Lost Girl "Faetal Justice" Review

I dislike the majority of Lost Girl episode titles. Perhaps there's a certain charm in using 'fae' in various episode titles. If so, the charm eluded me. Several factors caused me to dread this Dyson-centric hour besides its unfortunate title. First, Dyson isn't the most dynamic character. He's mostly Dyson's love interest, occasionally kicks ass, and gloomily stares ahead. His shape-shifting fae side might've been fun if Alan Ball hadn't single-handedly destroyed the shape-shifter type in True Blood. I cringe whenever I see someone transform into a wolf or any other animal. The previews promised a story about the pursuit of justice for a falsely accused man, which is exactly what was told.

Whether or not Lovretta and staff recognized the limitations of Kris Holden-Ried during season 1 is unknown to me. "Faetal Justice" is about saving Dyson's life from the grubby and murderous hands of the dark fae. Some nights ago, Dyson entered Vex's bar to question a dark fae called Ba'al about the disappearance of a light fae woman (or something). Or Dyson returned to yell at Ba'al for stabbing him during the investigation into a missing light fae female. Later in the night, Ba'al died from a werewolf attack. Three witnesses identified the 'angry cop' as the murderer. Dyson woke in a dirty, damp alley with blood on his mouth and chest, went directly to Trick's to invoke sanctuary against certain execution from the dark fae. Dyson, of course, doesn't remember the last eight hours of the night, insists he wouldn't kill Ba'al, and then Bo and Kenzi decide to help their by friend by clearing his name. Sanctuary prevented Dyson from leaving the bar, which meant Holden-Ried just needed to sit around and look concerned and urgent.

The case brought all of the characters we've seen before out to play. The Morragan and The Ash were engaged in a power struggle. Lauren performed the evidence work on the blood. The case also brought up things like fae law and fae politics. Bo is, once again, at the center of the dark and light conflict. The Dyson case, left alone, would've created a war between the two sides. Bo's ability to play in both worlds prevents war as well as individual death for Dyson. The politics and laws of the fae world still seem vague. Certain episodes provided the basics to understand the differences between both. Due process is ignored in the supernatural realm. Three witnesses are enough to condemn a man on the dark fae side. Of course, the writers could've thrown this in to make the adventure to save Dyson more urgent.

The actual investigation was by-the-books procedural. The good-natured bar keep who happily answered questions turned out to be the killer who framed Dyson. Kenzi befriended a tertiary character who also could not remember certain things in her life. The tertiary character had a history similar to Kenzi's, and she was written as an alternate-Kenzi had Kenzi not found Bo. Of course, I'm reading in between the lines because of the shared history, the interesting hair color, the wild wardrobe, and affinity for standing around in loud places with throbbing music. Tertiary character promised to call Kenzi as she left her apartment, on her way to a new life that includes work and taxes, but I doubt we see the tertiary character again. I learned a lesson after wondering whether or not Kenzi would feel the effects of the nice fae boy killed an episode or three ago--it hasn't been brought up since--and therefore do not care about whatever new friend Kenzi makes.

The return of the Morragan was fun. I didn't expect to like her when she returned. Her performance in the "Pilot" was over-the-top and campy. Nothing about the performance changed. However, I simply found her animated and lively ways refreshing. I disliked The Ash as much as possible, which suggests that I side with the dark fae. The characters on the dark side are livelier than the dour and sour-faced light faes. I'm not invested in the dark vs. light battle though. I'm more interested in Bo and Kenzi solving crimes and kicking ass this week. The show seems poised to move into a more serialized mode in the future. The serialized element of the show is my least favorite element. But we'll see how everything evolves.

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