Contributor: Bronzethumb
Despite only premiering on Syfy in 2012, “Lost Girl” is currently in the middle of its second season in the native Canada, and while it’s easy to see how the average member of the viewing public would be interested in sitting down with an episode, they’re gonna be scratching their head as to exactly what kind of show they’ve signed up to watch in the long run. The pilot episode presents a healthy mix of fun, fantasy and fan service, but in the scramble to tell us who our heroes are and what kind of world they inhabit, it gives us very little indicator of what we’re likely to see if we tune for the next episode.
The titular “Lost Girl” is Bo (Anna Silk), a young woman in modern day Canada who’s been living a solo nomadic lifestyle due to her curse, a strange ability to hurt and even kill people with nothing but a kiss. After using her ability to save Kenzi (Knesia Solo) from a sex predator at a bar, Bo finds herself in the sights of the Fae, a collection of supernatural races that masquerade as humans and live underground, divided into the “Light” and “Dark” sides. The various Fae characters all seem to know more about Bo and her Fae heritage than she does, and have a lot to say about exactly where Bo is supposed to fit into this new society – whether she likes it or not.
The episode paints a very interesting picture of the Fae world, drawing positive comparisons to shows like “Angel” in how our protagonist is a sympathetic part of a very unsympathetic society. The story is structured to give us a good snapshot of this world, with glimpses of both the royalty and the footsoldiers as well as all kinds of Fae creatures and characters – even the one Fae character who isn’t a Fae, the human doctor Lauren (Zoie Palmer) who is content to live in this strange world out of a scientific curiosity. And this Fae world is presented as subtle and well-hidden enough to exist within the world of modern humans, making us believe that there’s not much to see beyond the exterior instead of drawing to mind comparisons with shows like “Supernatural” that don’t have the money to show off the world how they’d like to.
Unfortunately, our introduction to the Fae world stunts the introductions of some main characters, especially the Bo/Kenzi dynamic that the writers are trying to firm up as quickly as they can. At first, Kenzi comes across as a typical Watson archetype: the audience surrogate who needs Bo to explain it to her, and therefore to us. But before we can really wrap our heads around Kenzi as a character – all we get is that she’s extremely clingy and hard to faze – the dynamic flips and suddenly the audience surrogate is Bo, being inducted into the Fae world and learning all about it.
Kenzi then seems kind of pointless, and since we didn’t get much characterisation from her anyway, the audience can be forgiven for thinking she was only supposed to be a one-episode guest star, rather than the protagonist’s sidekick. She doesn’t even seem to be a good plucky comic relief sidekick, not because she’s not funny, but because Bo does a good enough job on her own of bringing the snark. However, none of this really seems like the fault of the actress: Knesia Solo seems like she’s genuinely trying to be endearing, but it’s tough when there’s not much about the writing that supports this.
As for Bo, she gets a much better introduction. A prickly, snarky demeanour, and at the same time all the confidence of a woman who’s sexy and knows it: we almost don’t need to hear her tragic backstory that’s more than a little reminiscent, in the best ways, of the X-Men’s Rogue, to know that she’s the kind of person who deliberately keeps people at arm’s length. In an episode loaded with talky-talky exposition, this character really does get a chance to breath, and Anna Silk really gets a chance to bring her to life.
Not through the scenes where she struts around in a black catsuit and looks sexy – there’s an entire industry of people who can do that – but through the scenes where she brings this scared young woman through the facade and makes us believe that despite all the swagger and snark, Bo is losing her tenuous grip on what the hell is going on and what her place in the world really is. She is a compelling protagonist, in more ways than one, and is the driving force behind anyone’s decision to tune in to the show.
What doesn’t help that decision is the thin characterisations of everyone else. Again, we’d be forgiven for not knowing who is meant to be a regular and who is only supposed to be around for an episode or two, since everyone get the same level of distinctive characterisation – which is to say, next to none. Dyson is lawful neutral, as both a police detective and a servant of the Fae, and that’s it. Lauren is fascinated by the scientific reality of the Fae, and that’s it. The Morrigan and the Ash want power, and control, and unlimited rice pudding, and that’s it. There’s certainly enough people for a world, and enough fun, interesting details for one, but so far it lacks characters.
The story is also something of a letdown. The flip from Kenzi as the Watson to Bo into Bo’s masquerade-busting origin story is jarring, in addition to making our protagonist’s sidekick seem pointless. Bo’s “choice” at the end of the episode didn’t feel motivated by anything other than the desires of the writer. But what’s more, it’s driven entirely by the origin story of Bo’s introduction into the world of the Fae. And what that kind of story is necessary for a genre show, it gives the audience no clue of what the show is going to be like in the future. People would be entirely within their rights to think this show was simply the Odd Couple with a slight fantasy twist, because the pilot didn’t give them any kind of notion of what this series will be as a whole. It puts a huge damper on the whole episode.
“Lost Girl” is a fun way to spend an hour, but as a pilot, this first episode has a lot of failings. It fails to properly flesh out most of the main characters, let alone giving us a reason to care about them. It doesn’t give the audience an idea of just what kind of show they’re watching, beyond the fact that most of the main characters have a supernatural twist to them. And yet at the same time, the episode introduces an interesting urban fantasy world that nicely slots into the real one the way that good urban fantasy worlds do, and it does a great job of creating an engaging protagonist. So on the whole, this first episode is a mixed bag of good and bad, but running through it all is a good sense of fun and humor and a very pretty cast that keep it all interest enough to warrant tuning in.
Plus, the blokes deserve a distaff counterpart to “Supernatural”. Fifty percent of the genders should not have one hundred percent of the genre fan service.
Rating: 6.5/10
