“Dark Horse,” the season 4 finale of Lost Girl takes us some places we’ve been longing to go, kicks us in the gut with a development we REALLY don’t want, and sets up the momentum for season 5.
The finale was written by Emily Andras. I’m glad she took the reins for the finale because there is a lot going on and a lot stitch together. She dropped a few stitches, but many things do get resolved.
We begin with Bo (Anna Silk) and Rainer (Kyle Schmid) arguing about Rosette’s betrayal, who Bo’s father is and how he manipulated them, and the mistakes and errors they made. Rainer and Bo vow to work together against evil.
Bo clutches her chest and calls the mark there “his mark,” meaning her father. She’s gasping in pain.
Rainer takes Bo to the Dal. Rainer and Trick (Rick Howland) argue about who to blame for their troubles as Trick discovers that Bo knows about the Pyrippus and that it might be her father.
Bo says she can feel her father close, trying to bring “her” out because he needs her. Rainer wants to know who she means, and Bo says, “Me.” She asks Trick to tell her everything he knows about her blood.
Massimo (Tim Rozon) has Lauren (Zoie Palmer) in his clutches. She’s strapped to a fence and he’s digging while spouting his crazy into the night. Lauren mentions that the power of the twig of Zamorra is diminishing now that he killed the last Zamorran heir. She taunts him for crying about his mommy and going prematurely grey. He thinks his mommy is finally going to be proud of him, especially when he takes her the head of the succubus on a platter.
Trick shares what little he knows about Bo’s father with Bo and Rainer. Trick talked about handing over Aife to the Dark to prove his blood laws were infallible. The blood of Bo’s father allows her to draw life from many victims and to transfer that life force to someone other than herself. She can raise the dead, as Rainer points out, but she can also enslave, as Trick points out. Bo tells them both that nobody is going to use her for anything. Bo wants to go to the Portal where Pyrippus is set to emerge from hel, when Massimo appears with a few nasty remarks about Lauren.
Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) is busy reading up on prophecies and mythology atop Evony’s bed. Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) bursts in asking her what’s going on. Kenzi says, “Her blood is everywhere. She was looking for something in the dark archives. Check this out.”
Kenzi holds up a painting. Dyson says, “Bo.” He asks where Lauren is, but Kenzi doesn’t know. Evony (Emmanuelle Vaugier) comes in. She grosses Kenzi out by talking about goosing Lauren’s sweet berries right where Kenzi is sitting. Evony complains about the temperature. First she’s too hot, then she’s too cold. Dyson takes a big sniff and realizes Evony is human.
Kenzi gives Evony a right hook to the jaw, just ’cause she can now that Evony is human. Dyson wants to know how it is that Evony is human. Evony says it was the good doctor and her miracle snatch.
Evony hasn’t incinerated Lauren yet because she needs her to fix her bad case of humanitis. She tells them Massimo is her son and where Massimo has taken Lauren.
At the Dal, Bo tells Massimo to get lost, she has real bad guys to deal with. He has power from eating the origin seed that make him able to steal powers from others and use them as his own. He tries downing Bo with a burst of energy from a thunder beast. He’s strong, he throws Bo around the room, smashes a chair across her back, picks her up and drops her on a table. Trick realizes Massimo stole the seed. Rainer attacks Massimo but he’s easily brought to his knees.
Rainer says, “Tell the Valkyrie my soul is hers again,” and Massimo snaps his neck. Rainer is dead. I’m glad it was Massimo who eliminated Rainer from the story – it would have been terrible if one of Bo’s friends/lovers/family did the deed.
Bo is too hurt to fight back. Massimo runs. When Bo next wakes up, she’s in the clubhouse with Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) waiting on her to recover.
Bo is depressed, aching with broken bones. She couldn’t save anyone and Lauren is in Massimo’s hands. Tamsin tells her to suck it up and be a leader.
Bo grabs Tamsin and sucks it up. She says, “You taste different. Happy.” Tamsin doesn’t explain, but she and Dyson exchange an awful lot of meaningful glances in this episode – maybe that’s why. Or maybe it’s because she now has Rainer’s soul to take to Valhalla.
Dyson and Kenzi run in. Bo hugs Dyson. She looks at Kenzi, who stands near the door, says, “Hi.” Kenzi returns a quiet, “Hi,” but doesn’t approach.
Kenzi and Tamsin sit on the couch and talk. Tamsin wants Kenzi to forgive Bo. Kenzi says, “My boyfriend just died. Remember?” Tamsin says, “Rainer is also dead, which means I have a soul and a second chance to deliver it.”
Kenzi looks at a book, which she asks Tamsin to translate.
Tamsin translates “Daughter. Heart.” As in, “The daughter’s heart will close the portal?” asks Kenzi. Kenzi doesn’t want to tell Bo what they read. She wants to get Lauren first. Tamsin heads off and Kenzi tears the page from the book and keeps it.
Bo is giving Dyson his battle orders. Lauren comes first. She also asks him to witness her tearing up the contract that makes her dark so she can get back to being who she is.
Dyson asks if she’s all right. She says, “Rainer was my partner. Someone who wanted to end the tyranny between light and dark. He was a good man.”
Dyson says he searched for a King, but he should have searched for a Queen. He kneels before her and swears fealty, his life, his blood, his soul, his body. Bo tears up, hugs him. He says, “I love you.” She says, “That is why I need you to serve with me, not for me.”
Tamsin tells them they found out more about the portal. Bo and Dyson go to the rocking horse ranch at the spiritual center. No people are around, just broken horses and the glowing pyramid of light. Three revenants come out of the pyramid.
Bo sucks their chi and turns, blue eyed and evil looking, to Dyson. She talks in her all-powerful voice and says, “I am the Queen and my true army cometh.”
Dyson figures he wants the other Bo back and gets her back with a kiss. The healing kiss works once again. (What would happen to the world if somebody gave a big kiss to anyone who was behaving badly? Even rebellious teenagers? Let’s save the world with kissing!)
Evony and Trick are still trying to figure out how The Morrigan and the Acting Ash can pull off anything useful. Evony is humanly drunk and makes a pass at Trick. He’s not interested.
Evony tells him to think, quotes some French. Trick translates it as “Sometimes the smallest thing casts the longest shadow.” Trick grabs his trusty bowstaff and off they go. He probably thinks he is the smallest thing, but he’ll soon see it’s someone else.
Bo wants to process the kiss with Dyson. She says she feels awesome and powerful, but her father is near. Dyson thinks she’s channeling her father’s energy though the portal. He wants to know if she can control it. She wants to go get Lauren. She asks Dyson to stop any more dead warriors who come out of the portal with Tamsin’s help. She asks him to keep Kenzi safe.
Alone, Bo takes out the necklace she found at Lauren’s apartment and puts it on.
Tamsin and Kenzi come in. Kenzi looks at Bo, wordless. She hugs Bo hard.
Bo feels forgiven, but Kenzi has other things on her Shadow Thief mind. She gives Bo a sword and says, “You’re gonna be fine.” Kenzi is dead serious. Her eyes look like she’s been crying for a solid week. Bo looks worried as Kenzi and Tamsin leave.
Lauren struggles with chains holding her to a post. Massimo brags about burning alive for 7 days and killing Rainer.
Massimo’s in pain. Lauren wants him to choke on it. Bo comes in waving her sword epi-pen to fight off his allergy to origin seeds. Lauren tells Bo, “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I always do,” says Bo.
“Thank Goddess,” says Lauren. (A lot of fans say that any time Anna Silk walks into a room. Lauren is expressing a universal hymn of praise with that line.)
Massimo talks about the Una Mens power to deflect the power of any Fae. As proof, he unleashes a siren whistle on Lauren and Bo from his killing of Hale.
Kenzi rereads the book page about the daughter’s heart. She says, “Destiny. Booyah.” It isn’t a celebratory cheer.
Massimo throws Bo to the floor near when Lauren is chained up. He says he will kill Bo as soon as she watches him kill Lauren. Lauren tells Bo that’s she’s almost out of her cuffs, thanks to all she learned during Kenzi’s shadow thief training. It wasn’t all just panty removal.
Bo does a giant chi suck on Massimo, but he manages to break it off. In walks Massimo’s mommie dearest. Bo promptly puts a big knife to her neck.
Evony objects. “This is not what Trick and I discussed.” Massimo throws a tantrum.
Dyson and Tamsin battle the revenants pouring out of the pyramid. Dyson’s impressed with Tamsin’s fighting skills and she smiles and the praise. Trick joins them.
Bo tricks Massimo into sucking a huge load of chi out of Evony.
He can’t stop draining Evony. Bo explains that she could breathe power back into her, a power that Massimo doesn’t have. He finally manages to stop draining mommie dearest. Evony collapses. Massimo begs Bo to save her. She takes Massimo’s chi and gives it to Evony.
Meanwhile, Lauren frees herself and takes the Twig of Zamorra out of Massimo’s pocket. She crushes it into dust.
Bo gives Massimo twacks and kicks for Lauren, Rainer, and Hale. Then she runs her sword through him and says, “And that is for breaking Kenzi’s heart.” Without the twig, he finally dies. So long, Tim Rozon. You were one of my favorite villains.
Bo staggers and sways. Lauren grabs her. Bo clings to her like a life line.
There’s another use of slow-motion (the first was Lauren walking across a field of grass toward Bo) as Kenzi strides through the battle in front of the pyramid. It’s beautifully done. Kenzi’s headed for the pyramid entrance. Dyson stops her.
She tells Dyson she can’t wait any longer. They are outnumbered and he’s injured. She’s calm, centered, certain. “We have to close the portal,” Kenzi says. She says, “I get it now. I do have a part to play.”
Dyson asks what she’s talking about and Trick says, “Destiny.”
Kenzi says, “It’s the only way to close the gateway to hel. Bo’s heart. And I’m it.”
Bo tells Lauren she was wrong about Rainer. Lauren nods her head. She says, “At least I was right about you.”
Bo says, “A human doctor who can turn the Fae mortal. They’re gonna be coming for you.”
Lauren says, “Let ’em try.” Bo thinks Lauren really is dark, but Lauren says, “No, Bo. I’m yours.”
Bo says they have to go, but Lauren is going to stay with Evony. Lauren will doctor to Evony, since she was the one who made her so vulnerable and helpless in the first place. I’m really happy about this, because there was so much discussion about Lauren’s ethics and moral values over turning Evony human. Lauren redeems herself with this gesture.
Lauren says, “Get out of here, succubus. Destiny’s calling.”
Bo starts to leave but comes back for a kiss and some deep and meaningful eye contact. It seems like a promise, but maybe I just want it to be one.
Dyson argues with Kenzi about Bo’s heart. Kenzi says with the Fae it’s always a metaphor, a symbol. Kenzi says Bo needs her help. Dyson wants to go instead.
Kenzi says, “Dyson, she loves you. She loves Lauren. But you know it’s me.”
Kenzi says Rainer knew this had to happen. Now that Tamsin has his soul, the golden ticket to Valhalla, that’s where Tamsin will take her. That’s where she’ll wait. Kenzi wants to go out a warrior, in battle. And she’s thinking she may get to see Hale again if she does. She promises to wait for Bo in Valhalla.
There’s a burst of noise and energy. Bo clutches her chest and feels something in her pocket. It’s Kenzi’s – Kenzi slipped it there when she hugged her.
Kenzi smiles slightly, turns and walks through the battle in slo mo, into the mouth of the pyramid. Bo comes in and runs to stop her, just as Kenzi turns back for a last look. Dyson restrains Bo.
Kenzi steps into the pyramid. There’s a huge flash of light. Kenzi falls. The battle stops. The revenants drop to the floor. Tamsin runs to be beside the fallen Kenzi.
Dyson whispers, “Valhalla,” to Bo as Tamsin spreads her wings.
Bo watches Tamsin preparing to take Kenzi. The only sound we hear is Bo sobbing.
Tamsin bends and surrounds Kenzi with her wings. They vanish into the light.
Dyson finds Tamsin on the ground outside the gates to Valhalla. He helps her up.
Tamsin’s weak, crying. She says, “She’s gone.” Does this mean she’s not in Valhalla? Dyson says, “We’ll get her back.”
Tamsin says, “You can’t with the second hell shoe.” He has to carry her away.
The song “You” plays in the background for the rest of the episode. A perfect choice.
Bo drives to a cemetery. In a voice over she tells where Rainer is buried. Still in voice over, Bo talks about loss, about needing to be strong. She puts flowers in front of Kenzi’s grave. I don’t see why there’s a grave for Kenzi when the whole idea is to get her back from Valhalla.
“I miss you. I need your courage.” She has Kenzi’s ruby ring on a chain, which she wraps around her hand.
She stands in front of the grave and makes the speech which sets us up for season 5. Maybe this is why there’s a grave – to give Bo someplace to make these vows.
“I am done crying. I am done being scared. No one else will die on my watch. Whatever it takes, I will get you back. They want me to be afraid? It is them who should be afraid of me.”
Personal Thoughts
- I approve of this season finale in many ways. The one contingency is that Bo better get Kenzi back very early in season 5!
- I like that Rainer and Massimo are gone. I like that Rainer turned out to be a good guy and Bo’s judgement wasn’t wrong. I like that the evil was stopped by Kenzi. I liked that Bo and Lauren seem back together. I like that Dyson and Tamsin are developing a different connection or deeper relationship. I like that Lauren stayed to help with Evony because she was responsible for making her weak. I like that Bo is no longer acting like she’s in a fog, but is clear and determined and sure of her power to be what she wants. I like that the hell shoes came back to be a factor in season 5.
- Even though we finally got to some satisfaction in terms of a number of ongoing plot lines from season 4, I still wish season 4 hadn’t been so full of unending arcs and misdirection. But even more, I wish the characters, particularly Bo, weren’t so confused through most of the season.
- A few threads stayed unraveled. We still don’t really know anything about Bo’s father. We don’t know what the blue butterfly was about. We don’t know how Lauren (and presumably Crystal) got out of that holding cell. We don’t know who snatched Lauren in Crystal’s car. We don’t know what the oozing black goo in the first episode was all about.
- It’s interesting that Trick and Evony as Acting Ash and Morrigan did almost nothing to help save the Fae. A human saved them. Kenzi is the key. Every moment since Bo and Kenzi met in episode 1 of the first season has been leading up to this.
- I know this is an ensemble cast and every player is wonderful in it, but Ksenia Solo set the TV ablaze with talent through all of season 4. Can we have her back in episode 1 of season 5, please?
- I hope Showcase puts us out of our misery soon by announcing season 5! [Note: Since I wrote this, season 5 was confirmed.]
- A second to this tribute tweet from Emily Andras:
Friend. Warrior. Heart. #LostGirl
— Emily Andras (@emtothea) February 17, 2014