Lost Girl 3.09 "Ceremony" REVIEW

Lost Girl 3.09 “Ceremony” TV REVIEW

Episode 3.09
Writer: James Thorpe
Director: Lee Rose

THE ONE WHERE It's time for the Dawning and Bo undertakes her trials to keep herself from devolving into an Under-Fae. Surprise, surprise, she makes it through okay – but Dyson doesn't...

VERDICT Darn you, Lost Girl , for completely psyching me out and making me think that Dyson was really dead. Not many shows can do that with a main character, but somehow it was pulled off perfectly here, possibly because Anna Silk sold Bo's grief so wonderfully that there seemed no doubt that Dyson had ceased to be. The big finale, in which Bo goes full-on Succubus (with something else along for the ride, perhaps?) in order to raise Dyson from the dead, is brilliantly achieved; the shocked looks on her friends' faces after she's sucked their life essence from them is perfect. (Also, notice how only Lauren and Kenzi fall down; the humans are weaker than Trick and Stella. Nice touch.)

I'd been worried for weeks that the trials of the Dawning might be a bit of a letdown because they've been built up so much. In reality, they almost live up to the hype: there's certainly a growing sense of desperation as they continue, although you never really get the sense that Bo has to be quite as strong as everybody made out beforehand. Saying that, however, she would never have made it through without Dyson, and the fact that he dies is the twist that really makes the Dawning as horrible as it could be. Brave wolf!

FAE OF THE DAY The Caretaker, the man keeping an eye on things inside the Dawning. He's like Rod Serling, only without the cigarettes and the looks to camera.

APPLAUSE REQUIRED Somehow, but with what looks like some difficulty, Ksenia Solo manages to run in these heels. There should be an Emmy for this.

LOVE TRIANGLE LATEST Wow, where to start? While this season so far has focused almost entirely on Bo and Lauren, it's Dyson and Bo who steal all the glory here. He finally admits that he loves her and Bo reacts by hitting him (one series of slaps in particular sound very painful and don't seem to be sound effects, so Kris Holden-Ried may have been nursing some bruises after filming!). His speech about how much he loves her, but how he's come to accept that he can't have her, is a real chin-wobbler and is delivered with just the right level of earnestness, sappiness and humour: the perfect Lost Girl combination. His willingness to die for Bo is pretty spectacular, too.

So what now? If I were Bo, I'd be demanding a timeshare relationship with Dyson and Lauren (Dyson: weekends; Lauren: weekdays) because how the hell could you ever choose between them after all this?

KISS COUNT Lauren and Bo snog before she enters the Dawning, and Dyson and Bo snog while they're in there.

WHO'S THAT GIRL? Stella arranges for a group of scantily-clad models to be a succubus banquet, but Bo refuses. The model who takes the time to talk to Bo then reappears all the way through the Dawning – for example, as a picture on a calendar or on the cover of a magazine. What's that about, then? Is she there to remind Bo that she's hungry (not that Bo shows any signs of hunger), or is she there to remind her that she turned down the chance to kill her because she's a good guy?

WAS IT JUST ME, OR...? Did anyone else wonder why Bo couldn't just feed off the models but not kill them? She could get Kenzi to stop her before she went too far. And there were a lot of models to half-feed from. Hmm.

BIT OF SYMBOLISM, THERE When we see Tamsin in Bo's hallucination, she has blood on her hands. Wonder what that's about...

KREE! If you watched Stargate SG-1 you too may have giggled over the fact that the mark Trick paints on Bo's forehead looks like Teal'c's tattoo.

DID YOU SPOT? When we see alternative-Kenzi in one of Bo's hallucinations, she's wearing a necklace with the symbol of the key on it.

DID YOU SPOT #2? The music playing when Bo enters the Dawning is “The Wanderer”, which picks up on last week's “Wanderer” Tarot card.

BEST LINES
Stella: “Without a full feed, she will fail the Dawning. She will devolve. She will die.”
Kenzi: “She will surprise the shit out of you.”

Or…

Dyson (quoting Notting Hill ): “I'm just a wolf, standing in front of a succubus, asking her...”
Bo: [slaps him]

Jayne Nelson

Lost Girl season three will air in the UK on Syfy from 23 April

• Read our other Lost Girl season three reviews