Lost Girl review – 2×22: ‘Flesh And Blood’

After a long and rocky S2, it’s season finale time for Lost Girl. With the battle with the Garuda (Raoul Trajillo) looming over everything, how will Bo (Anna Silk) and company fare?

Let’s bitch it out…In terms of season finales, ‘Flesh And Blood’ has a lot of weight on its shoulders. With twenty-one episodes preceding it in S2, there’s a lot of baggage to carry, so all things considered, the episode manages to balance everything out appropriately well. The final battle with the Garuda is still a little less epic than I would have liked (the five or so Berserker henchmen seem laughably inept), but there’s an appropriate amount of gravitas surrounding the conclusion of this storyline and lots of interesting little developments to set up S3.

It’s a mixed bag in terms of how the show uses everyone. I enjoyed the callback to previous episodes, including the events of 2×08 ‘Death Didn’t Become Him’ – suggested by Lauren (Zoie Palmer) last week – as well as Ryan’s (Anthony Lemke) binding to Bo in 2×18 ‘Fae-nted Love.’ The fact that both episodes initially seemed like throw-away episodes redeems them from the ambivalence we might have felt when they first aired. ‘Flesh And Blood’ also brings back Val (Erica Luttrell) as Hale’s (KC Collins) sister, last seen humping Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) in 2×17 ‘The Girl Who Fae’d With Fire’, although the show’s use of her pretty much ends with her reintroduction.

And therein lies part of the problem with the finale: despite having a number of interesting ideas and this great cast of supporting characters, the episode doesn’t seem to fully know what to do with them. Vex (Paul Amos) barely uses his mesmorizing power before his arm is broken, Dyson makes another (!) ill-fated attempt to attack the Garuda before he is knocked out and Val and Lauren primarily just stand around. Obviously Bo was always going to be the one to dispatch the Garuda – she is the champion – but aside from binding all of her friends to her to super-power her, there’s little purpose to bringing everyone else along for the ride.

The most frustrating part of the finale, however, has to be the ease with which Trick is manipulated by the Garuda. The opportunity to get more information about the conditions that led the Blood King to write the laws to which all Fae live is interesting, though at the end of the episode even the characters acknowledge that everything we see is a manipulation designed to coerce Trick and can therefore not be taken as the truth. I guess that I would have preferred that we see the Garuda glamour Trick (with a spell or a potion) instead of simply showing him a vision – Trick seems far too wise to fall for such an obvious ploy and it really watered down the drama.

In the end, events play out mostly as we expect. If Lost Girl is anything, it isn’t subtle: if a healing potion is presented in Act One, it will be used in Act Three. Same with a prophecy foretelling Trick’s death, frequent references to Kenzi’s status as a frail human and Bo’s fear that the power will overwhelm her – both of which obviously come to pass. By episode’s end, balance has been restored to the Lost Girl world, save for the final coda in which we see that Bo’s rise to Dark Queen status hasn’t been eliminated, but merely suppressed. Guess she better hide those baby-blues when she walks by a mirror!

Other Observations:

• As predicted last week, Kenzi’s penance for taking back Dyson’s wolf-love forcefully from The Norn is briefly introduced  in anticipation of next season. Visualized as an ugly-looking bruise on her right arm, she shrugs it off when Hale asks about it. Any theories about what symptoms she’ll demonstrate, or what creatures have been loosed as a result?
• In the “suspend your disbelief” camp, Kenzi receives a fatal stomach wound that is healed by Hale’s siren whistle, allowing her to stand independently and even rush to Bo’s side moments later. I’m pretty sure that cauterizing a wound doesn’t allow for these kinds of actions…just sayin’
• Much like the Morrigan last week, it’s nice to have a dose of sarcastic dissent in the form of Vex. I did find it annoying when he refused to bind himself to Bo because it felt like a plot contrivance to prevent the group’s power from activating until the narrative stakes required it. If Vex didn’t have a sexual attraction to Bo, perhaps his claims of apprehension would have made more sense, but he spends a significant portion of the episode hitting on her and trying to get invited to a threesome, which would suggest he’d be completely fine injecting some of her Succu-butt into himself
• Everyone appreciate Vex’s line about Bo’s two lovers? Now that Dyson – who, if we’re being honest, has been a huge bore and mostly useless this past season – is now able to love again and Nadia (Athena Karkanis) has been unceremoniously dispatched, it seems that a big part of S2 has simply been to reboot the love triangle between Dyson, Lauren and Bo. I’m not sure I’m overly interested in revisiting that
• Other end-of-season-20/20-hindsight observations: Ryan and Nate (Aaron Ashmore) certainly seem like useless additions that failed to significantly contribute to the story. Ditto for high profile guest star Lauren Holly in that terrible genie-lamp episode, as well as Vincent Walsh’s Lachlan and Lina Roessler’s Ciara both of whom contributed more in death than they did in living
• I do, however, kinda like Val. I’d be interested in seeing her return sporadically next season, perhaps whenever Hale needs to be taken down a notch

Best Lines:

• Vex (about the Garuda, in a high pitched voice): “Oh what should we do? He’s so mean and unstoppable!”
• Kenzi (looking over Trick’s books): “What language is this? It looks like a cross between hieroglyphics and a Doctor’s prescription pad.”
• Vex (as Hale gives Kenzi a backrub): “Oh go ahead and merge naughty bits already. Am I the only one seeing this?” Nope…
• Hale: “Bo’s the best!”
• Lauren (to Vex when he refuses to bind himself to Bo): “I’m going to shove this arm so far down your throat you’ll be mesmorizing your own bowel movements.” I like this Lauren – can we get more of her?
• Kenzi (after Hale cauterizes her wound): “What happened? Did I get ruffied again?”

So that’s S2, folks. What did you think of the wrap-up for the season? Do you think that any of the new characters introduced really added anything? Are you excited for the teases for S3? And what were your favourite – and least favourite – episodes? See you back here in January!

Lost Girl has now completed its second season. It will return in January when S3 debuts in Canada