In the Fae world of Lost Girl, the ancient royal families function as mob families a la The Godfather. But the problem is that the show simply tells us that’s how they work, instead of actually showing illicit activity. The families are snooty, bigoted towards humans, and fiercely, formally private, but they only have the mythology of the classic mafia story because the show drops the name of the Puzo novel/Coppola film. It’s a smokescreen attempt to drum up mystery and anticipation in an episode that chooses to inch slowly toward the inevitable deciding battle at the end of the season. It has some satisfying elements and genuine intrigue, but the slow overarching pace and rushed episodic plots brush over implausible development, making it harder to suspend disbelief in an otherwise furious mythology dump mixed with soapy romance.
This week just happens to be the one gathering of the big three Fae aristocratic families, but some mysterious attacker keeps burning the family leaders into charred skeletons. But Hale’s father Sturgess is the leader of his clan, so Bo and Dyson head up an investigation, while Hale recruits Kenzi to pose as his girlfriend for the centennial party. His family is the leadership of one of the three remaining Fae clans, and they’re all under attack from Cherufe—a mythological creature of South American origin that’s comprised of magma, and gets blamed for the Mount Vesuvius explosion. So there’s a lot of trumped up danger, but even a little Lachlan/Bo pep talk doesn’t make the run up to the inevitable Geruda battle the central part of the episode.
Kenzi and Hale get along so well; they have compatible senses of humor, and fuck it, I’ll say it—they’re really cute together. Which is why Nate feels shoehorned in as the other human. Kenzi can’t tell him the whole truth about the Fae world, and he’s so overeager that he sneaks into a party and never realizes the consequqnces of his actions. I never really felt like those actions were sweet, just made out of jealousy—unfounded, but not entirely unfounded since it’s pretty clear Hale is into Kenzi—and it seems like Kenzi is choosing nostalgic innocence over someone clearly more compatible. Hale’s family hates humans, his sister even suggests throwing away silverware that Kenzi touches, but Hale is far more progressive and logical. He wants to bring the Fae clans out of irrelevancy, looking at humans as allies instead of a subspecies. But that message really doesn’t gain any traction amid the soaptastic hookups and telegraphed action plot.
Despite how interesting it is to see Kris Holden-Ried play a variety of emotions, it’s frustrating to see Dyson fluctuate between episodes in such an arbitrary way. Hale already stuck out his neck to protect Dyson from police suspension, but then he just flies in the face of loyalty to his best friend and hooks up with Hale’s younger sister—who really only gets one slutty, bigoted note to play for the entire episode. It’s uncaring betrayal, and he has no remorse even when Hale inevitably catches them in the act. Dyson has some serious emotional ground to make up if he’s going to be equal to Bo, Kenzi and Hale.
All the upper crust drama aside, Bo cuts through the investigation relatively quickly, and comes to Kenzi’s rescue after Hale’s sister gives Kenzi the Ariel treatment and steals her voice. The Cherufe isn’t all that intimidating, since it looks like a poorly copied, shrunken CGI version of the Balrog from Fellowship of the Ring. Modern chemicals can conquer the ancient underfae, so that’s easily taken care of, but Bo uses the liquid nitrogen-frozen head of the creature to try and incite some support from the clans for her impending fight against the Geruda. None of the supposed nobles bite, until Hale punches the shit out of Dyson and storms out, after which Sturgess changes his mind because the plot demands it and offers his resources to Bo. It’s arbitrary, quick, and completely unfounded, but it needs to happen, and there were enough funny quips between the Santiago family and Kenzi to keep things interesting, even when she temporarily lost her voice.
In minor developments, the Lauren/Nadia situation continues to grow strained. First, nadia snoops around Bo’s belongings, discovering her weapons, and when Bo catches her, starting a snarky exchange. Then, right at the end of the episode, she cuts her hand open with a huge knife before Lauren walks in, then claims to have no idea what just happened. Her grin while embracing Lauren suggests otherwise. It’s still unclear whether this is petty jealousy or part of some larger conspiracy plot, but I find it decidedly uninteresting. As exhausting as Fae socialites can be while shoving Bo to the sidelines for an episode devoted to Hale and Kenzi’s deepening friendship, it’s still far better than delving into the Bo/Lauren/Nadia triangle yet again.
Stray observations:
- The return of the eyeroll-inducing episode title! Oh Stieg Larsson, I’m sorry.
- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ksenia Solo and Carly Rae Jepsen look somewhat alike. And that dress to the party? To die for, and not in the Nicole Kidman way.
- “Dude? Dude? DUDE?” Kenzi and Nate aren’t great at adult communication.
- Hale’s list of instances where he bailed out Kenzi is pretty amazing, especially her reaction to the Minotaur incident.