This is the Lost Girl episode I’ve been waiting for all
season. Tamsin returns, Bo is a hot badass, there’s a mystery to solve, we get
a sex scene in a boxing ring, and a Spice Girls song. Wait, what?
Before we dive into the episode, I want to mention the
interesting discussion in the comments from last week. When I was talking about
Lost Girl’s tendency to linger over woman-on-woman sex scenes, I underestimated
the show’s appeal to lesbian viewers. A few readers who describe themselves as “super
gay” women contributed to the discussion, which is awesome. I obviously have my
own particular narrow point of view, and what I’d seen as male gaze turns out
can also be lesbian gaze. It goes without saying that io9’s comments are always
a safe place to have discussions, but it would be particularly excellent if Lost
Girl fans of all sorts continue coming to the comments and help fill in my
blind spots.
This episode, “Turn to Stone,” was great in several ways, but
mostly because the writing was just stronger. Better dialog and a more focused
plot. Notice we never saw Hale or Trick. There was the main plot of Bo and
Kenzi dealing with Massimo, which intersected with the “Tamsin is growing up so
fast” plot. The only side plot was Lauren, and that was handled very nicely
too. I can only hope this is a sign of things to come this season.
We also got good old randy Bo back. The episode starts right
off with a training session in a boxing ring giving Bo a totally contrived
excuse to screw Dyson to the sounds of Deap Vally’s “Baby I Call Hell.” And
later when they’re flirting in the police station, Bo tells Dyson that if he’s
good he can, “go in all the stores” on their shopping trip. So we learned some
new things about Dyson’s anatomy (“You seem to like it…in a huge way.”) and
what Bo is interested in doing with that anatomy. There’s a even a classic
succubus semi-threesome when Bo starts dancing and the hot couple she’s with
just starts stripping down. Talk about getting your mojo back.
There were loads of great one-liners this week, too. “It’s
like occupied France in here.” “Three – nothing Bo.” And my favorite, Massimo referring
to Bo and Kenz as, “the ambiguously fae duo.” Genuine guffaws there.
Tamsin morphs from a teenager into her real form pretty
quickly. She likes the X-Files and donuts. Having her act like a little kid
certainly puts the kibosh on Valkubus shippers. Although there was a glimmer of
hope there when Bo told Tamsin she thought she was amazing in her previous
life. It was funny when Tamsin asks, “Was I a good cop?” No Tamsin. You were
not.
Massimo the Druid made for a good villain for a little while
there, one step ahead of the Scooby gang, super smarmy, yet they can’t just
kick his ass because he provides Kenzi’s fake fae powers. Then he gets extra
creepy when he shows up at the apartment to kidnap Tamsin. She’s still acting
like a little kid, and he totally plays the child molester role, winning her
trust and playing on her insecurities.
Of course, before all that happens, he sends Bo and Kenzi on
a quest to find some herbs in Lauren’s old apartment. He’s set up an ignus rim,
a magical barrier that blocks fae of a certain alignment from entering or
exiting, depending on how it’s set up. It also lends itself to a wide variety
of “rim job” jokes, but I’ll leave that to the reader. Notice that Kenzi’s
anti-dark fae ignus rim at the apartment kept out Bo early in the episode. The
one in Lauren’s apartment was apparently keyed to light fae, and it also
blocked Bo. Interesting, in light of what went on later.
The most important aspect of this scene is that Kenzi
finally comes clean about her desire for fae powers, her insecurity living
among fae, and her fear that Bo might leave again. Oh, and that she made out
with Dyson. Bo is pissed, but later they make up, writing off as a fight
between family members. I was really impressed with how vulnerable Ksenia Solo
made Kenzi in this scene, a far cry from her usual brash confidence. The ignus barrier
special effects were pretty excellent too!
When Bo shows up to confront Massimo, who was only
distracting them so he could get to Tamsin, we learn that he wants “young
Valkyrie hair.” He somehow gets the drop on Bo and has a razor to her neck, but
Tamsin then transforms, sprouting wings. Massimo is stunned, and we learn that
this is Tamsin’s “last life” – if she dies again, no more resurrection. I love
how Tamsin looked with the wings – that avenging angel, harbinger of doom thing
is like catnip to me. Bo and Tam hug it out, then Bo browbeats Massimo, gives
him a succubus job, and is surprised to learn that he’s human (we’ve known this
all along, right?).
Then Massimo completely undoes whatever “cool villain” cred
he had, whimpering about his mommy and eventually hopping into a molten fire
thing he had at some point thrown together. So no more Massimo I guess.
Lauren and Crystal are imprisoned – Lauren confesses to
being an eco-terrorist in her past, but then realizes the light fae have nabbed
them. Crystal tells her she slept her as part of the plan to stay close and
learn about her, which is exactly what Lauren did to Bo once upon a time. “Spy
banged.” Lauren does some research, revealing that some elder fae thing has Mad
Cow Disease. She assumes Hale is behind this, but the door opens and it isn’t
Hale. Looking forward to the big reveal there. Also looking forward to a newer,
more badass Lauren. After years of moping, she picks a bunch of locks and barks
out demands to her captors. A welcome change!
At the very end, Bo just shows up at the Una Mens abode.
Some kind of drippy cave. Earlier, Massimo observed that the gargoyle that had
been vexing Bo wasn’t his doing, as they only serve elder fae. That gargoyle
was hilarious. It looked like something I bought at Spencer Gifts in the mall
in 1996. But it was great seeing Bo just straight up not give a shit about the
Una Mens and all their cryptic fae nonsense. Her cool faltered a bit when they
revealed they had no interest in her, since she was no longer unaligned. I
guess the gargoyle did a blood test, and it came back positive for dark
faeness.
