Legacies Review: Football & Fighting

The annual Mystic Falls High vs the Salvatore School flag football game went off with a lot of hitches on the latest hour of Legacies.

(#Tradition)

“You Remind Me of Someone I Used to Know” brought Hope and Ric back to their former school grounds under the guise of a friendly football game in order to search for a missing Mystic High player.

This gave Hope and Josie a chance to reunite without Josie’s memories of Hope (spoiler alert: things got UGLY). MG signed on to help Lizzie with the mystery of Sebastian; Maya, Ethan, and Sheriff Mac became more fleshed out characters, and the new headmaster is TROUBLE in a super creepy way.

(Shocking, said no one).

Plus, Rafael is a human again thanks to Hope!

So much to talk about…

It’s tempting to start with the weirdest part, but that would mean defining it.

Was it Sebastian being invisible to everyone but Lizzie?

Or did Headmaster Gary Poppins chomping down on the fallen monster of the week win the weirdest award?

Probably the latter…although that one also seems like the more easily explained: he wants Josie to embrace her dark side. He wants all the kids to assert their dominance over the humans. Clearly, he’s a bad dude.

But is he Malivore bad? As in, is he literally Malivore in human form? Or is he some other kind of monster; perhaps related to the Gemini Coven since he’s so interested in Josie? It’s probably too early to tell.

As for Sebastian’s cloak of invisibility…what the hell? It’s impressive the writers find new twists on the mythology after ten years, but is it possible this one is more of a throwback? Maybe he’s desiccating somewhere on Salvatore grounds and can only reveal himself to Lizzie.

The new humans in town seem pretty awesome so far. Maya and Ethan are both charming (and interested in Hope). He came through for his team despite the risk to himself and he showed some potential superhuman abilities of his own…at least until Josie broke him (we’ll get to that).

Sheriff Mac and Ric don’t have a lot of chemistry. Maybe it’s too early to be leaning in (and way too risky for her given Ric’s track record).

But she has a Sheriff Forbes no nonsense vibe while also being a loving mother who embarrasses her kids by driving them to school in the squad car.

What’s not to like?

Maya and Hope’s friendship is also really nice to see. Hope’s having the roughest of rough times and she needs someone (besides Ric) who she can count on.

It’s a pretty big step on her part to show up for Maya and Ethan at the hospital. I like that she’s putting herself out there instead of staying 100 percent closed off.

Not that anyone would blame her for that choice after the reception she received from Josie.

Her insecurities are in hyper drive (something the headmaster is taking full advantage of) and the fact that she enjoyed hurting Ethan—just a little bit—is very much on brand for the Parker family. Also, not the first time she’s acted out. She did set Penelope on fire last season.

The Hope/Landon connection isn’t going anywhere no matter how much Landon commits to helping Josie with her darkness. And while we’re on the subject, what’s up with the monsters trying to kill Landon? Wasn’t he supposed to be the golden boy of Malivore?

Then again, it’s possible they just want to drag him home…wherever home may be now that the pit has disappeared from its original location.

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS

• MG and Lizzie showed more sparks in this episode than ever before. I don’t think she’s blind to his feelings (see last week’s behavior), but she’s also not going to turn down the assistance.
• I’m changing my vote: now I think it was Kaleb who voted for Ric to stay. And if that’s true, what’s up with Dorian? Are we to believe that he didn’t know about the power dampener, too? All the parents did so why wouldn’t he?
• Josie calling out for Ric and watching the bus drive away was so sad. Has the school replaced their in-house therapist? They really should.
• Ric may have been banned as headmaster, but it’s still his school. He came up with the idea, got Caroline onboard, recruited students, etc. He deserves more respect than he’s getting.
• That said, watching him punch Gary Poppins was super satisfying.
• It’s disappointing that Rafael doesn’t remember Hope. Someone should.
• Speaking of Raf…watching him thrash on the floor in his sleep was heartbreaking.
• Someone should slip vampire blood—or Hope’s blood—into Ethan’s drink so he can magically heal. He did not deserve what happened to him.
• Seriously, what’s the deal with Sebastian? And while I am a sucker for the whole I’ll be the only one who calls you a different name trope, I’m not fully on board this ship yet. I miss slow burn ships.
• Why exactly is Landon suddenly suspicious of Hope? She saved Rafael, she saved his life, and she’s clearly a badass.
• I actually do like Landon and Josie together (everyone has chemistry with everyone), but I worry about the fallout when Hope’s eventually remembered.
• Hope and Ric fell right back into their usual partnership/mutual trust and I’m here for that.
• There continues to be less focus on the monsters this season and that’s a good thing. Give me all the human/supernatural character drama, please and thank you.
• Are we going to find out what happened to Clarke soon? I’m not saying I miss him or anything…but yeah, I kind of do.