LOST GIRL Recap: Season 3, Episode 7 “There’s Bo Place Like Home”

As the episode opens, we see that Bo (Anna Silk) is working on the first test in her training to prepare for the Dawning. She has to walk through an enchanted threshold which tests whether she can merge her body and spirit into the “state of oneness”. But it’s not going well and, despite several attempts, Bo is basically shocked away as the threshold will not allow her to pass through. Trick (Rick Howland) reasons that she is not trying hard enough and that her anger is getting in the way. He tells her that in order to master this first step she has to go back to the origins of her anger – that of her adopted mother who brow-bet her after having sex with her boyfriend (sex that killed him because Bo knew nothing of her succubus origins at the time), causing Bo to run away from home and hold deep resentment toward her adoptive parent ever since.

Meanwhile, a man and woman are seen near an open field, which turns out to be on the boundary of Bo’s hometown, dealing with a flat tire. The girl – Leslie (Cherisse Woonsam) – is upset with her boyfriend – Brad (Jeff Pangman) for bringing her to the middle of nowhere where she cannot get any cell reception and, worst of all, she has to go to the bathroom. Brad tells her to go out in the field (which Leslie is none too happy about) while he fixes the tire. She proceeds to take care of busy while Brad rolls under the car to deal with the tire. Just then he sees the vision of a strangely dressed woman (who is clearly not human) and the car suddenly drops down on him, killing him instantly. The strange woman then disappears just as Leslie returns to the car, finding Brad dead underneath the vehicle. [Dun, dun, dun!]

Back at the Dal, Trick is meeting with Stella Nashira (guest star Deborah Odell), who can provide guidance to Bo during her training. While Stella is taking notes based on what Trick is telling her about his granddaughter, she shares with Trick that “the Bo you know will cease to exist” if she cannot get through the Dawning. At that same time, Bo is at home having a bad dream, reliving the inadvertent killing of her first love Kyle, hearing all the horrible things her adoptive mother Mary (guest star Nola Augstson) said about her before she ran away from home and then seeing strange images of herself looking like a demon. This disturbing vision abruptly wakes her up at the precise moment Trick calls her, asking her to come to the Dal to meet with Stella. A short time later, Stella reads Bo’s tea leafs, telling Bo and Trick that she harbors great rage and great regret. In order to bring those under control, Stella tells Bo she needs to return home to confront her adopted mother so that Bo can embrace her true identity. Without that she will not be able to cross the enchanted threshold.

The problem, however, is that Bo doesn’t want to spend one minute with her adoptive mother, who she sees as small-minded and bigoted. But after a heart-to-heart conversation with Lauren (Zoie Palmer), Bo decides to make the five-hour drive to her hometown – with Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) along for the ride. Before Bo leaves, though, Lauren gives her three vials of a formula that will help freeze the underFae cells that are coursing through Bo’s body. The formula will not stop the cells, but will at least hold them at bay; and help Bo remain herself while in her hometown, which just happens to be celebrating its annual Cherry Festival (at least according to a Google search conducted by Lauren).

Back at the Dal, Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) charges in, yelling at Trick for allowing Bo to go back to her hometown; and Trick quickly realizes that Dyson has his love back. Dyson confirms Trick’s suspicions, but says that he will not tell Bo the truth as she is with Lauren now. Trick understands, but reminds Dyson that while that may be true, Lauren is still a human and their relationship is short-lived at best. In other words, Trick is telling Dyson that he can’t give up on his love for Bo.

Soon enough, Bo and Kenzi are on the road, making their way to Bo’s hometown, but they have to make a pit stop to refuel the convertible. And while at a country gas station, they encounter a blast from Bo’s past: a former classmate named Dougie (guest star Christopher Kennedy), who calls Bo by her given name of Beth. Doug, as he is now known, asks Bo if she is back for the annual Cherry Festival and if she heard about Brad (the victim of the earlier car accident), sharing that there has been one string of bad luck after another in the town since Bo left. But Bo says that she is there for personal reasons – and nothing more.

After leaving the gas station, Bo and Kenzi end up outside Bo’s former childhood home; and even though Bo doesn’t really want to be there, she goes up on the porch and knocks on the front door. But rather than answering the door, her adoptive mother comes from around the side of the house (with a basket in her hands), looks surprised to see Bo and approaches her with a smile on her face. She takes Bo into a big hug, saying her “Beth” has finally returned home. So much for the bigoted woman that Bo was describing earlier, right?

As it turns out, Bo’s adopted mother Mary seems to be suffering from dementia – if the numerous bottles of prescriptions spread out on one of the tables in her dining room are any indication – and the fact that she seems to not remember all the horrible things she said to Bo before she left or the fact that Bo’s adopted father is now deceased. Kenzi soon spies a “Beth shrine” in the dining room that the women look over while Mary is in the kitchen. Mary then urges the girls to go into town to check out the Cherry Festival, but she says that they should change out of their city clothes into something “more appropriate”, which ends up being spring dresses that are so far afield from what the girls would normally wear, but it fits right in with where they currently find themselves.

Kenzi and Bo check out the sights and sounds of the Cherry Festival, walking by several young girls playing Double Dutch (who seem to be singing a song about the mysterious woman from the field) and then they run into another of Bo’s former classmates – the sharply dressed Jessica (Tara Wilson) who is visiting from Chicago – who still seems to be smarting from Bo beating her for the “Miss Cherry Blossom” beauty contest three years in a row during their high school days. But, Jessica snidely remarks that Bo could never get Brad (the recently departed) back in the day, because – as she says – “he was always mine”.

Back at Bo’s childhood home, Kenzi goes into the house to retrieve their clothes while Bo makes another effort to talk to Mary; but her mom doesn’t seem to want to relive the bad moments between them. Suddenly the strangely dressed woman from the field shows up and it is clear that she is not of this world. The woman attempts to attack Bo, but Bo fights back and the woman evaporates before them, causing Mary to get upset, yelling at Bo and showing signs of the woman Bo had always claimed she was; in fact, Mary yells that Bo is to blame for all the bad things that have happened in their community since she left.

As to be expected, Bo is upset by the horrible things Mary said to her so she runs off to drown her sorrows at the Cherry Festival while Kenzi gets Trick on the phone about the strange woman who evaporated in the field. Trick is able to identify the woman as a Poludnica, an underFae who uses the sun to disorient her victims before taking their lives. But, Trick tells Kenzi that Bo could not have caused Poludnica – otherwise known as Lady Polly (Philippa Domville) – to appear in the town, as she has to be summoned. And in order to rid the town of Lady Polly whoever summoned her has to be the one to send her back to the other side.

Kenzi heads to the Cherry Festival with the details as well as a newspaper article about the well house that burned down many years ago that seemed to be the epicenter of where Lady Polly came from only to find a rather tipsy and randy Bo admiring the local selection (men and women). But with a shift jolt of one of the injections from Lauren, Bo is somewhat back to normal. Kenzi then explains to Bo what Trick said has to be done to get rid of Lady Polly; and Bo reveals that she and Kyle (her long-deceased high school boyfriend), Dougie, Jessica (who is soon found dead from choking on a cherry at the festival) and the recently departed Brad were the ones who probably caused the well house to burn down and that it could have been their fault that Lady Polly was summoned. It seems they held a séance (Dougie was in his Goth stage at that point), but it didn’t work – or so Bo thought. As it turns out, Dougie went back to the well house to complete the séance after the two couples basically ditched him so it was actually his fault that Lady Polly was released.

To make matters worse (if they could get worse at this point), Dougie reveals that he has been trying to get rid of Lady Polly unsuccessfully for the past 10 years; but now that they have lost Jessica and Brad – leaving only him and Bo – Dougie attempts to stand up to Lady Polly on his own, but is hurt in the process. It then comes down to Bo to get rid of the evil Fae, using the final injection from Lauren on Lady Polly long enough to get her close to the well house where Bo is able to kick her inside, shutting the door on her for good.

Once that bit of trouble is taken care of Bo is, at long last, able to talk to Mary, getting all her frustrations out in the open, finding a way to finally forgive her mother. Bo has a rare moment of breaking down but also breaking through, saying that “I can’t hate you anymore and I’m done hating myself. I’m not the devil, momma, I’m Fae, I’m Bo”; and with a kiss to her mother’s cheek, Bo is able to say goodbye and move on.

Back at the Dal, there is a short conversation between Trick and Stella that is witnessed by Dyson. It is clear that Trick has feelings for Stella (and vice versa) and Dyson encourages Trick to follow his feelings; and it looks like he might do just that. But first Bo has to attempt to walk through the enchanted threshold; and with Stella and Trick standing as witnesses she is finally able to walk through unscathed. But, it’s not going to be that easy, of course, as Stella explains that Bo will have to move onto the next trial – getting through the temple, which will be the most grueling task of her life (oh great, right?!).

In the last scene Bo and Kenzi are safely and seemingly happily back at home but Bo wants Kenzi to open up about her own recent trials for which Kenzi is just not ready to do. So instead of dealing with those lingering problems, Bo asks Kenzi something even more difficult: “why did you go to see the Norn?” That won’t be an easy story to tell to say the least…

“There’s Bo Place Like Home” was written by Brendon Yorke and was directed by Gail Harvey. It should be noted that neither Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) nor Hale (K.C. Collins) appeared in this episode.

Make sure to tune into Syfy on Monday, March 11 at 10 PM for the next episode of Lost Girl called “Fae-ge Against the Machine”.