Bo remains unaligned in the Fae world, refusing to choose between the Light and the Dark Fae for fear of feeling trapped. Yet all of her friends—Trick, Dyson, Hale, and Lauren—are somehow aligned with Light Fae. She does most of her cases to the benefit of the Light Fae, only rarely doing an odd job for the Morrigan or inadvertently for some Dark Fae member. For all intents and purposes, Bo is Light Fae without the official recognition. But now Ryan is around to challenge that perception, to spin out yarns that illustrate just how convoluted and hazy the distinction between Light and Dark really is.
Though a physical match for Bo, Ryan only makes a mark on the show when he intellectually and morally challenges Bo’s preconceived notions and actually gets her to reconsider. Amid all the vapid conversations and materialistic characterization, this is the small nugget of truth buried within a lot of frustrating narrative generalities. This is the one truly interesting point to emerge from “Table for Fae”: do Bo’s actions constitute choosing a side without formally committing? Is she just afraid to pick a side, or is it that strong of a conviction? Her actions point to something different than her stated beliefs, and though Ryan seems like a money-obsessed tool, he has a point when calling out Bo’s weak excuses for her favoritism. She doesn’t trust Dark Fae and assumes their guilt by association with the word "dark," choosing based on connotation rather than experience.
The argument comes about at the apex of Bo’s investigation into the disappearance of some backpackers. It turns out some Dark Fae creatures called Serkets—creatures able to drain the life and vitality from a human and give it to another—have been running a creepy medical clinic offering anti-aging treatments drained from the multitude of young backpackers in the city’s hostels. When Bo confronts the two sisters who run the clinic, she ends up in trouble of course, and gets saved by Ryan’s penchant for gadgetry. With the table turns, Bo wants the humans restored and set free, but not everyone is in agreement.
Ryan views the sisters as fellow Dark Fae, doing nothing more than some sloppy feeding on humans. Bo sees it as torture and senseless murder. She blames the Dark Fae, but Ryan turns the tables, bringing up Lauren’s inexplicable incarceration at the hands of Lachlan. Bo would like to believe on the Dark treat humans like property or playthings—the way The Morrigan toys with Nate before extracting a future favor from Kenzi in exchange for backing off—but Bo can’t pretend to be that naïve. With a leader like Lachlan, the two sides are closer in mistreatment than it appears, and Bo’s nearly exclusive consulting for the Light Fae has skewed her perspective on what’s acceptable for each faction.
Lost Girl easily passes the Bechdel test more often than not, and it did tonight, but watching Bo and Kenzi talk about relationship problems when they usually connect on an entertainingly deep level of friendship is limiting. Kenzi is happy with Nate, but has to hold him back professionally because she’s scared of losing him. Yes, the Morrigan chews through artists like Nate and spits them out as nothing, but Kenzi takes away Nate’s ability to choose for himself. And Bo is too caught up in how physically satisfied she feels with Ryan to stop herself at any of the very clear warning signs that they’re not good together at all.
Which brings me back to Bo’s unaligned status. On the one hand, she wants to remain independent and in control of her own destiny; but her indecisiveness isn’t as neutral as she wants to believe. She’s biased toward the Light Fae, and Ryan’s constant challenging and questioning reveals that to her. But all of her friends side with the Light Fae, so even if the dark, mysterious, overly mean tech whiz satisfies her now, when push comes to shove it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what side of the line Bo will stand on.
Stray observations:
- Dyson and Hale have their own little subplot that goes just about nowhere, but it shows that now Dyson has progressed to a much higher level of brooding disdain than previously thought possible.
- Hessa is played by Genelle Williams, better known to me as the iconic Kim Carlisle from Radio Free Roscoe. Good to see she’s getting some more work.
- That final scene with Bo, Ryan, and the maître d’ from the fancy restaurant may have been…stimulating, but it was still some abjectly horrible male wish fulfillment.
- Kenzi is back! Lauren is still gone. And there was much rejoicing.
- Sorry for the late posting, but the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics got in the way for most of the night.