Tamsin is still very unhappy and is throwing all kinds of
snarling at Bo for not loving her (the woman who fell in love with Rainer lot
loving you must sting Tamsin). Bo tries to get her to stay and fails - and is
then distracted by a letter sealed by a triskele; probably from the Ancients.
It’s an invitation and she, Lauren, Dyson and Trick have
all been invited. They decide to go for research since even mythological beings
have a weakness – and Dyson decides to take Mark because we need to push
Miniwolf into the story somehow. Vex is worried about mimiwolf in danger and
offers to act as back up if needed.
To the party – and it’s a surprise party with a huge
crowd. And it’s a party for Bo – why am I not shocked? Not being entirely
foolish (no, really) they realise this probably has something to do with Bo’s
dad. All of them follow their own missions – and Bo decides this is the best
time to tell Lauren that after their sex during the blackout she wants to
reboot their relationship. Tamsin is also there because we need more tension.
Elsewhere Hera (who got better after being stabbed) and Iris have a very disturbing relationship – with Hera having way too much power over Iris and is willing to use it to control her. Iris looks disturbed.
Bo ends up alone with Iris who is desperate for company
(and asks to touch Bo’s hair – is this some kind of weird racial trope
reversal?) Bo tries to succubus information out of her – and Zeus appears. She happily
explains that she’s basically the head god of every pantheon (including Odin,
that sound you heard was the remaining attempts of continuity with the previous
season finally gasping and dying) and the Greeks depicted her as male because
a) she has many forms and b) patriarchal societies depict their head god as a
guy, no shocker. Also Zeus is totally on Bo’s side and wants to grant her her
heart’s desire (freedom from her father) and to stop him ending the world using
Bo. Ok, that would be bad
Dyson, meanwhile, injects Hera with bug spray (which Hera kinds of shrugs off not even treating it as a faux pas, I’m sure Ms Manners has something to say about injecting one’s host) and when he calls Alesha “his bitch” Dyson smacks him. I approve. Do it again. As an added bonus it also gets Lauren a blood sample to experiment on.
Bo decides that Zeus is being a big meany exploiting her
heart’s desire and storms off, telling Trick they’re leaving. Trick takes a
moment to exposition a powerful magic shield which will, no doubt, be important
later before Trick, Zeus and Bo all drink a cocktail of oracle eyes to see what
a big bad guy Hades is. Just in case “Hades, god of the underworld” wasn’t a
sufficient clue. The vision is, predictably, awful and dramatic with everything
all dead and gone.
Bo is connected to Hades so feeding him power – and Zeus
wants to break the bond and separate them to keep hades locked up. Let the
ritual begins! Of course it’s super dangerous but there’s no way Bo is going to
die so let’s not even try to play the tension game. She has to choose one of
many mythological weapons to remove Hade’s mark
Mark finds Iris all mopey about how controlling Hera is
and Mark is duly outraged on her behalf, on her being treated like property and
how Dyson never treats him like that (“never?” you’ve known him for like a
week). They ditch the party together; though Mark’s plans didn’t include breaking
and entering which seems to be on Iris’s to-do list.
Meanwhile Tamsin and Lauren (with a little help from
Dyson) have kidnapped Hera just in case something goes wrong. Tamsin and Lauren
have some Bo relationship issues – but then discover restraints on the bed. On
Iris’s bed. Tamsin and Lauren out aside any differences and focus on how Hera
definitely needs to die now; Hera claims they have to and Lauren and Tamsin
realise that maybe Iris is a lot more powerful than her parents.
They rush out to interrupt the cleansing ceremony and warn everyone that Iris is more powerful than Zeus and Hera together- and Dyson realises Mark is alone with her. And that they’re good. They all delay the curse because “the most powerful of you is with the least powerful of us.” Um… so? She’s shown no indication of danger or hostility
Iris and Mark have sex in the house they’ve broken into –
(while still wearing a surprising amount of clothes) and both wish how
wonderful it would be without the interference of their respective parental
units. When Mark goes to collect snacks he sees pictures on the fridge –
including of Iris (or of the body Iris is possessing). Mark is duly freaked out
and Iris follows up by saying she didn’t kill her vessel so the woman, Cecilia,
is still in there. Mark is not thrilled with the idea of Iris taking over
Cecilia’s life and family
When Mark hears Cecilia’s parents arrive he flees the scene, though Iris wants to stay and meet them. She stays to great her dad – who realises she isn’t really his daughter. So she rips her hand into his chest and he dies in a pool of blood; Mark realises that Iris is the one who has been killing everyone
Iris doesn’t seem to even understand death – and Mark
tells her Hera has been using her. In rage, Iris tears off her bracelet,
clearly used to control her. She seems to lose control of her powers and Mark
urges her to run while he tries to deal with Cecila’s dad’s body – and get
stabbed by Ceclia’s mother.
Meanwhile back at the Ancient’s, Tamsin gets all weepy over
Bo in front of Zeus. After a moment of comfort it turns into a challenge and
Zeus strikes Tamsin with lightening. Because she’s Zeus and you don’t go
toe-to-toe with her.
Dyson and Lauren go looking for Mark – and find him
stabbed and being half-carried by Vex; apparently Mark called him. Vex staggers
off for help while Lauren does the doctor thing
Bo finds Iris – where she’s accidentally turning flowers
and police officers into dust. Bo tries to be sympathetic but ignores Iris’s
warning about touching (and using succubus mojo) and her hand starts to
blacken. Bo realises the horrible vision they had of the future wasn’t her dad –
it was Iris.
She takes her blackened hand to show Trick and he realises they’ve filled Iris with the Nyx – goddess of night and chaos. Trick knows of only one thing that could stop the Nyx – a music box, the same box that Hades gave Bo. Bo goes to collect it – but Zeus is there before her. They fight, Zeus’s lightning bolt doing nothing to Bo’s blackened hand. It’s not an impressive fight, I have to say. Bo, Zeus, I expected better than rolling on the floor. Bo wins, half strangling Zeus with her blackened hand and throwing her out of her house.
Really, Zeus? That’s the best you can do? Through the
door, Zeus begs Bo not to open the box as it will release her dad. But we get a
completion of the Oracles vision – showing daddy as somewhat kind and
determined that his daughter stop a big threat worse than him and telling her
only family can destroy the ancients. He even asked her to share his victory
over night which she thinks is a bad thing. He throws out a lot more riddles
because that’s what he does.
They’re not complex riddles – after all, she is Bo. She
plays the music box. Zeus backs away in fear.
On top of the many many many retcons (hi Tamsin’s
characterisation!) am I the only one bemused by Bo’s heart desire being freedom
from her father? I mean, beyond a vaguely ominous but ill defined shadowy
presence here and there, has Bo’s father ever actually had any real influence in
her life? She only actually entered Hade’s domain because she deliberately went
exploring the underworld and seducing her step-mother. Suddenly Bo is desperate
to be free, but the show has done nothing to establish her as trapped.
Mark has gone from “you don’t tell me what to do!” to
eager-to-please puppy in a couple of weeks. Character development is for other
shows!
I’m also not really following why Iris alone with Mark is
a threat. Is she uber powerful? Sure, but, as Bo said, he’s the least powerful of
their group. It doesn’t matter how powerful Iris is, she was always going to be
more powerful than Mark. Why the sudden concern for his welfare?
So it looks like we’re throwing Iris under the bus (possibly along with Hera). Either she’s the TRUE big bad, and/or they’re making her a tool in Hera and Zeus’s ongoing plan, a weapon they can unleash and Hades isn’t the threat they predicted. Either way this makes her the killer, the out of control, super powerful dangerous killer - which has the added badness of having her destroy her Black family, serving as a justification for her being restrained and controlled AND making it likely she’s not going to last that long. On top of that, even her actions don’t tell of much agency – she seems more out of control and confused than capable and directed.
