Episode 9: The Ceremony
This one starts with Dyson waking up alone. He’s not alone for long, as Bo comes in and apologizes for being so weird lately. We learn that Bo and Dyson are married, and Bo is now pregnant, which thrills both of them. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that someone’s either dreaming or fantasizing, but I’m not sure who. (Or it has something to do with Bo’s Dawning, but we don’t know exactly what the deal is with that, so it’s hard to predict what form it’ll take.) After the credits, we jump back to an earlier time, where Bo and Kenzie are chasing some weird Fae (called an Oo’glug) to collect his sweat. Bo catches him briefly, but
whacking him with a lead pipe has no effect and he takes off again. Kenzi reminds her the Dawning ceremony starts in less than an hour and they track the sweaty Fae with some app on Bo’s phone. We also find out Lauren hasn’t answered any of Bo’s numerous texts, probably because she’s still mad that Bo missed her awards banquet to go to Fae Hickville with Tamsin. Kenzi mentions Bo and Tamsin drinking champagne in Lauren’s apartment afterwards (which is a bit tacky, when you think about it), and Bo casually mentions kissing Tamsin but takes off before Kenzi can interrogate her.
Speaking of Lauren, Dyson drops by her place with some stuff from Hale and we learn 
she’s still trying to whip something up that’ll stop Bo from going all Neanderthal. Lauren is worried about Bo’s Dawning and it’s obvious she’s still head over heels in love with Bo, which makes me wonder why she’s ignoring all Bo’s texts. Dyson says sometimes you just gotta have faith and wishes them all the happiness in the world, but it rings a bit hollow. Bo and Kenzi track the Oo’glug to a warehouse, but find a photo shoot full of hot models (male and female) inside. Bo’s Dawning coach, Stella Nashira, is here too and says this is the first part of her Dawning.
Turns out the whole “Oo’glug chase” was a ruse to get Bo to the warehouse so she could feed on the models. Stella says they work for the Morrigan, so they’ll be dead within six
months anyway, but Bo refuses to kill humans just to make herself stronger. Stella says if she doesn’t go into the Temple fully charged (so to speak) she probably won’t make it out. Bo leaves and Kenzi tells Stella that Bo will surprise the shit out of her. At home, Bo is pissed off at Stella, but also worried about the Dawning. Kenzi tries to reassure her (“You’ll always be my girl, Bo; even if you come out of there with a dong.”) and Bo realizes it’s to late to back out.
At the Dal, Stella being snotty to Kenzi about having a human around for the Dawning. Kenzi says she’s with Bo all the way, but Stella says Kenzi’s scars run deep and whispers 
something in her ear that totally freaks Kenzi out. Trick notices and wonders what’s up. Bo is still trying to get a hold of Lauren when she walks in. Lauren says she’s been working her ass off to find a cure for Bo’s possible devolution, but Bo tells her not to worry about it. I wonder how Stella feels about having two humans there? Trick gives a toast telling Bo to follow her heart and then says it’s time to start the ceremony. He takes her downstairs, where he has a bunch of bowls full of powder. (Bo: “A little Bolivian marching powder for the road, Scarface?”) He paints a weird symbol on her forehead and says it represents her true self while she’s in the Temple. Bo finds out Trick didn’t know about Stella’s “model buffet” and they have a nice grandpa/granddaughter moment.
Upstairs, Bo gets ready to start the Dawning and Stella says she can take one thing to aid her in the Temple. A bunch of weapons are arrayed on the table, but Stella says before
Bo can choose a weapon she has to choose a side … Light or Dark. But Bo’s answer is the same as always—no sides. Stella says she’ll have to enter the Temple unarmed, but Dyson shows up and offers himself as Bo’s Hand, a companion who can accompany the initiate into the Temple and help them. Bo refuses, but everyone—including Lauren—says she should let Dyson help. Lauren gives Bo a big smooch, just to remind everyone whose girlfriend she is, then Bo and Dyson go through a portal into the Temple.
The portal deposits them … right back in the Dal, except this time it’s empty. I guess it saves them building a new set. The radio is playing the song “The Wanderer” by Dion and the Belmonts and there’s a little beer promo on the bar with a bikini shot of Aife (Bo’s mom). 
Considering the tarot cards last episode, I’m thinking the Wanderer thing might be significant, but I’m not sure why Aife’s photo is there (though she does look great in a two-piece). Dyson says whatever happens during the Dawning, Bo won’t be the same 
afterward so they may as well have one last beer together. Before they can take a swig, some dude shows up, sweeping the floor. He calls himself the Caretaker and says he’s been in the Temple so long he can’t even remember his real name. He says Bo has to find the Key (and accept it in the form in which it’s presented) in order to get out of the Temple. If not, she’ll devolve into a slobbering Underfae. The Caretaker leaves (which triggers the stereo to play “The Wanderer” again) and Bo wonders where to start looking for the Key.
In the real Dal, Kenzi is in a shitty mood. Turns out Stella’s little whisper was her telling 
Kenzi what happens to humans whose “masters” can’t claim them anymore. Trick tells Kenzi if anything happens to Bo, he’ll claim her, as he already thinks of her as family. Naturally, Kenzi is happy to hear that, then wonders if all they can do is sit around and wait. Trick says no, then pulls out a gun and says they have to prepare. In the Temple, Bo and Dyson hear something roaring outside and Dyson pulls Bo out the door. They end up in her place, but things are slightly … off, including a photo of Aife hanging up that definitely isn’t in her real house. Dyson’s acting weird, pulling Bo toward the roaring, and he gets sliced by some freaky-looking Underfae that pops out. He retreats and Bo follows; this time, they’re shunted to Dyson’s place, where we see the now ubiquitous image of Aife … this time in another bikini shot on a wall calendar.
Dyson finally admits that he loves Bo, but says he won’t get between her and Lauren. Bo wonders if his volunteering to be her Hand is some kind of suicide mission, because he can’t be with her anymore. (Or as she puts it: “Some kind of male honour bullshit.”) He
says he can wait a hundred years to be with her if he has to, but before things get too romantic, the Underfae shows up again and starts knocking them around. It grabs Bo, but she pulls it down and sees the Key fall out of its pocket. She grabs the Key and she and the Underfae disappear. Dyson tries to follow, but going out the door just puts him right back in his own place. The Caretaker pops up, telling Dyson that Bo grabbed a key, not necessarily the Key. The Caretaker says Bo is moving on, beyond Dyson’s help.
We see Bo at the police station, where she and Lauren are dressed like cops … and 
apparently are partners. There’s a weird back-and-forth between them, and we learn that Bo and Lauren used to be an item, but broke up (because Lauren “gave her love away”) and Bo’s dating someone named Jason and having nightmares about being chased by a monster. She’s also taking some kind of pills. Lauren says some informant they’ve been grooming to testify against the “Family” is getting cold feet. Bo opens a file and sees a photo of Aife; she says it’s the wrong file and goes to talk to the informant, who she says might be the “key” to taking down the Family.
The informant turns out to be Kenzi (or “McKenzie” as she’s called here) and she’s freaked out that Bo is letting her down. Bo promised to protect her, but now she’s leaving her alone. Bo says she’s not going anywhere and her boss will make sure McKenzie is
protected. So there’s obviously a parallel with real world stuff, Kenzi worrying about what’ll happen to her if Bo fucks up her Dawning. Also, Kenzi seems to be wearing a necklace with the same symbol Trick painted on Bo’s forehead … the symbol that’s supposed to remind her who she is inside the Temple. Back at Dyson’s place, the Caretaker tells him that time is meaningless inside the Temple and that Dyson could create a new (illusionary) life for himself. At the station, Bo’s boss (Trick, of course) says McKenzie was let go after she gave them what they needed. He says people like McKenzie are a dime a dozen and that she wasn’t “one of us”. Bo says she doesn’t want to be “one of us” either anymore.
Bo heads home after a hard day’s work; apparently, she lives on Wisteria Lane … or 
possibly the Twilight Zone. Her next-door neighbour greets her (Tamsin, looking very suburban, except for the blood on her hands) and Bo heads inside. The house is like something out of a magazine and Dyson (Bo’s husband) is even more perfect; he’s a doctor and he remembered to pick up food on the way home. There’s a plate of cookies on the table beside a magazine with Aife on the cover (with the telling title of “Domestic Daydreams”). Bo figures out the cookies are from neighbour Tamsin (who she refers to as “Bitchy Crocker”). So I guess Tamsin is Nicolette Sheridan in this little melodrama? I never watched Desperate Housewives, so I’m not sure. 
We find out Bo’s on anti-psychotic meds and Dr. Dyson is the one who prescribed them. Bo’s ready to stop taking them, but Dyson says she did some crazy shit before she was on the meds, and he doesn’t want anything to ruin their perfect life. They smooch and Bo gets a dizzy spell.
Next thing we see is Bo going into a nursery where a guy is holding a baby and singing to it. Bo soon realizes the baby is her and the guy is her father, although she never sees his
face. He leaves baby Bo with a nanny, who promptly gets her throat slit by Aife. Aife then takes the baby. We jump back to the beginning of the episode, with Bo telling her “husband” Dyson that she’s pregnant. She starts having pains in her gut and Dyson remembers he’s not a real doctor. He yells at the Caretaker, saying this fantasy wasn’t supposed to hurt Bo. The realization that she’s devolving snaps Bo out of the fantasy and she figures out that Dyson is the Key. He hands her a knife and tells her to stab him; she’s reluctant, but finally does it.
The Caretaker shows up and says she passed the test. He says two people can enter the 
Temple but only one can leave. Bo realizes Dyson knew that all along and was planning to sacrifice himself. A Key appears in her hand with the same symbol on it that Trick drew on her forehead. The Caretaker says if she tries to take Dyson back, they’ll both be stuck there forever. Bo remembers Trick’s advice about being herself; since she’s never been one to follow the rules, she figures breaking the rules now is the right thing to do. She uses Dyson’s blood to draw the symbol on the floor and the two of them are transported back to the Dal—the real one.
But Dyson is still dead and Bo starts losing her shit. Lauren tries CPR, but it does no good and Bo totally loses it, going all evil like she’s done a couple times before and talking in a
weird, sepulchral voice. She says she’ll be the Queen (because she’s “his” daughter) and says she’s the only one who decides who gets to live. She drains Kenzi, Lauren, Trick, and Stella and uses their chi to revive Dyson. Everybody is happy (and freaked out) and Lauren is a bit jealous of the lengths Bo went to in saving Dyson, but she is a doctor so she agrees to look after him until he’s back to normal.
Bo and Kenzi have a quiet drink to celebrate her success and it seems Kenzi had some Fae 
poison or something, so if Bo devolved she was gonna pull an Old Yeller and put her down. Bo says she knows how to control her powers better now, though she doesn’t mention the whole “turning evil” thing. She goes for a walk by herself, still ducking Kenzi’s questions about kissing Tamsin. Stella tells Trick she has to leave, to help other Fae prepare for their Dawnings. He gives her shit for being an asshole to Kenzi and Stella says everything she said was the truth. She says it’s fine if Trick wants to punish her (and the way she says it makes it sound like she’s into S&M), but Trick should stop punishing himself for being the Blood King. Stella leaves and Trick
opens an old chest and looks at a drawing of a half-horse/half-dragon breathing fire on a bunch of people. Trick says to himself, “Not him.” and “The Wanderer” starts playing over the end credits. Obviously this Wanderer stuff has to do with the identity of Bo’s father, and Trick suspects who it might be. I’m not sure why there were so many references to Aife in this episode; maybe it was Bo’s subconscious reminding her that she’s a succubus, or maybe it’s foreshadowing what’s to come when she finally meets her father. But we’ll have to wait until future episodes to see where that goes.