Fangs For The Fantasy

A blindfolded Bo is looking for the mystical cricket of good luck or some such, urged by Stella, because barking your shins on furnishings is ritually important or something. A test Bo fails, leading to more angst and sharing stories about Hale and Dyson’s little rituals (I want to know about Dyson and the fleas). Her next stage is to wait for an invite, giving Bo the day off – and Stella chance to invite Trick for dinner.

Unfortunately, Bo starts said day off by fiddling with a device she probably shouldn’t which buzzes to life behind her. And we cut to a girl in a chair crying – with some odd tubing that appears to be collecting her tears. See, people will sell ANYTHING on the internet.

On the plus side, Lauren comes to meet Bo at the Dahl buzzing with excitement, to a degree where Bo (and I) worry she may be on drugs. Not drugs – she’s just won a science award for sciency stuff which is impressive and… sciency. Science!  Yes, Bo is confused as me. Still Lauren’s excited and there’s a special dinner to go to for the award and Bo is definitely going as Lauren’s +1. Lauren is cute when excited and buzzes out in a cloud of plans and randomness, leaving Bo with the newly arrive Tamsin. Why is she there? She’s taking Bo out to lunch – because everyone’s been lying to her. What?! Lauren hasn’t won the award?! Ok, it’s possible the lies may not be about the award…

“Lunch” in Tamsin’s world comes in a glass and is normally known as Bloody Marys (did I ever mention I quite like Tamsin?) in a Dark Fae bar – with Bo commenting it doesn’t look much different from a Light Fae bar. Tamsin tells Bo that they’re all bullshitting her, the Dawning is the most horrendous ordeal she’ll ever go through and she’ll probably not get through it. At which point the camera pans out to focus on a random bar patron who is, presumably, relevant?

Back at the Dahl, Trick is getting ready for his date with Stella who arrives advising leather – I’d agree except for the orange fuzzy thing she’s wearing. And they notice the thingummy that Bo was fiddling with earlier – she says it’s Bo’s invitation to the Dawning in the form of a game. And Bo has activated it – at which point it buzzes to life. Stella says they’ll have to do it for her – wherever she, whatever she’s doing, the game will affect her. Her closest blood relative has to play.

Oh… I’m cringing now – magical fae game that will make Bo do embarrassing things at Lauren’s fancy science of award of sciency things? Please nooooooo!

While Trick plays, Bo is still at lunch with Tamsin who tells her that everyone’s bullshitting her to protect her. They’re interrupted by a group of fae who want to know how Bo can call herself unaligned when she’s clearly Light (you and me both buddy) and how they don’t appreciate an all-but-Light fae coming into their bar. (He kinda has a point, I’m just saying.) Tamsin distracts them by punching one into the other 2 (if they go down this easy, you could probably take them, I’m just saying) and they run out with helpful bystander fae (the one who attracted the cameraman earlier() showing her the way out. Once out in the ally Bo says “thanks I owe you one” and shakes on it with the man.

Oh my good gods, how has this never come up before?! It’s like fae mythology 101 don’t say thank you, don’t make deals, don’t imply debts! Yes I’m grumbling over mythology, I don’t care.

Yes, the man is a Spriggan which means his debts are binding and he’s calling in the debt Bo just incurred now.  At which point Trick makes a choice on the game – seeming to choose a brick wall over a lock and key. Anyway, Bo is being called upon to go to the secret lair of Fang, a Tong boss, to free Cookie.

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This episode opens with Kenzi and Bo fighting with a fae.  Apparently, these attacks are being ordered by The Morrigan.  It’s not long before Bo asks Kenzi what her problem is with Lauren.  Kenzi hesitates at first and then says that Lauren is bossy, territorial, and controlling.  Bo counters back by saying that Lauren finds Kenzi to be immature, irresponsible and clingy. Bo tells Kenzi, “that in the battle of BFF versus main squeeze, I think it’s time to call it truce.” 

The man that there were fighting has gone back to The Morrigan and she is not pleased that he has been defeated.

Vex has gone to see Lauren to find out why his powers are working.  She tells him that there is nothing physically wrong with him and that this must be psychological.  Finally, Lauren suggests that this is common in a fae his age, as Vex tries to use his powers to strangle her.  When nothing happens, Lauren pulls out some pamphlets to help Vex deal with his condition. After he makes comments about Lauren having trouble keeping up with Bo sexually, she orders him out of her office.

Vex heads over to The Dahl and tries to confide in Trick about his problems but Trick has put earplugs in and hasn’t heard a word he said. He then heads over to the pool tables, where Tamsin and Dyson are taking aboutwork. Dyson cuts Vex off before he can even start and says that he is not buying Vex another drink. Tamsin joins in and adds that she is tired of hearing about how the dark fae don’t want him and the light fae cannot stand him.

Vex walks off as Bo enters the room.  Bo heads over to the bar after Tamsin rolls her eyes. Trick asks what Bo has been up to and Bo assures him that after the issue with the Garuda that the dark and light have decided to work together.  When Trick points out that because Bo is unaligned that she is unprotected, Bo pulls out a picture of The Morrigan tied up.  Trick advises Bo to talk to The Ash because he believes she needs a break.  As they are talking, Vex crashes into Bo and steals her phone because that is where she has the picture of The Morrigan stored.

Bo goes to see Hale, who tells her that she brought this all on herself by handcuffing The Morrigan and taking a picture of her. Bo is not impressed and brings up Dyson’s partnership with Tamsin.  Hale asks her why she cares and Bo says she does not.  When Hale hands her a dedication to the light form, Bo rejects it saying that she is not going to make a declaration out of fear.  When Bo starts to leave, Hale calls her back to say that the staff of righteousness is missing and is believed to be in the hands of Mortimar the pawnbroker.  Hale agrees to give Bo some security, if she finds his missing relic.

Vex heads over to see The Morrigan and hands over Bo’s phone, and she deletes the photograph.  Vex is expecting a warm welcome but The Morrigan says that if he really wanted to please her that he should have brought her Bo’s head on a platter.  The Morrigan suggests that Vex’s impotence has spread to his spine and says that she won’t have him killed today.  She adds, the next time we meet, either you or Bo will be dead.

Bo heads over to Lauren’s and when Lauren says that she is just doing some doctor stuff, Bo says that she is interested in her work.  Lauren then describes exactly what she is doing and Bo suggests a movie.  Bo then tells Lauren that she has the staff of righteousness and that she shouldn’t touch it. Lauren asks what she can touch and comes onto Bo, which surprises Bo because she thought that Lauren would be too tired after last night.

Vex is lying on the couch and when Kenzi asks what’s up, Vex says it’s his arm.  Kenzi has no sympathy for him and says that now he gets to know what it’s like to walk around like her and that he should suck it up. Vex snarks back, “you know, if I were you, I’d reconsider a career in social work.” Kenzi suggests that he stop wallowing for a moment and that they start talking about something that’s really important - mascara.  Kenzi points out that Vex has amazing lashes. Vex says that it’s all in the brush technique and that he picked up a few tips from Leonardo Da Vinci. “Now that was a queen, he was all over David’s ass like curry on chips,” Vex adds. 

Bo interrupts the conversation by entering the room and complaining that she cannot  find her cell phone.  Vex of course denies knowledge, so Bo demands he shift his butt so she can look under the cushion.  I suppose some weird magic happens then because the music changes and Bo pauses briefly. Kenzi goes back to putting on her mascara and Bo says that she wishes she had a makeup buddy and that Tamsin is so mean girl. Vex questions whether Bo rifled through his duffel bag and consumed several yellow pills.  Bo simply says that she is going to talk to Dyson and then practically skips out of the room.

Kenzi says, “Lauren’s pelt is going to be steamed,” causing Vex to ask what her issue is with Lauren. Kenzi replies that “she bi banged Bo”, causing Vex to remind Kenzi that Dyson has dropped kicked Bo’s heart several times and that she still howls when he comes around. Kenzi quickly changes the subject back to mascara.

Bo goes to see Dyson and says that she does not like Tamsin and asks what she has been saying about her. This causes Dyson to ask if Bo has been drinking. She then asks Dyson if he has fake ID and something crawls down the side of Dysons neck.  Dyson tells Bo that she is so beautiful and that he has to go.  When Lauren approaches Bo, Bo says, “I think Dyson likes me. Don’t tell anyone this but I think I might kiss him.” The two wave to each other as Lauren looks on.

Lauren takes Bo back to her place for examination and says that she is stumped about what is wrong with Bo. Bo then tells Lauren that she is really hot and asks if she has ever kissed a girl. Bo then says that Lauren is a boring doctor who does not like any fun, while playing with Lauren’s stethoscope. Lauren is getting frustrated with Bo’s antics and asks if she has been in contact with anything strange. Bo brings up a guy with a magic stick and then starts laughing

Back at The Dahl, Dyson approaches Tamsin and asks her if she is playing with herself. Tamsin asks if someone spiked his beer and Dyson responds, “this one time it totally happened and I got to be Kenzi - nailed it.” Dyson then asks if Tamsin thinks that Bo likes him and that he is going to ask her out on a date. When Tamsin leans over to take her next shot at pool, some kind of creature leaps from Dyson and crawls into her ear. Tamsin start to sing, “Bo and Dyson sitting in a tree.” Dyson tells her to shush because people are listening.

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Vex and Kenzi are at an underground performance with Kenzi’s friend Aussie. When a human jumps out at Vex, he tries to use his powers to push him away but when his powers don’t work, Vex pushes him into a wall and holds a knife to his throat. Kenzi is forced to tell him that it’s all make believe and that he needs to back off.

Bo and Lauren are having sex and Lauren pauses to say that they need to start stocking the fridge with sports drinks.  Obviously, keeping with Bo is exhausting for her. She then comments, “I must be the only woman in history who has to pretend to be a ditz to repel sexual attraction.” They are interrupted when Bo gets a message from Trick asking her to come to the bar.

At the performance that Vex and Kenzi are attending, they suddenly see creatures moving quickly. The lights go out and the man dressed as a sewer alligator on stage is dead. The crowd quickly starts to disperse, as Kenzi yells for her friend Aussie.

Bo wakes up from a dream about her stealing essence from someone outside of the Dahl, which we saw at the end of last week.  Lauren asks if she is okay and Bo says that she is fine. Lauren points out that for the last two nights that she has slept over that Bo has woken up screaming and so she asks if committing to her is scary. Bo reassures Lauren and tells her to go back to sleep.

Kenzi and Vex rush in and tell Bo what happened. Vex says that he believes that the attack was fae related. Kenzi says that they have to go now but when they ask Vex to join them, he declines saying that there is a “Real Houswives” marathon on. When Kenzi moves to attack, Bo tells her that it is not worth the effort and threatens Vex if he goes near her girlfriend.

At a gym, Dyson is boxing and a woman walks in and says, “20 bucks if you kill the white boy.”  It turns out that the woman is Dyson’s new partner Tamsin. Dyson says that he has not heard anything about a new partner and she hands him a folder about a fae which is causing trouble. In even more shocking  news, it turns out that Tamsin reports to the Morrigan and their team is part of a peace project between the Light and Dark fae.

Kenzi and Bo use a storm drain to enter the area of the festival.  When Bo asks how Kenzi knew about this, Kenzi admits that after running away from home, she used to live there.  Bo says that she has never had to live below ground and Kenzi replies that her life was easier because of her abilities as a succubus.  Bo gets a call from Trick, who has contacted a weaver to help her with her night terrors.  Trick says that the weaver is specialising in annoying him and wants to know when Bo will be there.  Bo tells Trick about Kenzi’s friend, so Trick suggests that Eunice has other places to be and things to do, but Eunice grabs his hand and replies that she would love to stay. Trick begs Bo to hurry after Eunice makes a pretty blatant pass.

Bo and Kenzi come across someone wearing a blindfold.  He moves away from them when he hears a rat and then promptly eats it. They follow the man and see more people just like him. Bo says that they are fae and that they live like animals. On the ground, Kenzi sees a dead man with his leg sliced off.  When they try to leave, the exit is blocked off and they are accused of trespassing. They are interrupted by a man who is also blind and Bo tells him that ripping a man to death is barbaric.

At the festival, Dyson and Tamsin are examining the body of the man who was pretending to be the sewer alligator.  Tamsin feels that Dyson is holding back information and Dyson replies, “orders or no orders, I’ve been around long enough to know that I would be a fool to trust someone from your team.” Tamsin asks if Dyson means, “dark fae or women.”

Bo stands in front of Kenzi to protect her but Atticus says that he used to live up ground and had  wife in child who were quarantined because their poor quality of life had lead to a disease.  Atticus  says that the disease was most likely a means to an end place them out of sight  The rat eater says that his coveted home did have an ocean view.  In frustration, Kenzi strikes him demanding that he return Aussie. The eater leaves locking Bo and Kenzi in the room and gas starts to rise from the ground.

When Bo and Kenzi wake up, they’re back at home with Vex watching over them eating.  Vex asks, “how was it to finally consummate your marriage?”  Bo asks how they got there and Vex replies, “I don’t know but if I had to guess, years of latent sexual tension.” Bo and Kenzi start to beat Vex with pillows when they are interrupted by Dyson and Tamsin.

Bo heads to the precinct and it’s clearly awkward between her and Dyson. Dyson says that last night they were investigating the old subway tunnels and he smelled her perfume. Bo admits that they went in to get Kenzi’s friend Aussie.  Dyson says that city workers have gone missing and that they have been ordered to exterminate them.  Tamsin shows Bo a picture of the man she fed off of dead in an alley. When Bo says that it looks like her feed, Dyson tells her to stop talking because apparently this crime is punishable by death. Tamsin asks what she should tell the Morrigan and Bo is not at all pleased when she realises that Dyson’s new partner is a dark fae. When Tamsin asks where Bo was at the time of the murder, Dyson covers for her and says that she was with him getting out of prison.

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Well, it’s finally here, a new season of Lost Girl.

Bo walks into an alley and is confronted by two men.  She takes them on with a bag of all things and leaves them lying on the ground. She then walks up to a line of men waiting to get into a bar, sucks essence from the bouncer and then throws money from her bag at the crowd.   Bo is then chased into  Trick’s bar by Dyson, who wants to know if there is any fae law that she hasn’t broken in the last three weeks.  Kenzi attempts to intervene but Vex uses his power to stop her. Dyson slams Bo on the table and handcuffs her.  Bo makes a quip about begging for sanctuary and Trick tells her that he is not going to fall for that again and doesn’t know who she is.  Yeah, I smell a set up.

Bo is taken to a lockup where her possessions including a watch and a pocket rocket are taken. She is then forced to shower and is led down the prison block to a cell. Her cellmate is Sylvie and she claims to be nervous and admits that she is in prison because she stole some bread to feed her family. Bo of course makes a reference to Les Misérables. Would it really have been that hard to come up with a realistic crime and still have Sylvie be sympathetic?  Sylvie then hands her a stack of letters that she wrote to her mother, which apparently have been returned unanswered. Bo asks, “what’s the deal with the feminazi’s?”  Really, in 2013 we’re still using that hateful term to apply to strong women, on a show apparently about a strong woman.  Sylvie says that the guards are all Amazons and apparently not only do they not like men, they refuse to take orders from men. Once every few years, the Amazons search out men to mate with and then abandon any male babies in the woods to their fate.

Their conversation is interrupted when Bo is led away for work detail.  Surprise, surprise, Bo is taken to the medical lab, where Lauren is in charge. As soon as they are alone, it’s clear that it’s a scam. Lauren has coated herself in some noxious product to pass as fae.  Bo’s mission it seems is to go undercover to deal with “sadistic man hating Berthas.” Lauren is also concerned that her mentor is missing. They banter back and forth about whether or not they are in a relationship, until they are interrupted by the warden. Despite Lauren’s suggestion that she needs Bo, the warden reassigns her.

At the bar, Kenzi is freaking out firm in the belief that the plan they have concocted is not going to work. Kenzi marches up to Hale and tells him that he needs to fix this because he is the Ashe now.  Considering Hale’s limited role in previous seasons, I cannot help but think that this is nothing more than a promotion to obscurity.  Kenzi says that she didn’t like the plan but went along with it anyway and now she is concerned that Bo has no one to act as backup but Lauren. Trick tries to reassure her about Lauren’s resourcefulness.  Hale reminds Kenzi that he is only the acting Ashe and explains that does not want to go up the line to get one of the female elders to intervene.  Trick suggests that this is the perfect opportunity for Hale to make a name for himself.

Kenzi looks down at the prison plans and learns that it is built on ley lines, which means that Bo has been stripped of her powers.  Dyson assures her that everything is going to be fine because Lauren slipped Bo a stone, which will allow access to her powers.  Apparently, all of the Amazons carry these stones, which is information that Trick is not happy that Hale revealed.  Trick then reminds Hale that he is has to be careful about what information he gives out as the acting Ashe. Dyson calls Kenzi over and says that Bo can handle herself.

Back at the prison, Bo is scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees and is scantily clad. The warden goes into her office where she is confronted by another Amazon, who wants to know how long she is going to keep up with her ongoing activities.  The warden says that she does what she has to, to keep the Amazons strong.

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It’s not a new idea - we’ve certainly seen it raising its ugly head in media repeatedly, but it’s become popular again - the “flipped prejudice” fiction. Victoria Foyt’s racist Save the Pearls  did it for race and we now have the homophobic versions: a kickstarter for the book Out by Laura Preble and the film Love is all You Need. I hate linking to them but they need to be seen. They both have the same premise: an all gay world that persecutes the straight minority.

So that’s more appropriating the issues we live with, our history, our suffering and then shitting on it all by making us the perpetrators of the violations committed against us. How can they not see how offensive this is? How can they not see how offensive taking the severe bigotry thrown at us every day and throughout history, bigotry that has cost us so much and then making our oppressors the victims and us the attackers, is? This is appropriative, this is offensive, it’s disrespectful and it’s outright bigoted.

Y’know, if you actually want to talk about prejudice and persecution and how they can affect people’s lives, why not use actual marginalised people? You want to show how a person navigates a society that has extreme prejudice against their skin colour? Why not make your protagonist a POC? You want to show a society that persecutes people based on who they’re attracted to and who they love? Why not make your protagonist gay?

Oh, but then that becomes a specialist subject, right? A “niche”, dealing with marginalised issues. A POC book. A Gay/Lesbian book. Totally inappropriate for mainstream audience – when we can take the same story and flip it to bizarre bigot world and make the poor straight, white person the persecuted victim and we’re back in mainstream land. Funny, that.

Is that what this is? This whole offensive, bullshit trend (I mean, apart from prejudiced arsehattery, which kind of goes without saying)? A desire to use prejudice as a plot point but not sully your main character by making them an actual minority?

And don’t tell me it will help straight/white people understand oppression. Because if a privileged person will only hear about prejudiced issues when it comes from a privileged mouth then what is the point? I’ve said this before when we’ve had similar bullshit, how are you going to encourage people to address prejudice and marginalisation while at the same time training them that it’s only worth listening to privileged people?

Because that’s what I hear when this excuse is trawled out. Straight, white people can’t possibly empathise with a POC or GBLT protagonist so we have to present these prejudiced issues through a privileged lens, from a privileged mouth. Either by making being privileged a marginalisation like in the examples above - or by making up an entirely new, fictional prejudice. As we’ve mentioned before with the appropriation of magrinalised groups for “fantastic prejudice” where vampires/fae/witches are persecuted for not being mundane humans. This can even be doubly offensive when we mix both offensive appropriations - such as in Lost Girl - with the white Kenzi being oppressed by the Black fae for being human.

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Here’s an interesting phenomenon, I think there’s a population of POC mole people in the world, or at least on TV.

For example, on the Secret Circle there were only 3 POC (including 2 people who managed to make a brief appearance for 2 episodes), who actually spoke. But when they’re at school, when there are crowds of people in the corridors - suddenly there are several POC! Yes, the POC mole people came out from the corners and the shadows to show their face for Essential Inclusivity Crowd Scene and then, when there’s actually speaking lines going around, they fade back into their secret lairs. I actually expect the white cast to look around in shock “where did these guys come from?!” 

One of the most obvious examples was the season three premiere, “Happy Birthday Elena.”  This episode stood out not because something spectacular happened in the plot, but because they managed to scare up so many people of colour for Elena’s birthday party. Where did they come from? I thought Black people were only for the purposes of snacking or to do magic when Elena needs a favour. 

On Falling Skies, the representation of people of colour is well below population demographics, which would lead one to believe that for some reason, the aliens find us to be extra tasty; that is until it’s time to show a crowd scene and all of the people of colour come out of hiding to wave at the camera, before being saved by the ever-so-heroic white knight Tom.

Crowd scenes are a major time for the POC mole-people to show up to hit those essential inclusion moments - and how many times do we see this? An all white cast, but the minute we’ve got a crowd of people going in front of the cameras, the POC mole people emerge! And yea the casting director pats himself on the back, because a face in the crowd with a bit more melanin and lo, inclusion is achieved!

Who do they think is actually falling for that? If the best you can do for inclusion appears in the credits as “man crossing road #3” then you have do not have inclusion.

Then you have what we like to call recurring tokens. Members of the protagonist team who are POC, but extremely tertiary (they’re not even side-kicks) to the other cast members. The absolute best example of that is of course T-Dog from The Walking Dead.  First, we have to deal with the fact that though we have been promised Tyrese would make an appearance, the ineffectual T-Dog (could they have chosen a more uncool 90’s name?)  is the only representation of Black masculinity.  We have been given a reason to invest in every other character whereas for T-Dog, we have learned that he is handy to have around as a driver if you are running from zombies, or if you need a big heavy box moved.  More often than not an entire episode can go by without seeing him and when he does appear, chances are he does not have a single line of dialogue.

But he’s hardly the only one. Melissa on The Secret Circle, is virtually an afterthought. On Bedlam season 1 we had Molly floating around everyone else’s life. In Falling Skies, despite being part of the team since the very beginning and one of their most skilled and experienced scouts, Dai still takes a secondary role to the teenaged Hal and the new recruit Maggie. He’s always around in the background, especially on any dangerous scouting missions, but most episodes he doesn’t even have a speaking role. These characters aspire to become side-kicks, they’re hangers on who are occasionally useful, but their main role is to show a face that isn’t white to the cameras.

Another useful POC token to throw in is the external support staff. They probably won’t show up every episode and when they do, it’s only briefly for their expertise - they’re not involved in the main storylines, they won’t have any storylines of their own, they usually won’t have any real character development - but they’re there to assist the main (white) protagonist’s story.

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When it comes to GLBT representation in the media, unless a television show is targeted specifically at the community, erasure continues to be the norm. Urban fantasy has moved from a small die hard audience to the mainstream and though we can regularly see shows about vampires, werewolves, fae, and ghosts, there are few GLBT characters and a dearth of decent representation.

HBO’s True Blood and Showcase’s Lost Girl have the most visible GLBT characters on television in North America, in terms of the urban fantasy genre. Though both shows have GLBT characters who have extremely high profiles and a reputation of being extremely GLBT friendly, there are certainly many problematic elements.

True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Series written by Charlaine Harris. In the novels, Lafayette is killed off quite early and is shamed for participating in a sex party. Thankfully, the character of Lafayette in True Blood has become a staple of the show. Despite being a fan favourite, Lafayette is a character that inarguably fulfills a lot of stereotypes that are aimed at same gender loving men of colour. Lafayette is a cook but he moonlights as a sex worker and a drug dealer. Though he is routinely given some of the best lines to say, he too often falls into the sassy best friend role.
 

In season three, we learned that Lafayette only started dealing V and doing sex work to pay for the hospitalisation of his mentally ill mother and though the reason is understandable, no other character on True Blood has been forced into this position though they are all working class.

If Lafayette is dogged by several stereotypes, Talbot revels in them. The lover of Russell Edgington (who is an awesome villain but also personifies the depraved, psychopathic homosexual trope), Talbot is a 700-year-old vampire who squeals at the sight of violence. He throws epic temper tantrums over the interior decorating. Someone stamp a rainbow on him and call his unicorn, he’s done. But to quickly fill his shoes we have Steve Newlin - get yourself another trope bingo card because he’s a) a gay man trying to force his attentions on a straight man b) a closeted homophobe, c) a closeted, bigoted preacher and d) getting campier by the episode - have you hit bingo yet? Bet you will by the end of the season, this was just 2 episodes!

The women aren’t free from stereotyping either; Tara finds her love for women and with it an interest in kick boxing - did she get some free dungerees and power tools with that?

I do have to say that not all the portrayals are stereotyped - Eddie subverts many (albeit he exists to serve and help Jason grow) and Jesus more - we don’t see enough about Pam and Nan to see what they fit. But except for Pam, they all fit one trope - GAY DEATH. Yes, there’s a drastic amount of “gay death” on this show. It’s a sad trope that GBLT people rarely live long on the television screen and their sexualty is often the cause of their deaths - and with Talbot (who actually died during gay sex! And to hurt his gay lover), Jesus (at the hands of his gay lover!), Eddie (found by his killers because he hired a gay prostitute), Sophie Ann and Nan were racking up the body count.

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An Urban Fantasy protagonist wouldn’t be the same without an entourage. Every protagonist needs people to support her awesomeness and bask in her glow. what boggles us, however, is just how awful some of these protagonists are to their friends. Basking? I’m amazed these friends aren’t giving them a  good slap and reading them the riot act. I’d have got a restraining


Sookie Stackhouse.

Watching True Blood I am amazed with every passing episode that Tara hasn’t shot Sookie and buried her in a shallow grave.  She completely ignored that Bill and Eric were more than happy to ignore that Tara was a captive and then lectured Tara of being anti-vampire.  This is a woman who had been tortured by Franklin Mott for days I might add.

Last year when Tara was trapped by Marnie, Sookie was more than happy to leave her behind to go and warn Bill about the dangers the witches posed.  She didn’t worry for one moment about the dangerous situation that she was leaving Tara in.

Even in the books she’s scarcely better - in particular she is incapable of being happy for anyone. Tara is pregnant? She mopes about her lack of kids. Jason getting married? Well time to judge him on his wedding plans!

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This series continues to underwhelm me.  As much as I detest love triangles, this seems to be the only thing that Lost Girl is capable of doing marginally well.

The episode begins with Bo being hurt and calling Ryan for a bootycall healing. Though he apparently once told her that he was allergic to cuddling, he is not impressed by being shown the door.  I guess this is supposed to represent his love and genuine affection for Bo, though he couldn’t be arsed to show the slightest respect for her friends. This is perfectly in character for Bo, who is a succubus and a return to the Bo who actually cares what Kenzi thinks.One of the things that Lost Girl does best is the lack of slut shaming when it comes to Bo.  Far too often on television, a woman must be purer that Caesars wife or be subject to all sorts of abuse.

Tryst, shows up at the apartment in the hope of hiring Kenzi and Bo to investigate why his grandmother has suddenly decided to leave her assets to someone other than him.  The dialogue in this scene was not only extremely dated, it was annoying. I can’t blame the actor for giving a bad performance, when he was given such absolute bunk to work with.  This would have been a great story to talk about elder abuse, but instead the big bad in this episode turned out to be an addonc who was using woo woo to run his cult.  Apparently, he does a sort of fake baptism thing using water, which causes victims to lose their memory, and revert to a childlike state of innocence.

Surprise, surprise, it’s Bo who is hit with the holy water and Kenzi and Trick are forced to come to her recuse.  Is there ever going to be an episode in which Bo is not being rescued by someone? In this case, not only is Bo in need of rescuing, reverts to a childlike state.  If she is continually so vulnerable, is it really a good thing that the fate of the fae rests on her shoulders?   When she gets dunked with the not holy water, Bo forgets who she is and all about her relationships.  Sure enough, she runs into Ryan who is more than happy to take advantage of this situation. He tells her that they are madly in love and then promptly proposes to her. 

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I was completely thrown for a loop with this episode.  Finally, finally we have some back story involving Hale. 

The clan leaders are slowly being killed off.  It begins when Marisol is immolated in her office and Dyson and Hale show up to investigate.  Hale has to immediately recuse himself because he is the heir, clan Somora, a rival clan.  This leaves him time, to talk Kenzi about his issues with Dyson, and to convince her to be his pretend girlfriend at the once century summit.  Kenzi says no, until Hale pulls out a list of all of the things that Hale has done for her. Can I just pause to say that the tendency to refer to friendship between men as bromance is annoying.

Bo talks to the Ash, and he wants her to partner with Dyson to figure out what is going on.  He tells her that the timing of these attacks is critical.  The Ash is hoping that she can gain their support to help fight off the gruder.

When Kenzi meets Hale’s family, it is clear that they are not pleased to see Kenzi.  Val even refers to Hale as a human hugger, and Kenzi as a cheap, ill bred mortal. They see Hale’s involvement with Kenzi as a stain upon their family, and for his father, yet another thing to deal with from the disappointing son, who turned out to be a siren. It is clear that Hale’s father sees being a siren as effeminate.

Santiago is clearly charmed by Bo and is quick to blame Dabner for the death of Marisol. As they discuss who may be the guilty parties, Val has her hand on Dyson’s leg under the table.  When Mr.Santiago makes a toast, Val tells the maid to “wash the silverware the human uses at least twice.”  When Hale attempts to correct his sister, she changes her instructions and tells the maid to “just pitch it”.

At this point, Kenzi cannot take it anymore and begins to storm out of the estate.  Hale stops her and tries to calm her down, but Kenzi feels used by Hale.  Alright, there is definitely some class issues going on, as Kenzi is poor, and Hale’s family is rich, but I think that the attempt to round this down to bigoted fae people hating humans simply does not work — especially considering the treatment of race in Lost Girl. 

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