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Legacies kicked off its season with the same question characters in this universe have grappled with since The Vampire Diaries began:
Are we heroes or are we villains?
The answer usually landed somewhere in the gray middle for TVD’s characters as well as those populating The Originals.
We’ve seen heroes compromise their morals and we’ve watched villains make noble sacrifices to protect their loved ones.
Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
Hope Mikaelson, the daughter of “the greatest evil” and a powerful werewolf alpha, now faces a similar choice after being lied to by a boy she let get close to her carefully guarded heart.
In the heat of the moment, in the pain of humiliation and heartbreak, Hope’s opting for vengeance.
Klaus would be so proud.
While “This is the Part Where You Run” carried the usual clunky, expository quirks associated with pilots walking the delicate line between giving the audience valuable information and not overwhelming them to the point they change the channel, Legacies mostly hit its mark.
Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
As Alaric said, it helped we’re all familiar with Harry Potter and can easily grasp the concept of the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, aka, those with supernatural abilities hiding in plain sight.
(Add in a Quidditch type game called Wickery and an ex-girlfriend being referred to as the Dark Lord and we might be a little too into the Harry Potter terminology. We get it, show).
For those of us who’ve been around since the beginning, the pilot sprinkled in references to characters, places, and terms, including Wickery, to add a touch of always appreciated nostalgia.
(I could have done without Matt Donovan).
Landon Kirby stood in for the audience, allowing Alaric, Hope, and the others to guide him through the who, what, where, when, why and how of supernatural beings.
His foster brother, Rafael, is a newly turned werewolf after accidentally killing his girlfriend in a car accident, Lizzie and Josie are witches, MG’s a vampire, and Hope is a tri-brid, the only one of her kind.
Alaric’s plan for MG to compel Landon into forgetting what he saw at the school and send him on his way hit a snag when he couldn’t be compelled.
Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
At first, Alaric assumed it was thanks to Matt’s vervain interventions, but once Landon left with a valuable item from the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library, he realized only another supernatural creature couldn’t be compelled.
Here’s my question: did Landon know all along? He obviously took the knife for a reason, but he seemed genuinely shocked by Hope’s magic and most of the other things he saw. Is he that good of an actor?
Another question: what is the deal with that knife? Why would it be on display if Ric and Dorian don’t actually know what it does? Seems a little careless, gentlemen.
Either way, I don’t blame Hope for being mad. While Alaric is correct and she shouldn’t live her entire life closed off to human contact, it royally sucks that she opened up to someone who betrayed her instantly.
Photo: Bob Mahoney/The CW
Speaking of betrayals, Josie’s trying to recover from her breakup with Penelope, who took the opportunity to ask MG to feed off her. Josie forgave him, but then set Penelope on fire.
Again, probably wrong, but it’s hard to fault her. Penelope appears to be the worst.
Lizzie, who is blatantly a mini-Caroline with Uncle Kai’s psycho tendencies, declared her intentions to land Rafael, despite her “inside voice” blowing their first meeting when she more or less said they were happy he was single.
Unfortunately for Lizzie, and Josie, and the audience, Rafael seems more interested in Josie, who’s also interested. That’s right, people. We have another potential love triangle on our hands between two siblings.
Photo: Jace Downs/The CW
Why??????
I’m not knocking love triangles. They’re a TV staple for a reason no matter how much people pretend to hate them. But does it have to be between siblings? Is that really a requirement in this universe?
Hope and the twins already have issues. They could have added a love triangle to that powder keg instead.
(Anyway, I’m already Team Josie. We codependent people pleasers need to stick together).
Miscellaneous Musings
-I know pilots need to appeal to everyone and only focus on characters that appear onscreen, but it’s weird they didn’t mention Caroline. Where is she?
-The opening scene reminded me of Supernatural. I hope we see more of these team ups since the show plans to do a monster-of-the-week thing.
Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
-Alaric trying to teach Lizzie to be Zen was great. He’s been a surrogate dad since Season 1 of TVD so of course he’s good at it.
-What happened to those people on the bus? And how did Landon survive it?
-Nitpicky, I know, but since when can someone who’s not a vampire get into someone else’s head? I don’t remember witches being able to do that.
-Also, is the show going to explain how Lizzie and Josie syphon magic? Maybe that’s too complicated for a pilot, but I’m curious if it will be mentioned.
-I’m going to need to see more of Landon and Rafael’s bond if they’re going to be worthy successors of the brother duos in this universe.
-Seriously, why doesn’t Ric know what the knife does?
-Last, and definitely least, I wish Roman was still Hope’s love interest instead of Landon. They had far more chemistry.
(However, I do respect Julie Plec’s decision not to tell creepy-when-you-really-think-about-it love stories between 150-year-old vampires and teenagers).
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