Legacies - Since When Do You Speak Japanese?

Discussing Ep. 2.4

I found this to be a very entertaining episode. There was a lot going on so this review is going to be all over the place.

First off, I just had to Google Kaylee Bryant's history because her Japanese was spot on. Not that I know Japanese myself but you can sort of tell a native speaker from someone who just learned it on the spot. Seems like Kaylee's last name isn't Bryant, but Kaneshiro....she's of Japanese ancestry! So it explains how and why she was able to speak Japanese so well. I thought that was pretty cool! In much in the same way TVD had Nina Dobrev flex her Bulgarian tongue by having Katerina be from Bulgaria, I liked how they were able to have Kaylee flex her Japanese tongue by having Josie speak Japanese in this episode. Mind you, the reason given (Josie happened to pick it up while Lizzie was getting therapy in Japan or something) was a bit far-fetched but it's moot.

I felt like they were inspired from different franchises in this episode.

The concept of the sword glowing in the presence of the supernatural immediately reminded me of Sting from Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit in much the same way Sting glowed when near Orcs.

The other concept that I felt they borrowed from was the movie Fallen starring Denzel Washington. In that movie, Denzel's character is hunting down a serial killer who is actually a demon that goes from person to person with a mere touch. Same thing here. It was an interesting concept to incorporate and I like how they threw some curve balls here and there with it, especially when Kurutta refused to kill a little girl who was possessed by the demon.

Of course, there were some things that you could predict. The moment that Kurutta mentioned how his fractured mind was what equipped him to keep the demon inside of him, you just knew that at some point that Lizzie was going to end up doing the same. However, as predictable as that was, it was kind of funny how they got Lizzie to that point.

I had to laugh at the way she just nonchalantly walked up to Landon, took the sword from him and then stabbed him in the stomach as though it was a real nuisance for her to do so because he interrupted her ice cream binge. I genuinely laughed when that bystander saw Lizzie do it and she invited her to their live performance on Commonwealth Day!

Speaking of humour, I have to give credit where credit is due. I genuinely laughed at the funny parts in this episode. From Kurutta recounting his life story where he brags about how all the women begged to get a piece of his....

....sword, to Kurutta referring to Landon as the "bonsai-headed boy," to Lizzie just assuming that Drowned Pirate (Sebastian) was about to ask her about her virgin status and abashedly proclaiming that she wasn't a virgin when in fact he was asking her where he could get some human blood. I felt like the humour was spot on and it didn't at all feel corny. There were times in TVD's run that I felt otherwise it was refreshing here.

 Of course, I have to get, what I felt, was the big reveal out of the way.

Kobra Kai!!!!

This is promising considering that they actually showed footage of him from his TVD run. They haven't done that with any other TVD/TO alumni so I'm assuming that we are, in fact, going to see more of Kai in the future and I cannot wait! I'm really hoping MG didn't record over this footage because if he did, he should be written out of the show altogether! Though I will say that I liked MG's role in this. He didn't come off as pathetic as he did in the last episode and he seemed more relevant here. It will be interesting to see how they get to Kai and I can't help but wonder if Vardemus has something to do with that.

Vardemus obviously has a keen interest in Josie, more so than he does in Lizzie (since he doesn't seem interested in her at all). And while he seeks to inspire the other students of Salvatore School to reach their highest potential as supernatural beings, he keeps talking about Josie's great potential being stifled so it's curious as to why she's the only student he seems to be interested in teaching personally. When he gave her this hourglass thingy, explaining that a "certain sect of witches" used to it cleanse themselves of black magic, it was a heavy hint towards the Gemini coven. So I get a real sense that Vardemus knows something about Josie and Lizzie and the Gemini coven and perhaps knows something of the Merger as well, maybe seeing Josie as the stronger twin. I'm thinking he's going to be instrumental in getting Kai back as well. For what purpose? Hell if I know. Plus, we still don't know what Vardemus is and why he had a big feast eating that dead Shunka in the last episode. He seemingly hasn't done anything similar before or since. So still a lot left to be revealed there.

Actually, speaking of this moment, I felt like they pulled something out of thin air here. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I don't recall either Josie or Lizzie suffering any kind of rash or ill effects from using black magic in the past. There was never any explanation given here as to why either of them suffer anything negative from doing black magic or even touching black magic as Josie claimed it hurt when she was holding the sword. Sounded like a convenient plot device but I am curious as to why they included it.

Either way, similar to the way Atticus Shane got Bonnie into Expression magic, I could see Vardemus luring Josie into some kind of black magic that will have severe consequences.

This made me sad. I mean, if they kill Sheriff RIP and leave Alaric with a broken heart yet again, I give up! This guy CANNOT take any more heartache, he just can't. For crying out loud, people.....LET THE MAN BE HAPPY!!!

What I found interesting about this was how Sheriff Mac basically stalked the fuck out of Alaric. Abusing her powers as sheriff to do a background check on Ric, just to see if he was a good guy and a good dad? That's stalker shit right there! But it follows the trend of women essentially throwing themselves at Alaric. I mean, Jo did the same thing! She was basically the one who asked him out.  Now Sheriff Mac is doing the same. At the end though, I just want these two kids to be happy together.

What was interesting though was the attention to detail. They are keeping the timeline intact by having the show be 3 years into the future (which I'm not entirely sure if it's accurate but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). In the Sheriff's background check, you can clearly see Alaric's birth date (minus the actual day):

Which would put his age at 43 today. Yet, in the restraining order, his age is 3 years older:

However, I just noticed this now....in his background check, Alaric's eye colour  is "brown" and his hair colour is "black." In the restraining order, his eye colour changed to "blue" and his hair colour changed to "brown." So, maybe the attention to detail wasn't as spot on as I had thought. Still....A for effort!

As for Hope, I kind of felt like this was a Hope-less episode. While she was indeed there, the focus seemed to be on the other characters which was nice. Right off the bat though, when Hope first appeared on the screen, I couldn't help but recall Dman's comment about how they were trying to "doll her up."

I don't know. I felt like they went a little heavy on the makeup in this episode. She doesn't need it! She's quite beautiful without the make up. Adding all of that just makes it seem like she's trying to be more mature than her character calls for.

They built up my expectations and then let them down again. I was glad that Hope finally told Landon about who she is and what their relationship was, only for Landon to be possessed and therefore not remember the conversation. And now, Hope is once again pushing Landon towards Josie while she suffers with the regret of never being with him again. This had better end soon. And I also worry that she's going to get with Rafael and then it will indeed be a love rectangle. We don't need that.

On a side note, I just want to say how absolutely REFRESHING it was that Landon and Josie didn't have sex! I was fully expecting the usual CW sex scene between two teenagers when Josie was about to take her top off, but she hesitated and Landon didn't push her to do anything she didn't want to do. DID YOU SEE THAT, RIVERDALE WRITERS?!? YOUR TEENAGE CHARACTERS DON'T HAVE TO BE SHAMELESSLY FUCKING EACH OTHER AT THE SLIGHTEST BREEZE! IT'S OKAY FOR THEM TO WAIT TO HAVE SEX, YOU FUCKING HACKS!!!! Fuck that show!

So it seems like Lizzie, for some reason, now remembers Hope. I could be wrong but it seemed like Rafael remembered Hope too! The question now is....why?

They left us with a lot of mysteries which I'm intrigued to find the answers to. Why is Drowned Pirate suddenly appearing to MG and why can he no longer appear to Lizzie or anyone else? What is he since he isn't a vampire? Who are the red-hooded druids and why are there two of them now? What does Vardemus have in store for Josie and even the rest of the school since he does seem to have an agenda for the school as well? What will happen to Lizzie and her fractured mind now that she can't see Drowned Pirate anymore? And how and when will Kai make his big return?

And more importantly, could this goddess make a return as well to stop him?

Damn, I hope so!