A Season Long Fae-Well to Lost Girl

I must confess that I am trepidatious about the final season of Lost Girl, which premieres on Showcase at 9PM EST tonight in Canada. I watched the show from the very beginning of it’s airing on the SyFy channel and was so intrigued that I binge watched all of season 2 in 15 minute increments off of YouTube before the fourth episode of the first season officially aired. And if ‘The Powers That Be’ at Skiffy are reading, if I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have stuck through season 1 to keep watching. But I loved the characters so much that I couldn’t get enough.

Then as Season 3 approached they promised to do one thing most supernatural shows avoid: have the heroine behave badly of her own accord. I, and most other fans, were looking forward to watching Bo explore her powers and her dark side. Alas, they went the tried and well trod route and had Bo’s issues and actions be the result of something beyond her control. A fact I lamented about online extensively. Seriously, I couldn’t shut up about it. It seems perhaps the writers heard (this is me being grandiose) because season 4 had Bo behaving in ways that would have made sense a season previous. I was enjoying season 4 and it’s darker tone as the writers explored memory as a part of identity, but the final three episodes happened and I was, well, lost. Yet I believed that much of what transpired that left me and I believe so many others in the audience scratching our heads would be resolved in the next season and it was all part of a grander arc. Then the series star, Anna Silk, announced via YouTube that they had decided season 5 would be the last, and despite being sad the show was ending it also gave me hope. I thought that perhaps knowing the series was at an end gave the writers and producers the freedom to write the story they wanted without having to worry about catering to any segments in the fandom or to network wishes, (because can anyone name a show that got better thanks to network notes), and meant that not only would they resolve all the issues created in the previous season but that the show would be able to end how Bo would like: on its own terms.

Anna Silk said recently in an interview, “I don’t think fans will be disappointed with this season. I mean, you always wish it could have gone for one more, of course. But really I’d rather end strong and wrap up the story properly and be able to say bye to Bo and the whole gang properly than just be cancelled abruptly. I think it’s the best decision they could make.”

Looks epic, right? Since the finale the ambiguity about the return of much-loved Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) and the show runners asking the cast to keep off of social media has had the effect of heightening the frenzy for any hint about what the new (and last) season would offer. Season 4 left us with so many questions that need to be answered. But 16 episodes is more than enough time to cover them all and then some. With the finally released promotional materials we learned that new cast have been added and the names of some guest stars. There is a new bartender, played by Luke Bilyk, which makes us wonder where exactly is Trick. We know he’s in the new season yet his character is mysteriously missing from the promo and official cast photos. Hmmm! Anna Silk mentioned in her spot on ET Canada that we see more interaction between a smaller core group of the cast, which I took to mean the four featured in the ads: Bo, Tamsin, Dyson, and Lauren. The guests include Eric Robers, (who many are speculating will play Bo’s long sought father), Linda Hamilton is rumored to return as Tamsin’s mentor Acacia, Paul Amos returns (from Germany, according to the actor) as the much beloved baddie Vex and both he and full-time cast mate Kris Holden-Ried (Dyson) mentioned at a convention in Framingham MA that Vex and Dyson have an episode to air all their grievances that I personally am looking forward too. Ennis Esmer (The Listener, Sex After Kids) tweeted his participation in at least one episode of the show, and also joining the cast is Shanice Banton, Noam Jenkins, & Amanda, Walsh.

The first 8 episodes of the 16 episode extended final season start tonight with “Like Hell, part 1″ airing at 9PM on Showcase, with the final 8 airing at the end of 2015 into 2016.