Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lost Girl Recap Faetal Justice: High Noon in Fae Town


Lost Girl Episode 1.11 Faetal Justice
In case you missed all the wonderful promos, I thought we should start out with photo of what this episode is really about: gratuitous shirtless Dyson. And sweet, sweet Susan, am I grateful.
Kris Holden-Ried, Anna Silk, Ksenia Solo, Rick Howard
Okay, I am in fact aware that those words have different etymologies, and I will admit that the episode isn’t actually about Dyson being half-naked. Although note to producers, that seems like a bang-up plot idea for season 3. The episode is about trust and loyalty with a deadly dark fae dance club backdrop. That’s right boys and girls, we’re going dark side. And Dyson is our tour guide.
Kris Holden-Ried


We open in Vex’s club with some pretty cool Circ de Soleil hula hoop swinging dancers and some not so cool plastic torch lights from the local car wash. Dyson’s threatening an alarmingly large, butch bad guy named Ba’al (put away your horns, sadistic psychopath, not the actual devil). Vex comes over and suggests Dyson take a hike. Wolfman doesn’t back down easy, but he does head for the exit. Creepy bald-cap Ba'al suggests they all have “some fun.” So we shoot over to Kenzi and Bo cooking at the clubhouse. Turns out Bo doesn’t know much about her peeps, nor Kenzi about cooking chili, but what they’d really like to get their hands on is Dyson Dyson’s book of secrets. Being more of drink their supper gals, they head to the Dal to grill Trick about Dyson.

Meanwhile, Ba'al is leaving Carpe Noctem (that’s Seize the Night for all us non-Latin reading viewers), but he’s being clocked by a yellow-eyed wolf, who chases him into an alley and rips his throat out. Oh no, D-man, what have you done? The titles distract us just long enough for my stomach to truly knot up. We’re still in killing zone alley when we come back, but someone’s taken Dyson out with the trash and stolen his shirt. His furry face is caked in blood and he’s rubbing his head in confusion, and we’re ignoring the fact that if Dyson had wolfed out and killed Ba’al how did he come to with his pants and shoes on?
Kris Holden-Ried

As Trick is warning the girls that curiosity killed the cat isn’t just an expression, one big question walks into the Dal and calls for sanctuary.

The girls run to him and start with the petting. We’re supposed to register concern, but I think we all know the real endgame here. Now about those pants … Dyson assures them he’s OK, the blood belongs to a dead dark fae psycho. That’s enough for Kenzi and Bo, but Trick knows the implications of an unsanctioned hit against the dark. The phone rings, and it’s Hale asking about D-man’s choice of Kongs. Dyson doesn’t remember what happened, but he’s pretty confident he’s being set up. The Ash wants him to turn himself over, Trick tells us that he’d just be killed, and Bo asks about due process, which is definitely not the way the fae roll. Can anyone say, civilized? I’m guessing there is no Fae & Order: Toronto. That leaves the unaligned Bo the best person to investigate. Dyson hesitates. Ba’al worked for Vex, and Vex is still gunning for a bit of Bo payback. Bo promises, “I am not going to do anything stupid.” Kenzi takes stupidity backup patrol. And Dyson is left wondering, “Yeah, and who’s gonna make sure you don’t do anything stupid?” What’s the worst that could happen?

The girls head off to combine forces with Hale, who is not happy to see them. He accepts that they are both on the side of helping Dyson and that a flailing Bo isn’t anything anyone wants to see. He tells us that there were three witnesses: Portia, human runaway; Silas, a fae bartender; and Vex, the club owner. Both girls are super happy to see Vex again. Hale: “You already had the pleasure?”  Kenzi: “And the pleasure just about killed her.” Hale is Mr. Relationship Exposition this episode. This is one of the moments when he realizes that Bo is willing to take risks to protect Dyson and that it isn’t just a one-way street. Lost Girl does friendship almost as well as they do sexy, sexy wolfmen. Hale’s protectiveness over Dyson and suspicion of Bo is just another way of telling the audience that the Bo/Dyson relationship is developing into something more than just healing buddies, and I love that they use him in such a natural way to do it.

With Hale's assist, the girls head out to seize the night and rock a little PI by questioning the witnesses. First up is Silas the bartender. He saw them arguing and is pretty sure the cop killed Ba’al. But, before the questioning goes too far, Vex shows up. He’s intrigued by our murderous, unaligned “love machine,” and invites her to stay. Ah, flattery, it will get you everywhere. Bo’s not interested in Vex’s idea of lining up clubbers for a picnic. All banter aside, Vex knows that Dyson had a motive to kill Ba’al,  and isn’t so convinced of his innocence. With two witnesses down, that just leaves Portia to discount the story. Vex won’t help them find her, but he does leave the door open for them to stay.

Paul Amos, Anna Silk

Kenzi stays behind to find Portia, and Bo goes back to the Dal to find out more about Dyson’s history with Ba’al. At the Dal, Dyson has cleaned off the blood, but luckily Trick’s not his size, so he’s waiting for Bo to bring him clean clothes. He’s looking pretty touchable, so Bo starts with the questioning with a side of light stroking. This time her focus is on the stop-my-heart-gorgeous back tattoo.
Kris Holden-Ried Tattoo

Dyson claims it is a history of battles he’s been in and lords he’s had fealty to written in Lycanthrope. Bo says that must mean he’s killed a lot of people. Dyson wonders if she thinks he did it too. She assures him she doesn't. And my Vampire Diaries-watching self is pretty blasé. What’s one psycho here or there? This is a lethal world they live in—I’m more interested in motive, and I trust that D-man had a good one. We find out that Ba’al and Dyson had a history. Years ago, Dyson was tracking a series of human murders and came across Ba’al, who was running with a fae street gang called the Red Caps. They wear red caps, but since the dye is coming from their victims’ blood, I’m guessing they should be called Muddy Brown Caps with fly accents. Dyson went after Ba’al to get some justice, but Ba’al got the drop on him and he almost died. “Did I have a reason to kill him? Yes. Did I want to kill him? Yes. But why yesterday? Why would I do it in front of the whole world?” Bo can’t argue with that, but is determined to find out what happened and “bring justice to Fae Town.” Before we can find some wine and a mouse trap to go with the cheese, the Morrigan walks in to mock it for us.

She’s brought her henchman to wrest Dyson from the protection of sanctuary, but they aren’t going easy. Trick goes all Road House and pulls out a double-barrel shotgun and ends the fight. Before the Morrigan can mount Dyson’s head to her wall, she’s going to have to go through proper channels. There’s the “civilized” we’ve been missing all episode. Unfortunately, proper channels is really backroom dealing and calling in favors, and Dyson doesn’t want Trick to burn all his friendships for him or put himself in the Morrigan’s way. He wants to get out there and do something. Bo understands how hard it is for him to watch and wait, but recognizes that he’s dead meat if he leaves the Dal. She pulls the trust card, then threatens to drain him into staying put. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the way protector males are usually portrayed: he doesn’t take her power play seriously, but is still able to let his ego go long enough to take both her advice and some comfort in her concern. They match up well strength for strength with Dyson perfectly willing to let Bo do her thing and accept her help. He’s not sitting idly by though. He asks Trick about a memory fae called a kirin, and Trick moves to track one down.

Lucky for Dyson, Kenzi is still on the investigation too. A boy with the worst eyeliner job I have ever seen approaches her at Carpe Noctem and starts to bring his emo game. Kenzi looks the part, but isn’t down with the lines, so she gets her lead on Portia and blows him off. She so snarky, you almost feel bad for the guy—I mean he had the guts to hit on her in the first place, and that’s saying something because she is fiercely hot. “Sad now, but we shall meet again in the eternal void.”
Ksenia Solo


Bo’s found her way back to the police station to see if Hale has come up with any more leads. He hasn’t. Ba’al’s got too many enemies to even start looking into. And he was pretty loyal to Vex. Even worse, Dyson may have more enemies than Ba’al. “In case you haven’t noticed, our boy has a short fuse…and big teeth.” They don’t have much on the other witnesses, but Lauren arrives to provide absolutely no new information. Things are still tense with Bo. She shows us a crime scene photo that we’ve already seen and says the bite is consistent with a canine. They are still working on the hair analysis. It could all match Dyson, but he’d need to turn himself in to get an impression made and submit to tests. Bo and Hale think this is the worst possible idea, and I’m right on board, from what I’ve heard this episode the dark will have him strung up and gutted before the plaster dries on the tooth mold. Lauren leaves to “keep working on it,” since she’s done so much far, I don’t have high hopes that we’ll CSI Dyson out of this one. The back and forth on how to help Dyson has warmed Hale up to Bo being on the case--and by Dyson’s side--though. “Dyson is a particular kinda man. A man like him will give up too much for someone he cares for. Sometimes everything. I worry about him getting in too deep. Thought you might be bad for him.”
K.C. Collins

They come to a good place. And Bo takes off to meet back up with Kenzi. Before she does, we cut back to the Dal and start our second power and position trip of the evening. The Ash wants Dyson to give up sanctuary and turn himself over for procedure and politics and the greater good. Trick isn’t having it, even on the Ash’s order. “You should be very certain of your own grasp on power before you start attacking others.” The Ash doesn’t like that answer or the stony glare he’s getting from a disobedient Trick. He looks to Dyson who just cocks his head. With that one move, all the cards are on the table: Dyson doesn’t take his orders from the Ash.

Kenzi has finally found her way to Portia. They instantly bond as runaway street kids who wear a lot of black and have horrible hair extensions. Kenzi gets Portia’s witness statement that she saw a wolf kill Ba’al. She is very certain and not the least unwilling blame a werewolf for the murder and have that be the end of it. Unrealistic? Not as unrealistic as her acting job, but still. Kenzi offers her a place to crash to make up for pretending to be her friend to get her statement. Self-preservation your name isn’t Portia takes her up on it. She takes her back to the clubhouse, and as she’s getting ready for bed, we see her back covered in slash marks. “You look like you just lost a fight to Freddy Kruegar!” Oh yeah, and she doesn’t remember how it happened. Bo goes into the club to reinterview Silas and Vex. Vex has some fun with his Bo puppet, and as smarmy as he is, he is also pretty adamant that he didn’t kill Ba’al.

That being a dead end, she returns to see what Dyson got from the memory fae. Unfortunately, the kirin says his memories are gone and they aren’t coming back. All they’ve got is a lead from the last phone call Dyson took before he left work: an art dealer. Since Dyson isn’t much for the art scene, it’s worth tracking down. Bo uses her special skills to wrest the story from the art dealer: he frequented Vex’s club and liked pain games. Vex and Ba’al ran a room for guys like him in the basement, but when they took it too far and killed a girl, he called the police and they hooked him up with Dyson. When Bo tells Hale, Hale remembers the girl’s description and they determine that the dead girl was light fae. Things are starting to add up, but like Portia’s memory there are some big holes.

Things are really starting to move now. Trick is calling some guy on the phone a chicken before hanging up angrily. Dyson doesn’t want Trick to throw away any more for him than he already has. Apparently his “short fuse” is all burned out. He grabs his jacket and, despite Trick’s protests, is out the door to find out what happened. Bo is close behind him, stopping first to work things out with Kenzi at the clubhouse. Portia has disappeared, but Bo finds her selective memory awfully convenient. Given that she has no survival instinct they divine that she’s probably returned to the club.

Dyson’s gotten there first. He goes underground looking for Vex and attacks.

Before he can get any answers, the Morrigan arrives with her henchmen. They carry him away to threats against Trick and Bo if he fights back. They string him up in torture room and start with the questions. Turns out the Morrigan doesn’t really care about Ba’al—she wants info on Bo. “Well, you know what she knows.” “But not as much as you know,” counters the Morrigan. She’s a sharp cookie. Vex moves to torture to see if he’ll crumble.
Paul Amos, Kris Holden-Ried

Bo and Kenzi are giving girls gone wild a whole new name as they charge into the now closed club looking for Portia and answers. They find Portia strapped to a chair in a room covered in red foil wrapping paper. She swears she’s okay because Silas would never let anything happen to her. All the while rubbing the bracelet she stole from Silas’s place. For once Bo puts the pieces together. The bracelet’s writing is also in Lycanthrope. Silas is a wolf shifter and now we have someone else to pin the murder on. Time to find Dyson.



They’re still torturing him when Bo & Co rush in. They run through the whole story. Silas loved Portia. Since he didn’t want Ba’al to kill her, he took the opportunity of Dyson going all rage-tastic on Ba’al to roofie him, knock him out, kill Ba’al, and get Portia to say that she saw Dyson do it. Hale has been called, there’s the small matter of the dead light fae girl to consider, and the Morrigan doesn’t want a war. So before you know it, Bo & Co are headed out.

The Wrapup

Back at the Dal, the Ash has returned to say the dark caught who killed Ba’al and are dropping their action against Dyson. Dyson gives Bo a look of amusement and pride, “Well they do some good work sometimes.” Awww, team badass wins again. Dyson thanks Trick for his support. As he and Bo are walking out, he thanks her too. “I need to thank you more than anyone. You were always so sure I didn’t do it.” Turns out, Bo doesn’t need to know every last detail about Dyson’s history. “I know you.” “Yeah, I think I know you, too.” Big themes today: trust and loyalty, power and politics. And oh yeah, one last kiss.
 
Side note: because we’ve all been talking about the tattoo and madly stalking Kris Holden-Ried on the Internet, we know the back one is real, but he’s not sharing what it actually says. Privacy? What’s that?

Questions:
1.       Not a quipy episode, but favorite line of the night?
2.       What exactly is in a black orgasm?
3.       Does it disturb anyone else to see Dyson drink something purple with a straw?

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