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The world of the fae is about to face its biggest threat as the entire colony stands on the brink of collapse in the final season of Lost Girl. Heroes will lose people, villains will deceive, and nothing is as it seems as series star, succubus Bo, finally finds her destiny in the surprising cult hit’s last season.
The story of Lost Girl follows along that tried and tested trope that supernatural creatures exist in the world around us without humans even knowing. Into this world tumbles Bo (played by Anna Silk), a succubus who feeds on the sexual energy of other people, who has no knowledge of her parentage or place in the world. Now, in the show’s final season, Bo finds her family – both in blood as well as in friendship – in a finale which provides a fitting end for the series as a whole.
Our editor says: LGBT people often speak of the families they choose rather than the families they are born with. This is a recurring theme in TV, films and literature where outsiders who have to hide from mainstream society must make their own social units. The Polarised Project, for instance, is an amateur-made film that looks at these bonds in the LGBT community. Go check it out, if you can.
Naturally, the story as a whole has an overall sense of something coming to a close. After five years of fun and adventure it feels like we are seeing the story has reached a conclusion which has been a long time coming.
This is both good as it means that all of the plot threads which the show has placed since the first season are finally getting a resolution, but also bad as it means the fun and interesting ‘monster of the week’ episodes are few and far between.
The problem is it also means that bringing in new characters (which this season did in the form of Zee, Horatio and Jack) is something of a gamble as it leaves us very little time to get to know and care about them or see them as a threat to the show’s world. Altogether, though, the story plays out with more good than bad and even allows a little framework for the story to continue in some way even though the series itself has ended.
The characters were always where Lost Girl excelled and this series is no different. Lost Girl mainstays such as Bo, Dyson, Lauren and Trick continue to deliver pure gold even with the most unusual dialogue – with a touch of tongue-in-cheek humour to make it terrific.
The characters are a little bit ‘B-movie’ at times, and yet this doesn’t take away from the overall quality, and indeed somehow adds to the show overall. In particular, with season 5 we get to see almost every character flex their muscles and add a bit more gravitas to their overall performances.
Do you like the characters in Lost Girl? For a show with a similar set-up, where we think the characterisation hasn’t yet got up to scratch, then check out our coverage of Shadowhunters.
Moving from Bo and Lauren’s seemingly doomed love affair and Vex’s confusion about his place with the light fae, to Trick’s almost heart-rending performance as a failed father, really showed the best part of the ensemble. In particular Tamsin (played by Rachel Skarsten) gave a sense of finality and bitter-sweetness to the finale, which gave her whole character arc a truly fitting end.
Often in a final season, though, is the sense that things can often feel a little rushed, and indeed they are in season 5. Bo moves from one crisis to the next with a fair few deus ex machinae thrown in to make everything flow towards the conclusion at terrific speed.
This was a distinct contrast to the preceding four seasons, which only revealed bits and pieces of the overall story as time went by. A perfect example: Bo’s father, who has only ever been alluded to before now, is finally revealed in the second episode of this series without much in the way of pomp or grandeur.
The speed at which everything wrapped up didn’t need to be something to take away from the season, but it felt like it was handled in a bit of a slapdash manner. It’s a shame we didn’t have just a couple more episodes to help round things out a bit more.
There was also something of a misstep in leaving out fan favourite Kenzie. Ksenia Solo brought the character to life in a snarky and over-the-top way that isn’t quickly forgotten and she made a definite impression in all of the preceding seasons. As such, seeing her take the role of a guest star was sad this time around, as she was such a firm favourite it made the season just a little darker without her presence.
As a whole, there is more good than bad in the way that season 5 finished the run of Lost Girl. While at times it felt like it rushed to its own conclusion, we can see that it worked hard to resolve all of its story before the finale without losing that unique off-kilter vibe which made it so unique as a paranormal action show.
If you loved the first four seasons as much as I did, then this is definitely the perfect way to say, Goodbye and thanks for all the fae!
Lost Girl Season 5 is available from Amazon and iTunes. If you want to catch up on every season you can also pick up the complete series today!
