Legacies - Facing Darkness is Kinda My Thing - Review

This week on Legacies, Hope goes into Josie’s mind and lands right into Little Red Riding Hood (with an appearance by Maleficent). She convinces Josie that she’s not weak and that she can fight the darkness. Alaric makes a deal with Ted to save Rafael, Alyssa, Landon and take Josie’s dark magic. He takes the magic and frees Rafael and Alyssa but Landon still seems to be dead. Lizzie hosts her own funeral, which she attends disguised as Hope (brilliantly done by Danielle) but people don’t seem that sad that’s she’s dead. MG speaks up for her and they almost got together but were interrupted. Josie hides away her magic for a while. Hope is unable to wake up. 

Character progress… or not? Okay, so I was a bit confused with what the writers did with Josie this week. I thought the whole point of her battle with her dark self was that she would no longer let the darkness rule her, that she’d no longer be afraid of it. I thought that she had excepted it as a part of her but that she was in control, not the dark magic. And then 5 seconds later the black magic gets sucked out of her and she’s packing away her powers for the moment. Did I miss something? Why is she suddenly afraid of her magic again? I was expecting a new and powerful, more confident, but still good, Josie. But she’s gone back to hiding herself away, which is what, in my opinion, caused all of this in the first place. I think that the split between light and dark in Josie is because she was so afraid of being bad, that she suppressed that side for too long. But what was the point of Josie’s entire storyline this season if they’re just going to revert to Josie from season 1? 

Painful to watch: Oh, that funeral… I felt really bad for Lizzie. Yes, she can be a handful, we know that. But she’s come such a long way. And just last week she wanted everyone to safely leave the gym before the Merge. For people to laugh at her funeral and be glad that she’s dead, that’s just wrong. Is no one teaching these kids manners? I’m glad MG stood up for her, I have never liked him more than this week. I’m still not entirely sold on the relationship between him and Lizzie, just because I feel like it was too sudden. Sure, he’s liked her since forever but I meant from her side. Only a few episodes ago she was still head over heels for Sebastian. But I guess we’ll see how this progresses. I kind of expect them to be together for a while. 

I have to say it: Okay, so this might have been because of the shutdown, and if it is I take it all back, but what the hell was up with the special effects this week. More specifically, the ones that took place in Josie’s mind. That wolf was the worst thing I’ve seen in years. It was Buffy-level bad (remember those guys in the werewolf suits in one of the first seasons, yikes). And if it was because they were unable to do more post-production due to the shutdown, I totally get it. But if it wasn’t… unacceptable. Also, that pig is gonna give me nightmares. 

Low stakes: This was mentioned last week in the comment section of my review and I really wanted to talk about it, because I hadn’t realized it until it was pointed out. No one ever dies on this show. How are we supposed to fear for these characters’ lives and worry about them if we already know they’re not going to get killed off. And I’m not talking about guest stars here, I’m talking about main and recurring characters. Part of what made The Vampire Diaries and The Originals so entertaining to watch was the high stakes. Characters got killed off all the time. Just look at the first season of The Vampire Diaries: Vicky, Anna, Pearl, Grams, Lexi. I’m not saying they have to go that hard, this show had a bit too much death sometimes but even The Originals had the occasional big death like Cami, Finn, Davina, Josh, Hayley (still pissed about those last 2). No one important has died on Legacies so far and we’re already 2 seasons in. Just look at this week’s episode. Both Rafael and Alyssa are perfectly fine. Even though they were very dead. And Landon dying over and over again does not count. And, let’s face it, he might be dead at the moment but we all know it’s just temporary. 

What’s next: We find ourselves in a unique predicament here. This wasn’t supposed to be the season finale. Which means the writers weren’t done with these storylines yet. And I know Julie Plec recently said that she considers this the spring finale. But honestly, I don’t see this show returning before next fall. Here in my country, we’ve been in ‘lockdown’ (they’re not using the word lockdown, but we all know it is one) for 2 weeks now. And while no one is speculating beyond 2 weeks ahead, we’ve all figured out that schools will probably remain closed for the remainder of the school year and that the summer festivals will not be happening. And it’s said to be a lot worse in the US. I mean, even the Olympics aren’t happening and those aren’t until late July. So chances of filming resuming before summer or even late summer are slim. Which would make this week’s episode the season finale, not the spring finale. I’m guessing there will be some major rewrites for the early episodes of season 3. I can’t imagine that they’d just air the remaining scripts as the first episodes of season 3 without any adjustments. More likely the storylines will be reworked a bit, right? So what’s next for these characters? Ted is still going to be a major problem, especially now that he has more magic (not the smartest idea). And he has plans for Landon, which is probably why he didn’t resurrect him (unless it has to do with him being a Phoenix, maybe Ted can’t resurrect him). Hope is trapped in Josie’s mind, I think. Unless she stuck somewhere in between Josie’s mind and her own. Shouldn’t Josie be able to feel her? Or maybe removing her magic prevents her from sensing Hope. Either way, that is the second finale that leaves Hope stuck somewhere. Other than that, storylines were mostly wrapped up. Though I wonder how much of Alyssa we’ll see with her potentially getting the lead in a new show (if the CW will even be able to order new shows with all of this going on). I guess we’ll have to wait and see. 

Best quotes: Hope: “Josie? Your subconscious is weirding me out.” 
Pig: “You should try kissing her, maybe.” Hope: “I know this is a fairytale and all, but a nonconsensual kiss is never the answer.” 
Dark!Josie: “You’ve been fooled, Ted.” 
Kaleb: “She didn’t have to be rude, is really the thing.” Jed: “Right? We’re people too. I mean, I have feelings.”

That’s it for this week. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this week’s episode. 

Please be respectful in the comments, any unnecessary rudeness isn't welcome.