At a hotel bar, a sleazy skuz hits on a hot bartender only for her to shoot him down. That's lucky for her, as he dropped a pill in the drink he tried to give her. He moves on to a young blond pickpocket. She drains the glass, lifts his wallet and walks away. He follows her to the elevator, where the roofie starts to kick in, only for the bartender to show up. She flirts with him a little bit before kissing him and draining his life. She starts to leave the roofie'd girl there, then has a change of heart and carries her away. This begins the Heterosexual Life Partnership of Bo, a succubus, and Kenzi, her human friend.
The body gets investigated by a pair of detectives, policemen who are clearly more than human, Dyson and Hale. They manage to track Bo down and bring her before the Ash, a big muckety-muck in the Fae world. Unfortunately for her, Bo doesn't know anything about the Fae world, which the Fae have trouble believing at first. After a bit of heat, the Morrigan of the Dark Fae and the Ash of the Light Fae agree to put Bo through a trial, let her pick a side.
Derek slips Bo a little energy so she can win her fight... which she does. She also claims Kenzi as her pet and refuses to pick a side. She prefers to remain on the outs.
- Admiring the Abomination: Kenzi adores the whole Fae thing.
- Attack Its Weak Point:
- While in a Duel to the Death with a much larger Under Fae, Bo slides between his legs and cuts his tendons to put him on the ground, before giving him a Slashed Throat.
- Then Bo is on the receiving end; she's easily able to drive off the Pain Eater once she breaks free of his grip, so he had tried defeating her by playing on her guilt.
- Bizarre Dream Rationalization: Kenzi is relieved when she wakes up and is told by Bo that what she witnessed was a drug-induced hallucination. That is, until she plays the video she took of the incident on her cellphone, whereupon she freaks out.
- Blatant Lies: Kenzi is a collector of rare wallets.
- Blessed with Suck: Kenzi is bemused that Bo lives in a derelict apartment when she can Mind Control people with her touch and so get anything she wants. It's because she has no idea how to control her Horror Hunger, letting it build up until she kills someone and she has to go on the run again. Lauren offers her the opportunity to learn to control her power, so she won't have to kill.
- Charm Person: Bo avoids paying for the milkshakes she has with Kenzi just by touching the hand of the waitress, causing her to become instantly smitten with Bo. She does the same with Lauren (not that Lauren wasn't interested already) who agrees to help Bo escape even though she knows full well that Bo is controlling her. Unfortunately Dyson is waiting outside, fully expecting Bo to pull this stunt.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Kenzi speaks Russian to her cousin while getting him to run the license plate of the van that Bo was taken away in, doing a Switch to English when she gets annoyed with him.
- Fire-Forged Friends: First Bo saves Kenzi from being drugged and raped, then Kenzi saves Bo from the Pain Eater. Rescue Romance is averted through.
- For Science!: Lauren's explanation as to why she, a human doctor, works with the Fae.
- Funny Background Event: The homeless guy who gets annoyed when Kenzi appears to drop a coin in his cup. It clearly wasn't money she left there.
- Go Out with a Smile: The rapist after Bo kills him with her Kiss of Death.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: When Bo finally agrees to a team up, Kenzi makes it clear that Bo is welcome to do her own thing, but she's only into guys.
- Instant Expert: Bo passes the Test despite having no training whatsoever. It only makes The Morrigan think she's better off dead, because she's showing skills she shouldn't have if, as Bo claims, she's never encountered the Fae before.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: The Pain Eater puts Bo into an illusion, appearing as a kindly old man who offers her a quick and painless end to her suffering.
- "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: Lauren doesn't seem bothered by Bo trying to Mind Control her into helping her escape.
- Overly-Long Tongue: On the Under Fae warrior. Bo's a bit squicked about it.
- Pet the Dog
- Bo kills a man to feed, but refuses to abandon a drugged Kenzi despite the risk to herself.
- Dyson kidnaps Bo off the street and takes her in cuffs to the Test, but allows her to feed off him for strength and gives her advice on how to handle her opponents.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- When Bo asks Kenzi why she'd want to team up with a murderous freak, Kenzi cites survival. She's a small time criminal so making friends with the toughest kid on the block is a good move.
- The Morrigan wants Bo dead to spare embarrassing questions as to how she avoided their detection all these years, especially after she refuses to pick a side. Trick intervenes, suggesting they should leave her alive (at least for now) so they can find out how and why she was able to avoid detection for so long.
- Ship Tease: With both Dyson and Lauren right here in the first episode. The writers are determined to sink the Kenzi ship, though, having her declare her heterosexuality.
- Shout-Out
- The episode title for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
- Annoyed with her attitude, The Morrigan calls Bo "Norma Fae".
- On seeing the chanting crowd and the hulking monster she's supposed to fight, Bo says she wasn't expecting Thunderdome.
- Take a Third Option: Bo refuses to pick a side. This gives her a surprisingly strong position in the future; she can move on both sides of the Fae world, making her an official Wild Card.
- Use Your Head: When the Ash gets his face too close to Bo's, she headbutts him away.
- Van in Black: Subverted; Bo is snatched off the streets in a dirty grey work van. Played straight with the gleaming black SUV that takes her to the Trial.
- Weapon-Based Characterization: Seeing the huge hammer-wielding brute waiting to fight Bo, Dyson advises her to choose her weapon wisely. Remembering what Dyson said about how she would be faster than her opponent, she chooses a pair of knives that she can wield quickly and use to Attack Its Weak Point.
- You Are Not Alone: Bo has been on the run for years with no idea of what she is, moving to another city and identity every time she kills. First Kenzi tries to partner up, then she's brought into the Fae world where she's told that, provided she plays by their rules, she'll be guided and protected. Then the Pain Eater tries to play on her guilt, saying she's being naive—she's an abomination and she'll always be alone. Fortunately she hears Kenzi calling out to her and wakes up, choosing to take humanity's side (specifically Kenzi) rather than Light or Dark.
