Is Lost Girl Buffy-lite?

Christina is back Guest-Clacking a review of last night’s Lost Girl, after sharing her thoughts about Mad Men with us last time.

I find that Lost Girl hits the same kind of sweet spot as Buffy did, what with the monster-of the-week formula and the snappy banter. It is less serious overall, though, so I think of it as Buffy lite: same great taste, half the angst. However, I was afraid Bo would end up swamped by angst after the recent revelation of how Dyson sacrificed his love for her; after last week’s episode, she seemed primed to spend the foreseeable future mooning over him, threatening to drag down a show that works best when its serious fae mythology is laced with generous amounts of fun.

I needn’t have worried, if “Scream a Little Dream” is any indication. Bo’s frustrated love for Dyson is very present, but mostly in her scary Mare dreams—we don’t see Dyson at all otherwise. The show cleverly came up with this nightmare plot as a way of forcing Bo to deal with her feelings by turning inward, which she probably would not have done otherwise, if her attempt at a cleaning binge at the start of the episode was any indication. Bo gets some plausible closure and catharsis by rejecting Dyson in her final dream, so now she (and the show) can move on…. Perhaps to Lauren?

If the first season was the season of Dyson, perhaps this will be the season of Lauren. The episode reminds us that we still don’t know why she is bound to the Light Fae, and I am not sure we ever herd it put before into the terms of “chattel” and ownership the new Ash uses tonight. Intriguing. I am also intrigued to see how things with Bo and the Ash play out now that he is interested enough to want to hire her as a freelancer. I also detected a hint of sexual chemistry there, but I suppose the whole point of Bo being a succubus is s that she’d have chemistry with anything on two legs. The Ash may end up as this season’s Big Bad, if the show is going to take on a Whedonesque structure.

I can’t wait to see how that plays out, along with the hints tonight that Bo might be even more powerful than anyone imagines. I think her bad dream about her future self was very telling here. As she is in the process of discovering her powers and her fae heritage, she still seems as scared of herself and her power deep down as she was in the Pilot. She is also afraid of ending up alone, which is very human. She seems to have a profound need to stay in touch with humanity, which is probably what ultimately prevents her from picking a fae side officially.

I also liked how the Mumphert and Kenzi B-plot merged with the A-plot so that it didn’t just exist to give Kenzi something to do aside from fret over Bo. The show again exceeded my expectations. Perhaps it’s really upping its game to add more depth. As long as it stays fun, I’m in.

Notes

• There were lots of fun punny quotables tonight, including “That should be in a HurlMark card” and Bo calling Kenzi “Tina Not-Fae.” How long do you think they’ve been saving that last one up? I am glad they deployed it when we finally got an episode title without a fae pun. I love me some bad puns, but as the show goes on they should probably occur more sparingly. I also loved the Ash calling Bo “Seductress. Warrior. Fashion Refugee.” Well, if looked like her and could beat people up, maybe I’d wear corsets and leather pants too!
• I should have called that Frank doorman was actually a bad guy, since I pride myself on calling such things. Was it actually a good reveal, or did I just miss the signs?
• The Ash has an AWESOME throne room, or audience chamber, or whatever. Bo’s ironic bow at the end of her audience with him was priceless.

Clacked by Guest Clacker
on May 01, 2012 @ 09:25 EST5EDT