Contributor: Bronzethumb
Written by Emily Andras
Directed by Paolo Barzman
It would’ve been nice if “Lost Girl” returned from hiatus with a fresh sense of purpose, a reinvigoration of the quality fun that made the show so enjoyable in the first season and was missing in too much of the second. But while the fun is certainly present, very little of what we get in “Caged Fae” could be classed as fresh or original, and that combined with some clunky writing will leave a bitter, disappointed taste in viewers’ mouths.
In the aftermath of her battle with the Garuda, Bo seems to have gone completely off the rails and become even more of a lawless, reckless outsider than she was before, even to her own friends. She’s soon arrested by Dyson for a bank robbery and thrown into Hecuba Prison, run by the fierce man-hating Amazons, but it’s soon revealed that Bo is on a mission to expose the corruption among the Amazons and find what happened to the prison doctor, Lauren’s former mentor who has gone missing.
There’s an awkward, stagey quality to the writing of “Caged Fae” that comes across in the dialog and the plot. For one thing, very little happens that viewers can’t spot coming a mile away, which robs the early part of the episode of any mystery or tension; no one actually believes Bo has gone evil or that Dyson, Trick and the rest would so callously abandon her. It’s only in the last few minutes that writer Emily Andras whips out some surprisingly developments, but they’re so late in the story that the impact is minimal — at least one of the twists is surely set-up for character and story arcs down the line.
And more than once, the words that come out of the characters’ mouth are almost gag-worthy in how cliché they sound and how little they resemble a person’s actual speech. Andras has a tendency to make the characters repeat the exposition again and again, as though she expects everyone to be too distracted by the sexy to have picked up plot details the first time around. So many exchanges are blunt or trite and it ruins whatever character dynamics have been developing over the course of “Caged Fae”, both old and new.
Because getting to hang out with these characters again is easily the best, most enjoyable aspect of the episode. Once the façade was dropped, we got to return to Bo’s sexy swagger of understated heroism, Kenzi’s wackiness, Dyson’s stoicism and Trick’s paternal style of leadership over this team of misfits. The actors are as on-the-ball as last season, but they also get to deliver some new surprises as Andras puts quite a few of them in strange new situations. Having Vex around is a hoot (hopefully the wisecracks about being Dyson’s new partner will pan out), and Hale in particular is on a very different path than we saw in season two.
“Caged Fae” is unlikely to win over any new fans, as it seems to promise scripts that lack originality or solid dialog. It’s the long-time fans who’ll find something to enjoy here, namely having Team Bo back on our screens again, and while that’s enough to keep the episode from being a total wash, it doesn’t make up for the predictable plot or the number of other problems.
Score: 6/10
