Lost Girl 5×14 review: ‘Follow The Yellow Trick Road’

Who’s ready for some Wizard of Oz-style shenanigans?

Let’s bitch it out…

Last week Lost Girl killed off Bo’s (Anna Silk) grandfather, Trick, as well as her mother in a gruesome Grand Guignol tableaux. It also left Bo in stasis, which is where ‘Follow The Yellow Trick Road’ finds her: a black and white coma world clearly informed by Alice in Wonderland. While her friends desperately struggle to keep her safe in the real world, Bo must navigate what could be the series’ final spirit walk, a journey inspired by The Wizard Of Oz.

Almost immediately upon waking up in the B/W world, Bo comes upon an image of the Peripice, the horse that has haunted the series for several seasons. The fact that the horse proves to be a pivotal figure in both the resolution of this episode and seemingly in the series’ final battle against Jack (Eric Roberts) is a nice callback to the series’ roots. How exactly the horse will help Bo remains unclear, but presumably this will become clearer in the remaining two episodes.

In keeping with the narrative homage to Wizard, Bo eventually meets variations of all of her friends: Tomasina, a version of Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten), Nosid, a version of Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) and Lola, a version of Lauren (Zoie Palmer). Collectively they combine to form the iconic roles of Dorothy’s friends – heart, bravery, smarts – from the original film on the journey to find the Maestro.

If the episode’s visual scope is dulled by Lost Girl‘s limited production values (we see a single street, a hill and repurposed locations like the penthouse and Bo’s house), the homage’s metaphor for a) grief and b) the journey that Bo must undertake to assume leadership in the lead-up to the final battle both resonate. Sure there’s an inevitable feeling of delay that pervades the episode considering Bo is no closer to seeking vengeance on Jack, but as an outlet for Bo and the others to process their grief, it works.

The final challenge in dream-land is a house of mirrors where a two-faced Vex (Paul Amos) offers riddles while serving up some serious Professor Quirrell action from Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone meets The Lady From Shanghai. Naturally the discovery of the man behind the red curtain turns out to be Bo herself – a necessary development that confirms that in order to vanquish Jack, Bo must assume Trick’s role as the Master. Events climaxes with an appearance by angelic and demonic Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) who demands Bo “accept” the elixir to return to life, but not before Bo is told to find the Peripice in real life. Naturally, the final act that Bo must accomplish in order to wake up is to accept that Trick is dead and gone…only then can she return to the loving arms of her friends.

Other Observations:

• I’ll admit that the rules of the dream world are not entirely clear. Bo sees (and presumably understands) a green traffic light, but she is unable to see red when told by Tomasina to follow the red-brick road. Obviously her colour-blindness is related to her repression of the traumatic event she witnessed – she finally sees red when she flashes back to the death tableaux. If this is a callback to The Wizard of Oz, it doesn’t quite track.
• In the span of a single episode, Tamsin’s pregnancy has accelerated rapidly. While Lauren confirms that there isn’t a lot of information about Valkyrie, one can only imagine that the speedy development of a baby bump isn’t a good thing.
• Bo’s friends and lovers deal with their grief in different ways: Dyson compensates with his feelings of failure by lashing out at Mark (Luke Bilyk), while Lauren angrily lambastes herself.
• Granted she only just discovered that her mom had been alive, but Bo’s sustained grief for Trick, and not her mother, is a bit uncomfortable. Obviously they had a closer/better relationship, but maybe a single tear for dear, dead mom would have been nice?
• The episode ends with the reading of Trick’s will, which provides riches to each member of Bo’s entourage: a ring for Kenzi to prevents being claimed, tomes of the occult to balance magic and science for Lauren, a blanket for Tamsin, and a compass for Vex. Trick also leaves the Dhal to Mark and Dyson. The big kudos in this final sequence has to go to Anna Silk for infusing a wealth of emotion in a few simple lines as she reads Trick’s will. The final image of Trick’s framed picture with the words “In Loving Memory” is as much a dedication to Trick as it is to actor Rick Howland. Very moving.
• Naturally the episode ends on a twist: Jack’s (Eric Roberts) attack and potential murder of Vex. If it sticks, it would be especially upsetting considering Vex has not yet had the opportunity to confess his true feelings to Mark. Their sweep of the attic earlier in the episode is their first real scene in quite some time and clearly Vex is meant to say something to Mark before the series finale. For this reason alone, something tells me that he’ll survive having his throat slit…though this is Lost Girl and things sometimes zing when they would have normally zagged.

Best Lines:

• Bo (checking herself out in the mirror): “I just woke up in a Lucy re-run”
• Tamsin (speaking to a comatose Bo): “You have no idea how much I could use a drink right now.”
• “Like the vacuum cleaner, no?”
• Kenzi (stumbling upon Tamsin): “Um, is that a bonafide baby bump Tamsin?”
• Kenzi (after Lauren says sac a half-dozen times): “Remind me to make a sac joke once we save Bo.”

Your Turn: what did you think of Bo’s adventure through the looking glass? Did you enjoy the alt-personalities of Tamsin, Dyson, Lauren and Kenzi? Did the attempts to rescue Bo ring true? Are you hoping that Kenzi will stick around? Did you tear up during Trick’s will reading? And will Vex survive? Sound off below.

Lost Girl airs Sundays at 9pm EST on Showcase in Canada