TV Show Recommendation: Lost Girl (Cross-Posted from retsuko)
Cross-posted from retsuko:
Lost Girl, Season 1, and first episode of Season 2: I really, really enjoy this show, for a number of reasons which include:
1) All the awesome ladies: Bo, Kenzie, and Lauren (and, more problematically, Saskiya/Efa and the Norn): What this show comes down to is the three main female characters and their relationships with each other, whether friendship or romantic love. All three of them are growing and changing (although Lauren is the slowest of the three so far, and I keep hoping for an episode that will say, "Oh, and this is why." No such luck yet, unfortunately.) So far, we've also had two female "villains" (I don't want to judge either of them as absolutely good or evil yet) who were incredibly compelling. It's nice to have a show where the moral quandaries come from preserving relationships instead of wholesale "all or nothing" destruction.
2) All the awesome friendships: Bo and Kenzie, Dyson and Hale, and in more recent episodes, Hale and Kenzie: In this show, people love and support their friends pretty unconditionally, and that's a real pleasure to watch. Bo and Kenzie, for example, are a good Odd Couple archetype, but both of them get things from the other, and more importantly, they understand how important their complementary strengths are. Kenzie does get burdened with some of the expositionary dialogue a little more than I think is necessary, but the show makes up for it in re-iterating how Bo needs a friend, and how their friendship makes both of them better at what they do. Dyson and Hale have a great platonic bromance thing going on, and their reunion at the beginning of season 2 cracked me up in its simplicity; it basically boiled down to, "Where were you?" "Out." "OK." I also appreciate that Hale calls Dyson on his brooding schtick and that as sidekicks, Hale and Kenzie have developed their own secret language and handshake. It's pretty damn adorable.
3) The lack of absolute morality: In this show, the dark isn't necessarily evil all the time, and the light isn't the last word in good, not be a long shot. In fact, the two sides in the fae seemed to be characterized as selfish and slightly less selfish, respectively. The monsters that have appeared so far are very often used by the fae for their own goals, and most of them don't have the greater good in mind. Humans just haven't gotten in their way completely yet. This makes Bo and Kenzie's work even more important, since failure very often has longer-term implications than just dealing with the monster of the week.
4) Gender role reversal FTW: Somewhere in this show, a women's studies doctoral thesis lurks, whether it's on the damsel no longer being in distress, or on the full-on sexualization of the helpless male character captured by the villains. Sexuality, both male and female, is treated as a tool or weapon (depending on who's talking), and there's an equal amount of beefcake to go with the cheesecake. (Oh, Canada! American shows could take a page or two from your book.)
5) It's just fun. There's a great deal of witty banter and sexy from all sides, and when the stakes get high, the pacing gets even better and the dialogue snappier.
My only quibble is the show's fixation on Dyson's side of the relationship with Bo. He's a heroic character, but so far, the amount of information that he's withheld from her has put a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, some of the lack of information has to do with Bo not asking the right questions (or not asking any questions at all), but there's withholding information for all the right motives, and then there's lying by omission. Not to mention the fact that if someone had been straight with Bo from the get-go regarding her mother, the end of season one wouldn't have gone the way it did.
All things considered, it's an excellent show, and one I'm glad to be able to watch most of on Netflix streaming.
Lost Girl, Season 1, and first episode of Season 2: I really, really enjoy this show, for a number of reasons which include:
1) All the awesome ladies: Bo, Kenzie, and Lauren (and, more problematically, Saskiya/Efa and the Norn): What this show comes down to is the three main female characters and their relationships with each other, whether friendship or romantic love. All three of them are growing and changing (although Lauren is the slowest of the three so far, and I keep hoping for an episode that will say, "Oh, and this is why." No such luck yet, unfortunately.) So far, we've also had two female "villains" (I don't want to judge either of them as absolutely good or evil yet) who were incredibly compelling. It's nice to have a show where the moral quandaries come from preserving relationships instead of wholesale "all or nothing" destruction.
2) All the awesome friendships: Bo and Kenzie, Dyson and Hale, and in more recent episodes, Hale and Kenzie: In this show, people love and support their friends pretty unconditionally, and that's a real pleasure to watch. Bo and Kenzie, for example, are a good Odd Couple archetype, but both of them get things from the other, and more importantly, they understand how important their complementary strengths are. Kenzie does get burdened with some of the expositionary dialogue a little more than I think is necessary, but the show makes up for it in re-iterating how Bo needs a friend, and how their friendship makes both of them better at what they do. Dyson and Hale have a great platonic bromance thing going on, and their reunion at the beginning of season 2 cracked me up in its simplicity; it basically boiled down to, "Where were you?" "Out." "OK." I also appreciate that Hale calls Dyson on his brooding schtick and that as sidekicks, Hale and Kenzie have developed their own secret language and handshake. It's pretty damn adorable.
3) The lack of absolute morality: In this show, the dark isn't necessarily evil all the time, and the light isn't the last word in good, not be a long shot. In fact, the two sides in the fae seemed to be characterized as selfish and slightly less selfish, respectively. The monsters that have appeared so far are very often used by the fae for their own goals, and most of them don't have the greater good in mind. Humans just haven't gotten in their way completely yet. This makes Bo and Kenzie's work even more important, since failure very often has longer-term implications than just dealing with the monster of the week.
4) Gender role reversal FTW: Somewhere in this show, a women's studies doctoral thesis lurks, whether it's on the damsel no longer being in distress, or on the full-on sexualization of the helpless male character captured by the villains. Sexuality, both male and female, is treated as a tool or weapon (depending on who's talking), and there's an equal amount of beefcake to go with the cheesecake. (Oh, Canada! American shows could take a page or two from your book.)
5) It's just fun. There's a great deal of witty banter and sexy from all sides, and when the stakes get high, the pacing gets even better and the dialogue snappier.
My only quibble is the show's fixation on Dyson's side of the relationship with Bo. He's a heroic character, but so far, the amount of information that he's withheld from her has put a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, some of the lack of information has to do with Bo not asking the right questions (or not asking any questions at all), but there's withholding information for all the right motives, and then there's lying by omission. Not to mention the fact that if someone had been straight with Bo from the get-go regarding her mother, the end of season one wouldn't have gone the way it did.
All things considered, it's an excellent show, and one I'm glad to be able to watch most of on Netflix streaming.