Lost Girl review – 2×18: ‘Fae-nted Love’

We’re almost ready to head into the home stretch of Lost Girl‘s second season. First we just have to wrap up a few loose ends: namely Ryan (Anthony Lemke) and Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried). And while neither storyline is satisfactorily resolved, at least we have modicum of closure.

Let’s bitch it out…There have been many episodes of Lost Girl in which the case-of-the-week drives the narrative. And then there are episodes like ‘Fae-nted Love’ when the case is completely perfunctory and serves little more than the ignition to kick-start the action. The case is introduced when Kenzi’s (Ksenia Solo) “stalker”, Tryst (James Cade) – last seen in 2×06 ‘It’s Better To Burn Out Than Fae Away’ – compels the ‘lady-dicks’ to investigate who is hijacking the inheritance from his gran-gran. And although it takes the entire hour to bring the duplicitous water Fae, Brother Doug (Richard Clarkin) to justice and disperse his water-compulsion congregation, ‘Fae-nted Love’ is entirely more interested in telling a different story: Ryan’s exit.

This is handled more than a little awkwardly. After an opening heal & hook-up scene (aren’t they the best?), both Ryan and Bo re-iterate that they can’t do this any longer. The problem is that they don’t seem convinced, and neither are we – the only reason that they can’t be together is because of his callous treatment of Nate (an unseen Aaron Ashmore) back in 2×15 ‘Table For Fae’ and the fact that he’s Dark Fae. But apparently their recurring secret hook-ups need to be exposed so that Bo can be sl*t-shamed by Kenzi, and so we have two developments: 1) Bo’s blood turns Ryan into a stalker (Bo later compares him to Aoife’s Chippendale boy-toys from 1×13 ‘Blood Lines’) and 2) Bo is splashed with water that erases her memory and more-or-less infantilizes her. This creates the perfect storm in which the lovers jet off to Niagara Falls to get an impromptu marriage.

It’s almost as ridiculous as it sounds, and yet it all works. This is primarily due to the comedic timing of the show’s main cast (and a game Lemke, who I still think is a great addition to the show). The caper is played more for comedy than danger, hence Kenzi’s pot-shots about Ry-Ry (she calls him “a puffy-haired seven year old”) and Trick’s (Rick Howland) casual reveal that Fae don’t believe in divorce until 1000 years have passed. This all contributes to a fun/verging on silly episode of the show. At the same time, it’s clear by episode’s end that the show wants us to believe that Bo and Ryan aren’t “good for each other” and must finally call it quits. To which I call shenaningans. If anything, this feels more like the show crossing its Ts and dotting its Is on this chapter on Bo’s love life  before turning towards the big end of season climax. The problem is that it doesn’t feel authentic or realistic…like an artificially imposed end to a story that was actually working.

And then there’s Dyson…

Oh Dyson, what are we going to do with you? Somehow nobody’s favourite Sad Wolf ends up in a D-version of Silence of The Lambs with an UnderFae named Acher (Oliver Becker) who plays the Lecter role (Hannibal Fae-cter?). Every few minutes we cut back to Dyson getting his self-esteem slapped around as Acher demonstrates how he convinced a number of Lachlan’s (Vincent Walsh) peeps to commit suicide (poisoning, high-rise plunges, yada-yada-yada). Obviously this is Dyson secretly fishing for a confession, but first we have to sit through forty-odd minutes of Psych 101 from Acher and overacting by Holden-Ried about his feelings (or lack thereof). It’s nothing we haven’t gleaned from previous episodes – as though we could ever forget that the Norn stole his damned ability to love! Yes, Lost Girl, we. GET. IT! Most problematically, this entire B-storyline feels like a completely different (read: sh*tty) episode – awkwardly inserted so that we can get rid of Dyson for an episode or so. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that his absence will free us some budget to bring back Lauren (an unseen Zoie Palmer) and continue exploring how much of a psycho Nadia (an unseen Athena Karkanis) is. To which I say: bring it on if it means less of this kind of drivel!

Other Observations:

• I love it when Lost Girl manages to strike an appropriate balance  between intriguing and obvious. Case in point: the mise-en-scene when Ryan proposes to Bo (see the top picture of this post). The giant ad plastered behind them mirrors the live proposal (with the giant ring symbolizing Ryan’s extreme wealth, orally echoed by Bo’s exclamation of how “shiny” the ring is and later, when she selects a dress, how “money is no option”). There are also two pieces of graffiti defacing the ad: one reads BLANK (clearly a reference to Bo, but also an apt description for Ryan’s compromised state) and (hidden between their bodies) BLOOD, which is at the heart of Ryan’s condition, but also ties into Bo’s lineage. In summation, the entire A-plot is captured in this single image, which is both obvious and extremely well done.
• How exciting is it to see Trick out of the bar?! This is the first time it’s happened since 2×13 ‘Barometz. Trick. Pressure’ and I gotta say, he, Bo and Kenzi make a good team. Side Note: when Bo calmly explains that she’ll expect answers when she asks him about her lineage in the future, did anyone else wonder if it’s possible that Trick is Bo’s father? They both have the ability to “control” things with their hemoglobin (she=people, he=the future) so it’s not out of the realm of the possible, right?
• As Bo’s memories return, she begins to recall the important people including the girl with the pink, no green, no black hair; the wise uncle bartender and a wolf-cop (guess KC Collins’ Hale isn’t worth a mention?). As far as very minor descriptions of our cast goes, those are…just about right.

Best Lines:

• Bo (repeating Ryan’s cuddling mantra): “You’re the one that said post-orgasm claustrophobia is a medical condition”
• Bo (distracting Kenzi from Ryan’s lovebirds): “Later, okay? I mean, Trist needs us. Shizzle Kenzi, it be his gran-gran”
• Kenzi (entering Brother Doug’s sanctuary): “Stripmall church. Sexy.”
• Trick (to Kenzi when she speaks normally – using slang – to describe Bo’s infantile state): “From the beginning. With as much English as possible”
• Trick (after Kenzi worries Bo is living a seedy lifestyle): “She’s not living in Showgirls.” Kenzi: “My go-to fear.”
• Bo (confessing to Ryan their wedding may not be right): “This is so weird. I kind of have feelings for the young dress girl.”
• Acher (reading Dyson’s phone messages): “And someone named Trick has called seven times. Sounds like the pet name for a prostitute.” The strange thing is that the line is quite funny, but in the scene, it just lands with a hollow thud. Boo Dyson!
• Ryan (waking from his spell to see Bo in the wedding dress): “I need a beer…and a whiskey…with a side of strippers.”

What do you think, Lost Girl fans: were you amused or annoyed by this comedic side adventure? Do you agree that it felt forced to get rid of Ryan? Were you entertained by Dyson’s Clarice Starling-lite tactics? Any ideas why Acher stayed in the cell considering all the doors seemingly open from the inside? And finally…did you like Bo’s “puffy, marshmallow” wedding dress (I found it did the impossible and made Anna Silk look disproportionally hippy). Hit the comments and talk it out

Lost Girl airs Fridays at 10pm EST on Syfy