I didn't plan to watch Lost Girl 4x04...
... but then we found the means and ugh.
How to watch "Lost Girl": Turn off your brain.
Unfortunately I'm not very good at that. I can't tell if the more taxing question is "Where do the problems begin?" or "Where do the problems end?" It's difficult to discern if the shift in narrative format to "serial with multiple plot threads featuring an ensemble cast" is creating the problems or exacerbating and highlighting narrative problems that were always present when this was simply "the Bo show told through Monster of the Week episodes." (AG pegs it as a distinct lack of structure/formula that should apply, more or less, to each episode.)
I think I just sort of feel confused. Bo went through incredible maturation in S3 and I felt like I was watching Bo-is-doing-Dyson's-douchey-schtick in 4x04. Which would be a huge step backwards and contrary to the compassion Bo, raised by humans, is supposed to bring to a society where being Fae, who feed on humans and live for extraordinarily long lifetimes and have cool powers, view themselves as superior and privileged and generally are douchey, regardless of clain affiliation.
With how this episodes ends, as well, I find it unfortunate that the show keeps falling back on this Light Fae-Dark Fae binary that casts one as sort of "evil" and the other "less evil" than the other? This is mainly due to Bo's bias, which the show did try to call out with Lambert in S2, but kind of dropped that ball the same way that Bo dropped Lambert. I never really felt that with Tamsin that Bo's bias was really addressed; because at least with Lambert, that Loki was unashamed to be Dark: He made his choices and his clan didn't define him. The show's making Tamsin seem reluctant and thus sympathetic casts her as more of an exception to the ilk of Dark Fae than the rule. Like that whole episode with the Dark Fae and Light Fae brothers where the Dark Fae was a real asshole and he said he basically was such a bastard because he was Dark Fae? Yeah. That sort of painting with broad strokes.
Out of curiosity: Is there a ban on the Dark Fae/Light Fae dating thing? Like, if I remember at all correctly, wasn't the inter-clan romance why Sabine, the Light Fae who ends up being the Stag, punished? Because if that's the case, LOL, DYSON AND BO ARE NOW ROMEO AND JULIET. HELP ME. PLEASE. NO. I CANNOT.
(Dyson, sometimes you are the worst, but only when Trick isn't around. I feel like Dyson is one of the huge narrative problems/conundrums the show has. They write him so often like he is the lead protagonist and they don't cut him down and put him in his place in the narrative as a supporting character. He comes off as constantly intruding and not getting called on it [I think his insistence about joining Bo in her Dawning and then his actions in the Dawning really cinched the "You are one of the worst" sentiment for me] and pleeeeeeeeeeease, I can't handle two douchey characters, please stop being a douche, Bo.)
Speaking of romantic interests, the love lines have become so ridiculously intertwined that only an orgy/polyamory-to-the-max can resolve this tangled web. Is Dyson/Kenzi/Hale still a thing? Or did they try to handwave that so hard in 4x04? I just feel like 4x01 was such a huge misstep if they didn't want to actually deal with the fallout that the actions taken under amnesia would bring about. Like, were the writers only thinking about catering to the fans that they forgot that now they have to narratively deal with the fact that they've created an actual, canon, maintext (Hale/)Kenzi/Dyson/Bo sort of thing? Really????? And now they want to maybe ascend Tamsin into an actual romantic possibility? "LOST GIRL," YOU CAN'T HANDLE THIS UNLESS YOU'RE WILLING TO GO DOWN THE POLY PATH. In a real way. Not that crap ridiculous thing you pulled in S3 with Lauren acquiescing to Bo sleeping with other people--you used that as a wedge rather than, I don't know, actually exploring the possibilities of open communication, positing Bo as being able to love more than one person, that love isn't something divided, necessarily, between multiple parties but a sentiment that can be extended genuinely, passionately, wholeheartedly to more than one party.
Also: Good to know that Bo is definitely-for-sure over that "We're on a break" hang up and that it seems to be a "We're broken up" thing. Just wanted that clarified and I think the amount of Bo/Dyson sex made that crystal clear. (I was kind of rooting for Lauren to just run away--run far, far away from where the writers can touch her. If Crystal hadn't been in it for the spy bang--can't believe they put the words in Lauren's mouth--that could have been sweet. But then they would have had to write Lauren out of the story entirely because what would she have to do with Bo . . . UNLESS LAUREN STARTED LEADING A HUMAN REBELLION. Which, c'mon, would be kind of cool. She knows how to wing it as an eco-terrorist, so she's got experience!!! [THIS SHOW.])
WHY SO MANY VILLAINOUS CHARACTERS? JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE FREAKIN' WANDERER. YOU KEEP MENTIONING HIM AND BLOWING OFF TALKING ABOUT HIM AND THEN TRYING TO FEED ME OTHER "VILLAINS" I DON'T CARE ABOUT: WHO THE HECK CARES ABOUT THE UNA MENS, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THEM, AND MOSSIMO AND WHATEVER ELSE RANDOM CONFLICT CHARACTER. Just no. Please. "Lost Girl," you can't handle it. You set up the Wanderer for a third of a season: ADDRESS IT, PLEASE.
But. The Una Mens. Are they . . . non-clan affiliated? Because if that's the case, if they're like a higher order of law, is it really such a big deal that Bo is unaligned? Really?
(And Hi, Mossimo. Bye, Mossimo! I'm not quite sure why you had a sudden mental breakdown and dissolved into a two-year-old tantrum, but there you have it. Sadly, you could have been a really cool threat/exploration of ways in which humans have integrated and carved out spots for themselves in the Fae world [by being a Fae fixer and putting Fae in debt], but yeah . . .)
How unfortunate, too, that with so many plot threads, 4x04 was an info dump of exposition. I felt like there was so much "tell, don't show" so that I just raised my eyebrows at all the Bo-Kenzi. Those moments just felt so inauthentic to me, which is so unfortunate because their friendship, above all of the romantic entanglements, should really be the heart of the show. And so much of this comes partly from the undermining of Kenzi's strength as a human character in the cast with her new and constant efforts to become fae? Yeah? Yeah. Also, can we admit that she was in debt to Mossimo, so she was/is obligated to pay those debts, yes?
Remember when this was sort of a sci-fi detective show starring two women best friends scraping a living to maintain their crack shack lifestyle? Yeah, I don't either.
When I feel like Lauren, whose backstory is growing even more convoluted and "WTF??? Did you think about her background at all when you first created this character?", is getting the most satisfying development--hello, angry fed-up badass, I'm glad to make your acquaintance--there is a problem. (They also eroded at Lauren-Hale--I mean, she suspected that he was the one holding her! Hale was actually one of the nicest characters to Lauren, respecting her and her contributions, throughout the seasons. If she was in communication with Dyson, shouldn't she know that Hale is no longer Ash?)
Um, apparently there are claimed humans actually being arrested and whatnot? Um. Um. Okay. Lots of questions. How has Kenzi not been taken into custody because, HONESTLY, who doesn't know that Kenzi is Bo's human by this point? Um. Why aren't the claimed humans running? Why isn't there some time of underground railroad for humans? Omg, tell me there is a whole movement where there are Fae who are fond of their humans and have been trying to hide them and protect them. But really, WHY DID THIS PLOT THING HAPPEN AT ALL, IT MAKES NO SENSE WHY FAE WHO HAVE OWNED HUMANS FOR SO LONG AND WITHOUT TROUBLES(?) WOULD SUDDENLY GO ALONG WITH THE MORRIGAN'S RIDICULOUS SUGGESTION TO DECLARE ALL HUMANS TERRORISTS.
Help.
(I still wish S4 had opened with Lauren Lewis having inadvertently become a symbol to claimed humans who resented their indentured servitude because they were either tricked into it or made bad deals and, under her name and upholding her actions, they start an uprising of their own. But Lauren doesn't know about it and when she learns about it she is horrified and when the rebel human leaders see that she is Not Okay with it, they decide she's better off as a martyr and then EVERYONE either wants Lauren dead or they want her for themselves, like there are Fae who recognize her value and why the Ash went through so much trouble to acquire her consenting pledge and these Fae plan to keep Lauren to themselves once they get their hands on her. AND AND AND there's the rumor going around about what she did with Taft and the making him Fae thing, so she's like grossly dangerous and all the more appealing to factions. And Bo gets stuck in the middle of the war and is torn because she doesn't know if Lauren is actually involved or not in the rebel human efforts because they keep invoking her name. Also, I guess, the Wanderer shit, but who cares about him, EVIDENTLY NOT THE SHOW.)
There are so many threads and I wish I could have faith that there's an actual bigger picture that they really should have shown more of or teased at by this point, but haven't--they had a whole season set up because S3 banked so hard on getting a S4 (Taft was more or less a last-minute villain addition just to end the season) and they could have just started right from where S3 ended and that could have been exciting too without the whole weird amnesia deal, yeah?--but I don't know. They haven't presented one definitive Big Bad or threat or what-have-you. I have no idea what is going with Bo's characterization, which is not good when she's your protagonist. I don't know if I should care; I don't know if I do care. I'm not hate-watching, but I'm not engaged-watching either. I actually do mostly turn off my brain, but even then you can see I can't make the pieces fit.
I wasn't going to write anything. I'm sorry.
There's one thing I do know: Good lordy they stepped up their depiction of sex. Wasn't expecting that level up!
How to watch "Lost Girl": Turn off your brain.
Unfortunately I'm not very good at that. I can't tell if the more taxing question is "Where do the problems begin?" or "Where do the problems end?" It's difficult to discern if the shift in narrative format to "serial with multiple plot threads featuring an ensemble cast" is creating the problems or exacerbating and highlighting narrative problems that were always present when this was simply "the Bo show told through Monster of the Week episodes." (AG pegs it as a distinct lack of structure/formula that should apply, more or less, to each episode.)
I think I just sort of feel confused. Bo went through incredible maturation in S3 and I felt like I was watching Bo-is-doing-Dyson's-douchey-schtick in 4x04. Which would be a huge step backwards and contrary to the compassion Bo, raised by humans, is supposed to bring to a society where being Fae, who feed on humans and live for extraordinarily long lifetimes and have cool powers, view themselves as superior and privileged and generally are douchey, regardless of clain affiliation.
With how this episodes ends, as well, I find it unfortunate that the show keeps falling back on this Light Fae-Dark Fae binary that casts one as sort of "evil" and the other "less evil" than the other? This is mainly due to Bo's bias, which the show did try to call out with Lambert in S2, but kind of dropped that ball the same way that Bo dropped Lambert. I never really felt that with Tamsin that Bo's bias was really addressed; because at least with Lambert, that Loki was unashamed to be Dark: He made his choices and his clan didn't define him. The show's making Tamsin seem reluctant and thus sympathetic casts her as more of an exception to the ilk of Dark Fae than the rule. Like that whole episode with the Dark Fae and Light Fae brothers where the Dark Fae was a real asshole and he said he basically was such a bastard because he was Dark Fae? Yeah. That sort of painting with broad strokes.
Out of curiosity: Is there a ban on the Dark Fae/Light Fae dating thing? Like, if I remember at all correctly, wasn't the inter-clan romance why Sabine, the Light Fae who ends up being the Stag, punished? Because if that's the case, LOL, DYSON AND BO ARE NOW ROMEO AND JULIET. HELP ME. PLEASE. NO. I CANNOT.
(Dyson, sometimes you are the worst, but only when Trick isn't around. I feel like Dyson is one of the huge narrative problems/conundrums the show has. They write him so often like he is the lead protagonist and they don't cut him down and put him in his place in the narrative as a supporting character. He comes off as constantly intruding and not getting called on it [I think his insistence about joining Bo in her Dawning and then his actions in the Dawning really cinched the "You are one of the worst" sentiment for me] and pleeeeeeeeeeease, I can't handle two douchey characters, please stop being a douche, Bo.)
Speaking of romantic interests, the love lines have become so ridiculously intertwined that only an orgy/polyamory-to-the-max can resolve this tangled web. Is Dyson/Kenzi/Hale still a thing? Or did they try to handwave that so hard in 4x04? I just feel like 4x01 was such a huge misstep if they didn't want to actually deal with the fallout that the actions taken under amnesia would bring about. Like, were the writers only thinking about catering to the fans that they forgot that now they have to narratively deal with the fact that they've created an actual, canon, maintext (Hale/)Kenzi/Dyson/Bo sort of thing? Really????? And now they want to maybe ascend Tamsin into an actual romantic possibility? "LOST GIRL," YOU CAN'T HANDLE THIS UNLESS YOU'RE WILLING TO GO DOWN THE POLY PATH. In a real way. Not that crap ridiculous thing you pulled in S3 with Lauren acquiescing to Bo sleeping with other people--you used that as a wedge rather than, I don't know, actually exploring the possibilities of open communication, positing Bo as being able to love more than one person, that love isn't something divided, necessarily, between multiple parties but a sentiment that can be extended genuinely, passionately, wholeheartedly to more than one party.
Also: Good to know that Bo is definitely-for-sure over that "We're on a break" hang up and that it seems to be a "We're broken up" thing. Just wanted that clarified and I think the amount of Bo/Dyson sex made that crystal clear. (I was kind of rooting for Lauren to just run away--run far, far away from where the writers can touch her. If Crystal hadn't been in it for the spy bang--can't believe they put the words in Lauren's mouth--that could have been sweet. But then they would have had to write Lauren out of the story entirely because what would she have to do with Bo . . . UNLESS LAUREN STARTED LEADING A HUMAN REBELLION. Which, c'mon, would be kind of cool. She knows how to wing it as an eco-terrorist, so she's got experience!!! [THIS SHOW.])
WHY SO MANY VILLAINOUS CHARACTERS? JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE FREAKIN' WANDERER. YOU KEEP MENTIONING HIM AND BLOWING OFF TALKING ABOUT HIM AND THEN TRYING TO FEED ME OTHER "VILLAINS" I DON'T CARE ABOUT: WHO THE HECK CARES ABOUT THE UNA MENS, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THEM, AND MOSSIMO AND WHATEVER ELSE RANDOM CONFLICT CHARACTER. Just no. Please. "Lost Girl," you can't handle it. You set up the Wanderer for a third of a season: ADDRESS IT, PLEASE.
But. The Una Mens. Are they . . . non-clan affiliated? Because if that's the case, if they're like a higher order of law, is it really such a big deal that Bo is unaligned? Really?
(And Hi, Mossimo. Bye, Mossimo! I'm not quite sure why you had a sudden mental breakdown and dissolved into a two-year-old tantrum, but there you have it. Sadly, you could have been a really cool threat/exploration of ways in which humans have integrated and carved out spots for themselves in the Fae world [by being a Fae fixer and putting Fae in debt], but yeah . . .)
How unfortunate, too, that with so many plot threads, 4x04 was an info dump of exposition. I felt like there was so much "tell, don't show" so that I just raised my eyebrows at all the Bo-Kenzi. Those moments just felt so inauthentic to me, which is so unfortunate because their friendship, above all of the romantic entanglements, should really be the heart of the show. And so much of this comes partly from the undermining of Kenzi's strength as a human character in the cast with her new and constant efforts to become fae? Yeah? Yeah. Also, can we admit that she was in debt to Mossimo, so she was/is obligated to pay those debts, yes?
Remember when this was sort of a sci-fi detective show starring two women best friends scraping a living to maintain their crack shack lifestyle? Yeah, I don't either.
When I feel like Lauren, whose backstory is growing even more convoluted and "WTF??? Did you think about her background at all when you first created this character?", is getting the most satisfying development--hello, angry fed-up badass, I'm glad to make your acquaintance--there is a problem. (They also eroded at Lauren-Hale--I mean, she suspected that he was the one holding her! Hale was actually one of the nicest characters to Lauren, respecting her and her contributions, throughout the seasons. If she was in communication with Dyson, shouldn't she know that Hale is no longer Ash?)
Um, apparently there are claimed humans actually being arrested and whatnot? Um. Um. Okay. Lots of questions. How has Kenzi not been taken into custody because, HONESTLY, who doesn't know that Kenzi is Bo's human by this point? Um. Why aren't the claimed humans running? Why isn't there some time of underground railroad for humans? Omg, tell me there is a whole movement where there are Fae who are fond of their humans and have been trying to hide them and protect them. But really, WHY DID THIS PLOT THING HAPPEN AT ALL, IT MAKES NO SENSE WHY FAE WHO HAVE OWNED HUMANS FOR SO LONG AND WITHOUT TROUBLES(?) WOULD SUDDENLY GO ALONG WITH THE MORRIGAN'S RIDICULOUS SUGGESTION TO DECLARE ALL HUMANS TERRORISTS.
Help.
(I still wish S4 had opened with Lauren Lewis having inadvertently become a symbol to claimed humans who resented their indentured servitude because they were either tricked into it or made bad deals and, under her name and upholding her actions, they start an uprising of their own. But Lauren doesn't know about it and when she learns about it she is horrified and when the rebel human leaders see that she is Not Okay with it, they decide she's better off as a martyr and then EVERYONE either wants Lauren dead or they want her for themselves, like there are Fae who recognize her value and why the Ash went through so much trouble to acquire her consenting pledge and these Fae plan to keep Lauren to themselves once they get their hands on her. AND AND AND there's the rumor going around about what she did with Taft and the making him Fae thing, so she's like grossly dangerous and all the more appealing to factions. And Bo gets stuck in the middle of the war and is torn because she doesn't know if Lauren is actually involved or not in the rebel human efforts because they keep invoking her name. Also, I guess, the Wanderer shit, but who cares about him, EVIDENTLY NOT THE SHOW.)
There are so many threads and I wish I could have faith that there's an actual bigger picture that they really should have shown more of or teased at by this point, but haven't--they had a whole season set up because S3 banked so hard on getting a S4 (Taft was more or less a last-minute villain addition just to end the season) and they could have just started right from where S3 ended and that could have been exciting too without the whole weird amnesia deal, yeah?--but I don't know. They haven't presented one definitive Big Bad or threat or what-have-you. I have no idea what is going with Bo's characterization, which is not good when she's your protagonist. I don't know if I should care; I don't know if I do care. I'm not hate-watching, but I'm not engaged-watching either. I actually do mostly turn off my brain, but even then you can see I can't make the pieces fit.
I wasn't going to write anything. I'm sorry.
There's one thing I do know: Good lordy they stepped up their depiction of sex. Wasn't expecting that level up!