Monday, September 19, 2011

Lost Girl Season One Episode Six: Food For Thought

I do believe that this is the first episode with only one social justice fail.  It began with Bo getting dressed to go to an appointment with Lauren.  Kenzi teases her about wanting to look all sexy, while Bo protests that she is just nervous about the test.  While Lauren and Bo are having a drink at the bar, it is clear that there is chemistry between the two of them.  They flirt and Bo leans in to kiss Lauren, but stops short for fear that she won't be able to trust her succubus powers. Lauren responds by telling her to stop fighting her true nature and that the fae aren't monsters.

When Bo and Kenzi show up at the lab the next day, Kenzi continually makes disparaging comments about Lauren.  I really don't understand where this is coming from, considering that she was just teasing Bo the night before about wanting to be with Lauren. Kenzie tells Bo that no one gives you something for nothing, and that she should think about why Lauren is helping her.

Lauren enters the room and tells Bo that she has to reschedule their appointment, because she has to see a sick fae. When Bo acts disappointed, Lauren invites both Bo and Kenzi to tag along, telling them should they decide to come, that they will meet one of the oldest fae.

When they get there, Kenzi balks at going into the room because sick people make her uncomfortable. Lauren introduces her to Marian.  Marian is an aswine and when Bo asks what that is exactly, Lauren tells her, "that humans and aswine have a symbiotic relationship. Aswine help keep disease out of the human population by eating their diseased dead, so both sides benefit." As Lauren questions Marian on what she ate, Kenzi helpes herself to a bowl of soup in the kitchen.  Marian does not think its the food because she had eaten ebola, the Black plague etc.

When they tell Kenzi that she has just consumed soup made of human flesh, she is understandably very upset.  Lauren takes a sample back to the lab and Bo and Kenzi head off to the morturary to figure out how the person that Marian ate died.  At the mortuary they learn that the official cause of death was a car accident, but the staff  suspected that there was more going on with him and that is why they gave him to an Aswine. Apparently, Aswine have cast iron stomachs. When they find out were the man lived Bo and Kenzi break into his home. Once inside they run into a large biker who was hired to clear the place out.  After a small skirmish, Kenzi crumples to the floor with blood streaming down her face from her eyes just like Marian.

I could give you a blow by blow of the rest of the episode, but by now I'm sure that you know that Kenzi was never in any real danger, because she is a major character on the show.  Of course, Lauren, Dyson, and Bo save the day. So instead of giving you the blow by blow, lets talk about the fail. 

Lauren and Bo need to get to the lab on sixth floor, but unfortunately it is protected by a security guard.  Bo tries to charm him saying that she loves a man in a suit and he says, "honey that makes two of us."  The security guard is the first gay man on the show so far.  Bo responds with, "oh shit, succubus it is," and begins kissing him.  When she pulls away from him for a moment, the security guard says, "I really shouldn't be enjoying this."  Bo tells herself to focus and kisses him again.

Did anyone catch the fail there?  If the security guard is gay, he really should not be enjoying kissing Bo, but somehow the woo woo makes his sexuality irrelevant.  Considering how many straight women believe that they can turn a gay man straight with a simple kiss, this entire scene just affirmed this ridiculous notion.  Woo Woo should never be used to erase someone, and that is doubly so if the person exists as a marginalized body.  No woman is magical enough to turn a gay man straight.

The entire point of this episode was to set up a love triangle between Lauren, Dyson and Bo.  What bothers me about this is that though Bo is legitimately attracted to Lauren, she is a second choice, because Bo really wants Dyson.  Bo has been constructed as bisexual, but settling for a woman because you cannot get a man, still privileges heterosexism and therefore makes all of her interactions with Lauren far less meaningful.  This supposed love triangle could really have sent a positive message, if Bo was having difficulty deciding between Lauren and Dyson, rather than settling for Lauren because she cannot have Dyson.