Lost Girl, A Sci-Fi Show For Fans Of Buffy, Is Now Streaming For Free
Lost Girl, a Canadian supernatural series about a succubus, is free to stream right now.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought about a new era in supernatural genre television, combining a monster-of-the-week format with overarching storylines that focused on female characters. Almost a decade after Sarah Michelle Gellar hung up her stakes, Lost Girl premiered on Syfy, introducing the world to the conflict between the Fae. One of the most successful Canadian shows of all time, the boundary-breaking series aired for five seasons of mythological beings, fairy tales brought to life and a very complicated love hexagon. You can even stream Lost Girl for free on The CW.
Featuring Anna Silk as Bo the succubus (a mythological being that uses sex to absorb the life force of others), Lost Girl wastes no time forcing her into the middle of a conflict between the Light Fae and the Dark Fae. Declaring herself to be neutral, Bo focuses on solving problems around the city while keeping Kenzi (Ksensia Solo), a young runaway she saves from an assault, safe from harm. Allying primarily with the siren Hale (K.C. Collins) and werewolf Dyson (Kris Holden-Reed), Bo deals with human-eating mermaids, liches, genies, and the constant scheming of the Dark Fae faction.
Each season of Lost Girl focuses on an overarching mystery, from the nature of Bo’s heritage (which is a twist that should not be spoiled) to the Wanderer, a renegade fae forced to live on a train wandering Purgatory forever. In between the major story beats are standalone episodes that range from the humourous (Bo living through Dyson’s memories) to the suspenseful (the And Then There None influenced murder mystery of “Original Skin”) and the tragic “Masks.”
The last one, “Masks,” centers on a human doctor, Lauren (Zoie Palmer), who unexpectedly becomes one of the main love interests of Bo during the series. Though it shows as much skin as an episode of CSI, Lost Girl doesn’t shy away from the main character being a succubus, which means lots of sexual innuendoes, charged glances, and a complicated bi-sexual hexagon that blows Buffy’s dalliances with Spike and Angel out of the water. Bo and Lauren would win “Hottest Hookup” and “Favorite Lesbian Couple” at the 2013 Visibility Awards, on top of plenty of other award nominations.
Ksensia Solo, as Kenzie, became a breakout fan favorite with her one-liners and punk fashion, stealing nearly every scene that she’s in but managing never to be overbearing. Lost Girl’s ensemble becomes one of the best parts of the show, constantly finding new corners of the Fae world to explore as political factions jostle for power and former one-of characters make sudden re-appearances. Though Bo is “neutral” in only the loosest sense of the word, she’s almost exclusively siding with the Light Fae, the series devotes time to both the heroes and villains, doing its best to round out as many characters as possible.
Today, Lost Girl can be viewed from beginning to end on The CW streaming app with no subscription. Even though the low-budget production is noticeable in the Fae characters’ sets, costumes, and powers, the writing and characterization make up for the technical shortcomings. Similar to its fellow Canadian import, Sanctuary, sometimes the low budget helps foster creativity, such as in the previously mentioned episode “Original Skin,” that’s shot in only one location.
Canadian productions have had some success being released internationally, including Lexx, Travellers, Painkiller Jane, Killjoys, and the Lost Girl spiritual successor, Van Helsing. There’s something about the low-budget, story-first method of sci-fi that stands up to the test of time.
Other shows that incorporate fairy tales into the plot, specifically Once Upon A Time, tend to run out of steam and become overly focused on relationships or the exact same set of characters every season. Lost Girl goes wild as the seasons go on, finding new areas to explore and combine. It’s the only show to use Norse, Celtic (The Morrigan is a recurring villain), Arabic, Japanese, Germanic, and one other culture that, again, won’t be mentioned here in the same stories.
One of the best sci-fi shows with a female lead, Lost Girl, is worth watching even today, especially for those that have already memorized every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And again, the best part is that right now, it’s available entirely for free.
