I actually thought season 1 was a little less run and gun and more about the mystery and the undergroundness of it all. There weren't really the horror-y vibes of the Red 17 episode or anything like that, it felt like season 2 was missing a tiny bit of that gruesome aspect that really added to season 1 but I felt like the tone of season 2 was a little more gun-happy than season 1. I preferred the tone of season 1 but I didn't dislike season 2 at all.
Finale was definitely the best episode of the season. A little sad that the budget went all in here which made the first few episodes feel a little tacky but now that I see the full result it was probably worth it.
No way is Johnny leaving the show. I think they introduced Clara at the first episode to kind of get a read on fan reaction to her and then included her in the finale in a way that easily allows her to be included more in s3 or ignored depending on fan reaction. I for one loved her and think she added a really good dynamic to the crew. Would be more than happy to see more of her moving forward.
I don't mind the us vs them as long as the scope is kept kind of similar, or if they really change the dynamic of the show to compensate. I would really truly love if they expanded the main cast next season to include some of Pree, Alvis, Fancy and Clara. Dutch and co are fighting a war now and they need troops. I would be happy to see these people become more of a crew.
True, there was some mystery in Season 1, but more of the stories were self-contained and focused on individual warrant missions infiltrate, use cool tech and combat to deal with situations, and get out with the warrant complete. Season 2 didn't have much of that format except for the finale, so that's what I meant by the run-and-gun. I kind of missed that team-based mission format, and with the alien invasion becoming the likely focus of Season 3, I doubt we'll see any warrant missions again. Especially if Johnny has left the team for good.
Speaking of Johnny, I felt like the writers hand-waved away the fallout from Pawter's death. One five-minute conversation with Dutch and he was back to business. It felt like they pushed aside his emotional state in order to keep the plot moving, basically trying to fit too much into one episode. Regarding leaving, I do really like Clara, but Johnny running off with her almost feels like a spin-off show. I'm not sure how that's supposed to play out next season, other than Dutch calling in favors from the tech duo every few episodes. Maybe that will work, but I don't know how they're going to replace his personality component on the main team. Fancy is funny in a deadpan way, but not the same type at all as Johnny. Pree is great and owns every scene he's in, but doesn't have the skills Johnny does.
It's funny, usually as viewers we're complaining about a show not taking risks, but with this show it's almost the opposite. Every time they establish a really good chemistry between some characters, it's not long before they blow it up.
One question I had with Khlyen, why did he tell Delle where the Killjoys were? I assume those Black Root ships were sent by her.
Absolutely fantastic finale, they really went balls deep into space opera territory ala Farscape, B5, and the Dominion Wars of DS9. I love how it nicely wraps up all the mystery stuff from the past two seasons. It sorta felt like where the X-Files wanted to go with its alien goo mysteries but this one actually made sense and was wrapped up fairly quickly.
I wonder if the goo works like ants, with multiple colonies and queens and stuff or if its a single entity, galaxy wide. Its a common sci fi theme to have a hive mind enemy that uses humans as fodder for expansion, but it was done well enough here to be interesting. It seems to work with a basic agenda of infinite expansion, but otherwise the host makes all the decisions.
My only trepidation about entering big space opera territory is that they won't have the budget to pull it off. The writing, probably. The acting, definitely. But the budget needed to show a diversity of locations and special effects requirements? Unless SyFy plans to pump up their budget, I have reservations.
The only problem I had with the goo was the linked nature. Why did poisoning one vat of "pure" goo put poison in every bit of goo that descended from it? It seemed like more hand-waving to keep things moving. Ultimately I didn't dislike the goo plotline per se, but it didn't capture my interest, either. But at least they handled it more deftly than some shows have handled similar ideas.