This week, Melanie, also known as Mehlsbells, contacted me with the idea to swap reviews on our blogs to help expose our reviews to different audiences, which I thought was a fun idea! My review is available on her site. What follows here is her review. Feel free to comment on both posts. And make sure to follow her on Twitter @mehlsbells.
I just got done saying how I had adjusted to a lot of standalone episodes and conceits, going weeks without mythology, and now they lay it all on me at once. Allllllllll the mythology, so little time. Still, this feels like 3.11, and the back end of Season 3 overall would have worked better spread over five episodes, so perhaps that’s what’s happening here. There’s an incredible amount of information to process, and hopefully next week will clarify a few things.
For an episode centrally concerned with the power of names and labels, it gets confusing really quickly. I’m not altogether positive we know the full extent of who is who; we could have used some of those nametags from “Original Skin.” But while it’s not exactly I Know Your True Name, there’s a lot of labelling going on. Names often have power in mythology, and here they are used to shame, respect, dismiss, and control.
Most of the name-calling centers around Trick. Trick starts the episode rebuking Bo’s idea to release the smoke by calling her ‘Isabeau.’ He’s called her that a few times before, almost always when he wants to pull rank as her grandfather and make a power play. Next, he bitingly refers to Kenzi and Tamsin as “a human and a lowlife,” obviously wounding both of them.
When Tamsin and Kenzi find Trick’s book, they try writing Bo’s name to no avail, but then the book starts displaying that Tamsin’s name has been written repetitively in Trick’s blood. Tamsin flashes back to the scene where she first met Trick. She calls him Blood King; he calls her carrion and vulture. Trick also calls Dao-Ming a ‘ridiculous cheap lowborn fae.”
Dyson breaks out ‘Dr Lewis’ as a way to acknowledge the growing camaraderie and mutual respect between himself and Lauren. Bo uses her name as a verb: “I Boed it. And yes, that is trademarked.” The Leviathan refers to Bo as Princess, an honorific, but Bo calls the Leviathan ‘Levi’ as a way to display her scorn and lack of respect. Calling her ‘Levi,’ especially since most ancient hell gatekeepers are men, is also a way to toy with gender a little bit, which Kenzi also does – “fill a brother in, TamTam” – and Huginn’s wife does when she insults his inability to perform oral sex, not his ability to get it up.
The ravens are Huginn and Muninn, Odin’s ravens; they suggest an Odin/Wanderer connection without having to say it. Huginn is “the wanderer’s thought,” Muninn is memory, and they both stick closely to their names here. Huginn speaks in terms of fact and philosophy, and Muninn goes with his gut and constantly ‘didn’t see that coming,’ because he only looks into the past.
Now that’s sorted, let’s take it from the top.
Open on a welder who is the sort to leave crowns just lying around. The first thing we hear, immediately following, is Trick asking “what’s this about?” suggesting it’s his or tied to him somehow. Bo announces she’s going to open the bottle of smoke which was conveniently dumped on her lap by Kenzi last episode, after Lauren and Dyson got too drunk whilst fighting over whether they were going to show Bo the box or not. Everyone commences fighting over Bo’s destiny, mostly not listening to what she herself says. Trick and Kenzi object to the jar being opened, but Lauren and Dyson side together and with Bo. All episode, Lauren and Dyson are going to side together, and all episode, Bo is going to be grateful and tell them she loves them both, and they both have to stay behind. That independent streak is going to get her into trouble, but it’s also going to give Dyson and Lauren time to bond and tease and work together, and that’s all fantastic.
Lauren and Dyson have always fulfilled very specific and different roles in Bo’s life, and though their skills have complimented and come together before — as well as created some tension — this episode lays out, neatly and prettily, how they work. Dyson checks his gun, offers Lauren his spare knife, is a little protective of her and a lot of Bo, menaces, and growls. Lauren is a little more into the planning ahead, arms up with her endless supply of helpful syringes, and offers clinical but even more chilling threats. (Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather swim in my own entrails then be psychotically induced to eating my own eyeballs.) Point being, the two of them make a formidable, well-rounded team. Their interplay is amusing, too. It brings out Dyson’s wry side, he’s started dropping his guard, and Lauren continues with her trademark potshots but with less vitriol.
While the writing for their scenes was beautiful (the joke about Dyson not being able to choose but Lauren being easily able to choose works as referring to the triangle, it works as a jab, and it works as meta commentary that Lauren’s only into women), the actors make it seem easy. They’ve worked together on several projects and have great rapport which really comes through, and I’m happy to see them share more screentime.
The other duo given their own plot is Kenzi and Tamsin. This season has taken Kenzi and Bo apart a lot, and compensates by putting Tamsin with Kenzi. It’s not the same, and I really want more Bo/Kenzi togetherness time – so does Kenzi, by the look on her face when Bo is talking to Lauren and Dyson at the Dal; she’s left out of the love fest and hurt that Bo is leaving her, again – but the Kenzi/Tamsin dynamic works in its own way.
I miss edgy hardass Tamsin, but I like sincere unironic Tamsin, too. There’s something to be said for that. Cut out the weird backsliding into 7th grade mentality, and we have a good thing. Yeah, what’s up with that? Tamsin is now a supposed adult, but she wants to get revenge by taking a dump on people’s beds and responds to a powerful world-changing book by suggesting they draw dicks on it? Were all the writers and directors on the same page as far as how old she was supposed to be in which episode? Sometimes the lines are juvenile, sometimes Tamsin is insightful. Sometimes it feels Skarsten is being directed to act more mature, and other times she’s being directed to be much more adolescent.
Other than the few weird moments, the Kenzi/Tamsin thing works, though not quite as well as in past because of the unevenness. They even drop us info that Tamsin and Kenzi have had some off-screen shenanigans, that they’re definitely pals and not just thrown together for this plot of finding the blood.
The blood plot seems a long way to go around to get to the flashback of Trick and Tamsin meeting, but when we do get there, it’s loaded. Trick’s nefarious side is showing up in all past stories, and here he is so full of himself he scoffs at any laws not written not in his blood. He’s savvy and opportunistic, reading Tamsin quickly and taking full advantage of her self-doubt, shaming her and using derogatory language to get what he wants.
Tamsin’s past is full of doubt and self-loathing, fascinating traits for a person whose very power is doubt. She cries that she’s a Valkyrie, a proud race, but she’s not proud, she’s in disarray. She voices and Trick preys on her fairly universal ultimate fears: that she’s damned to hell in the afterlife, and that she’s undesirable and alone in this life. She wants to cleanse her sins, and Trick tells her she can “be beautiful . . . rewrite your path [and] have new life.”
Whether or not Trick actually believes it, or whether it can even happen (in this very episode, Trick is told “you can change the future, but you’re powerless to change your nature,” which gets to a fundamental tension in Lost Girl of whether one can be truly good or bad and how far one can control one’s own destiny), Trick’s words get him what he wants.
Trick gets Rainer’s soul, and he traps it on a train, writing Rainer out of history. Instead of traveling to Valhalla, Rainer goes on a permanent journey to nowhere on a train, constantly wandering. Until he manages, through his ravens and Tamsin [maybe: more on that later] and various machinations, to trap Bo and seduce or cast a spell on her. Trick’s sins come to bite him in the ass. Who’da thunk?
There’s another angle here too. Well actually, there are probably a dozen, but one which seems very pertinent to where it seems Bo and Co.™ are headed. Rainer was enslaved because of his defiance toward Trick and Trick’s laws. Rainer’s mini-rebellion parallels Bo’s defiance of the fae binary and her grandfather, and Rainer’s purgatory serves as a warning for what may be awaiting anyone who fights Trick, the Una Mens, and/or the system.
Trick is really not looking so great right now. He’s lashing out because he’s weak, he’s confused, and he senses that his position is highly threatened. He also may have a dark side unknown to himself. This is likely to lead to more mistakes, and more moves which will turn on and haunt him.
Theoretically, this fear may have led to him stashing emergency blood vials in his room. He didn’t have them in Season 1, because he opened his veins, so did he make them since? And do they magically not coagulate? The vials being conveniently hidden screams PLOT DEVICE, as does making sure Wai Lin has a sister because they couldn’t get the same actress back, but neither of these are hugely problematic, just your average workarounds.
Though we should drop the stereotypes and the incessant Asian background music, it’s interesting Wai Lin’s sister Dao-Ming takes us back to Asian mythology, because we also get the folding box and the mention of Acala as an underworld name. So there’s a lot of Norse mythology here, but there’s also a lot of Asian mythos.
This episode is invested in various characters and flashbacks calling out Trick’s duplicity and double standards, and it also introduces a ton of classical mythology and biblical storytelling. Besides the general power plays and stories of souls being trapped in different regional afterlives, we get yet another angle on incest: a story (however false it turns out) of brother wanting brother’s wife. We also get an afterlife underworld, where the giant bones lying around Levi’s lair reference that Leviathan was a sort of dinosaur in the bible. The most extensive biblical passage on the Leviathan talks about it very much like a riddle, and the riddle spoken when Bo falls into the grave, as well as the riddle showdown, are reminiscent of the Sphinx and various characters including Gollum. Sure, Gollum is from a more recent epic story, but Lost Girl does involve modern mythology, including this episode having hints of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. In fact, the more I watch it, the more all-encompassing Lost Girl gets, and the more it feels like LOST.
Which brings us (close enough) to the love triangle.
Bo, you sweet, headstrong, beautiful, frustrating creature you. Sure it’s cheeky to try and use a mythological creature to solve your personal love triangle. It’s also an interesting way to get your internal processes out there to the audience. But the answer isn’t “I don’t know.” The answer, if you’d been listening to yourself earlier this episode, is “both.”
This episode is the first time Bo admits out loud to Lauren and Dyson that she’s going to keep loving and desiring them both. It really seems to be setting up a primary tri-lationship with possible openings for others, at least on Bo’s side. Dyson and Lauren tacitly seem to acknowledge this possibility, and though there’s still friendly banter and rivalry they’re not pressuring her to choose, and they aren’t fighting over who’s better equipped to help her, in fact Lauren refers to her as ‘our girl.’ I didn’t know if the show was going to really venture into polyamorous territory – though it already tested the waters of an open relationship – but I’m thrilled to think it may just go there.
Meanwhile, Bo likes that her partners can work together, and she gets a little hot when they start talking about their respective coercion methods and acting all badass. It’s quite hilarious and weirdly adorable.
It’s not just romance, though, it underscores Lost Girl’s theme of chosen (if dysfunctional) family. They’re all in this togeth . . . oh, there Bo goes, running off again. They do better as a group, dammit, how many times does she have to learn that lesson!
Right before Bo runs off yet again, I would have liked to see the camera frame both Dyson and Lauren on either side, out of focus in the foreground, and had Bo blow the kiss right at middle, even towards the audience. Bo’s eyeline isn’t towards Lauren, it’s towards Lauren’s right, where we know Dyson is standing, so we assume she blows her kiss between them, but it could be much clearer and prettier. There are several scenes which are a bit awkwardly blocked or not quite right with the time in editing, the former especially with Bo in the woods, the latter especially with Tamsin and Kenzi.
The episode overall is a lot to process, but it does move the story, move many of the characters, and move or further establish relationships. I hope the end is supposed to be as jarring as it it because Bo’s revelation is going to be pointed out to be totally batshit, whether she’s under a spell from Rainer or something of the kind. I also hope some of who’s who gets clarified in the next episode or two. There’s a lot of conflation of different myths and still some confusion over exactly how many names each person has.
So far, if i’m adding this up right:
– Someone Tamsin assumes to be the Wanderer appears and offers a lot of coin to find Bo. [Timeline Unsure, but Tamsin told Bo she was greedy and awful at the point of meeting the Wanderer, and then cried to Trick about wanting atonement.]
– Rainer was a rebel against Ancient Evil Trick.
– Evil Trick shames Tamsin (and gives her more lives?) so he can trap Rainer’s soul. Rainer becomes The Wanderer.
– The Great War, i.e. the flashbacks at the end of Season 2, happens.
– Evil Trick makes the Una Mens, but decides not to swallow the seed and join them.
– Sometime soon after, Trick uses his blood to write himself as unrecognizable as the Blood King.
– Trick goes into hiding as a bo-wielding monk.
– Trick finds Dyson, who pledges fealty.
– Trick continues hiding as a barkeeper.
What I’m still unsure of:
– The connection between Rainer and Wanderer and Odin. Wanderer is definitely Rainer. If Huginn (Odin’s raven) says Rainer is his father, and the Wanderer is Rainer, then are Wanderer/Rainer/Odin all the same? Odin’s main/oldest form was that of a Wanderer, and In the poem Hávamál, Odin can inspire irresistible love, which supports the theory all three are the same. It’s also possibly Odin a ‘race’ of fae, like Ryan was a Loki. So Rainer/Wanderer would be an Odin.
– When The Wanderer came to Tamsin, she didn’t recognize him, and you’d think she would recognize Odin (unless Odin are a race). Which is to say, is it still possible we’re dealing with two separate mysterious figures? If we think Rainer/Wanderer was the one who came to Tamsin asking about Bo, though, then how does that fit in the above timeline, did it happen before the rebellion, and does he have a proxy while he’s on the train?
– It had occurred to me that Rainer could be an incubus of sorts; we’ve not seen one yet, but he enthralled Bo. If Rainer is the Wanderer, and the Wanderer is supposed to be terrifyingly ugly, while obviously Rainer is gorgeous, then here’s another slightly out-there theory: we could have elements of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, with its more modern retelling Till We Have Faces. Rainer would be beautiful, and able to make people fall in love with him, the Wanderer would be hideous, based on specific times (generally night/day, but other arbitrary times can apply). Then, the crown at the beginning of this episode would probably be Bo’s (it could be the crown from 4.06, which said ‘Isabeau’ inside) and an offering from Rainer/Wanderer to his queen. It’d also explain why Bo doesn’t remember seeing him: all the flashbacks to her waking up alone would be because she couldn’t look upon him.
– Trick is very affected by the smoke (Kenzi even calls it out later), and the smoke is Odin’s raven. Trick’s forced, subconscious revelations at Dao-Ming’s place makes it seem possible The Wanderer or Odin or something is Trick’s Phoenix, a repressed multiple personality. That dark Self could have come as a result of Trick trying to obscure himself in history; he’s not been recognized by many as the Blood King, so he must have written with his blood to help hide himself. When he did, that could have created this Jean Grey/Phoenix situation, and the Dark Phoenix manifestation sometimes uses The Wanderer and/or Rainer as an alias, since evil Trick has Rainer’s soul captive. A sort of fae identity thieving of the dead. The train could be a metaphorical construction for entrapping Rainer, who is shown with welding tools (presumably trying to break out) as Trick is getting more and more discomfited.
– Possessed Trick growls “I am the first son of this Earth.” Cronus could possibly fit that description, especially in the bastardized way Lost Girl uses mythology. If that’s true, check what else fits: there’s the incestuous angle of Cronus devouring his own children (as Lauren said a fae elder was feeding on his own kin), and then one of them escaping and later forcing him to ‘disgorge’ the rest. One would then assume this child would be Bo.
Some variation of these theories also have the distinct advantage of being able to use existing cast. So there’s that.
I don’t generally conspiratorialize like this, but there are too many possibilities, and thinking of LOST apparently got my theory engine running. Tune in next week for probably a two-page analysis of how a scene uses color, or something hopefully less crazed sounding.
To wrap up the episode, then!
Bo professes Rainer is her destiny. Our reactions are much like Trick and Dyson and Lauren’s faces: Uhm, what the hell. I’m guessing Bo’s enthralled (incubus term intentional) and everyone will have to team up to free her, or convince her she’s crazy, or whatnot. That may even mean Tamsin and Trick working together, which could get prickly and narratively interesting.
Now we’re getting closer to the end of the season, I still think the destruction of the binary Light/Dark is at hand, but they may settle the Rainer issue this season and establish the fae fight up as next season’s arc, the same way they settled Taft while setting up the Wanderer arc at the end of Season 2. Though, as mentioned at the beginning, hopefully it will be clearer, what with having more time and all.
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"Someone Tamsin assumes to be the Wanderer appears and
offers a lot of coin to find Bo. [Timeline Unsure, but Tamsin told Bo
she was greedy and awful at the point of meeting the Wanderer, and then
cried to Trick about wanting atonement.]"
This actually happened AFTER the flashback from this episode. After Tamsin got a do-over. She would not remember it otherwise just like she did not remember this episode's flashback.
Also, interestingly, somewhere after that reality-change Trick did, Valkyries became simple mercenaries, no longer bringing the dead to valhalla?
So yeah, whoever came to make a deal with her was not Rainer since Rainer was stuck in train.
Methinks, Rainer was most likely Odin's warrior(an einherjar?) whom Odin kept sending back after he would die. Also while Odin might be ONE person, "Wanderers", as a nickname used, might be multiple. It would certainly be poetic mockery for Trick to curse the warrior of Odin the Wanderer to "wander" For all eternity.
Ok. That does make sense. Thanks! I suppose if they wanted to skirt that they'd make a loophole about Valkyrie having 'selective memories' when they regenerate, as Trick said in 4.02 (I bet he was being hopeful, since he knew Tamsin before), but what you say makes perfect sense with the rest of the timeline.
I was under the impression (though I have no idea where I got it) some Valkyries hired out as mercenaries, though some still performed traditional duties.
Great review as always. I thought though that they used the Babylonian Underworld of Irkalla. Seems more fitting to that particular storyline and it's biblical implications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irkalla
I'm glad i'm not the only one who wondered about whether the wanderer and Trick were somehow one and the same. I just couldn't come up with a scenario as to how that could be, Fantastic theory.
One other thing I felt compelled to comment on was re Bo not being able to choose between Lauren and Dyson. And yes she knows she loves and desires them both and voices that, but I feel her dilemma is a product of her upbringing in that she thinks she has to choose because that, as a human is what is expected.
Thanks! I must say this episode had me theorizing like no other. It was after the fact, when I was trying to make sense of my notes, that everything got confusing. Glad it makes sense.
Mmm, yes. With a 'no sex before marriage one mate for life no divorce no wandering eyes' sort of childhood, let alone the general North American cultural climate towards multiple partners and polygamy and girls who 'sleep around,' etc., the conditioning is going to be deep and hard to overcome.
And if they do try a multiple partnership, she'll probably botch it up at first, because it takes a lot of work and honesty and compromise that her childhood/society hasn't prepared her for, and she's shown herself not entirely ready for. (She can't even keep up with Kenzi's emotional needs at the moment.) But as a succubus, I think she *has* to explore that option.
At least Lauren will probably be down for it, considering how she was willing to open up their relationship the first time [and I don't believe it being open had anything to do with its disintegration, it was the lack of honesty and sharing on Bo's part, as well as some personal struggles with the fae system on Lauren's part, and then general lack of communication all around]. Lauren may or may not be interested in any other partners; I don't think she would be, I think Crystal was specifically because she wasn't with Bo, but if Bo did have another steady partner(s) and not just playthings, perhaps that'd change? The writers could probably take it either way.
Dyson, on the other hand, has been much more territorial, and would really have to mold his 'wolves mate for life' into 'we're together for life and I'm with only you, but because you need sex to live and because you are who you are you have other partners.' Even that would require a lot of work based on his statements in especially S1 and S2.
I feel Tamsin would be more immediately accepting of this type of arrangement, actually. And Kenzi could organize the calendar.
But truly, all of that is a lot of negotiating and work and I certainly don't feel they have the room to tackle that in the back half of this season.
my rationalization for why Lauren would be "the most ok" with it is because she maintained her affections for both Bo and Nadia at the same time. which shouldn't surprise anyone because, to quote F. Scott Fitzgerald,
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
voila. The Doctor. thankyouverymuch.
Ten points and an upvote for quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I do not think that Odin and Rainer / the Wanderer would be the same character. However, certainly Rainer could be one of Odin's favorite warriors and Trick does not want him nor Odin messing with "his" realm. If Odin (or a particular Odin, if it's a genius of Fae) held influence over the middle realm (Middle Earth) and Trick clearly didn't like competition so he started isolating him. That might explain why Valkyries went from a proud race taking the worthy to Valhalla to almost as if they were addicts scavenging for scraps before finally settling in as mercenaries who only remembered how to kill people. Trick would effectively end the rivalry in his favor if Odin's army couldn't be brought back to life (not enough juice left), his general trapped (as Trick fears returning one soul a few more times was still within Odin's power) and the last of Odin's supporters had their history erased willingly (sort of, consent is certainly an issue this season).
It would also be interesting if Trick didn't spill his blood in the more recent history to save his daughter from prison, but rather he found out she was with his old nemesis (possibly delivered there by Rainer's doing and again the matter of consent for that relationship is iffy) and he couldn't let that continue on. By the time she "escapes" though, and perhaps because of the blood writings, Alfie is pregnant with Bo and Odin (or a particular Odin), the Dark FaeKing (with Trick being the Light Fae King, I believe Alfie was being 100% honest about that title) is the father.
That gets Rainer's interest because not only is Bo's his King's daughter, thus important by birthright alone, but she's someone who has enough power to undo Trick's magic so he can get off the train before it falls apart and thus avoids ending up stuck in limbo (theorized just because they haven't touched on it for a while and it would be cool) for eternity..
All this is making Trick into a seriously powerful player. It makes sense that Dyson and Tamsin were so awed when they discovered what/who he was. Even without all memories and knowledge of what he'd done, that's a lot of power.
I'm leaning towards Rainer being a warrior, though I was assuming that would be tied to him being 'an Odin,' I hadn't thought of the theory Odin kept regenerating / sending him back. That makes a lot of sense with Trick wanting to keep him in limbo. Perhaps Trick would have taken Rainer's lives and transferred them to Tamsin; then this would not only work as to how he was able to give one person multiple lives but hasn't since (I mean, he didn't offer Dyson possible regeneration), but would also make sense as to why Tamsin's lives are running out now, because either she was given Rainer's finite number, or Rainer is reclaiming his existing lives.
Trick using his blood to free Aife for selfish reasons fits with everything we know about him. I like it.
Yes, I believe Rainer (or his master) chose Bo because of her power. I'm not sure I agree with the idea of it being because of Bo's birthright as said master's daughter, but it does seem to fit.
The more I hear feedback and talk about it, the more convinced I am this show is going to end up like LOST with less science and more mythos. We won't get all the answers, but the multiple philosophical, mythological, and biblical rabbit holes are fascinating and easily ensnare me.
Trick is starting to make a more sense now as a character. The show hadn't really given a clear sign that he was actually worth revering until now, only that some Fae do and we should go along with that. No question now that he earned that respect, albeit by rewriting history and penning himself as the wonderful hero but that's still impressive.
With Tamsin, I think it has to be a finite number situation. I'm not even sure she knew she would come back after the crash last season, but the regeneration, and off-screen talk with the other Valkyries, started to lessen Trick's memory block. Then the blood book touching happened and Trick, via being paranoid enough to leave some blood around,ends up undoing his own magic.
If Bo is from the two royal blood lines (father as the Dark Fae King and Mother who is the daughter of the Light Fae King) then it could be an interesting situation as it would add legitimacy to any effort she made towards uniting the Fae.
I think you are absolutely right with Lost Girl going the way of LOST. Lots of questions, plenty of unresolved plots and big bad villains that raised eyebrows but never really caused anyone to feel the terror promised all season long.
At the risk of being pegged a shipper for having paid attention to what happened in Season 3: Bo is now trying to make up her mind between Dyson and Lauren? Then what the hell was the point of Bo choosing to be in a relationship with Lauren in 3x01, and making an attempt to be physically monogamous because of her, and telling Lauren in 3x10 that she wanted her to feel the way she felt when she was with her, and then being shocked when Lauren asked for a break? Followed by Dyson telling Lauren at the Dal, "For what it's worth, she really does love you." What was the point to all of this? Are we supposed to forget all this development ever happened? Because all I need to do is put DVD discs in the player and rewatch episodes. The writers are going for a Dyson/Bo/Lauren polyamory now? Why? Because the storyline isn't screwed up sufficiently enough? Or is it that someone behind the curtain can't take his hand off his pud?
As for Trick this and Trick that: I don't really give a damn about Trick. He's not a compelling character and certainly not the reason why I've done my best to stay awake this season through wasted episodes, wasted moments, wasted opportunities, wasted characters. What Elder did Lauren agree to treat medically in exchange for releasing Crystal? Where is Crystal? Where did the Una Mens go? Where is The Morrigan? Now you see Hale, now you don't. How can Lauren, who accepted alliance with the Dark Fae, be allowed to hang out with Light Fae? Who is responsible for creating the awful wardrobe Bo has been wearing this season? Why is the lighting so crappy that it makes Anna Silk look 10 years older?
What the hell was the point of episodes 4x01 through 4x08?
I completely agree with you.
This season is all over the place.
They start a storyline and don't bother finishing it and they get lost in their own web.
This season has been so confusing and so weird and somewhat boring that I don't even know where to begin.
You are describing an entire show with that. Just before that you and most of viewers did not pay too much of attention to those little things - like how there are mentions about Bo's father all the way back in S1, how Trick's shady nature is a plotline that was kept hanging in S1, how Taft's evil corporation and fae experiments were introduced in S1 and only followed upon in S3, how there is still a plotline from S2 hanging around ("The box with a head of a very dangerous man" that Trick was forced to admit having hidden in the past).
Opening up the plotlines and leaving them till viewers forget about them only to revisit them again is pretty much modus operandi of this show.
I think Bo was trying to remain entirely monogamous because 1) it's societally expected 2) it's only her second 'real' relationship, everything is a growing process 3) she believed it's what Lauren wanted [and I think Lauren did want it, at first], 4) she hadn't fully accepted her succubus nature and what that means. Loving in addition is not meant to demean past or present love for either Lauren or Dyson or anyone else.
I think the incestuous elder is going to play into this who thing; as I mentioned above, it sounds like the Cronus myth, and we're delving deep into the mythology now.
Lauren's a protected human, not technically aligned; she may not feel she can go stay with the light or in her old light haunts, but she can probably hang out with anyone who will take her. Kenzi was always able to travel between sides fairly freely, though was scorned by both.
As for Crystal, I certainly don't believe the fae just let her go. Unless they have a large supply of Torchwood's beer [which makes you forget seeing all the otherworldly stuff] they can't risk it. I rather expected her story to be a small subplot which paralleled Lauren's, and Lauren feeling responsible / trying to set her free, which would help hasten Lauren's scheming to destroy the fae binary (which I believe is what she's beginning). It's definitely a loose thread. I jokingly postulated she's playing poker in a back room somewhere with the first Ash, Mayer, and Aife, but really, I think we're supposed to assume she was let go, with the open-endedness of possibly brining her back. I've made my peace with these sorts of holes (like I said, I was an avid LOST fan and this season is firmly in that territory), but I know some people can't.
I hope both the Morrigan and the Una Mens come into play next week.
I don't analyze this cheese-on-a-stick tv show as deeply as you do. It isn't a mensa miniseries. With all due respect, if I were you I would ask why instead of episodes that link and form a chain, this season has been more like a patchwork of vignettes. There is no coherence in the overall plot and the season has only four episodes left to go -- which means that they're going to cram into the last quarter what should have been spread evenly and integrally throughout the whole pie.
(Your response about Bo, Season 3, and monogamy: (1) "socially expected" -- by whom? Certainly not the audience that tunes into a show featuring a fantasy female with a sex drive stuck on 8th gear; (2) "second 'real' relationship" -- what was the first? Her teen boyfriend Kyle? Dyson? She never said "I love you" to either. The only "relationship" you can actually say Bo has had with anyone, human or Fae, is the relationship in which she said those three magic words, and she said them to Lauren (but don't mind me, I'm the kind of tv viewer that doesn't get hooked on many tv shows, but when I do, I pay attention to what I'm seeing and hearing); (3) it's not "what Lauren wanted" -- it's what Bo wanted. Lauren told Bo way back in Season 2 that she understood her nature; (4) we'll never know if Bo would have accepted her "succubus nature and what that means" -- since Bo never had two seconds' worth of time on the clock to sit still and delve into who and what she was. "Loving in addition" -- is this code for serial monogamy, polygamy, or polyamory? I can tell you from more than one real life experience that threesomes ultimately don't work (and I'm referring to cohabitation, not dating) because humans have emotions and emotions are not created equal. Beyond a threesome, it's really a swingers club where everyone thinks they have a cake, but it's always being shared with the others until all they find they have left is crumbs.)
I actually described the second episode as exactly "a series of vignettes' instead of a plot, and I thought the third episode botched its metaphor by cramming together eight metaphors. I'm usually into more serialized shows or shows which are clearly episodic, and this shows tries to split the difference, which is . . . weird especially for a short order. But they've made it pretty clear (as I said in my review of 04.08) they can and want to pull of individualized trope episodes while weaving in tiny threads of the overall picture.
1. By society. Bo was raised in and still operates in and is affected by modern society, not one specific demographic.
2. Dyson, of course. You don't have to say magic words to make something a relationship.
3. It's fair enough to give it a shot, (and I also think the lack of communication about what Lauren did want before the relationship happening was part of its breakdown).
4. It's short for what Bo is feeling/expressing here, and where that leads is still up in the air.
Anna Silk just had a kidlet, and returned to the show a mere seven weeks after giving birth. Thus some of the clothing and lighting choices, even if I too disagree with many of them.
I love this review!
It answered so many of my questions and took me to directions I did not think about (and confirmed a few things I thought of myself - so yay me!)
Sometimes I do wish they would dumb it down a bit so even if we are not brushed up on our mythology we will still be able to figure things out and not miss all the clues hidden in the references.
Thank you! Glad to support some of your theories.
I will admit four helpful things: I took Greco-Roman Mythology in high school as a literature elective; I was raised steeped in biblical classes and study so the biblical allusions are second-nature; I have a friend who is really really good at mythology whom I ask a dozen questions per episode; I google a lot.
Five: I still miss tons of stuff, which is why I'm happy to have other people to read and feedback; JLT up there pointed out the underworld is actually Irkalla.
Six: I spent a lot of time reading LOST boards, back in the day.
I usually don't have the time or patience for boards but every now and again I discuss episodes I have strong opinions about in the Lost Girl FB page with other fans and sometimes they notice things that I don't so I learn a lot.
I got to this review by googling the riddles as I got curious about them and I love norse mythology so I understood some of the references but this season has been challenging for me as most of the episodes are so weird and all over the place and I always feel like I don't understand anything that is going on.
I'm so jealous that you get to study any kind of mythology at school, all I got to study are the basics :/
You mentioned Lost, I love this show, but I remember I had to google a lot to get answers after it ended (I didn't do it during the seasons as I hate spoilers so I avoid them like the plague).
In Lost, once they started playing with time I knew they would never be able to tie all loose ends and this is what I'm worried about for this show.
I have no idea if its related or not, but in the second season (I think it was the second at least) Bo dated Loki so I wonder why they didn't make any connection to that thus far...
(being homeschooled can be a boon.)
I was an avid reader of Entertainment Weekly's reviews, and in the penultimate season I was roommates with PASTE magazine's reviewer (Rachel Dovey), so we'd watch and she'd pull out all these interesting obscure lit references. It was great. I recommend both. I also think coming to terms with that show never tying up half its loose ends helped prepare me for this show.
Yes, Ryan was a Loki. I think many of the viewers are trying to forget Ryan, but I do keep expecting him to pop back up. (I didn't like him as a person, but I liked him as a character; I compared him a lot to Tony Stark and Logan from Gilmore Girls).
Why forget about Ryan? he was fun!
And I really loved how he showed us that Dark can be fun too and its not just black and white.
And I guess I have thing for arrogant boys because I love Logan ;)
I like Logan (and the witty antagonism between he and Paris is the most fantastic use of both characters), but he wasn't right for Rory. This was obvious from the moment he scoffed at visiting Stars Hollow: the place Rory called home, the place she continually returned to, the place Lorelai wouldn't leave. It's one thing for Jess to hate feeling stuck there, it's another to essentially downplay its importance in Rory's life. The moment Logan did that sums up their whole relationship, as does how comfortable he was with specific snobberies of her grandparents and their world. In the end, Logan was a great experience for Rory, but I was thrilled the show made it a point she would move on without him. (I was actually kind of worried about that, considering how the entire last season went.)
HEY! so, as always, i love your thought-provoking reviews, and i'm attracted to a good Lost Girl conspiracy theory. the more intricate and logically self-contained it is, the more delicious.
my big question is, what are your 2 big theories/schools of though on the relationship between Trick, Rainer, The Wanderer, The Great Evil that hired Tamsin, Super Dark Bo and Bo's father?
ALSO, why is there so much speculation that Rainer is an incubus JUST BECAUSE Bo is behaving like she's been enthralled?
i recall in Season 2 that Aoife AND Trick independently suggested that the thralling power both Bo and Aoife have is due to that they're descended from a blood mage ie. Trick, so it's not a suc/incubus thing but a related-to-Trick-ubus thing.
I agree 100% that Rainer is not an incubus. The mythos for S4 has been almost entirely Norse and the character of Rainer is based on the Norse God of Freyr. Not sure if they will actually use that name for his genus, as they did with Ryan as a Loki, but incubus would make no sense at all.
I agree it's mostly Norse and that's why I was like wtf Leviathan?! They could've taken some other character from Norse mythology. So it wouldn't be unlikely based on that alone. Also, he could be an Incubus and still make references to Norse mythology or be a servant of another character more closely related to it, assuming that theory that Rainer is not the same guy who hired Tamsin.
Which is something I can't make my mind about. I'll write another comment on that.
Its not mostly Norse.
Show's main mythology is a mix of norse and irish mythology. Aife for example is a character from Irish mythology as are the names like Morrigan and Bo's father, if he is not Rainer(gods my head hurts again), is a mix of both Odin and Irish hero Cu Chulain.
This episode alone contained parts of hebrew mythology, japanese mythology and norse mythology.
AS for Freyr - the way he is described is quite close to how an incubus/succubus powers works - by bringing pleasure to mortal kind.
I'm not sure he is, and Alex has good points to the contrary. But there's a little more to my throwing it out as a possibility. Bo behaved (granted for all of like 15 seconds of screentime) much like Aife's thralls. We haven't seen an incubus, but the show has touched on several other regions' interpretations of the succubus myth so it seemed only a matter of time they got here. It makes sense that Bo meets an equal but opposite power, succubus=incubus.
Related to Trick. Hm. Interesting. *sigh* I kind of hope they don't take it there, but you may be right. I'd hate to be in charge of making that family tree.
Also I'd have to rewatch the scene again but I am pretty sure his eyes glowed Blue during the whole touchy-touchy scene on the train.
I didn't remember so I went back and did such; I didn't see either person's eyes glow.
I also believe Rainer could be an Incubus, but I disagree Bo was 'enthralled' because the term refers to when Aife and later Bo infused their blood in other people's. They are the only Succubi who can do this because of Trick's genes. If he's an Incubus, I believe he just charmed her like when Bo does just by touching, she's just infatuated, not enthralled. He could be more powerful than she is and knows better how to manipulate chi, just like Aife knew things Bo didn't even suspect a Succubus could do (it was 4 years ago, but without the Koushang Bo wouldn't stand a chance against Aife in a purely Succubus fight). Of course, I'm not considering the hand mark. What made me think of the Incubus possibility was how his hand glowed just like Bo's and the dopey her victims get. If it weren't for these, I would have thought he just activated the hand mark and took control over her.
Enthralled would probably have been the wrong word, assuming he didn't do anything besides hand-hickey her on the train the first time. 'Controlled entranced via hand mark' (which in all its whiteness reminds me of the Orc's handmarks in Lord of the Rings), then.
I first thought there was a possibility Rainer was in league with Aife, and Trick turned her over but decided to punish Rainer for both defying him and 'spoiling' his daughter (this was a long time ago, makes sense and underscores that whole patriarchy=bad thing the show has going). The punishment is becoming a Wanderer. Rainer gets revenge by coming back and enchanting Trick's granddaughter. Double ouch. But then, that'd mean Aife was imprisoned a far longer time, thousands of years more than we thought, before she was impregnated.
Then I thought Rainer (the Wanderer) was able to change forms, be both very beautiful as he seems now and very ugly as Tamsin describes him, so he'd be The Great Evil which hired her: ie he was on the lookout for Bo in relation to a prophecy, as well as leading a rebellion, before he was imprisoned by Trick. InvestinYourFuture up there points out it would seem the Wanderer came to Tamsin *after* Rainer was placed in eternal train limbo, nullifying that theory, because if he could get off the train to hire a Valkyrie surely he could have done more damage.
So then I considered Trick as a sort of Cronus spawned Rainer with his blood, and then Rainer tried to usurp him so Trick punished Rainer and wrote a different world where he himself (Trick) could hide, but that formed a sort of Dark Trick, as well as possibly other evil since using his blood for his own means always backfires and creates unintended consequences. The evil who came to Tamsin could be Trick's dark self, and since he had written about being unrecognizeable and Tamsin had forgotten her prior meeting with Trick when she got extra lives, she wouldn't recognize him then or now. So, Rainer and Bo would be related-but-not-exactly, and the sort of half-sibling idea, as well as the ideas of sins of the father, children usurping their parents, etc., prevalent through mythology, would be carried through. Trick would be the fae elder Lauren tested, and that would be Evony trying to get something to put over on Trick, but for the sake of the Dark (because Evony is all about that). But I'm not sure they're going there. Plus, I'm not sure where Bo's father would fit in this picture.
And so rather than develop a full-fledged theory at this point I spouted a half-dozen half-baked ones which could fit or could be pieced together into one, because I simply don't think this episode gives us enough information. And I think that's intentional, and I'm not going to drive myself too crazy over it.
Yet.
About Rainer = the Wanderer = the Wanderer = Tamsin’s employer:
Rainer was trapped in the
train for good so much so that Bo had to be taken to him. Then Tamsin's
contract must have happened before Trick
vanished him. Everyone had heard of the One Who Wanders (e.g., Dyson in La Fae Epoque), and I guess it's already established Rainer is referred to as such because of Trick's curse (then it's not necessarily a reference to Odin?). It seems that Trick made everyone forget his name but not his existence, instead he might have rewritten History making everyone remember Rainer as someone extremely evil, hence Tamsin remembering her employer as pure evil (and maybe he is indeed, but her description was over the top and not very detailed). Perhaps Trick even linked his own deeds as Blood King to the Wanderer, as now we know people probably couldn't remember
him completely but, most importantly, nowadays the Blood King is seen as a
benefactor, even though more and more we find out he was a tyrant and probably many were unhappy with him.
About Bo’s father:
Trick referred to Bo’s father as a Dark Elder King, which may not
contradict what we know of Rainer so far. He could be a King back then and
could be considered an Elder, even if he doesn’t look like it (Lost Girl has never
established a rule for looks plus he was killed at that age and trapped),
though I’m not sure if the title of Elder is only based on age, I always
assumed it’s based on age and power/royalty/knowledge/influence. So unfortunately,
Rainer may still be Bo’s father, he may be lying to her and Bo is certainly in
no condition to discern. And by that theory, maybe Aife was aligned to Rainer
(we know she was with the rebels) but because of the memory, she now thinks
Rainer was awful or he later turned out to be awful with his plans to marry
their own child and regain power?
But still, can we trust Tamsin’s account on his intensions with Bo? How
could she know that much? Maybe she is into something but didn’t get all the
factors right, especially with the memory thing. Maybe the Wanderer is not Bo’s
father, there is indeed someone else above him (the Dark Fae Elder) who wants his
daughter to marry Rainer.
I can’t make much of who’s Bo’s father, and personally I’m hoping theres
no incest factor. But I just can’t believe Rainer is not the Wanderer as it
seemed very clear last ep that he is. Either they made the wrong assumption about
the Wanderer being her father or about he wanting to marry Bo.
I feel like I’m on crack with all these theories. There’s so many that
keep coming! I need clear answers next episode
because this one only raised more.
But the thing is - IF Tamsin's contract happened BEFORE:
1) Wanderer would have no reason to search for Bo yet.
2) Tamsin would NOT remember it - she did not remember her deal with trick after all and the memory was only jogged by the book.
Hence the contract had to happen AFTER Rainer was vanished, which means its physically impossible for the person who made the contract with Tamsin to be Rainer.
Just a fun fact you might want to know, Leviathan (or Livyatan) is the Hebrew word for whale.
Cool!
Often Job's description of the Leviathan in the Bible is used as support for a sort of dinosaur (or descendant thereof) cohabiting with man. It's also often assumed the creature lives in the sea, but shoots fire. In Isaiah, some assume he's speaking metaphorically, and using dragon imagery which shows up in Revelation as well, and often flying is associated with the dragon. Narratively speaking, all that is why s/he works perfectly for a riddle.
Thanks for the depth everyone! I know almost nothing about mythology, so it's helpful to read your discussions (and review!)