Recap and Review: Lost Girl 1.09: Fae Day

By Paula R. Stiles

[spoilers ahoy]

Recap: Following another rough case (Does Bo get any other kind?), Bo and Kenzi arrive at Trick’s bar, the Dal Riata, only to find it all decorated for La Shoshain (a fictional version of “Samhain”, I’m guessing), the most holy day of the Fae calendar. As Trick explains to them that it’s the only day of the year when Light and Dark Fae can socialise and even get frisky together, the woman playing the harp nearby stands up and shrieks, then leaves. It turns out she’s a Banshee and she’s just announced the death of someone from the Five Families, the Fae version of nobility.

While Trick and Dyson worry over whether that person might be Bo (despite her being a foundling), Bo is determined to find and save whoever it is. She and Dyson track down the Banshee, who is hiding in a closet at her agent’s office, and discover the identity of the person who will die by sunset. His name is ‘Sean Cavanaugh’ and, of course, there is already a wrinkle. Kenzi has fallen for him and the feeling is mutual.

It turns out that his last wish is to reconcile with his brother, Liam, who turned to the Dark side (The rest of the family is Light Fae) after a dispute in which the Light brother turned him in over a theft of $30,000 from the company till 80 years previously (Boy, these Fae really hold the grudges, don’t they?). But when Bo and Dyson visit Liam, he is busy bilking people out of their money and has no time or inclination for reconciling with his brother. In fact, he grows quite angry when he hears Sean is willing to forgive and forget. A little…ah…probing from Bo, using her power (Light and Dark Fae aren’t supposed to use their powers or get violent with each other during La Shoshain, but unaffiliated Bo can), gets the truth out of him. He sent two Goblin hitmen to kill his brother. Seems their mother just died and he was waiting until she had passed on, out of respect for her. And why are Goblins able to use violence during La Shoshain? Because they’re exempt, too. This holy day is a little holey in its rules.

Things get sticky when the Goblins attack and Bo finds a way to stop them by calling the brothers out in a challenge known as ‘Agallamh’. She doesn’t know that if they can’t reconcile, her life will be forfeit. Whoops. While Trick and Dyson do some more worrying over her fate, whether or not they should tell her about her mother, that the woman on death row from last week was the midwife at her birth, and whether or not Trick, the “Blood King”, should use his “blood” to save her, Bo proceeds with the challenge. When Liam refuses to reconcile, Bo calls a recess and some keen observation from Kenzi saves the day. Seems Daddy has a gambling addiction. He stole the money, intending to put it back. Liam is upset at this news, since it resulted in an eight-decade estrangement from his family, but rather grudgingly reconciles with his father and makes peace with his brother. He even agrees to make restitution to as many of the victims he’s cheated over the years as he can, but it’s too late. An angry debtor attacks him and Liam is killed defending him (rather too easily for a Fae). The Banshee’s prediction is fulfilled.

At the end, Kenzi grieves, while Trick and Dyson quietly breathe a sigh of relief that Bo survived without Trick needing to intervene with his “blood”.

Review: I was pretty “meh” about this one for the most part. It felt like the calm before the storm that may be coming next week. The main storyline is a cliche from beginning to the “surprise” ironic ending. Seriously, did anybody think Sean wasn’t doomed? He and Kenzi were classic sheltered Romeo and streetsmart Juliet. I did like Sean, and Bo’s fumbling her way through the challenge was amusing, but both Liam and Daddy Cavanaugh were your standard Rich Douchebags, Corporate and Old Money varieties, respectively. Plus, you could see the plot twist about dear old Dad being the culprit about a mile away in the dark. You’d think these folks would learn a few lessons in nearly a century that made them come off as more than callow twenty-somethings, but so far, most of the Fae have been lacking in the ancient wisdom department. Immortal characters do usually seem stunted in their growth on TV shows, but it’s still a bit disappointing. A little more character magic for the one-shot Fae characters, show, that’s all I’m asking.

I also wasn’t thrilled at the way the whole love triangle storyline got jettisoned after last week. Suddenly, we have Dyson angsting 24/7 over lying to Bo (which he’s only been doing since the Pilot) and Bo being all forgiving of his previous coldness, even raining down a plot anvil or two about trusting him with her life (Yeah, that sure won’t come back to bite her on her black-leather-sheathed ass). And Lauren? Nowheresville. I guess, now that Lauren has been tossed aside like so much garbage over betraying Bo far less, Dyson can feel more comfortable about expressing his true feelings to Bo and rant hypocritically to Trick about Trick’s…eh…hypocrisy. Trick, bless him, does not take this lying down, reminding Dyson that he’s the one who decided to get emotionally involved with the woman on whom he was spying. Oh, my. I may end up going Team Trick if he keeps snapping out snarky lines like that.

But while the A plot and the romance are bleah, most intriguing these hints about Trick and his central role in Fae society are. Yeah, okay, I peeked ahead a bit, so I know how some of that will go down, but this episode still already gives us a fair number of fragments to chew on in the worldbuilding department, and makes me wonder just how and why Trick got that bar and how and why it appears to be the centre of Fae society. I mean…it’s an Irish-themed pub. Hardly the hub of civilisation (though it is of social life), even in Ireland. Just what can Trick do with his blood to save someone? And what’s this about his being the “Blood King”? Do tell, show.

Next Week: The Mourning After: Bo encounters another succubus during her investigation of a suicide.

You can watch the first season of Lost Girl on Syfy, either Monday nights at 10pm or on the official site.