Legacies - This Christmas Was Surprisingly Violent

Discussing Ep. 2.8

I have to say, this episode felt like the writing and production staff was just mildly keeping busy before Christmas break and they decided to just throw something together because they were eager to go on holiday.

Regardless, I took it merely as a fun episode and other than the stuff with Raf, it was really more relaxed than previous episodes. I mean, you can't more ridiculous than a WWE-style throwdown between Krampus and Santa Claus!

I can't say much about this storyline. Truth be told, I was fully expecting Santa Claus to be the bad guy because they tend to throw little twists like that, that perhaps Santa was another victim of Malivore and to stop from going back he had to do something dastardly and find Landon or something. But nope, they didn't go that route. Actually, what I was impressed by was the fact that they were sort of keeping time, as it were. At various points, they specifically said that it was still October in their world, it was still autumn. So they still had Halloween to go through. I would be really interested to see how a school of werewolves, vampires and witches celebrate Halloween! But we didn't get that this year. It'd be interesting considering all the monsters that are showing up now that you could totally have famous monsters like Dracula or Frankenstein or the Wolfman show up. Maybe there are licensing issues with those but it would be cool.

Hope was very much my kindred spirit in this episode. I'm not really one for Christmas either, for various reasons. So I could totally empathize with her attitude and being all miserable and what not. I was seriously upset this past November when it started to snow during MY season, MY autumn.....the best seasons of them all (with spring coming in a close second). So yeah....I was totally on Team Hope in this episode. Though I couldn't understand Hope's reasoning, per se. She doesn't like Christmas because essentially she doesn't have her father and mother around. Fair enough. But she does have family....two aunts (Freya & Bex), an uncle (Kol), a baby cousin (Nik) and an older (adopted) brother (Marcel) in NOLA. So, cry me a river about not having family to spend Christmas with! Considering this wasn't exactly Christmas, I'm going to assume when the real Christmas falls upon the Legacies world, that she WILL go to NOLA to spend it with her family and stop bitching about not having a family to spend Christmas with!

For a guy who has no powers of immortality, he sure is hard to kill! He's died like....what....three times already? First was at the end of last season, then when his original body was killed after he transferred over to SimuLandon, and then again at the end of the episode. I'm not sure how I feel about his story arc here. I get that he was trying to get revenge on his father, Mudman Sr. (aka Malivore), and was essentially willing to sacrifice anyone to do it. But last episode, he was willing to kill his brother and Hope to do it. This episode, he's willing to work with Hope and sacrifice himself? I don't know....the turnaround felt a bit too quick for me. Though I will say that it was kind of nice how he was sort of able to make peace with Hope. Hell, I might have shipped them if he didn't get killed. I'm assuming he's dead at this point and if he isn't, then I don't see how you kill him.

And it seems we get a returning character from S1:

 
I'm kind of happy to see the Necromancer again. He had personality and style and even had a bit of a history with Klaus, even though Klaus didn't remember him. So at least there's some connection there with Hope. I'm curious to see where this goes and if he's at all connected to the prophecy. He was, after all, ditched in Malivore so did Mudman Sr. release him? And if so, who is the other druid since there were two of them?

I suppose I better talk about this particular scene where once again, a TVD alum was referenced in a bit of a ridiculous way. So they're telling us that Damon gave his prized 1969 Chevy Camaro convertible to the Saltzman twins as a Sweet Sixteen gift? Bullshit! I don't care how good a friend Damon is with Alaric, there is no way he'd give that car up, especially in the condition it was in. I had to refresh my memory because I was sure it got wrecked when he and Elena drove it into the Grill in order to stop the Travellers in S5. Then I read that Stefan had it rebuilt and gave it back to Damon. So no....there is no reason and no way that he'd just give it up to Alaric and his daughters out of the kindness of his heart. To me, I'm willing to bet Elena TOLD him to give it away (being the bossy woman that she is) because what use does a middle aged father have for such a car? And why wouldn't he keep it for Stefanie Salvatore? A classic car like that?

And with the way Lizzie talked about it disparagingly, even going so far as to have sex with Drowned Pirate on it (while a dead Landon was in the trunk) just goes to show that if Damon did indeed gift that car, it was in vain because it's clear no one has any appreciation for it!

Speaking of Lizzie and Drowned Pirate, I almost lost my shit when Sebastian referred to Lizzie as a drunken pirate in reference to her driving. If she had responded with a "well, you look like a drowned pirate!" line, I would have freaked the fuck out (incidentally....such a thing has happened on Riverdale....I made a blurb about something COMPLETELY ridiculous and lo and behold....it actually manifested on the show! So, you never know.)! They went traditional CW here, with Sebastian showing off his abs and Lizzie just melting into a puddle of drooling fangirl and decided to get it on right then and there. So, it was a bit of a step back but I'm not too upset about it since Lizzie has shown growth especially when it comes to Landon. I liked how she was willing to seek Landon out and not only bring him back to Salvatore School but to Hope, not Josie. And she expressed how she too was willing to help Landon in whatever challenge that Malivore throws at them. So, there was some real growth there. I'm also sceptical about Lizzie's inner geekiness.....she seems to know a lot about Lord of the Rings, talking about hobbits and Mount Doom and what not. For a girl who bashes Landon for such things, she seems to know a lot about it!

The Rafael storyline felt a bit tacked on but I was happy nonetheless that Raf got some shine in this episode. There isn't much to say about it though considering we find out that his mom is either dead or is somewhere out in the world. My guess is, we will see her because if she's not dead, then there's a real chance she will show up. I was happy that Raf got to meet his father and connect with him. It was a nice contrast as opposed to what happened with MG and his father. I wonder if this means that Raf will take a hiatus from the show because like I said before, he doesn't serve much of a purpose. Even he himself admitted that while he felt welcomed at the Salvatore School, he was nevertheless an outsider. I don't necessarily get why Raf is having those anger issues and how he can change his eyes. I can't remember werewolf mythology because they've messed with it so much but I recall that werewolves become stronger or more in touch with their wolf side closer to the full moon, but otherwise cannot access that side at will. Anyway, it's a minor point.

Fuck, I felt bad for Josie. Not that I necessarily blame Landon for hurting her, he wasn't in an enviable position either. Having to break her heart like that could not have been easy and while I applaud him for trying his best to build up her self esteem and soften the blow, there's very little anyone can do to stop the pain. It hurts like a motherfucker and I'm curious to know what this will mean for Josie because now, she's essentially got nothing. Lizzie has Sebastian. Hope now has Landon. Who does Josie have? Her girlfriend, Penelope, is gone from last season. Even Vardemus is gone, so there isn't anyone there to comfort her. Even her dad may not be there if he's re-assuming the Headmaster role (which, by the way, sucks for Mystic Falls High, for the principal to just up and leave at the beginning of the school year....it's October....to go back to his old job. Maybe they'll get Jeremy to fill in as principal even though he has no prior qualifications). I'm hoping this will mean some kind of descent into darkness for Josie because they keep flip flopping with it. Not that I necessarily mind the inner conflict.....she needs that....but they need to pull the trigger on this one way or the other.

Overall, it was a fun and funny episode. So we'll have to wait until 2020 to see what happens.

2020.....where did all the time go?   

Evil - Exorcism Part 2

Discussing Ep. 1.9

Another jaw dropping episode that left me speechless, yet laughing, at the end.

I thought this was a really good episode for Kristen. She came off as intelligent, funny and resourceful in this episode. Right off the bat, I liked how she divulged to David how her husband had returned and sort of set the boundaries in her and David's relationship without really saying anything. Then, when he wanted to "get their stories straight" in regard to the exorcism they performed, she cut him off and laid down the law. At first, I thought she was doing that just to reinforce said boundaries, but then Reneé confirmed that Kristen knew what she was doing and ended up helping David and their case in the end.

I laughed when she was being questioned by Ms. Lemonhead. First, she followed what Reneé told her about keeping her answers short and concise, but it was funny when Lemonhead asked her why she was doing that and she, very frankly, explained how Reneé instructed her to do so. And when Lemonhead asked what else Reneé told her, she replied that Reneé recounted how Lemonhead herself was bitter because of her last name. Kristen was just so deadpan about it that it really came off as funny. Her shining moment came at the end of the episode when she suggested to Reneé that they question the psychiatric assessment, putting doubt on whether it was anymore valid than the spiritual assessment offered by the Church. They sort of did the reverse of what they usually do. Usually, they take a supposed supernatural occurrence and debunk it. Here, they took what seemed a non-supernatural occurrence and proved it to be supernatural. Also, what Kristen did by putting doubt on the science of psychiatry was similar to what Vanessa did with Ben, putting doubt on the validity of quantum physics because the so-called "answers" were always evolving and changing. I thought it was very clever how Kristen did that and ended up saving the Church millions of dollars by the end of it.

Of course, it couldn't all be rainbows and lollipops for Kristen. Her and Andy were suddenly visited...intruded upon....by this rather strange and angry cat! I honestly don't know what to make of this. He seemed to have a serious dislike of Kristen in particular and seemed to be quite attached to the sweater that David gave her. Also, I noticed something strange. When all the sisters came down to see what was going on along with Andy and Kristen, only Lauren (the youngest one with the heart valve problem) was not to be seen at all. Maybe the actress wasn't available but I thought that was weird that she wasn't there. I'm probably looking too much into it but still, I thought it was weird. It's going to be interesting what happens with this cat. Could it be a familiar....a demon masquerading in the form of a cat? Reneé certainly thought it sounded like a demon, if only in jest!

Speaking of Reneé, we got more insight into the backstory of David and it was both light and dark. Seemed like David had quite the sordid past, having been a drug user (cocaine) and having a sex addiction! He found God, did rehab and joined a sex addiction support group, but it seems there are A LOT of windows into which temptation can wander into David's life. And Reneé was certainly no help! First, she admits that she has had a crush on David for the longest time, even during his relationship with her sister, Julia. Then, she hints that she still has one. And given the fact that Kristen is basically out of the picture for David, and how Reneé is pretty damn fine(!), I could not see how this man could resist such a temptation as her.

Which is what made the ending of this particular storyline so bizarre. Was it real? For Reneé to flat out tempt David like that, to refuse to leave his quarters until he touched her....it seemed very, very forward of her. Look, she's very attractive! I can't believe that she held out for David all this time after Julia's death and didn't get into a relationship with another man. She recognized that it was never her sister that was in the way of her getting David....it was God! That right there kind of threw me for a loop, that she would be so defiant of David's ambition to become a priest and flat out tempt him to abandon his beliefs seemed very disrespectful. Much like it was with Ben and Vanessa (which we never found out if they slept together or not), we're left to see if David's resolve withstood this test. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

Then we get to the one guy who had no resolve whatsoever! This storyline surprised the fuck out of me. First off, I have to give some credit where it's due. When he went to that women's-only gym and complained that it was sexist that only women were allowed in the gym....I kind of had to agree with him. Though I get the rationale for it, that having men and women workout together can lead to some unwanted sexual advances from the guys in particular, you have to wonder what kind of uproar there would be if there was a "men's only" gym! Bit of a double standard if you ask me.

Anyway, while Townsend was bent on playing Emperor Palpatine, shaping and moulding his new apprentice into a weapon of destruction, it seemed like Sebastian was no Darth Vader. He was far fucking from it in terms of skill and ability! Though he had the will, he didn't have the tools or the know-how. That's when Townsend brought in a friend, Adam, to train Sebastian in the use of firearms. I thought it was clever how they had Townsend insert the line that Adam was "one of the 59 people I trust in the world." Very clever indeed!

In a lot of ways, I kind of felt like this episode was a public service announcement for improving gun control laws. The fact that Sebastian was so easily able to get such a cache of weapons was disturbing. Add to this the joy he seemed to get from the training and the empowerment he felt, along with Adam's instruction that you get good at killing people by killing people, I could see how and why the gun culture in the US is such a problem. Then again, when you have incompetent people like Sebastian, it makes it all the more disconcerting.

But it seems like all that training was for nothing! I fucking laughed out loud when Sebastian accidentally shot and killed himself! I mean, the way they were building it all up by having Townsend moulding Sebastian to be his hitman....to be his fall-guy, was really getting me nervous. Townsend switched the target from that women's-only gym to a prayer group meeting that David was hosting. Sebastian seemed hesitant to attack the prayer group because they had nothing to do with his new-found incel hatred of women. I found it a bit contrived that Townsend was able to explain away the change in target by saying that the prayer group was going to be made up of mostly women, but it seemed good enough for Sebastian. And so everything was set for yet another mass shooting in the US! But then the glorious buffoon ruins it all by showing off in his apartment, getting himself pumped up for the mission, only to off himself in the end by putting a bullet through his head! It's so hard to find good help these days.

What I don't understand is Townsend's insistence on getting an incel to do this hit job. After realizing that Sebastian wasn't going to work out, he sought out other incels. I didn't get this. First, why didn't he try and recruit those guys from the Incel Army that he had referred Sebastian to? Secondly, why does he specifically need incels? Surely, he can get any hate group to do his bidding. He could get a white supremacist hate group to pull this job off or get some super-religious nutter to do the hit. I don't get the rationale for getting an incel to it so I'm hoping we'll get an explanation down the road.

Also, I want an explanation for this.

 
What the fuck is that? I saw a flash of this while watching the episode and I wasn't sure as to what I saw. I had to do some serious rewinding and timing to get this screen capture. What is this puzzle piece? What does it mean? This can't be an accident. When I saw this, it reminded me of Fight Club where Edward Norton's character is explaining how Brad Pitt's character would insert a flash of a penis during family films in the movie theatre and would confuse the audience, having them question if they saw what they really saw. Well, this isn't a dick pic but it's something that I refuse to believe was inserted accidentally. Mind you, it was seemingly inserted at a completely random place, right before Townsend was going to introduce Adam. So does it have some significance?

I'm going to be watching for more 'puzzle pieces.' They've got me intrigued now!