fembuck: (LaurenBo)
fembuck ([personal profile] fembuck) wrote2010-11-25 06:25 pm
Entry tags:

"Lost Girl" musings ...

So, I've been posting a lot on the Television Without Pity 'Lost Girl' board, because despite my complaints about how everyone on the show (save Lauren) is a douche, I actually really enjoy the show and have become a little obsessed with it.

Due to my recent posting bonanza on TWoP however, I've become frustrated with the people making the show because I realized how easy it would have been to fix the things that bug me about the show.  Namely:

1)  Bo being too light-hearted/happy-go-lucky a character considering her background.   Bo should be a broody mess. She should be more conflicted than she is. She should be tortured when she gets cases like the one in "The Mourning After" because she was Bertram for ten years (even if she wasn't proud of what she was doing the same way he did).  Her devil-may-care attitude to her history of murder is really jarring. 

In fact, after thinking about it (probably too much) I realized that Bo's fluffy personality really makes her seem like a sociopath (i.e.  she is self-serving, routinely disregards rules, social mores and laws, and is unmindful of putting herself or others at risk. She still lives on the fringes of society, without solid or consistent economic support, and she often spontaneously acts out in inappropriate ways without thinking through the consequences).

2)  The lack of attention paid to Bo training to learn how to control her hunger while feeding.  We should have really seen Bo trying to ween herself, seen scenes of Bo feeding off of Fae volunteers and having to literally be pulled away from them. We should have seen her struggling against the people holding her with those succubus blue eyes, going mad with the need to keep feeding in order to show us how strong the desire to keep feeding is. Then over the course of multiple episodes we should have seen her start to gain a bit of control, then some more, and some more, until finally she was able to stop feeding herself.

This at least would have shown that it was something she needed to be trained to learn, and was something she couldn't have taught herself over the years. As things played out on the show, it seemed like all she needed was a cheerleader to tell her, "I believe in you, Bo!" in order to get her shit together.

These (especially the first one) are two really big problems.  But what really galls me the most is that they are two big problems that would have been ridiculously easily to fix when the show was retooled.

Problem 1 and 2 could have been solved by having the following happen:
*Note:  My screen name at TWoP is TheExaultedOne, so I'm not stealing ideas I'm just re-posting them*

If they wanted to make Bo this happy-go-lucky woman child with the social skills of an obnoxious teenager they should have, you know, not made Bo a serial murderer.  They could have just had Bo be able to control her abilities from the beginning (I mean it's not like they invested much time in her learning to control her power anyway. They'd have lost like 3 min. of footage, total).  They could have just had Bo's succubus appetite alienate her from people (i.e. she kept sleeping with her friends boyfriends/girlfriends, nearly got a teacher/professor/social worker or something fired because she touched them and all of a sudden they were all over her, etc.)

That way she would have still been on the outskirts of society, moving around on her own to avoid the heartache of losing the people she cared about, AND it would have allowed for her to be the laid-back, happy-go-lucky character that we see on screen because with Kenzi, Dyson and Lauren she's found people who know what she is and don't judge her/hate her for it.

Honestly, Bo being able to control her powers from the beginning wouldn't even have affected Bo/Lauren that much, because in "Vexed" Bo seemed to want to take it slow in order to be romantic (since she certainly gave into Lauren quickly enough after Lauren was all like, "I trust you okay, just do me"). They could have delayed Bo/Lauren hooking up for 8 episode by having Bo want to try her hand at really wooing someone, and by having Lauren hold back because she was afraid of what the Ash's reaction would be (and the angst of "Vexed" could still have happened exactly as it did, allowing the cheapo producers to still insert the demo pilot as an actual episode)

In fact, from a Bo/Lauren stand-point, not only would this have made the storyline more romantic, it also would have foreshadowed the "Lauren is owned by the Ash" reveal, and Bo's sudden epic!love-turned-epic!butthurt in "Vexed" would have made sense because we'd have seen her investing her heart into Lauren all along (while she had been investing her body in Dyson).


Bo being a douche (really, Bo.  You're going to refer to the Ash as Lauren's "boss".  Really?), Dyson often being a douche, Bo being dumb, and Dyson and Bo's relationship being all over the place (often within the same episode) would still be problems.  But the show would be a lot more coherent and enjoyable if they'd just retooled Bo's background.

[identity profile] orange-creative.livejournal.com 2010-11-25 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Her devil-may-care attitude to her history of murder is really jarring.

This! Involuntarily murdering people for ten years does not a happy person make, especially if they really wished they weren't murdering people.

In the end, while there are so many good concepts and ideas floating around the show, it's poor, sloppy execution.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Involuntarily murdering people for ten years does not a happy person make, especially if they really wished they weren't murdering people.


So true. It's like, I don't understand why they went with this backstory for her if they were not interested in dealing with it at all. It's not like they HAD to make her powers deadly, and it's not like they made her learning to control her powers a big story line, so what was the point.

It's not like all of the successful shows on TV have murderer protagonists so they thought they better have one too.

In the end, while there are so many good concepts and ideas floating around the show, it's poor, sloppy execution.

This really is Lost Girl to a T

[identity profile] orange-creative.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
This really is Lost Girl to a T

It makes me want to shake someone furiously while screaming, "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY."

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
I know.

The show is just so lazy in so many ways (ex. Bo and Kenzi being insta-BFFs, Bo immediately trusting Dyson completely, Bo and Lauren's training sessions never being shown, Bo never being conflicted/angsty about her past, etc).

It's still enjoyable, but with like a bare minimum of effort it could have been a good show.

It's like, when Stargate Universe has better developed characters than your show, it's time to hang your head in shame.

[identity profile] orange-creative.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Bo and Kenzi being insta-BFFs

This got me when I first watched episode one. The relationship they have now in episode ten is exactly the same as their relationship in the first AND THAT IRRITATES ME. Even when Kenzi was like, "I'll support your choices no matter what!" it didn't impact or change their relationship at all, just reiterated something we already knew—Kenzi is Team Bo.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
This got me when I first watched episode one. The relationship they have now in episode ten is exactly the same as their relationship in the first AND THAT IRRITATES ME.

*Sigh* I know. I like their relationship, but it would have been so much better to see it develop. Like Cara/Kahlan is such a moving friendship because we saw HOW they came to care about each other, and WHY they respect/admire each other.

I could go on, but I feel like I'm rambling at people alot about this show, so I'll just repeat ... lazy, lazy writing.

[identity profile] cyandragonfly.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
Bo's fluffy personality really makes her seem like a sociopath.

I'm not sure how this escaped my attention because you are deadly right about this.

Problem 1 and 2 could have been solved by having the following happen:

Now I feel like there needs to be a rewrite Bo's history, as you said. Or, a rehash of all the previous episodes because they way you described her tying to ween herself off sounded like a much more appropriate way to treat her character.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure how this escaped my attention because you are deadly right about this.


It's kind of easy for it not to pop out right away. It was only when I was responding to other people's comments that I was like, "wait a minute!" But once you have the thought it's impossible to unthink it.

I feel like there needs to be a rewrite Bo's history

There really should have been when they retooled the show. It's pretty much too late for it now, but some simply rewriting of her history would have made a lot of things much easier to deal with.

[identity profile] trickstertroll.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Happy-go-lucky Bo is probably the more forgivable oversight to me. While her conflict could definitely be better portrayed with very little effort, I've sort of made a nice cover story for the disparity in my head. Some people simply deal with that sort of trauma by pretending it doesn't exist. It's almost like you have to look at it one way with Vexed as part of the continuity and another way without it.

In Vexed, you obviously saw a lot more of the darkness that one would assume would be there after years of incidental murder. If you take that into account, I guess my assumption is that it's always there but she simply chooses to push it down as much as possible. And I think maybe she is supposed to be a little sociopathic. She's had to learn to ignore her conscience and learning that she can live without killing is forcing her to re-evaluate the sense of morality she had established for herself. She's sort of being set free and if she spent too much time dwelling on the fact that she didn't have to be killing people that whole time she would probably be crushed by the guilt. So she's focusing on the positive. That's a whole lot of rationalization on my part, but it helps.

The second issue, though - her control - that really bothers me. The opening sequence (..love..death sentence... blah blah...) seems a little over dramatic considering six episodes in she was able to feed without killing without any real background on how she got to that point. Really, the two problems could have been solved with the same very brief scenes. Struggling with controlling her powers would make an excellent parallel to struggling with her own killer past.

The whole issue of Bo herself seems incredibly glossed over in the re-tooled episodes we've seen. We don't see her relationships' consistent development, we don't see her gaining control over her powers, and we don't see her dealing with her past. I feel like making some awful pun regarding the show title and the character development, but... yeah, it's pretty awful. I wish everything could just kind of start over again with a focus on Bo instead of the meandering, freak-of-the-week episodes, but instead I'm just hoping that maybe there will be a more plot-centric drive to the second season. It wouldn't even really be that hard to go back and do a little light dusting over the first season in the second to make things seem a bit more coherent.

Speaking of coherent, sorry if that was incredibly long and convoluted. Hopefully you got an idea of what I was getting at.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Some people simply deal with that sort of trauma by pretending it doesn't exist. It's almost like you have to look at it one way with Vexed as part of the continuity and another way without it.

I think this is what they are trying for, but as is the norm with the show they are kind of piss poorly presenting it.

If the fluffy-ness is a front that Bo is putting forward, we should still see some glimpses of turmoil beneath the surface every once and a while. For example, the character of Damon from "Vampire Diaries" puts on an unaffected, nothing can faze me front, but we get moments where we see his depth and his pain, before he paints a smirk on his face again.

Even if Bo is wise-cracking, and smiling most of the time, every once in a while we should see something deeper from her, something that shows that inside of her she feels the weight of her past, even if she can't let it show most of the time.

The way the show portrays Bo (both writing and acting) just doesn't show that Bo acts this way because she has to in order to go on. She just comes across as genuinely being capricious instead of pretending/making herself act capricious.

The whole issue of Bo herself seems incredibly glossed over in the re-tooled episodes we've seen. We don't see her relationships' consistent development, we don't see her gaining control over her powers, and we don't see her dealing with her past.

Your right, the writing for Bo has been incredibly lazy. She is the star of the show, the protagonist. She should be the character that is the most defined, and yet she's so thinly drawn. I was just thinking about the other day in terms of fic writing, and how hard it is to write fic for this show because Bo makes no sense. It's impossible to get a sense of her internal self, because she is so contradictory on the show. It's like the writers just want to make her every single badass female they've ever seen on TV at once.

- Fights Fae like Buffy fought vampires.
- Has a dark, murderous past and a spunky side-kick who keeps her focused like Xena.
- Dresses up and goes undercover, often with her partner/handler like Sydney Bristow.
- She is tortured by her knowledge of the future (in Bo's case a prophecy) like Sarah Connor.
- Likes to dress in dark, tight clothes, has been forced to live on her own for years, and has uncontrollable sexual urges due to her biology like Max from Dark Angel.

And so on ...

The difference is that those characters were strongly, and carefully developed, and as a viewer you understood them and why they did the things they did. Yes, even Max from Dark freaking Angel was better written. It's like the show doesn't realize that Bo can't be both Buffy AND Faith.

I wish everything could just kind of start over again with a focus on Bo instead of the meandering, freak-of-the-week episodes, but instead I'm just hoping that maybe there will be a more plot-centric drive to the second season

Hopefully there will be some fine-tuning for the second season. I realize they can't undo her past now, but hopefully in season 2 they'll a least start to address some of the things they've been ignoring.

I don't even really mind the case-of-the-week format. It can be used effectively (i.e. The Good Wife. It has a new legal case to be solved every week, but in-between the lawyering it focuses on character and character relationships and slowly and carefully develops it's characters). Lost Girl just has the characters do whatever is needed to further the plot, which often makes the characters inconsistent.

I think that's one of the reasons Lauren is my favorite, because she's the most consistently scripted character on the show.

Speaking of coherent, sorry if that was incredibly long and convoluted.

As this long-ass response indicates, I don't have a problem with length replies! It actually makes me happy to know others are thinking about this show as much as I am :D

[identity profile] spanishtvjunkie.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
I'm gonna spout an unpopular viewpoint here. I see Lost Girl in a more tongue-in-cheek-leaning-towards-camp murder mystery genre. We're talking succubi and light and dark fea here. Foot soup. Really great zingers and one-liners. There is a serious tone to the drama sometimes and I don't make light of Bo's life or history I don't see the show taking itself too seriously. Perhaps that is because they need to have a sense of humor and see how the audience would be reacting to such a different type of show. Seriously this show. It's so weird sometimes it's awesome! I don't know what it going on with this show, I don't know what is going to happen with this show but I know that I like this show. I'm curious every week to see what other strange stuff they come up with to dazzle and stupify me! I would love for Bo and Lauren to have a somewhat normal relationship but there really is not much that's normal about this show!
Not gonna be popular after this post, I know.

[identity profile] swiftlyreloaded.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
i know your position w/ LG may not be a popular one but I agree w/ what you had to say. I mean it did come off to me as kinda campy. I dunno spanishjunkie maybe?

[identity profile] trickstertroll.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
The problem for me personally isn't that the show seems campy (because the camp is part of what makes it wonderful), but rather the overall lack of consistency.

I like to think it suffers from the Glee Effect a bit. It is fabulously ridiculous and campy and fun, but it has just enough drama that you want to take it a little seriously too. Only problem is that there's not enough overall plot or thematic continuity to give it that extra edge that would really make it awesomely engaging.

Definitely agree that it's good silly fun regardless of any other faults though.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)
This show really does suffer from The Glee effect. It's all wonderful concepts and occasionally brilliant moments mixed in with a bunch of "Wha?" and "For frakking real?" and "Oh, come on!"

From the beginning the show hasn't known what it really wants to be. Like, why would they make Bo someone who's killed for years if they wanted her to be a fluffy, innocent character? They could have just, you know, not made her have killed people! She's their creation. But they WANTED a dark edge to the show.

Then, episodes like the spider one, and the forest guy one, and even the foot soup one definitely have a funny concept to them. But this weeks episode was a about a serial murderer who gleefully killed off women if pretty horrific ways (shown and discussed in detail). That is not a case that should be dealt with campily.

I like the show, I watch it religiously, from my episode posts you can tell I get excited when I'm watching it. I just wish that someone/some people had thought things through more clearly. Because with a minimum of effort they could have avoided my major issues with the show.

[identity profile] spanishtvjunkie.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm hoping that they will make their way through this first season and and get even better the second season. I do really hope there is a second season. There is room for improvement but I'm still wildly entertained by it as tv shows go these days. I don't know how much killing BO has done in her past. I know she's referred to a boy from her first sexual experience other than that I don't how much she has used her succubus powers till she hooked up with Kenzi and started kicking butts for their PI business. any info on that?

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I do really hope there is a second season.

It's been renewed so there will definitely be a second season. You don't have to worry about that ;)

I don't know how much killing BO has done in her past. I know she's referred to a boy from her first sexual experience other than that I don't how much she has used her succubus powers till she hooked up with Kenzi

She told Lauren in the pilot that she had been waking up to a 'string of dead lovers' for a decade, so I'd say she's killed quite a few people.

She also killed that guy in the elevator in the pilot, she nearly killed that landlady (if Kenzi hadn't hit Bo over the head that woman would have been dead), and she was ready to sex-up (and therefore kill) that guy in the hardware store.

So ... yeah, I'd say Bo's left a pretty hefty body count behind her.

Honestly, as much as I hate on Dyson, his magical Fae peen has saved a lot of male and female human lives my keeping Bo's vaginal happy for the past few months.

[identity profile] spanishtvjunkie.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
waking up to a 'string of dead lovers' for a decade

Yea, I'd say that would be quite a few! I would've found that very disconcerting to say the least! lol But since she was a succubus by nature and didn't know it, maybe she just couldn't stop herself. Now that they have a second season perhaps they will settle in and tell us some backstory and dig a little deeper.
As for Dyson, you know I like him in the beginning but since Lauren got involved I don't like the whole pitting them against each other scenario that is building. I know, it makes for good drama but we know who always gets the girl in those situations. But this show is just wanky enough to throw all that to the curb and do something totally different. I don't know. I'm with you in that I hope this show makes the most of what it has going for it, which I think is a lot!

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
But since she was a succubus by nature and didn't know it, maybe she just couldn't stop herself.

I'm sure she couldn't stop herself once she started feeding, but my sympathy for Bo only goes so far. If she'd only been feeding off of scumbag's (like elevator guy) I'd have a lot more sympathy for her, but her going after the guy in the hardware store led me to believe that she's never been all that picky, and that makes her actions pretty inexcusable.

I couldn't dredge up an ounce of care for the date-rapist Bo killed, but some random person that was probably succubus'd by Bo deserves a better fate.

I really wish they'd had her make a comment about only feeding on low-lifes or something.

Now that they have a second season perhaps they will settle in and tell us some backstory and dig a little deeper.

Hopefully, although it wouldn't surprise me if they ignored her past killing, or tried to ret-con it out of existence (which in this case I could probably deal with).

I've just decided to have no expectations when it comes to this show and just watch and wait.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 12:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think it's necessarily an unpopular opinion. Most people watching the show like it, lol. We wouldn't nitpick if we didn't ;)

The show is campy and I don't have a problem with camp. I suppose my whole point with the post was that if they wanted to make a campy show that they shouldn't have given Bo such a dark past if they wanted the show to be light-hearted.

You have to admit, it's an odd concept to make a show about a killer campy (I mean honestly, can you think of a show that's overall campy that's had a main character with a past like that? Xena had some campy episodes, but overall it was a drama, and Xena's past as a warlord wasn't overlooked).

If they'd just made Bo able to control her abilities from the beginning, the show we've watched so far, could have happened pretty much exactly as it has, and stayed the same in tone (camp and ridiculousness) and it would have made a lot more sense.

For example: Bo would still go to Dyson for healing etc., because she can take as much energy from him as she wants because he heals more quickly than humans. The Bo/Dyson relationship stays the same.

Bo and Lauren don't happen for eight episodes because Bo wants to be romantic and get to know her first and Lauren is afraid of the Ash's reaction to her and Bo hooking up. Bo/Lauren stays the same.

By simply not making Bo have killed people for years the show could have avoided the pitfalls it's fallen into now and could have been as campy, and fun, and ridiculous as it wanted AND the main character would have made sense instead of being so confusing.

[identity profile] rtms.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
I really hope that in the second season Bo is made to face her past and her killings in some way. That some character or characters track her down and really go after her for killing say a family member etc and demand justice, either by themselves or through the law. It would be a great way to see her past and make her and everyone else around her confront what she was doing all those years.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I would love it if Bo was forced to confront someone/a family member of someone from her past in the second season. My only fear is that with this show it would be a one-episode deal, and then the next episode characters wouldn't even talk about it. Because the continuity and character development on this show is almost non-existent.

I think the writers really came up with a concept for the show that was too complex for them.

[identity profile] kennedyismyhero.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
This. This! I now swear by your fic and your perfectly reasonable nitpicks for this ridiculous show. My only hope is that now that they've been picked up for S2, they'll get their shit together in the writing department, at least more than the clusterfuck sans continuity it has been this season.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I really hope now that the show has been established, and they have the security of knowing that it's being watched and is liked, that they'll hunker down and try and improve the problems with it. Maybe get some new blood on the writing staff. Mix in light, campy episodes with darker episodes. If they're paying any attention to fans at all, they'll realize that A LOT of people liked the dark tone of "Vexed" and they'll try to do more of that.

I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[identity profile] dantzig75.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Since I have miserably failed to defend my own thoughts on Bo in TWOP, I won't even try this again here. I agree that a lot could be made on many subjets to increase the quality of this show. Bo's character is boring as hell, the Fae-of-the-week case is useless and poorly written, the narrative lacks rythm, why is every other character more interesting than Bo (why is every other actor more talented than Silk), give Kenzi and Dyson something to do, WE WANT LAUREN BACK AS A REGULAR, and so on...Maybe they should get rid of Bo (I'm kidding... almost). I'm kinda cynical because I honestly don't think the writers will change anything. And because I'm a poor starved dyke, I'll keep on watching ;)

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Since I have miserably failed to defend my own thoughts on Bo in TWOP, I won't even try this again here.

I think it's a lose-lose situation talking about Bo, because she's written so inconsistently that it's impossible to really pin her down.

I found a lot of what you said about Bo trying to do what's 'right' or 'good' accurate in that it is what the writers are putting forward on screen, but I maintain that with the background they gave her, her actions and black/white viewpoint make no sense whatsoever.

But moving on ...

Bo's character is boring as hell, the Fae-of-the-week case is useless and poorly written, the narrative lacks rythm, why is every other character more interesting than Bo (why is every other actor more talented than Silk), give Kenzi and Dyson something to do, WE WANT LAUREN BACK AS A REGULAR, and so on...

A thousand times YES! to all of this. To be honest, I don't need more Dyson (I'm anticipating not really digging this weeks episode because the preview was ALL ABOUT DYSON), but give me more Kenzi (who I've been ADORING for the past few episodes), give me more Trick, and definitely give me more Lauren.

'm kinda cynical because I honestly don't think the writers will change anything

This. I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that what we've gotten so far, is pretty much all these writers can do. This show is always going to be a guilty pleasure. It's never going to be legitimately good, but I'll keep watching it because it's not supernatural creatures, hot chicks who make out with chicks, some great one-liners, and Zoie Palmer.

[identity profile] ded-n-berried.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 02:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Regarding Bo's self-described ten year killing spree, I, for one, would have happily written it off if she'd had a conversation with someone explaining that after the accidental death of her first boyfriend, she fed exclusively on scumbags like the GHB barfly who nearly raped Kenzi in the pilot ep. They wrecked that possibility when she spoke of habitually waking up next to "dead lovers," like she kept taking people to bed and rolling the dice with their lives. This bespeaks an ugly lack of compassion and is nigh impossible to fanwank away. Bad writers. Bad!

At its best, this show still evokes good sci-fi/comedy vibes for me, like BtVS and Angel, or even the Darin Morgan eps of X-Files. I am cutting Lost Girl a lot of slack because there isn't anything else like it on the air right now.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I, for one, would have happily written it off if she'd had a conversation with someone explaining that after the accidental death of her first boyfriend, she fed exclusively on scumbags like the GHB barfly who nearly raped Kenzi in the pilot

YES! It would be so much easier to for me to deal with Bo's past if she was a Succubus!Dexter. And honestly, it only would have required like one line of dialogue. Instead of the "if waking up next to a string of dead lovers, isn't sick, then I want a second opinion" line (which, I'm sorry didn't make me feel sorry for Bo at all), they could have had her say something like, "If having to spend my days hunting down the scum of the earth so that I can live and still sleep at night isn't sick, then I want another opinion." THAT'S IT! That one sentence would have made Bo's past palpable, and it would explain why she's not that angsty about her past because killing scumbags will weigh on a person less than killing innocent people.

This bespeaks an ugly lack of compassion and is nigh impossible to fanwank away. Bad writers. Bad!

To steal [livejournal.com profile] ic1pher's phrase, it makes Bo seem 'horribly irresponsible' at best, and like a sociopath at worst.

I am cutting Lost Girl a lot of slack because there isn't anything else like it on the air right now.

Word. Despite my complaints I don't plan on stopping watching the show. It's got enough things going for it to keep me around.
Edited 2010-11-26 21:36 (UTC)

[identity profile] ic1pher.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I had this very problem in episode 1. So when they didn't really address it in any sensible way in later episodes, I just decided not to care and try to enjoy the good instead focusing on the bad.

Some other urban fantasy also has this problem. The protagonist does bad things and because it is convenient for him/her, it is considered the right moral thing to do. Usually makes me quit reading if this pattern repeats.

I don't know how to accurately explain the phenomenon but something like horrible irresponsibility comes quite close.

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-26 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
So when they didn't really address it in any sensible way in later episodes, I just decided not to care and try to enjoy the good instead focusing on the bad.

I totally get this. Despite this little rant I'm not going to stop watching the show. It entertains me. It is often dumb, and makes no sense but I still enjoy it.

The protagonist does bad things and because it is convenient for him/her,

For instance characters that complain about how they had no choice but to smut-ify their aura ;)

horrible irresponsibility

LOL! This is such a good phrase.

Horrible irresponsibility describes Bo so well.

[identity profile] ralst.livejournal.com 2010-11-27 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
I think the show has done such a good job of being inconsistent and void of character growth that my mind has become somewhat immune to these problems. Now, of course, I can see them perfectly and I can also imagine how good the show could have been if they'd addressed the issues.

I can understand them not wanting to go down the tortured soul route, as it's rather overdone in the genre, but if they'd chosen that path they should have given her an appropriate backstory. Personally, I'd have loved to see a darker side to her character, because it would have added an extra layer to her main relationships and provided a simmering rage that could be exploited in the betrayal-reveal to come. As it is, she simply lacks depth, and while that's okay in a fluffy show, it really shows when they try and do darker episodes.

As someone else mentioned, her instant best friends/sisters relationship with Kenzi is another sore point. I do love seeing them interact but there is a lack of substance to their relationship that makes me assume it could be over just as quickly as it began (the LotS writers need to send over their character development notes).

I'd love to see this first season rewritten as both a fluffy (Bo not a killer) and dark (Bo a killer and screwed up about it) version, because I think both have potential... know of any femslash writers up for the challenge? *g*

(Anonymous) 2010-11-27 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
I've loved all your comments about the show, and was wondering, is there somewhere we can send them so the show's creators will actually read them? I feel like if we can just show them how passionate we are about the storylines, maybe they will improve next season!

[identity profile] canvasbug.livejournal.com 2010-11-27 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Just curiously, since in ep 10 Bo said she looked for love with both fae and humans...does that mean they're counting puppyhealsex-seeking as looking for love?

[identity profile] fembuck.livejournal.com 2010-11-27 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
They were just talking about sex, not love. Bo had been talking about being horny, and Kenzi (after that hilarious "If I could give you the six inches all of your problems would be solved" line) told her that she needed to go out and put herself out there. And Bo said, "Believe me, I put myself out there. Men, women, humans, Fae ... that one time with a goat."

So, I'd say her heal-sexing with Dyson is still in the sexing category.