Contributor: Bronzethumb
This well-named and well-made episode is just the kind of thing “Lost Girl” needs after a rocky opening to the second season. There’s no flashback wigs and bad accents, and no lazy use of old storytelling devices: instead, “Better to Burn Out Than Fae Away” puts the emphasis on the characters, on prodding and probing at the world of the Fae and on providing a solid hour of fun television.
Bo and Kenzi wind up batting for the other team when the Morrigan, head of the Dark Fae, hires the duo to track down a local artist named Jason who has been revealing Fae secrets to the humans in the form of street murals. They soon wind up knee-deep in the politics of the Dark Fae after learning that Jason is a pawn in a power struggle between the Morrigan and their old enemy Vex. It’s a big cut above some of the plots that “Lost Girl” has delivered lately, and while many in the audience will be able to guess the identity of the true culprit early on in the episode (the downside of cast economy), there’s a lot of good twists and turns and blind alleys to keep things interesting and keep people guessing how it’ll end. The writers, having established their formula and something of a status quo, are reluctant to mess with it, yet they’re great at convincing the audience that a shake-up is imminent, which makes for a lot of tense moments as the plot unfolds. Purely on a plot level, this is definitely one of the better episodes of season two.
It was great to see some of the Dark Fae antagonists return, not just because it’s a pleasant change from emphasis on Light Fae politics that’s dominated the season so far, but because Vex and the Morrigan are a blast to watch. Emmanuelle Vaugier and Paul Amos – especially Amos – are clearly having fun with some of the most outright nasty characters on the show, milking every second of their screen time. And that nastiness, compared to some of the other Dark Fae characters who’ve appeared, only serves to make the plot more engaging as the audience is convinced one or both of them could send things spiralling in new directions.
“Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away” also drew the veil back a bit further on how the Dark work. They’re just as susceptible to squabbling and power plays as the Light, as the schemes of a single character threaten to create a war. And even the Morrigan needs to hold a day job, and her being a talent agent is both hilarious and incredibly appropriate, demonstrating again how the Fae world of “Lost Girl” is constructed to slot neatly into the real one (Trick may have refused to name any names, but everyone watching came up with some on their own).
The other big storyline of “Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away” was concerned with Lauren, and it was a good one for the Doccubus fans. From the moment Kenzi politely excused herself from the veiled flirting in the first minute of the episode, it was obvious that something major was on the horizon. The return of Lachlan and his hunt for Lauren so soon after this plotline began was surprising, but hopefully a good sign that the writers are going to keep their stories moving rather than draw things out.
It also gave audiences the show’s most NSFW scene to date, but more surprising were the scenes with Lauren and Kenzi, who’ve never had much to do with one another before. It could’ve been cheesy, but instead Ksenia Solo and Zoie Palmer made those moments really intense and watchable. And the reveal that comes at the end of the episode, tying both the storylines together, is sure to have big repercussions for the show as it continues.
It turns out that a strong plot, the return of fun characters and some really good dramatic storytelling make the world of difference when writing a television series. Hopefully it’s something the writers realised when they sat down to pen “Better to Burn Out Than Fae Away”, because it’s a great episode and another return to form for the series. Fingers crossed that this one sticks.
Rating: 8/10
