Hells yeah, Killjoys is kicking some serious ass in Season 3. From deadly Hackmods to waging war against Aneela, we’ve loved every damn second we’ve seen. The fun continues on Friday in “The Hullen Have Eyes,” written by Adam Barken and directed by Ruba Nadda. It features a rollicking ride to a planet with a strange history, Johnny and Zeph—read our interview with Kelly McCormack—butting heads and a peek at what’s going on with Aneela.
Here’s what Space says about this week’s episode:
The Killjoys trace the last coordinates of a Black Root ship to a radiation scorched planet. The planet is home to an abandoned Hullen training camp, creepy inhabitants, and a surprising connection to their past.
And here are some fun tidbits we can add after watching a screener.
Aneela unhinged
We watched Aneela dump goo into Delle Seyah Kendry and bring her back to life. Barken’s script shows how far Aneela has gotten with regard to her war preparations … and how it’s best to run when Aneela gets angry. We also get our first gander at Ted Atherton as Gander, who reports to Aneela.
Speaking of Aneela…
Hannah John-Kamen is putting on an acting clinic with her portrayal of Aneela. She may look like Dutch, but her body language, accent and personality are totally unique.
Xeph + Johnny = plenty of laughs
There is a lot of creepiness to go around in Friday’s episode (what’s under that girl’s hood is going to give us nightmares), so the shenanigans between Zeph and Johnny are most welcome. He’s not happy she’s part of the team and she’s just trying to do her job.
Aidan Devine guest stars
The “that guy” of Canadian television appears in a memorable role. His character has got some unpleasant plans for our heroes … will he succeed?
Like many Canadian actors, Kelly McCormack was plotting a move to Los Angeles this past January for pilot season. She was so busy packing for the trip, in fact, she almost missed a call from her agent, informing her the audition she’d done for Killjoys had scored her the part of Zeph.
“I’d read the character description and it said, ‘farm girl turned androgynous science nerd,’ and I said, ‘Well this is me,'” she recalls with a laugh. “I walked in with no makeup on, dressed in a black hoodie with a Dillinger Four t-shirt on over top—teenage boy from the 90s in my jam—and I went as weird and eccentric as I possibly could.” A week later, she was prepping for L.A. and had slept in. Her agent had been trying to contact her. She’d booked the role on the Space drama and had to be at a table read in an hour. McCormack’s Zeph has made an immediate impact on the trio of Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore) and D’avin (Luke MacFarlane), acing her initiation test and now part of the Killjoys squad. The Vancouver native couldn’t divulge too much information about Zeph’s Season 3 adventures other than to say she’s in awe of Dutch and runs afoul of Johnny in her season-long arc. (The whole running afoul of Johnny happens this Friday, BTW. It is awesome.)
McCormack as Eloida Neddeau and Zeph
The fast-paced shoot-em-up of Killjoys couldn’t be more different than McCormack’s other project, The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island. Currently streaming on the CBC’s website, the 10 episodes are comedy’s version of the found-footage genre that exploded thanks to The Blair Witch Project.
Schroeder, an acquaintance of McCormack’s gave her a call one day, seeking a producer for his project; it was weird enough to catch her interest. After shooting a pilot, showing it to friends and being told it was amazing but too strange to be made into a series, they pitched it to CBC, who jumped on board. The result is an odd, engaging and ultimately heartfelt look at a faux family eking out a living on an island in Northern Ontario. Descendants of the Acadians, the Neddeaus utter an odd Newfoundland-ish hybrid language sprinkled with nonsense sayings only a family living away from the rest of the world would use. Cameras—and narration from Colin Mochrie—capture the day-to-day life of son Elmer (Schroeder), daughters Elène (Caitlyn Driscoll) and Eloida (McCormack), father Bichon (Tim Walker) and mother ‘Vangeline (Tara Samuel), who carry on the religion of their forefather and subsisting entirely on potatoes. Once a year they trek to town via boat to stock up on supplies they need to survive.
Aaron Schroeder as Elmer Neddeau
The key to making The Neddeaus seem real? Introducing each episode with the old CBC logo from the era it’s set in, keeping the cast’s names off the credits until Episode 10, the wardrobe, and extensive post-production work. McCormack says everyone involved pored over old CBC and National Film Board documentaries to get a feel for what The Neddeaus should look and sound like.
“It’s a comedy show, but it’s made by cinephiles,” McCormack says. “We spent hundreds of hours making sure we coloured the footage the way 70s footage picks up the blue and green in a way that HD doesn’t. We looked up how, when a camera is moving at this speed—or at what temperature—will a frame be blurred?”
“I’m sitting there, explaining a fake documentary about a fake documentary to him,” she says. “I nudged my cameraman and said, ‘You better be rolling!’ I was drenched in sweat and so nervous. But it was gold.”
All 10 episodes of The Neddeaus of Duqesne Island are available on CBC’s website. Killjoys airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Space.
Neddeaus images courtesy of CBC. Killjoys image courtesy of Bell Media.
Here’s what Global says about Thursday’s episode, “Six Feet Blunder,” written by Katrina Saville and directed by Jill Carter. And note that next week’s episode is Private Eyes‘ Season 2A finale—the final nine stories will be broadcast in 2018.
When a panicked mortician hires Shade and Angie to track down a missing body, they find themselves crashing funeral services around the city, eventually unearthing a family plot to bury millions of dollars of a controversial inheritance. Meanwhile, Jules’ impending birthday gives Shade a chance to show off his party-planning skills, but he still has one problem…figuring out the right time to invite significant others to family affairs.
And, as always, here are more details after we watched a screener.
Dr. Ken is back
Yup, this week’s story picks up closely following the events of last week’s. You can put two and two together, right? We don’t need to spell it out, do we?
So is Melanie
I actually thought the romance between Shade and Mel would last just a couple of episodes. And I’ve been totally wrong assuming the addition of extra characters would draw attention away from Shade and Angie. Instead, Ken and Mel have added a layer to our favourite detectives that have made them more enjoyable and fully formed. It’s also added a layer of complexity, as Shade is still wondering whether he should be introducing Mel to Jules.
The case has an effect on Zoe
Helping Shade and Angie causes Zoe to reflect on her life and the impact—or lack thereof—she may have on the world. Also: Kim’s Convenience fans should keep an eye out for Sugith Varughese (Mr. Mehta) in a guest-starring role.
Private Eyes airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
The first week of a new Amazing Race Canada season is a bit of a learning curve for everyone, Racers included. They’re getting the gist of what they’ve gotten themselves into while viewers are sussing out the teams they want to support. And it looks like, with a mere one week under our belts, Kenneth and Ryan—a.k.a. Team Give R—have quickly become fan favourites because of their can-do attitude and Canadianity.
This week, Kenneth and Ryan’s support for each other never wavered while the stress got to other squads in the hunt for three Express Passes. Team Give R was the first to depart for Fort McMurray, AB. As Jonny Harris did with Still Standing, The Amazing Race Canada spent much of the episode recalling the awful wildfires that ravaged the area just over a year ago while celebrating the strength of community in rebuilding. (Aside from being entertaining, TARC is endlessly educational. I had no clue Fort Mac was Alberta’s oldest European settlement.)
Air Canada served as the great equalizer, as all teams were on the flight over the Rockies; Kenneth and Ryan grabbed the lead on the ground and took off to an adventure park with Andrea and Ebonie in hot pursuit. Looking at the burned trees hit Ivana especially hard, as she recounted her family’s escape from Sarajevo to Canada when she was young. At the Road Block, duos climbed over 50 platforms through a course, allowing them to limber up and judge each others’ physical fitness.
A few teams took wrong turns and hit up a roadside information booth where a friendly bearded gent gave them maps and pointed them to the right spot. One red light later and at least two cars were filled with folks who had no clue where they were going. (I’m not sure if this happens more often and it’s just not shown on-air, but this group of Racers appear to be the most directionally challenged so far.) That allowed for the bulk of the pack to acquire a huge head-start and Kenneth and Ryan to land all three Express Passes. They get to keep one of them and pass off the other two. This is where relationships are built and, to be honest, some pairs were annoyed by Kenneth screaming every time he found a pass. It’s one thing to be excited, but it’s another to be annoying.
With no Express Pass to find and with three cards in their pockets, Andrea and Ebonie departed the park first for this week’s Detour, “Pull It” or “Pump It,” choosing to fire at 15 clay targets or perform a fire training exercise using a water pump and 50 feet of hose to extinguish a controlled burn. (I would have chosen to fire at clay targets.) Ebonie and Andrea chose to firefight—as did Megan and Courtney, Kenneth and Ryan, Sam and Paul and Karen and Bert—while everyone else went shooting. Megan and Courtney were first to extinguish their flames, quickly tailed by Andrea and Ebonie; the teams swapped places on the road to the helicopter pad.
As soon as I saw teams would have to solve a math problem I knew we were in for a long night. Calculating fuel weight depending on passengers and gear on board? Forget it. Until Megan walked in. The biomedical engineering technologist was the poster girl for “don’t judge a book by its cover,” whipped off the answer and the cousins departed in first place via helicopter in search of Jon Montgomery on the 16th hole of a local golf course. Ebonie and Andrea went another route, working the formula backwards until they reached the right answer, leaving Team Give R scratching their heads. (I did wonder whether the previous teams erased their answers so others couldn’t steal it, or producers forbade that from being allowed.) Team Give R traded Karen and Bert their correct answer for an Express Pass, a really smart move.
Megan and Courtney were the first to find Jon and captured a trip to Aukland, New Zealand. The cousins were followed by business partners Ebonie and Andrea, couple Sam and Paul, married couple Karen and Bert, Team Give R, son-father squad Zed and Shabbir and siblings Adam and Andrea.
Ivana and Korey and Dan and Riya languished in the bottom, going head-to-head shooting targets until leaving within seconds of one another. Best friends Korey and Ivana sprinted to the mat ahead of YouTube stars Dan and Riya to claim the final spot on the mat.
What do you think of this season of The Amazing Race Canada so far? Let me know in the comments below.
Here’s how the teams placed after Leg 2:
Megan and Courtney (won trip to Aukland, NZ)
Ebonie and Andrea
Sam and Paul
Karen and Bert
Team Give R
Zed and Shabbir
Adam and Andrea
Korey and Ivana
Dan and Riya (eliminated)
The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
