Faeries, werewolves and vampires, Oh my!

Television, like life, is cyclical. From what I’ve observed over the years each cycle is usually between seven and ten years long. Thanks to the pop culture phenomenon, and bane of my horror genre-loving existence; The Twilight Saga the horror cycle has returned to television earlier than it would have otherwise graced us. Given the long-running spiel it enjoyed in the 90s thanks to the original script-writing, genre-crossing genius that is Joss Whedon the cycle wasn’t due back until somewhere in the teens or even early twenties of our new century. Many of these new programs, however, have been milk-toast carbon copies made to cash in on Twilight’s cult-like success (I’m looking at you Teen Wolf and The Gates) and have little to offer other than a weakly written combination of other television shows currently limping slowly on their last legs themselves (*cough* Desperate Housewives *cough*).  However there are a couple that have proven they may just struggle on through the first season trial-by-fire and see their ways clear to a second season. Lost Girl and Being Human are two such possible contenders.

Bo (Anna Silk) and Kenzie (Ksenia Solo) star in 'Lost Girl'.

Though Lost Girl leaves viewers a little lost in the first half of its pilot episode ‘It’s a Fae, Fae, Fae, Fae World’ , until it actually explains that in this version of our world Fae exist and that Bo is in fact a Succubus genus within this species; this isn’t something that I found completely unexpected. Taking a page out of the books in its genre Lost Girl actually conjured visions of Laurell K Hamilton’s ‘Meredith Gentry’ series for me to such a point that I investigated whether the two might be connected in some way. But lo’ and behold the idea is an original concept by the writer/producer M.A. Lovretta who was a co-contributing writer on such shows as Mutant X and Relic Hunter. With her feet seasonably wet in the sci-fi genre of television Lovretta seems to have polished up all those gems she’s been saving from her experience and beset them into Lost Girl.

Lost Girl centers around Bo Jones, played by relative newcomer Anna Silk, a fly-by-night bartender who moves from town to town leaving bodies in her wake thanks to a femme fatale-style kiss that leaves her victims with a smile on their face and a dead look in their eyes. It is thanks to this gift/curse that Bo saves Kenzie, a spunky little street-hustling thief with a penchant for truly nifty-looking wigs played wonderfully by Ksenia Solo. Between them Anna and Ksenia have the natural kind of spark of chemistry that makes their characters witty repartee amusingly zing. It also helps that with Ksenia’s skilful application of facial expressions and droll vocal tones that the lines she delivers as Kenzie actually endear the character to viewers rather than come off as obnoxious, as they so easily could. The two leads are adequately backed up by the character of Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried), a homicide detective who turns out to be an undercover Fae who is there to clean up the messes those of the Fae world create that could potentially alert all us unsuspecting humans to their presence. Along with Dyson’s sweet-voiced Siren Fae partner Hale (K.C. Collins), the small-stature bar owning Fae known only as ‘Trick’ (Richard Howland) and the human Doctor Lauren Lewis (Zoie Palmer) this cast is small but simple and covers all its necessary bases without diluting the plot with unnecessary extra faces.

From left: Lauren (Zoie Palmer), Bo (Anna Silk) and Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried).

As a gay woman myself I must admit that the attraction that is written between Bo and Lauren perked my interest in a way that it hasn’t been since the death of Tara McClay in Buffy The Vampire Slayer put an end to one of the best written and acted lesbian relationships on television. As episodes progress it’s been made obvious that Bo is a woman who fits today’s more open-minded sensibilities on sexuality: she’s an equal opportunity succubus whose tastes swing to both Lauren and Dyson as potential love interests. However, as is expected from a show that has to bow to mainstream and studio pressures there is always that silent hinting, which to a gay woman is about as subtle as a sledgehammer between the eyes, which indicates Bo’s true preference is for the non-committal Dyson. I have yet to decide whether or not this is just the Lost Girl writers’ way of trying to pander to as many demographics as it can or if they will do it justice and be truly sensitive to the nuances of sexuality such character choices demand. I have my doubts, but I’m an optimistic cynic hoping that Lost Girl will prove me wrong and treat this element of their plot as well as the rest of their stories in each episode.

Being Human on the other hand is an example of American television taking something and actually making good on their assurances that they can do it better than the original. Being Human was originally a concept program which aired in the UK back a few years ago and I am one of the few people who actually watched and remembered it. Admittedly the English version of Being Human bored me. It was a case of bad timing – the market hadn’t yet been hit by Twilight fever, it was in the mid-swing of an entirely different genre cycle, and to be quite honest – it was as dry and colourless as old white paint flaking off a wall. It had the potential to go somewhere but it never did. However, the American producers of the second spin of Being Human have gotten those stereotypical little elements that mainstream viewers go for: every cast member, including Bishop the head of the local Vampire cadre who was an overweight and balding 50-something in the UK version but has transformed into a swarthy bottle-blond 40-something in his American reinvention; is good looking and the entire story has many more nuances that make the plot more interesting and the characters themselves seem both more fragile and more dangerous than their previous incarnations.

US 'Being Human' cast (from left): Aidan (Sam Witwer), Sally (Meaghan Rath) and Josh (Sam Huntington).

With a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost as its central characters Being Human is the supernatural equivalent of a ‘modern family’. Aidan (Sam Witwer) is a stoic, often monosyllabic example of a vampire with a blood problem who is valiantly struggling to overcome his vices and stay on the straight-and-narrow after killing co-worker Rebecca (Sarah Allen). Meanwhile Josh, (Sam Huntington), a werewolf who spins into a PMS-style hissy fit once a month because he just can’t deal with what he is convinces Aidan that their lives could be so much better if they could just be more like the humans they used to be. And so they do what any post-90s couple of metro-sexual male friends would do in that situation: they move in together. Little do they know that the property they choose is actually being haunted by the ghost of Sally Malik (played by the wonderful Meaghan Rath who makes Sally far more sympathetic to the audience than the intolerably whiney UK version) who still pines for the fiancé she left behind (played by Gianpaolo Venuta) who is constantly left to make house-calls to fix the plumbing, electrics and other home-related hardware she keeps inadvertently influencing whenever her fragile emotions run amuck.  Together the three strike an awkward friendship that grows deeper with each episode as traumas, mistakes and truths from their pasts come back to haunt them (or in Sally’s case, she turns the tables and decides to haunt that which troubles her instead).

Closing Review:

Lost Girl

Being Human

Both Lost Girl and Being Human have their highs and lows when it comes to plot and some of the moments between their characters seem a little contrived. But as the adage goes – if you don’t expect much you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Given that I lean towards supernaturally-themed programs I am just grateful to see a couple of programs that are tolerably well-written since Whedon’s departure from creatorship ever since the demise of Dollhouse. Neither show is a brilliant romp through the garden of Genius Writers, but let’s face it – with how short-sighted the studios are these days and how they are ever-increasingly leaning towards simply producing works that are either the remakes of things that succeeded in other markets or other time periods (such as the re-spawning of shows like Knight Rider) it’s a miracle for anything different to make it past the gate these days. So, as much as I despise Twilight I am going to have to begrudgingly give it one small kudos: thanks to the money it’s raked in it has given the money-grubbing studio execs the motivation to give projects such as Lost Girl and Being Human the opportunity to take their turn upon our screens. And even if they only last two seasons, such as their predecessors of Canadian-made Blood Ties and UK-produced Hex, I can honestly say I will enjoy them while they last.

For related articles

aidan, anna silk, being human, bo, fae, holden ried, human, lost girl, sam huntington, sam witwer, television TV Reviews