Hot Fae on Fae

So, I honest to shit sat through Ice Quake and Snowmageddon over the weekend.  No, those aren't bad '80s hair bands. They're Syfy original movies, the latter of which involved copious amounts of snow being on fire somehow. But I am not an exec at Syfy so clearly I'm not evolved enough to understand how that works. But it's a new week, and that means the return of Lost Girl, part of Powerful Mondays (RAWR).

Lost Girl, if you have not seen it, is actually a Canadian show and not an original Syfy production, no matter how much Syfy wants to pretend that it sprang fully formed from its executive board room loins.

Most of my exposure to Canadian TV has revolved around '90s classics such as Kids in the Hall and Road to Avonlea (and the stellar miniseries Anne of Green Gables adaptations), but our neighbors to the north have come up with a solid sci-fi (yes, that's how it's spelled; network take note) slash fantasy program that's engaging and a little addictive. The show is sort of like Buffy-Meets-Undergrad-Writing-Class-Fantasy-Story, but the concept is generally well-handled and the storylines are easy to follow and tend to be reasonably interesting. Also, there's all sorts of sex. Bo, the main character, is bisexual and fucks pretty much anything that moves, and even when she's in a relationship, she's distracted by shiny objects. Oh, those wacky Canadians. The acting is pretty decent, although you get a sense sometimes from some characters that the actors playing them are trying a little too hard. So, if that sounds remotely interesting, and you can deal with the fact that there's likely a large overlap in the Venn Diagram amongst Lost Girl fans, Twihards and Ren Fair nerds, I'd recommend that you give it a shot. There are also really cool lighting fixtures.

Wardrobe courtesy of Hot Topic

If you've been following the show, we begin this week where we left off – with unaligned succubus Bo preparing for The Dawning. If she fails, she will become what is known as an Under Fae, which I think is something like a cross between Sarah Palin and Nancy Grace, but I'd have to check my sources on that one. 

Join us!

Bo is being helped by kindly Lodestar Fae, Stella Nashira, who is like some sort of blonde, skeletal Mr. Miagi. As part of her training, Bo is busily looking for the Sandhae Cricket of Good Fortune, which is hiding out in the Light Fae bar that Bo's grandfather Trick owns (long story).  

Bo can't find the cricket, and she needs the cricket's luck for The Dawning. Trick tries to reassure Bo that she will be able to make it through Fae Puberty.  Bo now has to wait for her invitation to the Temple, which is apparently where her Dawning will take place.  Stella's done all she can during Bo's training and releases her for the rest of the day. Stella asks Trick out to dinner to apologize for getting all severe on him, and Trick readily accepts because he's hot for her. Aww. Trick gettin' some action.

Bo calls her girlfriend Lauren and tells her she has the night off. While talking on the phone to her lady love, Bo happens upon a huge object just randomly sitting in the middle of the bar, and so of course she starts absent-mindedly fiddling with it. Because it totally belongs there and has always been there. Cue ominous music. Then the scene cuts to some girl tied to tubes and crying into them (although her sundress is quite fetching, so at least she's dressed well).  Plot point!

So, this machine that's randomly in Trick's bar for no reason looks like the kind of thing that makes Steam Punk kids' butter churn. It even emits white smoke. Has it elected a new pope? No, it's just trying to kill Bo. We later learn from Stella that it's actually a "game" and Bo accidentally activated it. It's through this game that Bo will prove whether she's ready to enter the Temple and face her Dawning. It's like an invitation to an invitation to an event TBA. Apparently, it's extra super complicated this time because, as we've all been reminded countless times, Bo is "special."

Lauren shows up at the bar and tells Bo she has great news! Lauren is some kind of genius medical science lady doctor, and she's won an award (named after a Jewish guy, ofs) for her work on free radicals, and she wants Bo to come to the reception banquet, which is that night. I don't really care for Lauren personally. She's rather clingy and controlling.  She seems a little more likable in this episode, but I'm still shipping Bo/Dyson or Bo/Tamsin (more on that later). Fortunately, their relationship is doomed! Lauren is human and Bo is Fae, and that never works out. Bo is a succubus, and when she's not kicking someone's ass, she's fucking someone else as a means to heal her…succubus…genes or something. Anyway, Lauren doesn't do it for her because she isn't Fae, so Bo often has to sleep with other people in order to heal. Cue relationship awkwardness. Bo also found out last week from her human BFF, Kenzi, that Bo's former love interest, Emo Werewolf Dyson, got his love back after visiting The Norn (longer story).

Your simultaneous interest in me and Taylor Lautner has me concerned.

Supposedly Dark Fae Valkyrie Tamsin has been hiding out at the bar this whole time. Ostensibly, she works on the popo force with Dyson as his partner for some sort of Light/Dark Fae goodwill diplomacy bullshit, but we all know she was really placed on the force to spy for the Dark and maybe get some dirt on Bo (Bo is technically unaligned, but she spends the vast majority of her time with humans and Light Fae). Tamsin gets real with Bo. She invites Bo out to lunch (Bo of course thinks Tamsin is flirting) and Tamsin tells Bo that everyone has been lying to her about The Dawning.

Don't worry, boys, there will still be hot girl-on-girl to keep you glued to your screen. 

Tamsin takes Bo to a different Light bar, and this is where her trouble starts. Over Bloody Marys, Tamsin tells Bo there's a good chance she won't make it through The Dawning. Stella tells Trick that, since Bo isn't there and he's Bo's blood relative, he has to basically choose Bo's obstacle course. Some choices he makes can help her out, but other choices he makes will hinder her progress. 

Choose wisely. 

Fortunately, Bo has Tamsin there to help her through her tasks. I thought at the beginning of this season that Tamsin was being introduced as a romantic interest for  Dyson, but it became apparent through the ensuing episodes that Tamsin had the hots for Bo, going so far as to defy The Morrigan in favor of Bo. That's significant because Tamsin is Dark Fae, and so her allegiance should be to The Morrigan, who is basically the Dark Fae queen. 

Back to the plot. The game has begun. These thugnificent gentlemen approach Bo and Tamsin in the bar and give Bo a hard time about being unaligned. They are waved to a back exit by a character named Balzac, and escape after Tamsin "distracts" the thug party by sucker punching them. Balzac is a spriggin, which is some kind of pixie. Balzac says Bo has to help him find "that which he truly seeks." You see, Bo said she owed Balzac for helping her and then shook on it, and Tamsin explains that the deal is binding. 

Bo's first task is to retrieve a "Cookie" from a personage known as The Fang. They find Fang and interrupt his bowl of ramen to get said Cookie. Bo tries to extract the Cookie from Fang using her succucharm, but then the game interferes and forces Trick to add some obscure Fae root to its little pot, and Bo loses her ability to speak. Thanks, Trick. Then someone randomly shoots darts at them. The gang escapes after Fang is hit, Cookie in hand.

Bo feels like since Balzac nearly got her killed and she got his Cookie that she upheld her end of the deal. Oh, no, no, no, my dear. I am only the catalyst of this week's plotline. The Cookie will only grant them passage to what Balzac truly, truly seeks. Part two of the scavenger hunt  involves our heroes heading to the "landlady" to get a "prescription."

Lauren calls, and Bo promises to be at her place within an hour. We all know Bo is going to break her promise to Lauren, since Bo is busy saving the world and hanging with Tamsin.

They have to gain entrance into Brazenwood. Tamsin says it's a dark and lawless territory full of lost souls. By that, she means it's the Fae trailer park. Or maybe it's full of carnies. Whichever.  It's apparently somewhere in suburban Toronto.

Bo protests, but Balzac appeals to her Wonder Woman senses. The true reason for this mission is to save Hannah, an outcast Dark Fae who has been taken prisoner by this nefarious character named Whitman, who is exploiting her. Bo can't give up a chance to save someone in distress, so she agrees to accompany Balzac into Brazenwood.

My pigtails and sundress indicate that I am a helpless ploy in this man's wicked, wicked games. 

Bo makes it to the entrance of Brazenwood, not before she has to have a tarot reading by the landlady. Bo pulls The Wanderer out of the deck, but it turns out that the deck is entirely The Wanderer and she reveals the landlady to be a fraud. Balzac pays the landlady in a handkerchief soaked in tears (drugs, what?) and the landlady writes them a script. Remember when they were running from a random homicidal archer? Well, he appears fully formed this time, in the shape of an extra from Deadwood. Bo, Tamsin and Balzac team up, and lock the archer/bounty hunter in a trailer that sounds as though it is chock full o' rabid dogs. Good times. 

Bo gives the Cookie to the gatekeeper, and he lets them through the gate into Brazenwood. Tamsin volunteers to stay with Bo through her dealings with the redneck Fae. The invitation forces Trick to pour Bo's least favorite drink into its little pot, and Bo starts acting like she's had a few too many and babbles senselessly about Dyson until Tamsin smacks her. Lauren's back at her apartment getting sloshed on champagne all on her lonesome, and she calls Bo to ask her where the hell she is. Bo inadvertently insults her and instantly feels terrible, but Tamsin urges her onward. 

Tamsin and Bo find the "pharmacist," and it turns out he's just some wasted dude sitting outside a shack. Bo goes into the shack, where she finds Hannah, who is, of course, the girl from the earlier scene. She's hooked up to a machine that's collecting her tears. Hannah is a squonk, and this means her tears are valuable as a Fae drug. Bo gives Hannah the great news that Bo is here to rescue her! Sadly, Hannah has Stockholm Syndrome and doesn't want to be rescued. Another challenge for our heroine! Everyone is always so happy when Bo rescues them. These kids today. Tamsin tells Bo she can't move a squonk voluntarily or she will literally dissolve into tears. 

Bo finally convinces Hannah to leave by promising that at the special school for special kids that Balzac wants to take her to (River Tam, what?) that there will be "super weird boys."  Not so fast! Mr. Whitman and the archer/bounty hunter (apparently having escaped from the puppies) catch Bo and Tamsin trying to help Hannah escape. They got to settle this here thing, Dark rules-like. Back at Trick's, Stella reveals to Trick that the invitation is legit trying to kill Bo. That's likely because Bo decides to bring a knife to a gun fight. Oh noes! There's more than one of the bounty hunter! Bo remembers her cricket training, and realizes that, much like the cricket, the bounty hunter is behind her. She stabs the bounty hunter, and he dies huge. Happy that Bo passes the test, Trick and Stella make out. Then Tamsin and Bo make out. 

At Lauren's, there's a knock at her door. It isn't Bo, but tissue engineer Isaac Taft, who has never met Lauren before but knows where she lives. Isaac gives Lauren her award and tells her that the reception was boring, so she really didn't miss much. He invites Lauren out for drinks and she agrees.  He's a huge fan of her work and she's a huge fan of his, so we can assume that they will want to do science to each other in upcoming episodes.

My last girlfriend got turned to toast by some evil Dark Fae entity. It looks like I'm doing the dumping this time!

Balzac runs into Trick's bar, letting Trick and Stella know that he screwed up and completely lost track of Bo. On cue, Bo enters with Tamsin and Hannah in tow. This turns the invitation on again, and Stella pours some of Hannah's tears into the little pot. Bo has officially passed the initial stages, and now she only has to wait for her official invitation to the Temple for The Dawning to officially begin. Stay tuned for more mayhem.

Bo shows up at Lauren's apartment avec Tamsin, but Lauren has already gone. Tamsin leaves her, and as she goes outside, she finds a Wanderer card on the ground. She picks it up and says, "No, no. Not her." Then it's suddenly raining tarot for no apparent reason, but kudos to Lost Girl for utilizing a sinister tarot card without going with the obvious Death card. 

Lost Girl stars Anna Silk as Bo, Ksenia Solo as Kenzi, Kris Holden-Ried as Dyson, Rachel Skarsten as Tamsin, Richard Howland as Trick, Deborah Odell as Stella and Zoie Palmer as Lauren. It airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST on Syfy.