Contributor: Bronzethumb
Written by Emily Andras
Directed by Steve DiMarco
(Note: It has come to our attention that the Syfy version of this episode is significantly altered from the Canadian original cut. Reviews for “Lost Girl” have been, and will continue to be, based on the Canadian originals.)
The sophomore slump is officially averted as “Lost Girl” delivers the best episode of its second season and possibly the entire show. Every element gels, every actor is on top of their game and from beginning to end the episode is equal parts riveting and fun and not to be missed.
“Mirror, Mirror” dips its toe into the waters of the Bo/Dyson situation again, but with a greater focus on Kenzi and her reaction to what’s been happening. After too many drinks and too much love for her BFF, she gets it into her head to summon Baba Yaga, the evil witch of Slavic folklore who’s been a bogeyman to Kenzi since childhood, and sic her on Dyson as revenge for his womanising and the insensitive way he’s been treating Bo. As these things do, things go horribly right and every woman Dyson meets becomes enraged at him, but trying to remove the curse only winds up making things far worse for Kenzi.
The beginning of this episode bore similarities to the early Bloody Mary episode of “Supernatural”, but anyone expecting a simple re-tread got a big surprise as “Mirror, Mirror” evolved into one of the creepier, more intense episodes of the show’s run. The progression in tone was pitch-perfect, from the comedy of all the women crossing paths with Dyson spitting and cursing to the intensity of Bo’s rescue mission in the final minutes.
The regulars had some subtler and more interesting opportunities to show how they’re dealing with the new status quo of season 2; every actor got a chance to stretch their muscles a bit, with Anna Silk running the full gauntlet and Kris Holden-Reid unleashing the wolf a bit more than normal. And the main arc peeked its head in for a moment with an appearance from Lachlan, setting up big things for the season to come.
But most surprising and gratifying was how the plot kept going to a next level with every new act break. Rather than have the entire story be about removing the curse from Dyson, that aspect was dealt with a surprisingly short way in, and evolved into something far more interesting just when the audience was at the point of finding things predictable or tedious. The episode’s constant one-upping of itself made for genuine surprises and one of the most watchable instalments of “Lost Girl” to date.
But most of all, this was a standout episode for Kenzi and for Ksenia Solo. She spent the whole hour driving the story, from the initial summoning of Baba Yaga to the big climax that almost didn’t need Bo at all, and just when the audience thought Kenzi couldn’t get any snarkier, she managed to kick things up to a whole new level. But this was also the show’s biggest effort to develop and explore Kenzi as a character, and that’s also where Baba Yaga shines as not just a great antagonist, but a prefect avenue for that exploration.
From the first mention of the witch and Kenzi’s familiarity with the stories, questions are begged and then answered, about what kind of childhood could lead a young woman into a life of confidence trickery. Even more details are filled in merely through the appearance of Kenzi’s aunt, who appears to be running the same kind of rackets we’ve seen Kenzi herself using for financial gain. It’s the best kind of exposition because there’s very little of it, at least directly: we get details, and from those details we can extrapolate more details and put together the story of a girl with a terrible upbringing and scary nightmares who learned loose morals and eventually became the kind of person that would summon their greatest fear to help their best friend.
There were so many more things to like about “Mirror, Mirror”, from fantastic one-liners to great performances to what will hopefully be foreshadowing, but Kenzi dominates this review just as she dominated the episode. It’s not only a welcome focus, but it produced some of the strongest – if not THE strongest – storytelling in “Lost Girl” to date.
Rating: 9.5/10
