Lost Girl

If you’ve seen the trailer for Lost Girl you’ve probably not really got anything about the show other than that the main character is a succubus. Which is a shame because it’s a whole lot more than that.
In my last article, I was bemoaning (again) the fact that no series I’d watched recently had managed to make a good pilot episode. There needs to be a simple introduction of characters but with enough information on each to understand their basic traits – this girl is the one who knits the group together, that boy enjoys arguing. The characters must also be likeable, even if they’re evil. The plot of the first episode should put the main character/s into the new situation that will set up the series but not in an obvious way. Lost Girl does that quite well, adding a main and side character into the new world without turning into forty minutes of clichés.
Said world is the main bit that gets missed from that trailer. There are two mob-like groups of fae, made up of the general bag of supernatural characters. One group is called ‘the light’, the other ‘the dark’. Exactly what each side stands for isn’t explained in the pilot. I suspect it could be something akin to the state of affairs in Night Watch where one group controls the night and one the day. Or, it could be more simple than that – light equals good, dark equals bad. Anyway, entry into one of these groups is mandatory for all fae, including the succubus, Bo, who has no idea what she is until the supernatural’s doctor tells her. Since not knowing what you are is unheard of, they immediately subject her to a ‘trial’ followed by a command to choose a side – light or dark. I won’t tell you what happens, but fair to say it got my interest.
Their inclusion of the side character, Kenzi, a human kleptomaniac with a side order of kooky, is perhaps the best part. It’s a small stroke but it adds so much and her relationship with Bo is already fun to watch. Because both are outsiders, I don’t get the ‘audience surrogate’ feel. And, the fact that she’s not some ordinary shop worker who gets pulled into the mix through no fault of her own – Rose Tyler, for instance – means she’s a character who’s forging her own path, not simply trailing in the wake of Bo.
Obviously, it could all go wrong and turn out to be awful from episode two onwards but I have high hopes for Lost Girl and I’m really interested to see where they take it.