Lost Girl review – 5×02: ‘Like Hell: Part 2’

Lost Girl‘s ‘Like Hell: Part 2’ gives Bo (Anna Silk) more time in Hell and continues to set-up its final season narratives.

Let’s bitch it out…

The second half of the fifth season opener splits the action along three fronts: 1) Bo (Anna Silk) in Tartarus with her step-mother, Persephone (Hannah Anderson); 2) Stacey (Kate Corbett), the ditzy blonde Valkyrie, is hanging around the Dhal on a mission to collect a soul for Valhalla and; 3) Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) and Lauren’s (Zoie Palmer) ghost haunting around Bo’s apartment.

1) Bo’s section is chock-full of backstory tidbits. After the elevator to Hell opens in Tartarus, Bo makes a friend in the form of her step-mother, Persephone. After some inappropriate suck-face (which Bo is rightfully grossed out by), Bo visits her birth place: a cage where her father held her mother prisoner (somewhere she claims she recognizes from the Dawning). The entire purpose of this Bo section is to introduce/confirm her father as the final season’s Big Bad and put Bo in contact with Persephone’s candle. The candle, which should free Persephone from Hell, appears to have some pretty bloody side effects as evidenced by the nasty business inside the elevator at the hands of a perky blonde (played by Amanda Walsh – blech). I’m intrigued by many of these developments, although the continued delay in actually revealing Bo’s father (we get a brief glimpse of his hand) reeks of Lost Girl‘s typical delay tactics.

2) Served with a mission by Freyja (an unseen Michelle Nolden) to balance the books, Stacey cozies up to Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) to find a suitable replacement soul. This introduces yet more inappropriate face sucking – which might be a recurring theme in this episode. Stacey ends up ditching Dyson to pursue Lauren, but she gets siderailed by Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) who breaks Valkyrie code by insulting her sister’s hair. It seems that while the Valkyrie girls are prone to sarcasm and rocking bods, their blonde hair is off limits. The threat about Tamsin’s last life is another recurring subplot that suggests Tamsin may not be long for this world. I expect we’ll see her bite it around the mid-season, or during the finale at the latest.

3) The least substantial story is Lauren and Kenzi’s Ouija board attempts to communicate with Bo. I’m not even sure why this storyline exists except to provide gratuitous cleavage and abdomen shots of Palmer. The tack-on – Kenzi saving Lauren from a vengeful ghost because Kenzi knows that with Fae “it’s never over” – feels awkwardly inserted. As a result, Kenzi’s rationale for leaving Bo doesn’t land the necessary emotional beat that was likely intended. The goodbye scene between besties only succeeds because of the goodwill that Silk and Solo have built up over the years. I wonder if this semi-artificial break was prompted by Solo’s desire to explore other projects as Lost Girl wrapped up?

Other Observations:

• Kenzi’s second favourite Kevin Bacon film is Tremors (good pick!). Her number one is Footloose (obviously).
• Still not much for Rick Howland to do. One hopes that the writers will find something significant for Trick to do before the show signs off.
• While I applaud the frugality of re-using the Valhalla hotel set for Tartarus (simply by changing the lighting to blue), introducing a giant maze in the early minutes of the episode and then doing nothing with it is maddening.
• Bo’s daddy’s arm looked rather strong, no? Is he Beast-like?

Best Lines:

• Stacey (to Dyson): “Holy Odin, your jawline is insanely distracting”
• Kenzi (when Trick asks if she’s certain the ghost was Bo): “Ghost dad? Ghost Swayze?”
• Kenzi (after Lauren confesses she slept with the ghost): “Well at least you weren’t getting freaky with a decorative prison”
• Lauren (when Kenzi chastises her for sleeping with a demon): “It kissed my neck!”
• Kenzi (after Tamsin saves them): “Tamsin Tamsin? Or Tamsin from The Shining“

Your turn: how do you feel about this two-part opener? Was the Palmer/ghost sex scene unnecessary? Are you glad that we have confirmation that Bo’s father is the Big Bad? What’s going on with Walsh’s mysterious elevator woman? Do you think Kenzi will disappear for a few episodes now? Sound off below!

Lost Girl airs Sundays at 9pm EST on Showcase. Be sure to check back in next Monday for a new review, as well as the start of the fourth annual Bitch Awards, celebrating the best (and worst) in TV and film.