Up until now, Bo’s need for sex in order to restore her strength after tangling with other Fae has gone about with little to no consequences. Dyson’s feelings and other romantic complications have disappeared and arisen, but physical ailments have been minimal‑until now.
At the outset of the episode, Bo needs to heal, so she calls Ryan, but she gets a little aggressive in bed, and their blood mixes in the cut on Ryan’s back. This makes him incredibly cuddly, clingy, and bent on remaining with Bo. That doesn’t stop her from kicking Ryan out of her house when she’s done, but when she and Kenzi go to investigate some crackpot preacher, he ends up throwing some water on Bo, after which she doesn’t recognize Kenzi and runs away on her own. According to Trick, this preacher is an Addonc, who imbues water in such a way that it erases memories. Ryan is lovesick, Bo is empty-headed, and it’s up to Kenzi and Trick to track down the meet-not-so-cute lovebirds before they find a way to accelerate their non-relationship into an unthinkable marriage.
As a concept, this is a very entertaining episode, in the same way that the semi bottle episode where each character got shuffled into someone else’s body allowed for some playful comedy. Wiping Bo’s memories and turning Ryan into a groveling Stage 5 clinger makes their thunderous lurch towards marriage all the more ridiculous. Ryan keeps throwing money at every little snag, and he tracks down the Addonc to come by again and ensure that whatever water affected Bo remains a more permanent condition, and that she continues to imprint on him as the first guy that’s nice to her. It horribly almost works, but Trick and Kenzi track the bride and groom down, and Trick’s special water vial brings Bo back so she can subdue Ryan. Something bad happened, and it takes a Trick special ritual to de-cling Ryan and bring him back to normal.
None of this has anything to do with the overarching plot and impending horrible creature attack, but now Kenzi knows Bo has been seeing Ryan after what he did to Nate at that restaurant double date. She’s torn up, but the conflict gets very little time in the last five minutes, so Bo can’t really apologize (other than citing the 85 verbal apologies that preceded the bar scene) and the conflict doesn’t have depth. It’s just another minor cliffhanger, and one that Kenzi will presumably be done with soon.
Meanwhile, in a completely separate B-plot, Dyson continues to explore what it means to be a lone wolf. He’s on assignment for The Ash since he’s apparently not working as much for the police, and agrees to interrogate an underfae murder suspect locked in the dungeons. The whole conversation is a way to tease out Dyson’s existential crisis after Ciara left a few weeks ago. That isn’t metaphorical either, at one point the prisoner literally asks Dyson “why do you exist?” in an entirely serious tone. This side of Dyson is a total drag to watch, as he beats himself up and broods, doing absolutely nothing to fix any problems, and then running away. He does some good interrogation work, spiraling slowly downward, moving through the cell doors to get closer to the suspect, before finally turning the tables
I’ve never been afraid that Dyson would really hit rock bottom in the depression of losing Ciara and realizing just how empty he is without the ability to love. But I am worried that his depression has outlived any usefulness to his character. Hale isn’t around to yell at him or snap him out of this, so he just gets to hop on his motorcycle and run away, which is exactly what he did before the beginning of season two. So we’re basically back where we started with Dyson: cold, unfeeling, distant, and kind of masochistic about the ordeal.
I had a lot of fun with tonight’s episode, and how funny it was to watch Bo and Ryan descend into craziness while Kenzi and Trick teamed up to track them down. But the final scene with Bo and Trick in the bar really brought me down. Bo has questions to ask Trick about why he knew what to do with Ryan because of blood mixing, and Trick’s blood can be used to alter the course of history. So Bo and Trick both have blood related powers, which means that might not be the only thing blood related. It’s incredibly frustrating to watch Bo outline the fact that she has questions, and sound imposing, without actually doing the easy thing and actually asking Trick the big, important, lingering questions. The episode provides a lot of entertainment and great quips, but when it comes to advancing the greater mythology and answering lingering questions, Lost Girl moves at a glacial pace.
Stray observations:
- No Hale this week, which is unfortunate, since I would’ve liked to see his reactions to how Dyson acted last week in a fuller form.
- The Fae related episode titles have returned in earnest. This one isn’t too bad since it’s only two words.
- The gifts that Ryan sends are great, especially the singing telegram.
- “She’s not living in Showgirls!” “My go-to worst case scenario.”
- “Oh what like it’s so wrong to expect people to give it a real shot?”
- “I need a whiskey, and a beer with a side of strippers.”