killjoys - 'Attack the Rack' and 'Necropolis Now'

So, clearly I'm running slow on my reviews. Bear with me.

Not the most successful interrogation ever.
Dutch is going all out for war and seeking to recruit the rest of the RAC. To do that, however, she needs to be sure that she isn't recruiting double agents, and thus she and her team set out to use knockout gas to disable every Killjoy in the Rack so that they can be cut-tested and the Sixes eliminated. It's a smooth plan, but goes south when the Hullen prove to be wearing anti-toxin injectors, one of the tech nerds having sold out the cause for the promise of immortality.

The brothers Jaqobis are captured and tortured to force D'av to reveal his magic goo powers, while Dutch confronts Banyon Grey and stabs her, only to learn that she has been tracking the Six infiltration herself, and thought that Dutch was a part of it. Dutch rescues her boys and manages to clear the Rack with the aid of Johnny and the DNA bomb, but the cost is massive and Banyon - a potentially strong ally - dies of her wounds. Worse, Aneela sees a demonstration of D'av's abilities. On the upside, the leaders of the other nearby RAC Cruisers are convinced... right up until Aneela blows up their ships and all of the Killjoys aboard.

Also, Turin shows doubts over Fancy's loyalty, causing the latter to go off in a huff.

"I don't think you understand how rich, posh and objectionable we are."
So, things are going badly for everyone but Aneela, and maybe Kendry, who moves up her campaign to become Aneela's second in command to a physical level.

In 'Necropolis Now', the team attend the funeral for the RAC leaders, a swanky affair led by Alvis and with top-level representatives of the Nine in attendance, at which a newly doubtful Dutch is hoping to solicit financial support for the war. She finds them less than receptive, and eventually realises that this is because, with their deal with the Hullen fallen through, they are planning to run away and leave the Quad to their erstwhile partners. As the dignitaries begin to die from mysterious causes, Dutch and D'av are trapped in a lift with the nobs and a bucket of sexual tension, while Johnny tries to find common ground with Pawter's sister. Unfortunately, it turns out that Louelle Seyah Simms is the murderer, using tiny robots developed by her mother to avenge her sister's murder, for which she also holds Johnny responsible. This leaves a dying Johnny to talk her down, while D'av and Dutch work to un-stick the lift and save their potential donors.

Family's always embarrassing.
Meanwhile, on the Black Root cruiser, Aneela cracks the secret of D'av's abilities, only for her aide to move against her. Kendry realises that the ship is Aneela's prison, somewhere she can be contained while the Hullen use her erratic genius. Armed with D'av's power, however, Aneela slaughters her guards and storms about in search of Kendry.

And then Zeph tells Dutch that the Remnant contains brain cells, complete with memories, with a DNA profile closely matching Dutch's.

Killjoys continues to be a cracking space opera, although it has lost some of its former joie de vivre in all the loss and desperate struggle for survival that's going on, and I miss that. Our heroes have also been on the back foot for a while, and that can be a grind. Thankfully, funding from the Nine and a possible break in the form of the Remnant may indicate a shift of footing. Also, Aneela is so far a slightly less compelling character than Dutch, although the revelation that the Hullen have (or had) a complicated relationship with their 'commander' has done wonders for this childlike monster.

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