Lost Girl Season Two, Episode Three: Scream a little dream

After the big Dyson rejection, Bo goes on a cleaning fit which sends Kensi straight to the bar to drink away her blues over broom slivers.  Once there she meets a charming fae named Mumford.  Mumford is a brownie and he loves to clean.  Once Trick tells her that bringing home will be safe she is excited to realize that her cleaning days are over.  Just before she leaves, Trick warns her not to take Mumford for granted. It's starting to look like there is a fae for anything and everything under the sun.

In a diner Bo and Kenzi are approached by a fae who works as a doorman. Apparently, all of the humans in the building where he works are suddenly exhibiting signs of some sort of mental incapacity.  He claims to have gone to see the new Ashe, but was ignored because the new Ashe doesn't care for humans.  Bo and Lauren go to the building to investigate and while there, Bo asks Lauren if she wants to celebrate being free because a new ashe is in power now.  Lauren explains that it's not that simple.

Later that night a creature attacks Bo in her sleep, by making her believe that Dyson is ripping her heart out.  Of course, it's Kenzi to the rescue.  In the morning Bo tells Kenzi that every time she fell asleep she had nightmares, and so she decides to consult with Trick. At the bar, Trick tells her that she is being attacked by a mare, and that it is strange because a mare does not normally consume the amount of food that this one seems to.

Shall we jump to the analysis now?  The mare is on a mass feeding frenzy because she is pregnant.  Not only is she massively hungry, she is constantly snipping at her husband.  Yeah, I call BS on this one.  Even if a woman is pregnant with sixtuplets she is not a massive food eating machine. They also made the Mare verbally emasculate her husband.  So, the long and short of it is that if you are pregnant you eat without stopping and you constantly bitchy and angry.  Pregnancy may not be the most comfortable time in a woman's life but these stereotypes are ridiculous.

Lover Eternal, by JR Ward, Book 2 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood

Rhage has fallen in love. And, even more complicated, he has fallen in love with a human woman, against all the laws and customs of vampire society, and most certainly against the rules of the Brotherhood. He's faced with a choice between the Brotherhood and the battle to protect his species, and Mary – and he had to protect her from the Lessers who will use her to get to him. Worse, through this he has to navigate his curse – there's a beast within him that doesn't know friend or foe, only rage and killing.

And this is before they work out how to get round the simple basics of vampires and humans living together – and the problem of Mary's illness

At the same time, the Lessers have not stopped in their war to annihilate the vampires. Every Brother can face attack when out on the streets – and they are kidnapping a growing number of civilian vampires to torture – even building a new centre to facilitate holding and torturing them. They're digging for more information, more details on the Brotherhood to finally try to bring them down.

Meanwhile, Zsadist may have finally found the woman for him... if he can save her

Fangs for the Fantasy podcast, Episode 34

This week we discuss Vampire Diaries, Season 3, Episode 2 "The Hybrid", Lost Girl's season 1, The Secret Circle, Vampire Empire by Susan and Clay Griffith, The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward, Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim series.

Lost Girl Season Two, Episode Two: I Fought The Fae (and the fae won)

 

This episode begins with a prisoner exchange.  Can I just start of by saying that when you are chasing a prisoner and she tells you to stop you don't listen, thus giving her the opportunity to incapacitate you for hours on end.  I know that to some degree, you need to suspend belief when watching urban fantasy, but some things are just outright ridiculous that it makes the show laughable.

Sabine heads straight to Bo and tells her that she is to be the prey in a fae hunt. The hunt is to choose a new Ashe as the old one has yet to recover and removing his title is punishment for allowing the hit in the first place. Sabine was imprisoned for planning to escape with her love Hamish, a member of the dark fae.  She has been imprisoned for over eighty years and as a her dying wish, she wants to see Hamish one last time. Being a sucker for romance, Bo agrees to help her fulfill her wish.

This episode we were introduced to a new character - The Black Thorn. It seems that he is a member of the council from the old country.  Trick is worried that he is hear to learn more about Bo and her mother.  He is also worried that his involvement will come to light. It feels strange that a Black man was chosen as a leader from the "old country," but I am however relieved that having lost a Black leader in the Ashe, that at least another powerful Black man was chosen to become a part of the show.

After visiting Hamish, Bo decides to set Sabine free because Hamish said that he is over her.  For a woman who is neither dark or light, Bo seems to spend a lot of time involving herself in light fae business.  When she turns to Trick for help he tells her that she is going to need someone to enter the competition of The Ashe. Bo immediately thinks of Dyson but because he is not royal the vetting process will take to long.  Trick informs her that Hale is of royal blood though.

When they approach Hale, he tells them that he is not interested.  Apparently, his family is very old and they constantly interfere with his life.  Bo and Kenzi will not be take no for an answer and Bo is forced to agree to take part in the competition.  Kenzi gets excited to attend but Hale disappoints her by telling her that this is a fae only party.

Rift Walker (Vampire Empire #2) by Susan and Clay Griffith

 

The Rift Walker is the sequel to The GreyFriar by Clay & Susan Griffith.  When I realized that The Rift Walker had finally been released I was ecstatic, and more than ready to jump into this amazingly unique world once again.  When we last left prince Gareth, he was in Edinburgh and princess Adele has returned to her home in Equatoria, an amalgamation of states that formed after the great killing - the event in which vampires made their presence known to the world, by slaughtering humans en masse and occupying the majority of the global north.  Even though they are thousands of miles apart, Gareth and Adele long for each other.  At this point I think it is important to tell you that if you are looking for a straight paranormal romance, this is not book for you.  The romance plays a role in the story, but it is not the main theme of the story.

In order to secure an alliance with the Americans, Adele is forced to agree to an arranged marriage with the arrogant, brash Clark.  She is particularly resistant to the marriage, when she learns that as part of his war plans, Clark intends to destroy the vampires food supply. Since vampires feed on humans, this means that he intends to slaughter innocent men, women and children, all in the hope of winning the war, but Adele who has spent time with them, finds it absolutely abhorrent that these people should be annihilated. Her reaction to his proposal showed a great strength of character that is often lacking in female protagonists in this genre.

When Gareth learns that his brother Cesare plans to kill Adele and Clark on their wedding day, he sweeps in and whisks Adele away.  Together they must battle for Adele's right to rule Equotoria, deal with traitors and fight vampires as the specter of Cesare looms large. If that were not enough, Adele must learn to negotiate her newly found powers in geomancy to protect those that she cares about, without hurting Gareth.  I am so tempted to tell you more about this story, but doing so would cause you to miss a fantastic adventure, that is absolutely a feast for the mind (yes I am fanpoodling).

On a social justice front, people of color are again in servile positions.  Much of this can be attributed to the fact that the protagonist Adele is royalty.  Adele is described is as half Persian on her mother's side. Unfortunately, once again the parent of color is absent which as we know is a trope in urban fantasy.  Like Mercy Thompson, Anita Blake and Adele, when protagonists are mixed they often are do disconnected from the part of their heritage that is of color, it nigh impossible to count them as characters of color. 

The Vampire Diaries Season Three, Episode Two: The Hybrid

 

I should have known that bad ass Stefan wouldn't last long.  He is supposedly blood drunk and has become Stefan the ripper, but somehow he cannot stop mooning over Elena. The girl has some long lasting musty effect on men.  

When we last left Klaus and Stefan, they were torturing a werewolf to force him to hand over the location of his pack.  They return with him to the Tennessee mountains and see his camp backpacking so that they can enjoy the freedom of letting their wolves run wild.  One by one, Klaus attempts to turn them into vampires.

Tyler wakes up and his mother lectures him on letting his prostitutes sneak out in the middle of the night. Funny how the slut shaming was reserved for Caroline, though Tyler took part in the sex as well.  I don't expect much from the WB, because it targets a youth audience, but with that in mind you would think that they would at least attempt not to fill their program with so many anti-woman themes for their young female viewers to internalize, but I suppose he's a stud, she's a slut plays well in the ratings.  Tyler does correct his mother, but it was still disturbing that the line was used period.  He pours himself some coffee, but tells her that it tastes funny and heads out.

At the bar, 'cause none of these kids go to school -- though they are officially in high school -- Elena asks Tyler about where werewolves go during the full moon.  He admits that Stefan would not be in the situation that he is in, if he hadn't bitten Damon.  Never mind that Damon spent a lot of time goading him.  He uses her phone to pull up a map.

Jeremy, who is looking hotter and more muscular this season approaches Matt asking for his help to contact Vicki.  When Matt asks why he just doesn't ask Bonnie for help, he makes some crack about it not being appropriate to ask Bonnie for help with his ex girlfriend.  Speaking of Bonnie, is she going to make more than a two second appearance this season? It's starting to feel like they can only have one WOC per episode, and they did after all let Anna say one sentence this episode.

Tyler decides to stick around and have a coffee.  Yeah, why not relax, it's not like he should be heading to school?  When Matt brings him a coffee, he takes a sip and complains that his taste buds are off today.  Matt tells him that as per the Liz's instructions, he occasionally puts vervain in the coffee.  He was surprised that Matt could taste the vervain, because coffee normally masks the taste. You could almost see a light bulb flash over Tyler's head.

Carol Lockwood calls a mysterious man to inform him of her little vampire problem.  She's conflicted because she has known Caroline since she was little, but the man assures her that they must handle the situation.  When Tyler returns home, he asks his mother why she slipped vervain into his drink.  He specifically wants to know if she thinks he's a vampire, and she admits that because he was spending so much time around Caroline that she was nervous.  Carol then goes on to call Caroline a monster, and tells Tyler that she does not want him hanging around Caroline.  Tyler walks towards his mother telling her that Caroline is not a monster and says, "you don't know about me do you?" 

Lost Girl Season Two, Episode One: Something Wicked This Fae Comes

 

Now that we know a little bit about Bo's mother Aoife, of course there needs to be a new big bad to carry us through season two.  The answers that Bo sought came at a high cost of those around her.  Trick is still filled with worry as he waits to see the after effect of using his blood to intervene, and Dyson, who has lost his passion for Bo must try and tell her the price for his aid.  Lauren is overwhelmed with the stress of monitoring The Ashe, now that he is in a coma as result of a suicide bomber.  

The episode begins with Bo, Hale and Kenzi hunting down fae that are out of control now that the Ashe's strong influence is missing. Of course, Bo has to whine about this and Hale has to remind her that it was Aoife who caused all the havoc to begin with.

When she is injured, Kenzi tells Hale that Dyson needs to come back because she is getting tired of hunting down snacks for Bo.  They arrive at a gas station and Bo takes the attendant into the bathroom to feed.  This scene really disturbed me because he says that things are moving to fast and that they should start with dinner.  Bo who is hungry doesn't care what he says and continues to feed off of him.  Throughout the episode Kenzi is called meat, and food and Bo seems to offer some sympathy but when it comes to her need she quickly places herself above the human.  Because Bo feeds sexually, her refusal to stop when specifically asked amounts to rape.  I wonder if the writers felt that because Bo is a woman and her victim is a man felt that such a connection would not be made?  Anytime you force someone into a sex act against their will for whatever reason it is rape but such acknowledgement would make it difficult to continue to cast Bo as the hero.

When Dyson does finally return, he is brought to the police station in handcuffs after being arrested in a bar brawl.  Hale makes a point of telling him that he was bleeding from all of the singing that he was doing, and Dyson only responds with, "I didn't ask you to". Really?  Apparently, it's okay that he didn't bother to contact Hale, because an animal likes to lick their wounds alone.  In most urban fantasy series, there is one sidekick, however in Lost Girl, there are two. Hale never makes decisions, and Dyson treats him like a useful tool, so that he can be discarded when Dyson feels he is not needed. He absolutely sacrificed to find his friend, but Dyson cannot be arsed to even apologize for making him worry. Hale seems to have no reason to exist outside of doing Dyson's bidding. The fact that both sidekicks are socially marginalized bodies has not escaped my notice.

This episode is spent largely dealing with the threat that the wandering dead create when they seek to break The Ashe's connection with the earth.  The connection means longer lasting infrastructure and less crime. Without the bond, the light fae would be forced into exile thereby abandoning the city to the dark fae.  The wandering dead want this to happen so that they can finally find a place to rest.  The other supernatural creature that we are introduced to is once again from Asian legends.  It seems to me that a lot of fae are based in Asian mythos, but we have yet to see a single Asian character on this show. This is beginning to stink of appropriation.

Lost Girl Season One, Episode Thirteen: Blood Lines

Blood Lines was the season finale and I suppose that the writers thought it was time to give us a few answers.  For the entire season Bo has been looking for her mother but we didn't know is that we had already been introduced to her.  It turns out that Saskia's real name is Aoife and she has a score to settle with Trick and the rest of the White fae. Dyson admits that he knew who her mother was before they met but felt that it was Trick's story to tell.

Trick tells Bo that he failed her.  She was of his clan and the fae were constantly a war back then.  Trick forced peace by using his powers. Whatever he writes in his own blood comes true, but there is always a cost to getting what he wants.  Unfortunately peace demands forgiveness, and her mother led a dark fae rebellion and when she came to Trick for amnesty, he handed her over to the dark fae for execution. Since that day she hated Trick.

Trick wants to get Aoife out of town but Bo wants to hear her mother's side of the story.  She wants to know who or what she really is whatever the cost.  Bo tells Kenzi that she cannot trust her friends anymore and Kenzi asks her if things are still good between them.  Why would Kenzi think for one moment that this even applies to her? Oh that's right, Bo has already proven that she finds Kenzi disposable.

Feeling that she cannot trust Trick, or Dyson, Bo goes to Lauren to help her track down her mother. When Bo arrives Lauren is working on a report on a White fae elder.  She tells Lauren that she wants to know how to protect herself from another succubus but does not tell her who the succubus is.

Hale approaches Kenzi for Dyson, but Kenzi does not want to hear a word that she has to say but suddenly the moment he says that he loves her she is suddenly team Dyson again. When they return the apartment Bo is gone and Dyson realizes that Aoife has taken her.  They return back to the bar and Trick tells them that he has to report this to the elders.

When Bo finds her mother, Aoife tells her that she just wants to get closer to her and that she thinks that Dyson isn't good enough for her.  She uses sweet language but questions her until she passes out from the drugs that Aoife put in the cookie that she is eating.

When Bo awakes she is at her mother's home. She is upset that she was drugged and says that she would have come on her own. Aoife tells her that after Trick handed her over the dark king kept her for his own entertainment for centuries. She implies that he abused her for centuries. She claims that she kidnapped Bo with a chance to connect with her and to get away from Trick and his lies. When Bo asks who her father is she says she doesn't want to talk about that but attempts to distract her by telling her of her plans for the fae.  It is her goal to take them all down because she is tired of the divide and assumes that because Bo has refused to state her allegiance that she will stand with her, but Bo tells her, "you don't want to free people, you want to be their new religion. Trick was right about you, you're crazy." Bo has to jump out the window to escape.

Trick tells Ashe that Aoife is going to cause some trouble.  The Ashe accuses him of withholding information critical to the good of the fae.  He is upset that Trick didn't tell him about her parentage and plans to take the issue up with the elders in a meeting. At the meeting one of Aoife's enthralled men shows up with a bomb strapped to his chest.