Killjoys: Complete Seasons 1-5 (TV series review)
The Reclamation Apprehension Coalition or RAC also called the Killjoys are bounty hunter teams that pick up contracts for wanted felons in the Quad, a star system with four habitual planets and moons. They’re bounty hunters like we have today except they would for a company and under contract. Somewhat, except they are brought in alive. We follow a team led by Dutchess aka Dutch aka Yalena Yardeen (actress Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny Jaqobis (actor Aaron Ashmore) and, more recently his brother D’avin Jaqobis (actor Luke Macfarlane), flow in a spacecraft with an AI Lucy (actress voice Tamsen McDonough).
There are sub-plots under all these warrants in their opening season. Dutch herself was trained by Khlyen Kin Rit (actor Rob Stewart) to be an assassin before she broke free. He frequently pops up detailing a job she must do and also turns out to belong the level 6 of the RAC, having been transformed with green blood to be hard to kill. They also have their own agenda. I should point out some elements of this are brought out in the latter seasons with Dutch finding she has a sister, Aneela Kin Rit (also actress Hannah John-Kamen) similarly trained but far more deadly.
The over-laying theme behind the seasons is tracking down the green-blooded level 6 people who can only die by being shot in the brain. They later get the name Huion and prepared to attack the humans with their own agenda. There is also the matter of spiders that can get under your skull and control you. Chief amongst these is The Lady (actress Alanna Bale), who willingly changes bodies when needed. When you consider all the episode titles, revealed in the boxset but not on the screen, are terrestrial puns, the overall theme of the series is hunt the lady.
Zephr Vos actress Kelly MaCormack is a real scene-stealer and often out-nerding Johnny’s own nerdism. Then again, it’s a good Canadian cast with dimensional characters that you often think are incidental but brough to the fore, like bar owner Pree (actor Thom Allson) who is a former warlord. The same with Fancy Lee (actor Sean Baek), a Killjoy that usually prefers to do contracts alone. Garrow (actor Patrick Garrow) also their line boss in the Killjoys. There are so many good people in their roles in this five season series that it is hard to keep up with them, let alone those who survive. I’m not deliberately leaving anyone out. It took a while to wander down IMdB to identify their roles.
At the end of season 4, a cure for a pandemic has a side-effect of wiping memories. When it came to season 5, the people of Westerly are leading different lives and it looks like someone has been playing with them, so when stressed, like being reminded none of this is real, have a shower and come under its spell again. Zeph knows there is something wrong but only Dutch gets her memory back under unusual circumstances can lead the revolt or, at least, get her team and their friends back.
What can be a nuisance is the music behind the dialogue. It doesn’t happen all the time but it is a distraction. Incidentally, series creator Michelle Lovretta went on to do the TV version of ‘The Umbrella Academy’.
For a totally Canadian series, this really is worth your attention if you haven’t come across it before, then its worth picking up the boxset. Crime is rife, even by the wealthy families, and always on the move. The twists are not always predictable and just when you move in one direction, another one spring up. Its also extremely violent but not necessarily gratuitously so. You really do want to follow it to the end.
GF Willmetts
June 2026
(pub: Universal, 2025. 10 blu-ray disks 2,198 minutes 50 * 45 minute episodes. Price: varies. ASIN: 612309361)
