Typically there is so much going on during an episode of Lost Girl that I furiously write down pages and pages of notes to keep track of each scene and character arc during each hour. This week, I only made it to two pages. There are good things and bad things about that concision, but given how Lost Girl has flippantly played around with character motivations this entire season, I’m inclined to fall on the negative side for the penultimate episode of the second season.
Dyson is both wracked with guilt over Ciara and desperate to gain back his love for Bo; Lauren is grieving for Nadia, throwing herself at Bo, and even reconciling with Dyson; Hale tries to make up with Dyson only to have ham-fisted anger thrown back in his face. And Trick reveals himself to be Bo’s grandfather in such an anti-climactic fashion that the Nain Rouge reappearing and delivering one final out-of-nowhere colloquial bit of support for Bo in her fight against the Garuda upstages him. Lost in the fray is the fact that Trick has kept this piece of information hidden for two full seasons for no conceivable good reason. It doesn’t add anything to the story, the episode doesn’t explore the possibility that Bo has the same powers as Trick—though her bit of Chi-sucking from an entire room back in the Lich episode may yet prove valuable—and yet, the show heavy-handedly treats the moment as some bombshell.
These characters have dealt with more than a few deaths in the past two weeks. Ciara gets a wake at Trick’s weigh station, and Lachlan has a poorly attended service in the Light Fae headquarters—notice that Nadia doesn’t really matter in this world to anyone other than Lauren, who’s throwing those emotions under the rug until the big battle gets settled. But the final showdown is saved for next week, and there’s more setup to be dealt with, so Bo sets off to handle the rest of the set dressing for a big battle against the slimy Garuda.
There are so many trades and switchbacks that it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. The Morrigan wants an artifact from the Ash’s archives in order to release Vex, but he gets captured by Red Caps, who want the same case Bo just stole for the Morrigan, who gets pissed when Bo seduces her to steal back the case, and then the Red Caps want to kill Vex for insulting the football team they support, and on and on and on ad infinitum until Bo is just as pissed as everyone watching about the infinite runaround.
To be fair to Lost Girl, that setup does have a point: When faced with disaster, one can face up to it with bravery and give everything in order to potentially save the world, or throw up their hands and start arranging deck chairs for a more enjoyable position until inevitable doom. Bo hates the Dark Fae attitude, but Vex is willing to throw his lot in with her plan if it means his safety and release. The seduction scene with the Morrigan is a bit funny, but like a few gratuitous scenes with Lauren earlier in the season, it’s unnecessarily voyeuristic, dampening a potentially sensual and sexy moment with perfunctory plot advancement.
But Bo’s attitude raises a question that has been on my mind all season, bubbling to the surface every so often. Bo is a Light Fae in everything but formal allegiance. She doesn’t want to be controlled, but all of her friends and trusted allies are Light Fae, so why exactly is she still holding out? Is it for the guise of independence when she would do anything to help Hale, Trick, Dyson, and Lauren, all aligned or indebted to the Light Fae? This lingering question hurts every plot that rips into the Dark Fae for their self-preservation focus, when Bo castigates their selfishness and fails to realize that she’s so much in agreement with the Light Fae that she might as well lead that faction as the new Ash—come to think of it, that wouldn’t be a half-bad arc for the third season. The very fact that this question has come up multiple times this season and hasn’t been adequately answered shows Lost Girl’s weaknesses even in the face of decently entertaining action.
Kenzie once again accompanies Dyson in his arc during the episode, trying to get his love for Bo back from the Norn. Dyson explains that there are rules for this kind of negotiation, but after one failed attempt, Kenzi has the bright idea to bring in a chainsaw, which makes more progress than any kind of diplomatic conversation. She gets Dyson’s love for Bo back, but it comes at an unknown price, and even after Dyson is restored, it’s still not clear exactly what the restoration means. He’s back in line with everyone else, but Bo is casually resisting even Lauren’s overwrought advances to the point where they don’t kiss during a moment of palpable desire. There are bigger issues at hand, and at least Lost Girl has the sense to lay the invading sexual frustrations at the fringes while impending destruction threatens the world of the show.
The last act of the episode—which is always more of an epilogue—has Bo confidently assuming the position of champion while also showing deference to her friends (and newly discovered family) for their undying support, basically tearing up a bit and demanding an equally emotional response from the audience, but it’s way too forced. Bo says her plan will work as long as there aren’t any other surprises, which guarantees another surprise is in store. And sure enough, that jar Kenzi knocked over turns out to be dangerous, as a cloud of black smoke appears in Trick’s office.
At the beginning of this season, I noted how quickly Lost Girl got the narrative claws in me and demanded my attention each week. Well, looking ahead to the second season finale after an extended 22 episodes, that mandatory attention has dissipated, and I’m watching basically just because I’ve stuck around so long that I have to know how this season-long arc ends. Ciara, Lachlan, Ryan, Nadia, and Nate have come and gone, and all that’s left is the core group I grew attached to during the first season. Hopefully, the finale makes a strong case to keep caring about them going forward; otherwise, this is a failed experiment in extending a 13-episode supernatural genre procedural into a season far too large to support the narrative weight of the initial concept.
Stray observations:
- Most of the time I’m on board with Kenzi’s silly dialogue, but tonight it was just too much. She uses “redonkulous,” “shiz,” and “diddly-squat” in the same conversation over the course of about three minutes.
- The Morrigan has some badass powers, but she hates sucking the talent out of talentless hooligans in order to dispose of them.
- “But you and Vex are like an evil Hall and Oates.” “They’re not evil?”