Discussing Ep. 3.9 - Okay, this show can go and fuck right off!
So I'll get to what I actually liked in the episode. Finally....FINALLY...Bonsai Head actually stands up to Hope in some fashion and flat out tells her that she has to stop obsessing over him and quasi (not very convincingly though) gives her grief for almost killing Lizzie and Josie. Thing is though, this is like the third person she has heard this spiel from! I have no idea why she obsesses over him the way she does. I fucking cringed every single time she kept saying that all that mattered was that she had Landon back. Look, I've been Landon's biggest advocate as a love interest on this site from Day One but even I don't think he's everything that Hope believes he is. There is nothing that he brings to the table that is so amazing or so unique that Hope, or anybody else for that matter, should fawn over him the way she does.
And this episode really didn't do much to change my mind about that. Sure, it was a nice change of pace that Landon wasn't the damsel-in-distress in this episode. And I like that he was able to reach Hope and essentially tell her that she was wrong and that he was the researcher of the group and was able to find the solution to the gremlin problem. But he sort of tip-toed around his confrontation with Hope as though he was afraid of her and I didn't like that. At the end of the day, I'm glad that he was able to tell her the truth that she needed to hear, but it sucks that it took Lizzie creating all this drama in order for him to do it. I wish that we'd get an answer as to why Hope is so obsessed with him because there is really no logical reason for that. At least with Elena, they gave that sire bond excuse at the beginning as to why she was so obsessed with Damon. What's Hope's excuse? She clearly only cares about Landon and if multiple people have to tell her, including Landon himself, that she's taking it too far, then that's a real problem. That's not romantic, it's psychotic. That sort of behaviour is not healthy, people!
Speaking of Lizzie, by far she was my favourite character in the episode. Aside from Alaric and Josie, who should have been equally upset with Hope, at least Lizzie represented the side of righteous anger and was wholly upset with her. Fucking props to her for that! And again, I couldn't help but feel like Hope is turning into Elena, recognizing her own faults and missteps but always coming up with an excuse for not taking the right steps to correct them. Her being upset with Lizzie (for what reason again?) or being upset with Cleo (for what reason again?) and recognizing that she needed to apologize but didn't was just so infuriating. I swear, Hope doesn't come off well here at all. She's manipulative, narcissistic, selfish and unforgiving. Why is she the lead character and the hero of the show again?
As far as the side story of MG and Ethan, I actually kind of liked that. At first, I was more annoyed than anything else as to how easy it is for a student to transfer, in the middle of the school year, from a near-defunct supernatural school to a regular high school, all in the span of a couple of days! Then I was worried that we were going to get more crap between Josie and Finch. And then I was wondering what they hell they were doing with Ethan and him taking vervain and all of that.
Then they surprised me. I think because I was expecting them to use Ethan as a love interest for Hope or even for Josie. I didn't think he'd be a person of interest for MG! And it's nice that this doesn't revolve around a romantic relationship. It's just two guys who share of a love of comics and nerdy things who suddenly find each other in the midst of, well, essentially being friendless. Ethan got cut from the football team and all his so-called friends abandoned him. MG feels like he was abandoned by his so-called friends at Salvatore School. So they find each other, with Ethan looking at MG (who saved his life) as a sort of super hero with all his cool vampire powers. In return, MG chooses not to compel him to forget everything and entrusts him to keep his secret. This is almost a basic blueprint for a love story on the CW!
But it's not a love story and perhaps it's how they turned my expectations on their heads that make me intrigued by this storyline. Now, I have zero faith that they will maintain my interest but this is rather refreshing. Having said that though, I found it rather funny how Ethan found little downside to being a vampire, other than "the blood thing." But even that isn't an issue. I made this point in my Dracula review about how the TVD universe totally removed the 'curse' of being a vampire. I think what would have added some drama to this budding friendship is if MG still had that issue of being a Ripper. Having MG choose between fulfilling his blood lust or protecting his new friend is a classic vampire conundrum that they could use to great effect here. They won't, but under better writers, they could.
Speaking of shitty writers, now we get to the bullshit that I hated, and this was some real bullshit right here!
Aunt Elena and Uncle Damon!
Fuck you, writers! Fuck you, Julie Plec! Fuck you all!
Why include this? Why? I was content with the idea that Elena and Damon were in Offscreenlandia (as Baby often used to call it) and they perhaps were no longer in Mystic Falls but were somewhere else. But Josie DESTROYED those happy delusions by not only staying at the rebuilt Gilbert house where Elena and Damon supposedly live, but flat out saying that Aunt Elena was due to come home from her shift and was going to make some delicious casserole or whatever the fuck she said. So we are now to believe that both Damon and Elena are actively living in Mystic Falls.....they just don't bother showing up to help or even visit Alaric and their non-related nieces, Josie and Lizzie.
They teased it so fucking hard. That shot of Alaric walking into a room with 'someone' pouring him a glass of liquor.....you could tell that they wanted the audience to believe that it was Damon! You know that they were doing it for that effect, as though it was going to be like old times, only to pull the rug out from under everyone and have it be Dorian instead. I don't understand why they do that. First of all, I've noted this before as to how Legacies is really not even in the same universe as TVD and TO. It just isn't. And so trying to create that connection by teasing past characters is stupid. But to go so far as to try and weave them into the show and yet have them not physically show up is getting real tiresome!
It's just so cheap and insulting. Much like with Caroline, it makes no sense for Elena and Damon to not show up. Character-wise, there is literally no reason why Damon and Elena wouldn't make frequent appearances at the Salvatore School if they were truly in Mystic Falls. Number one, it's Damon's old fucking house! And the school is in his and brother's family name. Wouldn't he lend a hand in trying to 'save the school' that was built from out of his family mansion and using his family name?!? Secondly, if they cared about their 'nieces,' they would check in more often. Damon would be drinking it up with his good buddy Alaric on a frequent basis if not helping him out with all the supernatural threats that they seem to continually face. They most certainly would have shown up to that musical that revolved around their lives! And yet, they don't show up at all!
If the excuse was that they weren't supernatural anymore (which isn't even true...Elena is still a doppleganger and Damon is a cured vampire) and therefore didn't want any part of that world and so that's why they don't visit, then that's just as dumb as it was when Dorian took the job at Mystic Falls High because Emma didn't want him near the supernatural danger of Salvatore School! If Elena and Damon truly wanted away from all supernatural elements, then they would have moved away, just like Sheriff Mac did. Period! Bonnie moved away. Caroline, for all intents and purposes, moved away. Jeremy moved away. The only other person who is still there is Matt. What the fuck is so special about Mystic Falls that Elena and Damon had to stay there? Plague and the producers know full well that neither Nina nor Ian nor Candace nor Paul nor Kat are going to do any cameo appearances. So why tease their existence? At least with Klaus and Hayley, they're dead! So there's a reason why they don't show up. But the TVD cast just hanging around the outskirts of the show is such an unnecessary tease that it's more annoying that nostalgic.
Speaking of nostalgia, we get this quasi-tribute to Gremlins. I will say that I thought it was clever when they introduced this thing onscreen, the tune playing was the exact same tune that Gizmo would sing in the movie Gremlins. Beyond that, this was stupid! I hated that this fucking plot device showed up at just the right moment to bring Lizzie and Hope back together again. Far too convenient and contrived. That this stupid fuzz ball feeds off of 'disrespect' was just ridiculous! I think it had potential for laughs and even chaos but they didn't know how to write it well so it came off as dumb.
And here we get yet a new MacGuffin. So all of a sudden, that thing that Alaric used during Hope's therapy session is something that is supposedly very important, almost like the One Ring. Something that is now revealed to have been in the hands of Einstein, Rasputin, and Napoleon. I have to admit that I laughed at the bad photoshopping but at the same time, I am intrigued. I mean, if this leads to a replacement for Malivore as the main antagonist for the show, then I am all for it. However, I'm beginning to think that yet another of my predictions may have come true.
Odd that Clarke opened the show and that reject from Riverdale ended it. So I'm beginning to think that Clarke has indeed returned as Twiggy 2.0.. I wouldn't be against it if he brings something new to the table. I actually liked Clarke as a villain but I felt like he was underused and his motives were a bit off. It'd be nice to have an antagonist who is actually there and can talk to the protagonist (whoever that may be....I'm still not sold that it's Hope), but I fear that the writers, who are far too one dimensional, will make Clarke and his motives rather generic.
So no, I don't have much hope for where this storyline is going.
