Lost Girl rewatch week 4: Nightmare on LG street

I suspect there might be one or two more people reading this, on account of the Rachel Skarsten interview we published today, so just in case, here’s the deal: This is my first time watching Lost Girl, and I basically just talk about my thoughts week after week. Stick around if you’re into that sort of stuff!

For the rest of you, I know, I’m the worst. I didn’t get to it over the weekend. Then, classes in the middle of the week got in the way. Pesky education! But enough about me, let’s talk Lost Girl season two.

I actually watched the season premiere “Something Wicked this Fae Comes” a couple of weeks ago, right after I finished the season one finale. Only a couple of days ago did I manage to watch the next three episodes, so I can’t say my thoughts on the premiere are fresh.

Pros in season 2

However, what I do gather from the first four episodes of season two is it’s written a bit sharper. Honestly, the one-liners are firing off much better than they did in season one, and they no longer feel completely cheeky. In most cases, they’re kind of badass. Case in point: “Something’s rising, and I’m sure you’ll have your hand on it” (or something to that effect). Tell ’em, Bo!

Also a plus: the new Ash (sorry, the new the Ash), who is much better than the previous fae leaders. Oh, goodness, you guys. I don’t want to belittle anyone’s craft, but I’ll just say this new guy is a much more capable actor. Or maybe he’s just written much better. In any sense, he’s basically got some of the same personality. Apparently, all Ash…es? Apparently they all have to be pricks. I’m okay with that, but something about the previous ones’ executions was off-putting. That said, the leader of the dark fae is okay, right? So she might be coming back. And the light fae leader is just in a coma, which is television speak for “he’ll return whenever it’s convenient for us.” Until then, I’m enjoying the new guy.

Third plus: Lost Girl really gave us a hefty amount of characterization for Bo in these first four episodes. What I felt was a downside of season one was the series not giving enough information about who Bo is. I know, I know, Bo is a succubus, so she hasn’t always been able to form relationships with people, which is why she crashes hard whenever they’re over, but unfortunately in visual mediums, we can’t be convinced about it by just telling us.

It’s exactly what the series decided to do. It let Bo just tell us about her past. (It also showed us the shortest of flashbacks, but it was a good step.) Use the power of the screen; let us see! There’s something about actually watching the characters do what they’re doing that allows us to trust and remember it more. Once we see it, it’s engrained, and we’re able to believe it. Otherwise, it doesn’t feel so organic. It sort of feels like a ploy to make the plot zig instead of zag. Again, this could come down to budgetary issues, and the fact that I’m binge-watching instead of watching week-per-week, which I’m convinced changes the perceptions of how we view television, could be skewing how I view things.

But I truly think season two moved ahead to let us a see a bit about what Bo is thinking and how she’s thinking about certain situations. All for it!

And the shortcomings…

About the only downside to this season, from what I can gather, is I personally don’t understand the disdain Bo and Kenzi had towards Dyson. I guess they had to displace their anger somewhere, but I felt they were quite self-aware about the entire situation, and somehow they disregarded it. Kenzi even said she might have cursed Dyson because he broke her heart, too, but… okay. Well, anyway. I also don’t want to read too much into it, but the curse (the one from the season finale) feels a bit like an endgame situation which has been written into the plot. Maybe I’m wrong or have watched way too much television, but it’s exactly the kind of “epic love story” that basically comes to dominate the story.

So far in the love triangle, we have Dyson and Bo, who are at this point, essentially “star-crossed” in some way, and we have Lauren and Bo who aren’t together because… I really don’t know. Her dedication to the Ash? I know Bo was once mad at Lauren, but then stopped being mad at her once she helped with Aife. I guess that means there’s two downsides. The second, please just tell us what is up with Lauren, Lost Girl. I can only suspect the writers have been decidedly mum on Lauren’s background/her dedication to the Ash topic because it could have grand reverberations for Bo and Lauren’s relationship. Or at least I hope so. At this point, it’s like they wrote themselves into a corner.

That’s one of the pitfalls of all love triangle stories: non-equal sides. So far, I get the feeling that if the curse was lifted, Bo would just run back to Dyson in a heartbeat. Then again, perhaps that’s what I’m supposed to be feeling around this point of the story. Maybe Bo and Lauren’s story is more of a slow burn. However, it feels as though Bo is leaning towards Lauren because of the curse. Obviously, the story needs a catalyst to explore Bo and Lauren more, it’s just a shame that it’s not more of a willful one, you know?

If I write about this enough will I eventually say what I’m thinking in my brain? Ugh. Well, holy crap, I’ve written way too much already. Let’s get into the individual episodes…

2×01 “Something Wicked this Fae Comes”

Let’s be honest, because I’m sure you were thinking this, too. NOT HEROES SEASON FOUR! It’s the only thing I could think about when I was watching this episode. I feared that Lost Girl had gone the carny route for its season-long arc, and I was scared, because… well, have you watched season four of Heroes? My face was basically Kenzi’s in that photo above. And then I was a bit of Bo, like “Oh, hell nah.” But then I was relieved.

Actually, unless Lost Girl has done it quite sneakily, I don’t think they’ve exactly presented what the season-long arc is yet. Guess what, guys! I don’t even care! I enjoyed the first four episodes that much. I mean, they obviously introduced the new (the) Ash, but this is how you do character development right, y’all!

This episode, from my incredibly vague memory, was basically used to affirm that Dyson doesn’t have feelings for Bo anymore. Otherwise, kind of uneventful in my opinion.

2×02 “I Fought the Fae (and the Fae Won)”

Oh, brother, were they trying to drill in that whole star-crossed thing or what? Immediately I like this episode because it meant the old leaders are gone, temporarily at least. I also really liked the guest character in this episode. It could be seen as sort of a retread because of the entire “light fae and dark fae can’t interact” song and dance they did in season one, but it worked to illuminate Bo and Dyson’s story.

If there’s one thing this episode did, it sort of reaffirmed Bo’s belief in true love. If we can speculate about her background a bit, I don’t think it’s much a stretch to think that someone who has never been able to be in a real relationship has romantic notions about love (excuse the pun). As Aife has pointed out, and as we’ve experienced with Bo in season one, succubi aren’t meant to be monogamous. So you have a girl who believes she’s human struggle with the inability to experience an emotion that’s so inherently human, and that desire is fighting with her urges as a succubus for the hunger of just physical intimacy. Regardless, she puts a lot of weight in love and “true” intimacy, if you want to call it that.

That’s why this episode she’s fighting so hard for Dyson’s affections. She completely believes that they can beat magic. And that’s why she can’t understand why some guy wouldn’t fight some silly fae law for true love, when she’s willing to battle the unthinkable.

It all culminates into one of the most powerful and telling lines of Bo’s character: “I can make you love me.” Damn it, do I love that moment. I’ve been waiting for that line since episode one.

You’ve given me a taste, Lost Girl, but I want the whole chi!

Also, bonus: Hale is of nobility! I was kind of hoping he’d be the new (the) Ash. Whelp.

2×03 “Scream a Little Dream”

HOW MUCH DO WE LOVE THIS EPISODE? Like a lot, right? First off, Frank and The Mare are absolutely hilarious. Ha ha ha! You guys are the best, please stay the same and come back. I just imagine their lives like a cheeky ’90s sitcom, and then I laugh about it because it’s that funny.

But that’s not all! Then you’ve got Mumphert, the Brownie. Can we talk about how we also love this character? Why did you have to go? I honestly wanted Mumphert to just stay as Bo and Kenzi’s live-in help. Please return, Mumphert. You will be missed.

Okay, so this episode to me was absolutely hilarious. Hats off to whoever wrote it! However, this is where that “inside Bo’s head” talk comes to play.

In this episode, Bo is given the choice to stay stuck in her dreams and be with Dyson forever. Long story short and very obvious metaphor: she kills him in her dream. Get it!?!?!! She’s done dreaming about something that will just never be (until it’s convenient). Okay, so maybe it was a bit of a shallow analogy there, but I thought it was clever at the same time. It’s a huge step forward for Bo this season to finally accept that she can’t will her way into Dyson’s heart, as much as she has wanted to try.

Also, people will hate me for making the Buffy connection, but it kind of reminded me of

Right? And also this episode is obviously a reference to Nightmare on Elm Street, which if you remember, so was Buffy episode “Killed by Death.” Someone had just finished watching the end of Buffy season two. Thank goodness there were no fish people because… ugh, why did Buffy ever do that episode guys? Honestly.

In this episode, we also got to see Bo and Lauren actually interact in a way we haven’t since The Soup Incident. (Oh!!! Which reminds me, I absolutely LOVE that Lost Girl remembered that happened. Bo makes an offhand comment about it. I love when characters don’t forget things.) But also, her apartment is NICE. Fae doctors must get paid handsomely. Though I don’t feel like anyone’s home actually matches their personalities. Maybe it’s just me. Not even Dyson’s loft.

2×04 “Mirror, Mirror”

This was a very… interesting episode. I liked it, but it was still, I don’t know, intriguing. The best part is that we got some much-needed backstory on Kenzi. So basically, there’s only one thing to do: recap it!

We start out the episode with Dyson and Hale getting their flirt on in the bar.

Something that’s very obvious from the beginning of this episode is that they almost annoyingly tried to write Dyson like the Mega Player Of The Century or something. I mean, I know he’s gotten that role before… but it never aligned well then, either. And could they have made him say “chicks” instead of “women” any MORE this episode? Geez. We get it, you want us to think he’s like the über ladies’ man.

So anyway, Kenzi is trying to diffuse the situation.

But Bo is like, “Nah I got this.” And then she’s all…

So naturally, that leads both Kenzi and Bo to go on a bender.

So as Bo goes to sleep, Kenzi summons Baba Yaga, an old witch who feeds on misbehaved girls and curses the men who’ve wronged them. Obviously, she’s not real. Obviously she is because this is Lost Girl. Kenzi, did you forget which show you’re on?

So, Dyson starts getting funny reactions from chicks.

Bo and Dyson get some mark on their body, and so Trick is all, “Whelp. You’ve been cursed by Baba Yaga. Good luck with that.”

(Meanwhile… at Dyson and Hale’s job…

all the CHICKS just don’t care for Dy Dy.)

So he goes to Trick’s to see what’s up.

Um, sir? Sir? Do not yell at Kenzi. Okay, thank you, sir. Sincerely, everyone.

So Kenzi and Bo go to see Kenzi’s aunt who should have all the Baba Yaga answers. Long story short, Kenzi gets dragged into a mirror inside of Baba Yaga’s dimension. She is now a Baba Yaga slave of sorts. It’s, as they said in the episode, like a hybrid between Hansel and Gretel and, I don’t know, a lot of things.

Meanwhile, Bo has no idea how to get Kenzi back! So she goes to the only person who might have answers.

So they bring in some lady who is supposed to be an expert on travelling to Baba Yaga’s dimension.

WHAT A MAJOR PLAYER, GUYS!

Meanwhile, in the Baba Yaga dimension…

Kenzi is the only one of these girls who actually cares about not dying. So she cons Baba Yaga into thinking that she can train her pet just to survive a bit longer, hoping that she could get to the guarded treasure chest or that Bo can find a way into Baba Yaga’s home/place/dungeon.

Bo gets New Lady and Dyson to help her get to Baba Yaga’s H/P/D.

She almost dies in the process, but in a weird way, Bo’s inability to fight this one is integral to the story. This was a battle that Kenzi had to fight solo. She had to get over past fears and learn from her silly mistakes. I’m really glad they didn’t have Bo come in and save the day. So Kenzi kind of moves out of the way and Baba Yaga burns in her own human-cooking thing. YAY!

Oh, and Kenzi saves all the other girls, which, ugh you girls are just… talk about over it!

The End. Obviously, no one was gonna die! Dyson can now bang CHICKS again! All is right in the world!

(Before I hit publish on this, I had written, “Bo can now bang CHICKS again!” and I think that’s a much better sentence.)

Okay, I am tired. That’s this week’s rewatch post. I’m going to extra pinky promise that I write the next one this Monday. I’m awful at schedules, apparently. (Not really, time just got ahead of me is all. Time is what we perceive it to be, guys. It’s actually Monday right now. Are you not buying that? It was my birthday on Sunday, does that get me any points? No? I’m sowwy.)

Until Monday, guys! Don’t forget to read our Rachel Skarsten interview! And thank you to Screencapped.net for the screencaps!