Thank fae—Lost Girl Season 3 is here! Be sure to check out all of our recaps, from Season 1 and Season 2 to the most recent episode of Season 3 aired in the U.S. on the SyFy Channel.
Spoiler Policy: Please remember that there is a strong NO SPOILERS policy for any and all comments. We are ONLY DISCUSSING episodes of Lost Girl that have already aired in both Canada and the U.S. (the U.S. is currently a day behind Canada's schedule). Be kind and respectful by not ruining it for those who have yet to watch the newest Season 3 episode. Thanks!
Editor's Note: A mini recap of Megan Frampton's first thoughts on the episode was posted yesterday and can be found HERE. And now, on to Kiersten's full recap of Lost Girl 3.09, “Ceremony.”
We open on a lovely bedroom bathed in blue light so right away we know we’re in a dream world. The camera pans across the photos, an alarm clock that reads 3:01 AM, to the wood sleigh bed where Dyson sleeps…alone. His arm reaches out and he wakes when he only finds an empty pillow. Mildly alarmed, he sits up and looks toward what must be the bathroom. “Babe, are you okay?” he calls with concern. Bo pulls open the double doors and stands in the doorway. She’s wearing a stunning, white satin, foot-long nightgown. She tells him she couldn’t sleep. “Another bad dream?” he asks. Bo says she’s knows she hasn’t been herself lately. Dyson shakes his head and says it’s okay as he stands. “And you have been so patient,” Bo continues. (Yes we have! Okay, maybe not so much patient as biding our time with clenched teeth.)
Dyson smiles softly. “I’m a husband,” he says with a shrug (OH IF ONLY). “It’s my job.” Bo says she just wanted to be sure before she told him. He frowns. “Okay, now you’re starting to freak me out a little,” he says in THAT VOICE and steps closer. Bo takes his hand in hers. “For the last few days, I feel like I’ve been going crazy.” With concern, Dyson asks her what’s wrong. Bo continues, “The things that I have been thinking and seeing…” He kind of braces himself a little for whatever is next. Bo drops the act and gets a smug, satisfied, happy smile on her face as she holds up the stick. “I’m pregnant,” she chimes. Dyson looks at the stick, looks at Bo, smiles and starts to laugh. Bo laughs too and they embrace with Dyson lifting her off her feet. Filled with love and joy, they can’t hold one another tight enough.
The End.
No seriously show, just stop right there. Look, I have a rewind button; we can go back to the beginning and run that 1.12 minutes of the show 43 times to fill up the entire episode time frame. Watch, I’ll demonstrate…
Oh, all right—fine. Kill joys.
Credits.
Another day, another alley. In the bright light of day, a scruffy looking man runs across a vacant lot behind some buildings while a title card pops up in the foreground: “Earlier.” Bo suddenly pops up to block his way, large pipe in hand (not a euphemism!) “Hi!” she greets with a smile. So polite! “I’m Bo.” She hits him in the chest with the pipe. SLM merely looks down at the pipe as though a fly just landed on his chest. He snatches the pipe from her hand and tosses it behind him. “Mild weather we’re having?” Bo jokes. SLM takes a broad swing at her, which Bo ducks beneath to take a few steps back the way SLM just came to retrieve the pipe. Kenzi runs up to join her, gasping for air, as Bo turns to attack only to find SLM has continued to hotfoot away.
Panting, Bo smacks Kenzi on the back and asks how she’s doing. Kenzi’s bent at the waist, hands on knees. “Like Wile E. Coyote,” Kenzi, also panting, answers. “You?” Bo admits their escape is particularly fast, “but Stella says I need him. Well, his sweat.” Kenzi: “Right, at least we’re not risking a heart attack for something gross.” Bo expositions for us all that SLM secretes pheromones that she needs to gain entrance to The Temple. “He’s an Oo’glug. Didn’t Trick tell you?” Kenzi: “Me and Trick only talk sweat on Tuesdays. We gansta like that.” Kenzi in da house!! She goes on that it’s not that she doesn’t enjoy this “rest, but doesn’t the most important ceremony of your life start in like an hour?!” Bo agrees that Kenzi is right. She leans forward conspiratorially. “Breaks over,” she says and takes off after SLM. “No, I take it back!” Kenzi wearily calls after her. “We have plenty of time.” Bo ignores her and with a groan, Kenzi and her six-inch heeled boots hurry after her. “Where’s the ACME company when you need ‘em!?!”
But the SLM has disappeared. “Where did he go?” Bo moans as Kenzi catches up. “Enough with the chasing,” she gasps. “Phone me.” Bo digs her mobile out of her boot and hands it over. Kenzi pulls up a map of the area and tells Bo that their “boy is about to run out of runway.” She shows the map to Bo and explains that the direction SLM took will lead him into a dead end street in the warehouse district. Bo snarks that their luck must be changing. “I’d just like to point out,” Kenzi continues as Bo looks at the useless pipe and then tosses it aside, “that no escape for him means no escape for us.”
Bo is unconcerned and, with a waggle of her fingers, asks for the phone back. Kenzi plays coy and hides the mobile behind her back. “I just want to check my messages,” Bo says, annoyed. Kenzi tells her to relax. “There could be any number of reasons why (Doctor) Lauren hasn’t returned any one of your 27 texts.” Bo: “Like I blew her off to play spaghetti western in Brazenwood with Tamsin?” Kenzi quietly suggests that Bo give Doctor Lauren some more credit. Great, now Kenzi is championing Doctor Lauren. Nifty. “And that was kind of insensitive, you and Tamsin sitting in (Doctor) Lauren’s apartment sharing a glass of Chardonnay.” Bo is nodding along—she knows she screwed up—but then corrects with asperity that it was champagne. “Oh dude!” Kenzi chortles. “Much worse.” No shit. “And a kiss,” Bo says in a sultry voice and immediately takes off. “A WHAT?!” Kenzi yells after her. “Hey!” Bo: “Come on, Short Stack!” Kenzi: “You! Get back here young lady! Tell me about this kiss!” When Bo doesn’t respond, Kenzi runs after her. “This kind of friendship has rules, you know!” Hahahahaha!!! It is SO GOOD to see them back in sync again.
Over in Doctor Lauren’s flat, the doc opens the door to show Dyson on her doorstep. After cordial if weak greetings, Dyson enters the flat leading with some red folders and explains that Hale (Hale!) wanted him to bring them by. Doctor Lauren snits that Hale could’ve sent a messenger and Dyson shrugs it off as he was heading that way anyway. It’s an interesting choice of camera angle, shooting down from the top of the staircase and—what is that on the floor? Is that some sort of deliberate design…or the left over stain from the cleanup of NotComaNadia’s blood?
Sounding miserable, Doctor Lauren tells him she’s been working on an antidote for Bo’s “situation.” I’m not sure when a cure for the natural evolution of a species became possible, but whatever. “I’m not sensing the thrill of victory,” Dyson observes. “This upcoming Dawning ceremony has me worried, Dyson,” she admits. “Yeah, me too,” he commiserates. The doc is desperate to find something to slow down, or even arrest Bo’s decline. “Do you know that I have a hard time believing that I ever found someone like Bo?” she says, getting teary even as she smiles. “That she even exists?” Dyson sighs and ducks his head for a moment. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” he says with a sad smile. The doc smiles and rolls her eyes a bit as she realizes that he does indeed know what she means. Probably even more than she does. I kinda like that these two are having a moment about Bo that they are uniquely qualified to understand, but I also find it more than a little oblivious that the doc is saying this to Dyson. It’s a testament to how far he’s come that he not only offers her an ear, things she can’t tell anyone else, but that he then tries to encourage her. “It’s going to be fine,” he says. “I got a good feeling about it.” The doc chuckles genuinely. “Well, I have a hard time measuring feelings. Scientifically speaking.” That’s because you can’t measure them, doc. “Yeah, sometimes it’s not about what you can prove,” Dyson suggests. “It’s about what you believe.”
The doc makes a strange grimace and lifts the folders thanks for bringing these and turns away, but Dyson calls her back. “Ah (Doctor) Lauren,” he says. “I’m really glad that you and Bo are in such a good place.” He holds her gaze for a moment to make sure she knows he means the sentiment sincerely. He’s resigned to the relationship and wants Bo to be happy in it. Ya know, sometimes that nobility of yours is really annoying, Wolf Man. For her sake, Doctor Lauren has this miserable expression on her face, she’s just ravaged and barely holds it together until Dyson leaves. I think her reaction is partially because the sentiment came from Dyson, who was sincere about it because he wants Bo to be happy, but mostly because Bo and Doctor Lauren are very much not in a good place, and she knows it.
Back in the warehouse district, Bo and Kenzi race around another corner complete with building scaffolding and stacked wood flats. Bo looks around, spies a door, and heads right for it. “Time to get our Oo’Glug on.” Kenzi clasps her hands and lifts them in mock prayer. “Please let me live to regret this!” she says and follows Bo into…a photo shoot?
It’s a lingerie photo shoot (from 1955 judging by the size of those brasseries) with four women and two very young men. Bo and Kenzi gape at the barely clad models. I don’t see SLM anywhere. I thought at first he was the photographer, but no. “Ah, that boy knows how to get down,” Kenzi admires. The women start to target Bo with their come hither moves. “Lay-cee,” Kenzi notes. Bo frowns. “What the hell is this?” Stella steps into the frame. “They’ve been waiting for you, Bo,” she explains haughtily. Behind her, all the models strike a pose and hold it for Bo. “Welcome to the first phase of your Dawning.”
Stella approaches Bo and Kenzi. “These fine human specimens are for you,” she tells Bo. “To do what with?!” Bo asks hotly. “To feast on, of course,” Stella returns, unmoved. “To satiate yourself before entering The Dawning.” Kenzi: “THAT is Victoria’s Secret!” HAHAHA!! Perfect! Bo is putting the pieces together. “Are you telling me this whole quest for Oo’Glug sweat…” “His name is Keith,” Stella interrupts flatly. Snicker. “He’s one of my regular players.” Bo shakes her head, amazed by Stella’s audacity. “It was all a set up to get me here.” Kenzi nods in offended agreement. “Ree-volting!”
Stella gives her a condescending look—ight about the time Kenzi notices the buffet of liquor set up by craft services. “Is that brand name liquor?” she sneers at Stella before she slinks away. Stella checks behind her as the attentive brunette model who’s been eyeing Bo since she walked in sashays her way across the room. “You’re Bo. The agent from Rio,” she says and plays with Bo’s hair. Did her Bat Signal go off and I missed it again? “I didn’t think you were going to be so….stunning.” She leans into Bo. “We’re going to have so much fun,” she promises. Bo sways toward her and her eyes go succubus blue before she can control herself. “Oh, bitch,” she snarls over her shoulder at Stella. “You are evil.”
“Why?” Stella asks as the model sashays back to the shoot. “Because I seem to be the only one not denying you’re a succubus.” You should talk to Dyson. He reminds Bo of it regularly. Over at the liquor buffet, Kenzi listens in as she preps a tall drink. “I know you’re tempted,” Stella urges. “Take her. Take them all.” Bo is extremely tempted, but she shakes her head in denial. “Fully fed is the safest way to enter The Temple,” Stella reiterates but again Bo refuses. “Then take him,” Stella suggests, indicating one of the boy toys. “The Morrigan signed him to an exclusive contract.” Wouldn’t taking one of The Morrigan’s pets just make her even more pissed at Bo? Eh, whatever. But Bo has decided. “I’m leaving,” she tells Stella definitively. “He’ll be dead in six months anyway,” Stella informs her, one last attempt to convince Bo to feed. “Not by my hand,” Bo insists and leaves.
“Look how tired you are from chasing Keith,” Stella calls after her. “Multiply that ten times over and you might be able to imagine the grueling trials The Dawning will throw at you.” She seems to have caught Bo’s attention with that last salvo…which is when Kenzi intervenes. “All right, I think we’re just about done here, Stell,” she says, stepping in between Bo and Stella, full, tall glass in hand, complete with umbrella. “Your empathy for the human species in commendable,” Stella offers Bo, completely and deliberately ignoring Kenzi. Kenzi gives Bo a look –she did not just say that—and Bo glares back—bitch totally did. “But it’s not the ancient way of the Fae,” Stella finishes. “Maybe not,” Bo says as she stalks back to confront Stella directly. “But it’s my way. You keep saying I don’t know who I am, well I know this. I will not murder for pleasure.”
Bo strides away and Stella makes one last play by finally using Kenzi. “Without a full feed,” she warns, “she will fail The Dawning. She will devolve. She will die.” “She will surprise the shit out of you,” Kenzi counters. “And—and you’d think that I would get tired of watching but I never do – and I never will…” she shoves her glass at Stella, “Stell.”
In a righteous rage, Bo flings open the door to Hilton Hovel (drink! oh finally! I was getting thirsty!). “I can’t believe her,” she grits out, leading the way into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of wine. “I mean, who the hell does she think she is?!” Kenzi grabs the wine from the table. “Careful, baby,” she advises, “Mama likes her wine.” Which makes me think there should be a Lost Girl/Cougartownwine off sometime except they’d probably drink all the wine everywhere and then where would I be?
On a tear, Bo leans on the table as Kenzi pours the wine. “Just when I think I am on board with all things Fae…” Kenzi: “You go and kiss the girl who tried to put you in jail.” Way to slide that one in there, kiddo. Bo trundles on in her tirade. “They go and pull sneaky shit like this!” She points a finger at Kenzi and in a quieter voice adds, “And I was going to tell you about that,” without missing a beat. Kenzi sets the wine bottle on the table with a decisive thud. “It’s fine,” she whinges with an edge. “Bigger fish to fry. We’ll talk about Valkyrie-lips when you return…cause you will.”
Bo worries about how vague Stella is being about her time in The Temple. “And who knows what will happen if I come out!” Kenzi pauses and stares off for a moment. “What are you thinking?” Bo asks. “I’m thinking…what happens to cats when their owners die?” Depending how long it takes to find the dead owner, they tend to eat them. Oh, you meant who takes on ownership. Right. Sorry.“Who’s going to pay the hydro bill? What even IS hydrol?!” Bo says her name softly, but Kenzi rallies for both of them. “No! You have been training nonstop! Dude, you got this!” Bo quietly reassures Kenzi that if anything were to happen to her, “you gotta know that you are taken care of!” Bo tells her not to worry. “Oh no,” Kenzi says and swivels her finger around her face. “This is not my worried face. This is my game face. I know that you’re going to get through this,” she reassures Bo, “and I’m gonna be on the other side with mojitos because horns or not, we getting’ drunk when this is done.” Holla! She holds up her hand and they high-five it out and hug. Bo sighs. “What if I’m drooling and have back hair?” she asks a bit plaintive. “We—will—get you waxed!” Kenzi decides. “You’ll always be my girl, Bo,” she promises. “Even if you do come outta there with a dong.” Bo smacks her on the arm. “Ow. No dong,” she agrees sullenly. “No dong,” Bo repeats.
At The Dal (drink!), a spread is laid out along the bar. Kenzi sits at the end by the door picking away at a bowl of snacks with an open beer bottle at hand as Stella emerges from Tolkien’s Parlor. “There’s never 'bean' a human present at a Dawning before,” she snits without looking at Kenzi. “Chill Stell,” Kenzi suggests. “I promise not to tweet.” HAHAHA!! Stella insists that Kenzi’s presence is simply not appropriate. “Bo is my BFF,” Kenzi informs her sharply. “Which stands for ‘Best Fae Forever’” She smiles unkindly. “So this is one chick whose pretty Pradas are nailed to the ground.”
Stella peers at her and narrows her eyes. “Your scars are so deep,” she assays. Kenzi goes on guard. “What?” Stella leans forward and whispers in Kenzi’s ear and whatever she says is enough to freeze Kenzi in place. Shock and fear fill her face as Stella raises her brows and sidles away. Across the room, Trick observes the two women and looks after Stella with the furrowed brow of I don’t like this.
Bo is on her mobile leaving yet another message for Doctor Lauren—Hey Lo, look I’m not trying to stalk you…” when the doc walks into The Dal (drink!). She’s wearing a pale blue button-down, full-sleeved, shirt that covers everything, in marked contrast to the gorgeous sea foam green dress from last episode and the shoulder revealing, draping shirts of previous episodes. She doesn’t look too happy either, rather resigned and fatalistic. Bo is relieved to see her. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come,” she says. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Bo,” Doctor Lauren vows. Bo, annoyed now, asks about the 27 texts she sent that Doctor Lauren didn’t answer. “I’ve been working like a demon,” the doc replies, getting worked up, “trying to find a serum or an antibody, something that might…” Bo takes her hand. “It’s okay, babe,” she reassures the doc. Doctor Lauren actually sneers. “It’s not,” she tosses back sharply. I’m pretty sure she means Bo’s imminent Dawning here, but she also could be referring to Bo’s behavior in the previous episode. Either way, I can’t believe, workload or no, that the doc let the emotional situation with Bo go unresolved for so long, especially when Bo has been making such an effort to apologize and make restitution. Instead, the doc looks angry and miserable. I wonder how much of that is due to her fears of Bo’s Dawning and residual anger about Bo’s behavior and how much related to her earlier conversation with Dyson.
But before Bo can ask what she means, Trick calls them to order. As Bo turns, we can see that while Bo holds Doctor Lauren’s wrist, the doc’s hand lies limply in hers and she pulls away from Bo as Trick approaches. Trick presents Bo with a lovely toast. “To my granddaughter. I’m so very proud of you. We all are. You’ve been through so much in the last three years, but you’ve always stayed true to yourself. To your heart. May this Dawning be your greatest triumph.” As he lifts his glass, Doctor Lauren, face set in hard lines, looks down and flinches while Kenzi takes a deep breath and braces for whatever comes next. Trick instructs Bo to come with him. “It’s time.” He leads the way down to Tolkien’s Lair(drink!) and indicates for Bo to sit on the settee before a table that has been prepared with several bowls of powder. “A little Bolivian marching powder for the road, Scarface?” Bo quips. Trick snorts lightly. “The essence of oleander represents your purity,” he explains. “Oh, I’m afraid that ship has sailed,” Bo jokes. “Of intent and deed,” Trick clarifies. “Of commitment to The Dawning.”
As he prepares the mixture, Bo takes the opportunity to explain that she couldn’t do the full feed. “I will never kill innocents again— would rather die!” But Trick has no idea what she’s talking about. “Stella’s model buffet,” Bo clarifies. “Wait, you didn’t know about that?” Trick very much did not and he’s not happy to hear about it either. Ruh roh. Think there’s trouble ahead for Trella. He goes back to his mortar and pestle. Quietly, Bo says she’s doesn’t know if she’s ever thanked him properly. Trick insists that it’s not necessary, but Bo equally insists that it is. “I know that I have not always been the perfect granddaughter,” she says, “and you have always been there for me. Believing in me. Loving me.” He smiles lovingly at her. “You have always exceeded everyone’s expectations.” He vows that this is not goodbye and stand with the mortar in hand. “Now, as a symbol of your true self while you are in The Temple…” He draws a circle on the center of her forehead and then one line across that circle horizontally with two parallel vertical lines beneath it. He hands over a mirror so Bo can see it and the symbol glows a warm gold red as she watches. Trick: “By embracing the tradition, you acknowledge your heritage.” Bo’s heritage is Pi?
Bo puts the mirror down with a decisive click. “You are the only heritage that I have left,” she says to Trick definitively. “Nothing is going to take that away from me.” They embrace.
Upstairs, various weapons are laid across a table as Stella officially reads The Dawning invocation from a scroll. “And with full knowing, the initiate enters willingly into the sacred ceremony. Do you accept the invitation?” Bo, with Kenzi and Doctor Lauren flanking her slightly in the back, accepts. “The time has come for you to choose an aide to take with you into The Dawning. But you may not choose a weapon until you chose a side.” Kenzi rolls her eyes and flings up her hand. Give me a break with the sides. She knows what Bo’s answer will be and indeed Bo refuses to choose. Shocking. It’s only your entire life that’s defacto Light Fae aligned. Seriously, this undeclared fiction is even beginning to wear on me.
“You already know my answer,” Bo tells Stella who returns that Bo then already knows the consequences. “Be it witnessed the initiate consents to enter The Dawning unarmed.” As she speaks, Dyson enters The Dal (drink!) unnoticed. “I offer myself as Hand,” he intones, surprising everyone. Great timing there, wolf man. “Like hell you do,” Bo retorts. Dyson steps up to her side and exchanges a speaking look with Trick before Trick nods acceptance to Dyson’s offer. Dyson is settled and resigned. Whatever it is he’s offering, he is at peace with it. He smiles fondly at Bo. “Do you even know what that means?” “I know when you’re up to no good,” she shoots back, clearly still pissed about the whole not-telling-her-about-his-returned-love thing. Dyson sighs and gives her a chiding look for her childish reply before he explains that an initiate has the right to select a Hand or—a companion—for the journey.” Behind Bo, Doctor Lauren stares at Dyson which shocked horror. Whatever he’s offering, she knows the cost and by the look on her face, it’s a doozie. “It’s not like we’re going camping, Dyson,” Bo snaps.
“Does he understand…” Stella whispers to Trick who calmly cuts her off with “the offer has been made. Do you accept,” he asks Bo but she resolutely refuses. Dyson tilts his head with frustration—he knew she would do this—as Kenzi steps up to his side. “Or maybe—” she says to Bo and smacks a hand on Dyson’s shoulder to indicate that Bo should accept his offer. “Kenzi!” Bo reprimands. Kenzi says,“Trick, would you please tell her this is the right thing to do?”
“It is,” Doctor Lauren interjects and everyone turns to the for-the-moment forgotten doctor. Doctor Lauren looks from Bo to Dyson and he and the doc share a strong nonverbal moment. Inhaling deeply, the doc tells Bo to take any advantage. “Dyson will keep you safe,” she declares with confidence. Even the doc knows this to be true. Frowning, Bo looks at Dyson who raises his brows at her. See? Even Doctor Lauren agrees with me. It really seems as though Doctor Lauren expects to have her relationship torn apart by Bo’s Dawning, either by the outcome if Bo should fail and devolve into an Underfae, or even worse, perhaps if Bo should succeed and evolve even further into her Fae nature, possibly to a point where there is no place for her human lover. Whatever her reasons, the doc is practically having a breakdown. Nearly in tears, she steps up to Bo and kisses her deeply and with an odd sense of finality. Dyson watches calmly while Kenzi pats him on the shoulder again, still firmly aligned with Dyson when it comes to Bo’s romantic choices, no matter what verbiage she might offer toward Doctor Lauren. As they pull back from one another and as before in 2.22, Dyson is framed between them, but unlike that episode, this time his gaze is firmly fixed on Bo before it flickers once to Doctor Lauren as she says, “for luck?” Bo: “Believe me, I feel lucky.” The doctor says she’ll see Bo soon. Bo turns to Dyson. “Let’s do it,” she says with all the enthusiasm of approaching a death march. He indicates that she should precede him and she leads the way to a prepared large bowl that holds several heads of flowers. Choosing one, she places it in another bowl that’s filled with water. As it sinks, it begins to glow and a shiny portal opens up before Bo and Dyson. Bo glances back as the rest of her Faemily once and then together Team Badass enter The Temple for Bo’s Dawning.
The come out of the portal and into—he Dal? (drink!). Dion’s “The Wanderer” is playing (anvil much?) and Bo hurries over to the bar to grab the remote and turn the music off. On the bar, the model from Stella’s model buffet is on a beer advert tent card. There is a partially drunk mug of beer on the bar as though someone just left. “Well I hope you didn’t forget anything,” Dyson says, which makes no sense. She can’t bring anything, so how could she forget anything? “Temple, huh?” Bo snarks, looking around the bar. “I expected more marble.” She puts the remote down and picks up the tent card. “What, The Dawning couldn’t have sprung for a new bar?” Dyson notes that at least the taps are still working. “Beer?” he offers, gesturing toward the mugs on the bar. But alone now, Bo wants to know what Dyson is doing. “What the hell did you just do back there?”
“The Dawning only happens once in a fae’s life, Bo,” he reminds her, neatly dodging the question, “and no matter how this thing ends, yours is going to be different. So…” he picks up the mug, “might as well share a drink with a friend while you still can, huh?” But Bo wants an answer. “Dyson, why are you here?”
“Been wondering that myself!” a new voice exclaims. A man enters in custodial clothes, pushing a broom before him. Dyson puts the mug down and steps up to cover Bo’s back as she confronts the man. “No offense, pal, but friend or foe?” He suggests they call him The Caretaker. “I’ve been here so long I can’t rightly remember my given name.” Dyson’s head jerks slightly in reaction to this. “My mother wouldn’t approve,” The Caretaker continues, “but I can’t rightly remember my mother’s name either.” He and Dyson look at Bo and The Caretaker chuckles. “The unaligned succubus.” Bo glances over her shoulder and Dyson gives her an I don’t know who he is either look. “Pretty sure that’s my name,” Bo says warily but The Caretaker just natters, “Just when you think you’ve seen it all—and believe me I have.” He casually welcomes her to The Dawning. “See you’ve brought yourself a hero too.” Bo again glances over her shoulder at Dyson who takes a deep breath and shifts on his feet as if bracing for a reveal. “Tip my hat to you if I were wearing one,” The Caretaker says instead. I’m gonna guess he knows exactly whatever it is Dyson’s done here.
“You mind including me in the convo?” Bo interrupts with bite. “It’s kinda my big night.” Dyson agrees and urges The Caretaker to get to the point. “This thing kinda sprung up on Bo and we’d,” here his head gestures pointedly, “like to get it done with.” The Caretaker explains that it’s pretty simple. “Now that you’re in The Temple, you need to get out.” Bo wonders if The Caretaker is there to tell her how “so we can call it a day,” and The Caretaker giggles. “You don’t disappoint, little lady.” I hate the phrase little lady. “You’ve got a real spirit, very funny. Regardless, you still have to find…The Key. The Key you seek unlocks The Portal. Accept The Key in the form it is presented and you’re free. Reject it and—well—imagine slobbering all over the place unable to remember the people you love.” I get the feeling he’s had first-hand experience with that. “Underfae,” Bo sneers. “Got it.”
The Caretaker continues: “Until you find The Key is in hand, you won’t go anywhere,” The Caretaker intones darkly. “Anyhoo!” he chirps out of nowhere. “That’s my time. You’ve been great.” “The Wanderer” song clicks back on,startling Bo and Dyson enough to look around and when they look back, The Caretaker is gone. It’s Dyson’s turn to grab the remote while Bo hurries over to find out where The Caretaker got to. “Well, that was quite the exit,” Dyson says. “So what now?” Bo asks and Dyson shrugs. Neither of them knows what happens next.
Back at The real Dal (drink!), Kenzi sits pensively, idly playing with her hair. Trick comes up and gently offers leftover nachos for her to mange while they wait, but Kenzi claims not to be hungry. Clearly there is something very wrong. Trick asks if she wants to talk and Kenzi immediately takes him up on the offer. “Back when I got that rash from the kitsune and she Kenzi-napped me and yada yada yada, she told me that I could be Fae.” Trick: “Did she now?” Kenzi: “Which isn’t really true, is it?” She seems to both want him to reassure her that it isn’t and at the same time give her the frightening hope that she could be. I thought the kitsune said that while Kenzi had the rash she could have been fae, but I wrote that recap very late at night. There could’ve been dancing unicorns in that cave and I might have missed it. Trick, of course, cuts to the heart of the matter. “What did Stella say to you?” Kenzi flatly relates that Stella told her what happens to humans who are abandoned by the Fae who claimed them. Trick grimaces, ducks his head and sighs heavily. That’s two strikes, Stella. Hers is a common Fae bias, and one Trick shared not so long ago, but he still doesn’t like that she’s wielded it against Kenzi.
He tells Kenzi that she’s not Bo’s pet and she quickly counters that she’s not Fae either. “Bo’s very strong,” Trick reassures. “I have every hope and faith that she’ll…emerge safely.” But Kenzi finally asks what happens to her if Bo doesn’t? “Hale or Dyson could use someone to do chores around the house,” Trick teases. He’s teasing her; obviously he’s not going to update his joke for the possibility that if Bo doesn’t return intact from The Dawning, it’s likely Dyson won’t as well. But his jest is enough to lighten Kenzi’s attitude. “Don’t—play me, homie!” she orders. “I suppose,” Trick says, still smiling, “if Bo weren’t around anymore…I could claim you.” Kenzi looks up surprised and touched. “Get out.”
“Even though I have no right to,” Trick says,” I’ve come to think of you as family, Kenzi. I hope you don’t mind.” Kenzi smiles softly; she so doesn’t mind. “Well, it’s a little presumptuous,” she mock objects, “but, if you must.” They share a beautiful, loving smile. “Then for however long you want it, you have a place in my world,” Trick promises. He leans toward her. “Our world,” he says firmly. Overcome, Kenzi reaches across the table to hug Trick. “Thank you,” she says a little teary. Trick rubs her back in comfort, but free from her scrutiny, he frowns, worried about Stella, worried more about Bo.
It’s a lovely, lovely moment. I don’t think this contradicts what Trick said to Hale earlier in the season about Kenzi not being one of them. He meant it and she’s not. Hale had to be reminded of that harsh truth in order to be The Ash they needed, an Ash who did not have a human intimate. But I think her kidnapping by the kitsune brought home to Trick how much he cares for her and, like Kenzi’s relationship with Dyson, Trick and her bond exists outside of Kenzi’s connection to Bo, as Trick just demonstrated. Though he might have to claim her at some point in Bo’s stead, she would never be his pet. She’s part of the Faemily.
This entire episode is filled with these lovely moments between characters, which makes my cynical recapper’s heart wonder what hell awaits us in the rest of the season.
Moving on. Relieved, Kenzi pulls back to sit in her chair, smoothing her hair and pulling her shields back into place. “So now what?” she asks. “We—we sit and wait?” Trick says no and walks over to the weapons table to lift a sawed-off shotgun and stand at the ready. “We prepare.” To what? Shoot Bo should she come back as an Underfae? What happened to locking her in a cage? Geez, Trick.
Back at the Dream Dal (drink! dreamily!), a roar from beyond the entrance echoes through the bar. Dyson jerks around toward the sound then, with a rare broad smile, he grabs Bo’s hand and tugs her with him as he moves toward the growl. “Wait!” Bo objects. “Where are we going?” “To get your key,” he says as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. I don’t understand the goofy, except that I think he’s just happy to be back in an adventure with Bo. He leads the way out of The Dream Dal (drink!) and into—ilton Hovel? (drink!). Bo is just as surprised to see where they landed. They both glance back at the door as they tried to make sense of what just happened. On the stove in the kitchen, the tea kettle goes off as though someone just put it on and had to leave. “Okay. Pretty sure my front door never led to The Dal, although some nights I wish it did,” she finishes, frowning as she crosses the room. Dyson looks over at something off screen and incongruously, grins. “Does this seem weird to you?” Bo asks, slowly making her way through the room. “My place, I mean. Everything’s off.” The camera zeroes in on a small painting of Stella’s Model hanging on a pillar.
“Well, to be more honest than a wolf probably should,” Dyson teases with a rakish look, “can’t really remember much else besides your bedroom.” Is he—s Dyson being –playful? What the hell is going on? Also, I APPROVE.
Bo snorts and he steps forward and immediately slams into a magazine floor rack that’s been left in the middle of the room as though someone just kicked it there. “OW!” he grunts and Bo laughs again. “So Karma does exist, huh,” she teases with a friendly pat on his arm. “Funny,” he shoots back smiling. I HAVE MISSED THEM TOGETHER LIKE THIS SO MUCH!!! Ahem.
There’s another growl, this time from the stairwell that leads to Bo’s room. Dyson glances in its direction and then back at Bo. “This way,” he says with an eyebrow waggle. He takes her hand and again tugs her toward the noise. “Wait, dude!” Bo objects. “Why are you pulling me towards the danger?”
“Guardian has The Key. We need to get it,” he points out. Wait, where did the whole “Guardian” thing come from? Think that’s an editing room mishap or that Dyson somehow has foreknowledge? “You’re awful chipper,” Bo snits, “me being so close to death and all.” I thought she was close to devolving into an Underfae, which I guess is a fate worse than death, but whatever. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” Dyson says with quiet sincerity. He holds out his hand. “Trust me.” She does, she always has, she knows that’ll never change and has repeatedly admitted so. And, apparently, she doesn’t object to his vowing not to let anything happen to her as, with a wary look, she playfully puts her hand into his outstretched one and lets him lead her onward.
Only to immediately be confronted with some horned Underfae who growls in their faces. “Stay back,” Dyson orders, shielding Bo with his body. “No,” she (typically) objects, pulling him out of his way. “This is my fight. Hey ugly,” she confronts the Underfae. “Use your words.” With a snarl, the Underfae rears back to strike her. At the last moment, Dyson slips in front of her to take the claws full on in his chest. The Underfae streaks past them and out the front door as Bo gapes at Dyson gasping with horror. She whirls him around to check his wounds. “I’m okay. I’m okay,” he assures her and lopes after the Underfae, Bo trotting behind him.
They burst out of Hilton Hovel (drink!), and into—he boxing gym where Dyson works out. He winces over his wounds as he reconnoiters the room. Bo stumbles in behind him and pauses just inside the threshold. Next to the door dangles the receiver of a landline wall phone as though someone just dropped it. Bo takes a step toward the desk where a jump rope also dangles as though someone just tossed it there. On the wall is a calendar featuring Stella’s Model, now bikini-clad. Surrounding the calendar are old boxing flyers, the one to the left with the headline FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE.
Breathing hard, Bo snaps at Dyson, “I appreciate the help, but stop cock-blocking me!” (My closed-caption hilariously says “cop-blocking”). “I guess a thousand years of chivalry is hard to shake,” he groans in apology. Behind him, the heavy boxing bag sways slightly back and forth as though someone just brushed it as they ran by. Mollified, Bo sidles over to check the slashes on his chest. “Did it ever occur to you I don’t need taking care of?” she asks with less bite. Her hands hover over his wounds as though afraid to touch them lest she hurt him more and her breath gets choppy again as her eyes well up with distress. “I know,” he returns softly and clasps her hands in silent reassurance that he’s okay. She raises his eyes to his. “I just wanted to be here,” he admits.
She rolls practically her entire body in frustration. “Why?!” she demands, the same question she’s been asking since they entered The Temple. She knows the answer, but she wants him to say it; for once she wants to hear the words directly from him. Not Kenzi. Not Tamsin. Only Dyson.
And he gives her the answer she’s been waiting for, for a long time. “Because I love you,” he confesses totally without artifice. FINALLY!! That took too damn long, show! He’s successfully managed to stun though not surprising Bo into silence. “Was that so hard to say?” she asks with hard deliberation while still holding hands. “You’re with (Doctor) Lauren now,” he points out unhappily. “I can’t say I like it, but I respect it.” I’m so glad he admitted he doesn’t like it. There’s been too much “Bo’s happy” and “I’m glad you’re in a good place together” stuff with him trying to put a good face on it. A little honest “it actually sucks the big one even if it is the reality we’re living with at the moment” is refreshing, much like Kenzi’s earlier silent re-alignment with Dyson.
Without hesitation, Bo punches him in the shoulder. “OW! God, I’m not going to be much help if I’m crippled.” Bo is working herself up into a right proper tirade. “You’re not going to be much help to me either if you’re pining over me, you moron!” The solution to that is easy: GO BACK TO HIM AND THERE WILL BE NO PINING. Duh! Plus, he’s been “pining” over you all season and has yet been outstandingly and repeatedly helpful, so there’s that.
But this pings for Bo too because she knows him better than that. “Wait. Is this some sort of suicide mission? Some kind of male-honor bullshit?!” (closed captions say “honour.” Hee.)
I will never understand why masculinity is depicted as inherently threatening to Bo's power or independence, nor why, outside of not wanting to see a loved injured on her behalf, it is such a horrible thing that Dyson loves her so much he willingly puts his body in front of her to take the hints and wounds meant for Bo. Not that he thinks Bo can’t handle it, but that she doesn’t always have to on her own. Even just now, Dyson has said he knows she can take care of herself and repeatedly has demonstrated this belief by stepping out of her way and letting her do the ass-kicking. Dyson empowers her and backs her play more than anyone but Kenzi. When the hell did this become something to be derided and scorned? When did it become bad to defend your partner? Dyson can handle his own shit, and yet Bo has come to his rescue more than once. You don’t hear him lamenting that he can take care of himself. He’s not threatened by a strong woman – he is drawn to her as an equal partner.
“I’m here because I want to be,” Dyson non-answers. “Why?!” Bo demands again. Yeesh, broken record much? “Because you would have done the same for me,” Dyson answers in THAT VOICE as he crosses the distance between them. “’Cause, in the last three years, I’ve learned more from you than I have in the first 1500 from every other person I’ve met. Even if I can’t have you,” he says painfully, ducking his head to look at their clasped hands. “Even if I can’t be with the woman that I love with every ounce of my being,” he whispers, heart in full display. Bo starts to tear up, overwhelmed with too many emotions, an almost audible Oh Dyson on her face. Seriously, there’s so much happening there, I can’t nail one emotion down to describe. Excellent work by AS.
Dyson shakes his head and smiles with a hard exhale. “Look, I’m just a wolf,” he jokes badly, “standing before a succubus, asking her to— ” His retreat from vulnerability into light humor pulls Bo out of her stupor. “A-HOLE!” she shouts, punching him back before he can get the last part of the quote “to love me” out. Groaning, he stumbles back across the room. Dyson raises a finger weakly. “I deserved that,” he grunts when he finally gets some air back. Bo is crying now and beyond frustration. “You are the most—frustrating, stubborn, ass face that I have ever met.” He loves you too, kiddo. “Hey, I don’t like me much either, trust me,” he gibes with sincerity, ending in a chuckle as he cradles his chest over his heart.
“Stop it,” she demands, pursuing him across the room. “Stop being so charming.” It’s true, he’s being ridiculously, annoyingly charming. “This isn’t the time, okay? I will kill you,” she finishes, openly crying as she slaps at him. When he just stands before her and takes it she starts to calm down though still breathes heavily with strong emotion. Her expression is equal parts confusing, misery, and frustrated love. “So what happens now?” she asks. I think she wants him to tell her what to do so she can blame him for her decision, but he won’t do it. “Nothing,” he replies. “But ask me again in a hundred years.” And taking her face in his hands he kisses her, not for a feed, not to get one over on Doctor Lauren (I’m pretty sure she’s the last thought in either of their minds at the moment), but simply because he loves her and is driven to show that love one last time.
He truly expects nothing and I think he expects not to survive her Dawning, which makes the “what happens now” matter moot. Either way, he’s releasing her to make a choice or to stay with the choice she’s already made. He’s not telling her he loves her to change her mind or win her back. He’s telling her because it’s the truth; it’s his truth, no hidden agenda, just a matter of fact. And if he doesn’t make it through her Dawning, as I increasingly think he genuinely believes he won’t, he wants her to know it, to know that he died willingly for her so that she could continue to live what he’s been led to believe is a happy life with Doctor Lauren.
Naturally, the moment he kisses her, the Underfae rises up out of nowhere, funnily enough framed between their kiss the same way Dyson was framed in Bo and Doctor Lauren’s kiss. Dyson roars and immediately takes a defensive position in front of Bo who, still reeling from Dyson’s kiss, can only gape as the Underfae punches him across the chest, right across the bloody grooves, knocking Dyson across the room where he rolls on the floor cradling his chest in pain. Turning on the still immobile Bo, the Underfae tosses her without resistance into the row of lockers on the wall. Grabbing her foot, he drags her across the room. Bo kicks at him, and the Underfae drops an old metal key on the ground as he falls. Bo scrambles past him to grab the key with a chortle of glee, but as Dyson struggles to his feet to help, the Underfae grabs Bo again and the two disappear before his eyes. “Bo!” Dyson lopes off though the door after her—only to wind up looping right back in the boxing gym’s entrance. This time, The Caretaker is there and he’s playing some kind of Backgammon meets Cribbage game. “Where’s Bo?!” Dyson demands. “Her subconscious is such an extraordinary playground,” The Caretaker observes. So we’ve confirmation that we are indeed in Bo’s subconscious…and that The Caretaker is playing around in it. “I can’t wait to watch the next part unfold.”
Dyson objects that The Dawning should be over. “She grabbed the key; I saw it!” he shouts. If so, that’s a damn disappointing Dawning for all its advanced hype. The Caretaker corrects that Bo grabbed “a” key. “Big difference.” He rolls his dice as Dyson growls, “I have to find her! I have to go after her!” and then hilariously mimics him. “I have to go. I have to find her.” Dyson silently snarls as The Caretaker says, “Don’t you get it? We’re moving on. Or at least Bo is.” This is clearly in reference to Bo progressing on through The Dawning while Dyson is stuck here in a composite of his boxing gym. Stuck the way The Caretaker is stuck after having made the same choice as Dyson long ago. Dyson strides over to the table, slams his hands down on it and shouts, “WHERE IS SHE?!” The Caretaker is unmoved.
Cut to the cop shop where Dream Detective Lauren slaps a folder down on a desk and takes her seat. “Morning partner,” Detective Bo says with an arch look. Dream Detective Lauren ignores Bo and her greeting as she studies her computer screen with a small, reserved smile. It’s interesting that Bo sits at what is typically Dyson’s side of the desk while Dream Detective Lauren takes what has been Hale and Tamsin’s side. Also, wow, they’ve finally found the clothes that can make even this pair of beautiful women look bad because those uniforms are hideous (and also not what detectives wear).
It’s interesting that the moment Bo moves on into the alternative fantasy world, the subtle hints of someone moving just one step ahead of her—the half drunk beer mug, the whistling tea kettle, the swinging phone receiver, the dangling jump rope, the swaying heavy bag—stop.
“Bo,” Dream Detective Lauren chirps as if just noticing that she was there. “You’re looking kind of—pale. Did you and Jason break up?” Her tone of voice is distant and polite. “Oh, God, can we not today?” Bo asks with annoyance. “I am so tired.” Dream Detective Lauren asks if Bo had the bad dream again and Bo confirms it. “And no—you weren’t in it,” she says with a sharp smile. Dream Detective Lauren smiles a bit and then asks if Bo’s dream included the monster again. “Yeah,” Bo muses and shakes her head. “It’s chasing me or I’m chasing it. But anyway.” She pulls a bottle of prescription meds from the desk drawer and downs a few. “You know,” Dream Detective Lauren remembers idly, “there was a time I would be in your dreams to save you.” Bo gives her a look. “I never needed saving,” she reminds Dream Detective Lauren. “You know, you don’t have to read into everything I say,” Dream Detective Lauren suggests. “You don’t want me anymore. That’s fine. I’m just trying to help.” Bo studies her for a moment. “Can’t you just be happy for me?” she wonders. “I am,” Dream Detective Lauren insists.
Dream Detective Lauren points to the folder she put on Bo’s desk and tells her that CI (confidential informant for those of you who’ve never seen an episode of Law & Order) that Bo has been grooming to testify got cold feet. Bo snatches up the folder but opens it to find a mug shot of her mother Aoife. Now I’m wondering if all those shots in The Temple of Stella’s Model were Bo’s subconscious producing a recently seen brunette for her mother until she went deep enough to visualize Aoife herself. Bo frowns at the picture. “Wrong file,” she grouses. She moans wearily and sets it aside as she tells Dream Detective Lauren that they are so close on this. “She is our only key.” This gives her pause. “Key,” she repeats thoughtfully. Dream Detective Lauren looks up. Did you say something? “I mean ‘lead’” Bo corrects. “On the case. Without her we have no way to takedown The Family.” She gets up to go into the interrogation room but pauses next to Dream Detective Lauren. “Just so you know, I was in it for the long haul.” This applies to both the real Doctor Lauren and Dyson. “It wasn’t my fault,” Dream Detective Lauren insists. “But you still gave your love away,” Bo accuses. I can’t believe this sentiment is solely meant for the real Dyson because he didn’t give his love away, it was brutally taken by The Norn (Freaking Norn!) through trickery, and though I do believe Bo still bears scars from that, she never once has thought Dyson willingly wrecked their lives. I think she’s using “gave” deliberately for both loves as Doctor Lauren has repeatedly given her love both to NotComaNadia and to science over Bo. My take is that Dream Detective Lauren is a composite of those things Bo doesn’t like about both her lovers. Doctor Lauren’s cold reserve and casual cruelness and Detective Dyson’s position of authority in a rule-following vocation.
Bo enters the interrogation room and sits across from a notably subdued Kenzi who is wearing a tee-shirt under a summer dress. Bo says she knows Kenzi wants to do the right thing. “I want out of this life,” Kenzi says fervently. “My old life.” Bo promises that if she talks to the jury, she can help all the victims the family preyed on. “You said that I would be safe. I don’t feel a whole lot of safe anymore!” I think this is Bo processing what the kitsune did to Kenzi when she, Bo, having vowed to keep Kenzi safe in the Fae world, failed to do so. “MacKenzie!” Detective Bo shouts. “You are safe. I promised that I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, that I would protect you.” Hey! Stop infringing on Kenzi’s power as a woman, Detective Bo! She doesn’t need your protection. She can take care of herself. Stop cock-blocking her! Oh, wait, no, that’s only when it’s Dyson being horribly protective, the rat bastard. Naturally, it doesn’t apply to you. When you do it, it’s noble and good. My bad.
“You’re leaving me,” MacKenzie accuses quietly. “I’m not leaving you!” Detective Bo denies but then backtracks, “this department –” but MacKenzie cuts her off. “You made me believe you!” she accuses in a broken voice. “Because you can,” Detective Bo insists. “My boss will take care of you, MacKenzie, I swear.” Bo believes that Trick will take care of Kenzi when she can’t, and we’ve already seen that Trick outwardly believes it too.
Back in the Dream Gym, The Caretaker claps his hands and asks “how’s it going so far, Hero? Is it everything you expected?” Dyson vows that this is what he was meant to do. “Fascinating,” The Caretaker mocks, “you were meant to do this? Or did you have to?”
“Are you trying to goad me?” Dyson wonders. The Caretaker says they both know how this is going to end, “for you.” Without Bo there, Dyson can allow his misery to show. Defeated, he hangs his head and his knees buckle as even his shoulder slouch. Yeah, he knows how it’s going to end and is resigned to it. “In The Temple,” The Caretaker offers, “time is immaterial. Aren’t you at all curious of what life you could create here?” Dyson’s head jerks up. What are you talking about? “Even if it’s an illusion?” The Caretaker finishes.
Back in the Dream Cop Shop, Bo comes back from getting coffee or whatever to find MacKenzie is gone. “Chief!” she calls as Trick comes around the corner. “Where is she?!” Chief Trick says that Bo got MacKenzie to cooperate with them, “and then we had to let her go.” Bo insists there has to be something else they can do, “I promised.” Chief Trick tells her that she’ll find another, “they’re a dime a dozen. When are you going to learn to play by the rules.” Oh, now we’re getting to the heart of it. “By what rules?” Bo asks. “Whose rules?!” “She’s not one of us!” Chief Trick shouts. “She never will be. We’ve got a job to do and if it comes down to protecting some kind of street rat or one of us?!” He spreads his arms and gives her a there’s no contest look. This is Bo’s fear, that despite what Trick says, once she’s gone, Kenzi will be left to fend for herself in the Fae world. “Then I’m not so sure I want to be one of us,” Bo snarls. That is her constant conflict stated right from the start of this episode “just when I think I can get on board with all things Fae…”
A Prius (of course it’s a Prius) pulls into the driveway of a lovely two-storied home, which is oddly out of place with the one-story cottages surrounding it. Bo gets out of the car and is greeted by her neighbor—a border-line manic Tamsin. “Hiya neighbor!” she singsongs, waving the pruning shares she’s using to cut the heads off her flowers. Notably, Tamsin’s fingers are stained with blood. For some reason, now I have an ear worm of “we’re painting the roses red” backed by the insistent call of “off with her head!” Bo peers warily at Tamsin. “Great day for a wander!” she chirps as she snip snips the flowers and then sniffs one with the crazy eyes. So that’s our, what, second Wanderer reference tonight?
Bo enters her home and picks up a stack of mail, flipping through bills as the back door shuts. “Hey hon,” Doctor Dyson greets her warmly, setting the take out bag on the table. He asks how work was for her and she moans that she’s been driving around looking for MacKenzie. “You?” Doctor Dyson: “Ah, delivered twins, emergency transfusion for the mom,” he holds up the bag, “picked up Indian for dinner.” Bo’s shoulders drop with relief. “Ah. My hero.” Wow. I didn’t think KHR could get more attractive but, boy howdy, did he and the writers choose the right pieces to build Doctor McFantasy here. Hoo. Shah. Also, I think this composite is of the things Bo most loves about her two loves, Doctor Lauren’s doctor care and her tendency to nerd out and Dyson mile wide protective streak, despite her outwardly objections. She also trusts him implicitly from the moment she first met him even when she didn’t much like him.
Bo looks down at the coffee table where a plate of chocolate-chip cookies sits beside a magazine called Domestic Daydreams (ANVIL ALERT. WE GEDDIT) that features a white, suburban housewife hoisting her laundry basket with a smile—who just happens to be Aoife. “I see Bitchy Crocker’s been at it again,” she sneers. HA! “Yeah, and don’t eat those,” Doctor Dyson advises. “They’ve got cinnamon in them, which will react to your anti-psychotics.” What the huh now? Why is Dream Bo on anti-psychotics? Oh, this is Bo's subconscious processing Doctor Lauren's constant “treatments” of her “condition” or “situation” with shots and "antidotes” as though she can medicate her nature away. Got it.
“Nerd Alert,” Bo teases with affection. “Really?” Doctor Dyson replies, entertained (and adorable). “Well I thought Tamsin was being awfully neighborly to bring them by,” he teases as Bo wraps her arms around his neck. “Well, it’s funny how she always seems to stop by when I’m at work.” Doctor Dyson asks if she’s jealous and she asks if she should be. “Never,” he says. He asks if she’s taking her meds and, with a frown, Bo says she is but she’s thinking she’d like to stop. “Bo,” Doctor Dyson says. “I’m a doctor, and as you so often say, an amazing doctor.” This is what she’s said to Doctor Lauren more than once in real life. “Also sexy,” Bo teases and Doctor Dyson chuckles. “But I wouldn’t have prescribed them if you didn’t need them.” Bo complains that the pills do weird shit to her brain. Doctor Dyson raises their clasped hands. “Well, your brain did some really weird shit before. Do you remember?” Bo frowns and closes her eyes. “Actually, I don’t,” she admits with some distress. “It’s my job to protect you,” Doctor Dyson says. “You trust me, right?” Bo smiles broadly. “Yeah,” she says with deep conviction. This is what she’s said more than once to Dyson in real life. The Doctor Dyson composite is her dream lover/spouse, the best parts of Doctor Lauren and Dyson combined—an impossible dream. I think—I dunno—ow, my brain hurts.
“Well then you have nothing to worry about,” Doctor Dyson assures her. “We have a perfect life.” ANVIL ALERT. Bo smiles again and murmurs agreement as he touches his forehead to hers. Oh, it’s been so long since they’ve done that! “I don’t want it to end,” he murmurs and she hums agreement. Oh crap, of course it has to end. Man, I enjoyed that. I don’t even care that it’s a fantasy; it’s a damn good fantasy. Kick ass cop for Bo, nurturing protecting doctor for Dyson. I’d watch that show for sure. But soon she’d be sleeping with her partner and he’d be fighting with the hospital chair who’s secretly her grandfather and season two would kill all our joy, so maybe it’s better we don’t go there.
Also, Dyson’s been called hero too many times tonight, ditto for protector and “trust me.” I’m getting worried.
They kiss, framed in the window, until Bo collapses without warning. She tells a concerned Doctor Dyson that she just got a little dizzy. The knowledge of her pregnancy is right there on her face, which is also why she said she wanted off the anti-psychotics. She goes off to get some water, but as she rounds the corner, she’s back in the white satin nightgown.
She slowly walks down a hallway to a nursery where a man sits in a rocker before a lavish, old-school round bassinet. He hums a lullaby to the baby in his lap. “Sleep, sweet girl,” he tells the baby. “You have so much ahead of you. I’ve waited so long to have you in my arms.” “Gang awa’ peerie faeries,” he sings. Bo starts to sway as she slowly sings along. She closes her eyes and smiles, awash in memories as she hums along with the man but as he sings the lullaby’s end, “Fare oor Ben noo,” she comes back to herself as his identity dawns on her. “Dad?!” she whispers. (It’s a Gaelic lullaby, by the way, and you can thank the closed-captions for the words).
Bo’s father lays the sleeping baby in the bassinet and tells the nursemaid that if Isabeau needs anything, “doesn’t matter when doesn’t matter what,” she’s to let him know. It’s clear the Dawning has resurrected this memory from deep in Bo’s subconscious. The warm red gold light darkens and then the dream blue —succubus blue—surrounds Bo and fills the room. She watches in horror as the nursemaid has her throat cut by a recently-escaped Aoife. She leans over the bassinet. “He doesn’t get to keep you,” she tells BabyBo softly and gathers the baby up. “Aoife,” Bo gasps, crying. BabyBo cries out and Bo’s hand immediately goes to her stomach to cradle hers and Doctor Dyson’s baby and she gasps and cries. I can’t imagine how emotional this must have been for AS to play if she knew she was pregnant when they filmed this episode.
The screen fades to white light and Bo voiceovers “I’m pregnant,” and we’re back in the cold open (yay!) when Bo shows Doctor Dyson the stick and tells him she’s pregnant. They embrace, as before, clutching each other tightly. “This is amazing!” he exclaims and Bo agrees. “I can’t believe it!” “Are you sure this is what you want?” Doctor Dyson asks intently. “What you really want, Bo.” She looks at him a little baffled of course it’s what I want, but before she can answer, she cries out and doubles over gripped by a massive pain in her belly that sends her to the ground as the pregnancy stick falls ominously to the floor. Oh look, she has pink toes!
“Okay, just breathe!” Dyson shouts, “Just –” he stops, blinking, and the baby’s cries echo faintly. “No I’m—not a doctor.” “What?!” Bo gasps and the baby cries again. “I— can’t help you,” Dyson says painfully, (probably his worst nightmare) as Bo’s acute distress and the baby’s cry is enough to break Dyson loose of the illusion The Caretaker created to show Dyson what he could do when trapped forever in The Temple. I don’t think Dyson agreed to it, certainly he never did on screen. It would be totally against his nature to do so, not to mention that he entered The Temple determined to see out the consequences of his choice in order to see Bo successful leave, not to trap her there with him. He visibly comes to his senses and clearly was as deluded by this illusion as Bo. This one was all The Caretaker and possibly deliberately designed to act against Bo and thwart her by designing her perfect life she so secretly longs for in order to distract her from her journey. Maybe. The metaphysics are pretty jumbled here. Ow. Brain pain.
“What are you talking about?!” Bo yells. But Dyson is back to being Dyson and quickly figures out what’s going on. “We’re too late,” he says, his rage and worry increasing with every word. “You’re devolving. You’re becoming Underfae. You said this wouldn’t hurt her!” I’m not sure who he’s shouting at here, I assume it’s The Caretaker but—ow. Confused, Dream Bo lunges for her pills but Dyson snatches them from her. “No, no!” Bo pleads that she needs them. “No you don’t!” he shouts and, enraged as he realizes how badly he’s been played, he flings them across the room. “You don’t need any of this, none of this is real!” Bo struggles toward him, doubled-over in pain. Dyson kneels before her and clasps her hands. “That’s not our baby in your belly,” he tells her emotionally. She grabs his shoulder and with one hand to her head, eases down to the floor to kneel with him. “That’s what you’ll become if you don’t get out of here right now!” he shouts. Still writhing in pain, Bo struggles to make sense of what he’s saying when the Underfae growls from right outside their bedroom.
With effort, Bo comes back to her real self. “Oh Dyson,” she gasps. He cradles her head. “Bo, remember,” he exhorts. “I’m just a wolf, standing before –” “in front of a succubus,” she finishes, grasping his wrists as she remembers. “That’s right! Come on,” he says, raising her to her feet. “We’ve got to find your key.” Back in form, Bo remembers that The Caretaker said that, “when the key was in hand.” Dyson’s face shifts with realization. Bo reads him easily and recoils with full understanding “In my Hand,” she repeats.
“Only one may leave,” Dyson says. Breathing hard, Bo is already shaking her head. “No,” she says low and quiet and mean. “Say it,” he demands. “No,” she grits. “Bo,” he says calmly and grabs both her hands in his. “I am The Key.” “No,” she moans, finally breaking down and sobbing. “NO!” she repeats over and over. Frustrated, Dyson releases her and snatches a dagger from the dresser. (Handy.) He turns back to her. “If you don’t, we’ll both die in here.” “Shut up!” she snarls at him, back to Dyson in denial, hands clutched in her own hair. He grabs her wrist —“Come here!”—and pulls her around to force the dagger into her hand and press the point against his chest. “It’s the only way,” he tells her flatly. “There’s never only one way,” she snaps back. “Do it,” he orders. “Now. Before everyone loses you forever.”
Bo starts to cry again and Dyson sees he needs to try a different tact. “Bo,” he pleads and puts his hands on her shoulders. “None of this is real,” he assures and his effort to smile is painful to watch. “Trust me.” Oh no. Bo looks down at the blade still aimed at him. “Oh,” she cries. Shaking her head she meets his eyes, “I can’t!” Outside their door, the Underfae growls again and Dyson knows they are out of time. He makes a final, horrible decision. “Then I’m just going to have to rip that baby out of your belly myself,” he threatens and wolfs out. Without a second though, Bo stabs him, the lingering maternal nature overpowering even her love for Dyson to protect her child—fantasy or not. Dyson grunts and grabs her shoulder as he falls back to his knees. Mouth agape with horror, her hand still on the dagger’s hilt, Bo collapses with him to the floor. Sobbing, she cradles his head with one hand. “No, it’s not real, right?!” she sobs, hovering over him. “It’s not real! It’s not real!” But Dyson knows it is very real. He sifts his fingers through her hair. “That’s my girl,” he murmurs with his last breath. Dyson dies. Bo succumbs to overwhelming grief.
Okay, that is the worst line I have ever written in my short recapper career. I do not want to have to write it again, show.
Crouched over Dyson, Bo sobs, “this isn’t happening.” Their bedroom door opens and The Caretaker slowly enters. “I didn’t think you had it in you,” he admits. “Bring him back,” she demands and when Bo gets that vicious look on her face, you’d better do what she says— pronto. The Caretaker claims that he can’t and Bo collapses into sobs again over Dyson. “None of this is real,” she sobs, hoping, praying it’s true. “Except the part where he gave up his corporeal life,” The Caretaker tells her. Bo’s head whips around WHAT DID YOU SAY? and The Caretaker finishes, “when he offered himself as your Hand.” So Dyson did know all along that he wouldn’t make it out of The Temple. Two people can enter The Temple, but only one can leave The Dawning,” he informs her. “I should know. I came here myself eons ago with someone to help her through. To regret it now would only be a judgment on myself.” Let me say now that if it turns out that The Caretaker has really been older, trapped Dyson all along, I will go KIERSTEN SMASH on—on—well, on my keyboard I guess as it’s the only thing here. But you know what I mean! (That’s not a hint, show!)
“I also knew what I was doing,” he says. Bo turns back to Dyson. “He knew?” she asks brokenly. “And he succeeded,” The Caretaker confirms. “Oh, Dyson,” Bo sobs. “He’s stuck here forever,” The Caretaker observes, not unkindly. “Know how that feels.” Slowly, Bo lifts her bloody hand from Dyson’s wound and displays The Key, which just happens to have the same Pi-like symbol that Trick painted on her forehead before she entered The Temple. “Ah, The Key,” The Caretaker says with a creepy smile. The swirly blue energy of a portal opens before Bo. “There you go, succubus,” The Caretaker says. “You’re free to leave.”
The first thing Bo does is try to lift Dyson to drag him with her through the portal. Yeah, good luck with that, lovie. “Try to take him with you,” The Caretaker warns, “and The Temple will claim you as its own forever! Both of you!” Bo looks between the portal and Dyson. “Not that I wouldn’t mind the company,” The Caretaker adds. Okay, so he’s not likely to be Dyson. Phew. Bo raises The Key before her as she repeats The Caretaker’s original instructions. “You won’t get out until you find The Key in hand. My Hand,” she repeats with conviction.
Smiling, she looks up at the portal and then down at Dyson. I get it now, Dyson. The Caretaker urges her to go on through the portal. “Not without him,” she snarls. “It’s against the rules!” The Caretaker objects. Dyson is her Hand, he is the key to her Dawning, and his death is the means by which she realizes her true nature is to be true to her own path, to live the life she chooses. And now she holds the key in her hand, she holds his life in her hand, and she’s not leaving without him. In perfect truth to her nature, when faced with having to abandon him she instead refuses to allow the rules to keep him from her even in death/limbo.
“You see, that’s the thing,” she tells The Caretaker. “I’ve never been big on rules. That is who I am,” she states with conviction as the epiphany arrives. “That is my true self.” Mind made up, she turns her attention back to Dyson and, newly inspired, uses some of his blood to draw the Pi symbol, the symbol of her true self, on the floor next to him. If she can’t take him to the portal, then she’ll bring the portal to Dyson. As soon as she draws the last line, the symbol begins to glow with the red gold light. Bo grins to see it. “There’s always another way,” she repeats with satisfaction. “No!” The Caretaker shouts. “This place can be vengeful,” he warns. “You don’t know what will happen!”
“Trust me!” Bo flings Dyson’s mantra at The Caretaker over her shoulder and smiles with full conviction. “He’s worth it.” WE KNOW. THANKS FOR REMEMBERING. She grabs Dyson’s wrist and slaps her free hand in the center of her symbol and together, they disappear.
Back in The real Dal, Stella and Trick quietly confer while Doctor Lauren and Kenzi hold themselves up at the bar. The cameras pulls back from them to reveal Bo in the foreground, sobbing anew over Dyson’s dead body (second worse thing I’ve had to type!) “Trick!” she shouts desperately checking Dyson over for signs of life. “I need help! I need help!” They all hurry over, Doctor Lauren asking what happened as Kenzi drops down on the other side of Dyson. “D-man!” She grabs his head in her hands and pats his face frantically. “He sacrificed himself for your victory,” Stella intones. Bo both gapes up at her. “You knew. Didn’t you?” Trick softly explains that it was Dyson’s choice.
“Oh no, Trick,” Bo sobs, “No. No. Not like this. Not like this,” she cries over and over. Kenzi starts to get upset now too, and Doctor Lauren shoves her out of the way to check Dyson’s pulse and begin CPR. Bo continues to break down. “No, this isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.” In hysterics now, completely wrecked, her hands to her head to pull at her hair with growing desperation as she stumbles to her feet without ever taking her eyes off of Dyson. Doctor Lauren looks up at her and shakes her head, confirming Dyson’s death. “Oh no. No. Maybe it’s not real,” Bo cries desperately, arms akimbo. Alarmed, Doctor Lauren rises to her feet.
Bo gasps one more time and then goes suddenly quiet. The Winds of Power ripples through The Dal (drink!) and her eyes go succubus blue. A wicked, satisfied smile creases Bo’s face as her body pulses with red gold light and she gets her full Galadriel-moment going. “I will reign,” she intones with the over-processed voice of the Super Succubus, “as he did. For I am his daughter. Together, we will bridle the masses and ride them to victory. Even death will fear us.” Hers eyes glow white blue with power and her body glows red gold with so much power it details the lines of her skeleton. She opens her mouth and sucks chi from Stella, Trick, Kenzi, and Doctor Lauren –all at the same time.
After a few seconds, she stops without killing any of them. Kenzi and Doctor Lauren collapse to the floor while Stella and Trick double over coughing, which I like as it shows how much more the two humans are affecting than the two Fae. “Only I will choose who lives,” Super Bo finishes her manifesto with an evil smile. She turns her head, opens her mouth again, and effortlessly pours all their collective chi into Dyson. I’m not sure, but I think this is the first time any of those four have seen or even realized that Bo can feed chi back into people. They are, appropriately, completely gobsmacked.
Dyson convulses into consciousness and coughs himself clear as Stella and Trick did when Bo finishes reviving him. Clasping her stomach and wide-eyed with shock and more than a little fear, Kenzi stares at Dyson. Freed from her spell by the shock of Dyson’s resurrection, Bo drops to the floor next to him and cradles his head in her hands as she smiles beautifully. In the background, Kenzi starts to cry as she watches them. Dyson frowns up at Bo, confused, but delighted to see her. “Hey you!” he says reaching up to lovingly cup her cheek. “Hey,” Bo replies then again with a mix of relieved tears and laughter, “hey!” It’s a gorgeous reenactment of the way they used to greet one another at the end of season one. (“Hey beautiful!” “Hey you”). ILoveItILoveItILoveItILoveItILoveIt.
The camera angle changes to go down to their level as Bo and Dyson continue to stare into each other’s eyes, oblivious for the moment to anyone else, including Doctor Lauren who is now framed in between them. Her face is heart-breaking, a devastating picture of a rude awakening. There’s so much going on there! Her gaze flickers from Dyson (oh my God, he’s alive) to Bo (oh my God, she brought him back to life) as her stunned science brain tries to make sense of the resurrection she just watched Bo perform. There’s awe and fear for and of Bo, awe from the science and fear from the woman whose lover just raped her chi to resurrect her rival. Not to mention the whole “we will reign” thing.
And then there’s the personal. Bo’s hands are on his chest over Dyson’s heart as though she has to keep feeling his heartbeat to reassure herself that he’s alive.Both of them are gasping with effort and emotion. With a heavy sigh, Dyson drops his head back to the floor as Bo looks up at Doctor Lauren, her face awash with joy. It’s okay, he’s alive. And Doctor Lauren’s face falls. Bo checks Kenzi over her shoulder, smiling, crying, as joyful as she was moments ago wrecked, as Dyson groans beneath her hands (not like that! not yet.) Dyson lifts his head to check Kenzi himself. Bo looks into his face again, his very alive, awake face, and finally completely overcome, drops her head to his chest and lets go.
Later, at the bar, Bo and Kenzi share, what amounts for them to a quiet drink. Kenzi is slumped on the bar and wearily runs her finger around the rim of her glass. “(Doctor) Lauren will take good care of Dyson, right?” Kenzi asks in an exhausted voice. “She is a doctor,” Bo reminds her playfully. “Right!” Kenzi whispers, sitting upright. “So!” Bo chimes with a pointed glance at Trick’s sawed-off shotgun on the bar before them. “That was Plan B?” Kenzi tells her not to worry. “As if I’d let Trick put you down,” she assures, and pulls out the shotgun shells she took from the gun. “I’ve seen Old Yeller,” she jokes in a drawl as Bo giggles. “I’ve know what’s up.” Bo asks what if she’d come out different, and Kenzi reminds her that she didn’t. “I’m just—I’m just so glad you’re back,” she says emotionally and they hug one another. “I don’t know how I’d expected to feel!” Bo reveals. “I didn’t expect to feel so— gooey!” Kenzi admits. “But I’ve never been Succubus Kissed before.” Ah, it was a tad more than a kiss there, but whatever. “Now I know what the big dealio is,” she teases. “Well, I had to do it,” Bo retorts lightly. “To save him,” she adds more resolutely. That’s her apology there. “I know,” Kenzi replies, clearly forgiving her for it. Besides Bo, Dyson is probably the one other person for whom Kenzi feels such a sacrifice is worth it.
“Now I know how to control it.” That was control?! I mean, sure you stopped before you killed anyone, but do you even remember what you said? What you learned? Is no one having a pow wow as to what the hell just happened?! Guess not. “You, my dear, have evolved! I’m so proud of you!” Kenzi chirps. They clinked and sip.
“It’s like I understand something I didn’t get before,” Bo continues. “I feel—” She pauses. “Like…high?” Kenzi suggests. “Yeah, kinda,” Bo agrees. “I think I need to take a walk,” she says. “Alone, if that’s okay.” Kenzi objects that Bo still hasn’t told her about the kiss, by which I’m guessing she means Tamsin. Really?! That’s what you want to know most? Not how your metaphoric brother wound up dead on your best friend’s vision quest? Come on.
Bo gently tells Kenzi that she just needs some time to think. “Of course,” Kenzi whispers and they smooch. “No probs,” Kenzi sing songs sadly after Bo is gone. I think there’s more reaction happening there than she’s willing to let Bo see at the moment. Stella chooses that moment to enter the bar. With a haughty look, Kenzi lifts her glass and turns her back, giving Stella the cut direct. Stella pauses in the doorway and sighs, but then exits without a word to descend into Tolkien’s Lair (drink!). Once she’s turned away, Kenzi looks over her shoulder to watch Stella depart, and when she turns back around so her face is in camera – whoa. That is not a friendly look at all!
Down in Tolkien’s Lair, Trick noisily undoes the chains that bind the contents within a large chest and is lifting the fur beneath it when he hears Stella’s on the stairs. He quickly replaces the fur and closes the chest. “That’s an amazing girl you’ve got there,” Stella admires as she enters. Seriously, nobody is worried about what they saw/experienced when everyone freaked out about it in S2E22? “I’ve never seen a succubus do what she did,” Stella admits with no little awe. Trick smiles and talks over her to distract her from thinking too much about what she saw. “Thank you,” he says sincerely, “for everything, Stella. It’s been…wonderful.” I don’t think he means only Bo’s training here. Stella smiles softly; she gets it. She takes his hands and says that there are others like Bo in need of her now. “Unless you feel ready for a vacation,” she offers. “I’m heading to Scotland for a few months and I could use a –um – companion.” Trick grimaces and declines that Bo still needs him. “I’m the only family that she’s got left.” I suspect you’re soon to find out differently, but carry on. Stella nods and he drops her hands.
“I had to do it, you know,” she says defensively, “offer the human feast to give Bo the best chance I could.” “Did you have to be needlessly cruel to Kenzi?” Trick asks gently. At this, Stella takes offense. “Everything I said to that mortal was true,” she snaps. “If you really cared about her, you would tell her yourself.” Hmm. Wonder what that’s all about. Stella adds bitterly that she understands if he feels the need to punish her. She leans down and sweetly kisses him. “I just wonder, how long you’re going to punish yourself…Blood King.” Hang on, he told her? Or, wait, did she suss it out herself? How? Trick has no response and, without another word, Stella departs. Assured of her exit, Trick returns to the chest and pulls the fur back to examine the contents. “Not him,” he grouses. The camera pulls back to show a drawing of Pegasus or, more accurately, a winged horse breathing fire down on its victims. Not for nothing, but those look more like dragon wings than the fluffy feathery kind.
End credits.
Recapper’s Footnote:
Okay, I’m sure I got more things wrong than right in my attempts to make sense of this episode, but I think ultimately that despite Dyson’s key (heh) role and the shenanigans Bo’s subconscious played with the love triangle issues, Bo’s Dawning is primarily about her duality, the light and dark parts of her nature, and that these are best represent by the polar opposition of her parents, Aoife and whomever her father is. Repeatedly, we had the succubus blue light/images and the red gold light/images sharing the landscape in this episode, one sometimes feeding into the other. Bo’s conflict isn’t Light or Dark, but Light with Dark. What with “The Wanderer” song constantly in play (heh), not to mention her memory of her father singing her to sleep with a lullaby showing him to perhaps be not quite the monster she’s been warned to expect. And then there are the pictures of the brunette model that quickly became pictures of Aoife and then Aoife herself the night she stole Bo away, it’s clear her parents are the most important aspect of Bo’s journey to discover her true nature. She is the union of two powerful beings, a succubus and a god. I think her father is Odin, The Wanderer, and I think he loved Bo deeply. And at the end, when Bo went full Super Succubus, she shined with the light of both her parents and needed that duality to work together in order to bring Dyson back, in order to be complete. She needs to understand and make peace with those two sides of her nature if she’s ever to live in harmony with herself.
I’m also not entirely sure that the Dawning is over. Somebody or something preceded Bo and Dyson through The Temple up until Bo moved deep enough into her subconscious to create her fantasy world. And that Underfae creature was never fully explained. Was he a Fae who failed its Dawning and was trapped in The Temple? If The Temple is in each Fae’s subconscious, how can those who fail, or those who sacrifice themselves as Hand, be trapped in the same place together? OW—my brain hurts.
Finally, and I hate to even posit this as it’s one of my least favorite story tropes ever – I have to wonder if Bo is truly pregnant. Not only because Anna Silk was pregnant by the time they finished filming this series (provided my very bad, completely nonexistent math is right), but because of Bo’s instinctive move first to cradle her belly when Aoife stole BabyBo and then to defend her fantasy baby when Dyson threatened to rip it from her. Bo was fully back on the Dawning Train by then. She knew who she and Dyson truly were, where they were, she absolutely knew the stakes and the costs of what he was demanding she do to him. Sure, she could’ve acted from some deep DNA instinct without being pregnant, but combined with the echoing baby cries, Dyson’s repeated use of the word “belly”, an odd choice for him, and Bo’s move to shield her stomach from Aoife, I have got to wonder though I hope I’m wrong. I really, really hope I’m wrong.
Next week: Delinquents. “One time, at Fae camp…”
Kiersten Hallie Krum writes smart, sharp & sexy romantic suspense. Find her snarking her way across social media as @kierstenkrum and on her web site and blog at www.kierstenkrum.com.
