Legacies - I Was Made For You

 

Discussing Ep. 3.12 - Damn! TWO good episodes....IN A ROW?!? The fuck is going on?!? Now, despite my pleasant surprise, this episode wasn't perfect but it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

So we'll get the Landon revelation out of the way. It was interesting since Jenzy had mentioned the two theories about Landon, with one being that he was Clarke and the other being that he was a manifestation of Hope's idealized version of Landon, I found myself really invested to find out which one would actually be true. I liked the build up that they did as I thought it was very well done. There were enough swerves and misdirection that I really had no idea which theory was going to come out on top. It left me invested in seeing the end result and I really liked that.

And I liked this version of Landon. It actually sucks that he's dead now because I liked him. He had a fucking backbone! In this episode, when he's arguing with Hope....he actually ARGUED with Hope! He didn't roll over and just accept what she was doing. He demanded to be let out of that room. He took all her tests and did so with a chip on his shoulder. He came off as a guy who had a will of his own and was not in it to please Hope all the time. It's weird that I should describe him as such and pointing out that that's a good thing, but it is! This is a Landon that seemed like he had an ambition beyond Hope, which is ironic considering he was made FOR Hope. I wish we had at least one more episode where this Landon was giving off not-so-typical Landon vibes because the thing that caught Hope's attention and finally made her question Landon's identity was kind of stupid.

And this is where some of my gripes comes into play. Jed is as dumb as a pile of rocks! Landon is bench-pressing 300 pounds!!! How could Jed not sit there and wonder how the hell skinny, human Landon is doing that?!? I know they're writing Jed as being this dumb jock but c'mon!!! This is why I'd have liked another episode where Landon is giving off more subtle clues that he's not the real Landon and then Hope could finally catch on and put him to the test like she did here. Perhaps the writers are constrained by the episode count so they needed a really big clue to make Hope question Landon's identity. If so, then I get it. But they really didn't do the Jed character any favours by making him so stupid.

Speaking of stupid, I'll get to my next gripe. Before I get to that though, I will preface it with this: I liked this revelation! I did not see this coming at all and it was great! I liked that Cleo was the one who was essentially the bad guy and was manipulating Landon and pretty much everyone else. I really liked that. HOWEVER....I don't get her plan. If her plan was to kill Hope and activate her vampire side...why didn't she just kill her? Why wait until Hope figured everything out do it? Perhaps her plan will be explained in the next episode but I really don't get it. Even when she had Hope pinned against the wall with that axe jabbed into her stomach, why didn't she just kill her by magically snapping her neck? Why didn't she just pull out her heart? Why didn't she just Force pull a shard of glass or a stake from across the room and impale Hope with it? These are things witches in the past have done to great effect, so why not Cleo? No, Cleo has to do this dramatic spell where she wanted ignite Hope on fire! How long would that have taken and why do something so messy, if not slow? 

Plus, how was it that she underestimated Hope like that? She's known Hope long enough to know that she's not someone you should take lightly. She could see that Hope was putting the pieces together. Why didn't she just take her out when her back was turned? Why did she go aaaaaaall the way back to the mansion to pick up that axe, only to finally reveal the truth and try to kill Hope after Hope had defeated Fake Landon? She could have killed her when Hope was fighting Landon. She could have waited around (rather than go back to the mansion) to see what Fake Landon was going to reveal and then choose to kill Hope if she saw that Hope was getting the upper hand. I mean, she was going to kill her anyway! If it was Cleo's plan to see Hope die and become a true tribrid, then why did she play along to the extent that she did? Like I said, I hope that they have Cleo explain her grand scheme because at this point, she made a lot of unnecessary moves that didn't make sense in the end. 

And I'll say this for Hope, it was impressive, if not somewhat problematic, that she could kill this idealized version of Landon without any issues. She did it a bit too easily for my taste. I would have preferred her to have some degree of an inner struggle over it. After all, Cleo hit her with a zinger: "If you cared about anything other than Landon, you could have seen it too." That was great! But given the fact that she went through so much obsession over Landon that finally, here was the idealized version of him that, like he said, could potentially live forever...and she killed him without any kind of hesitation whatsoever! I could chalk this up to some degree of character development on her part but I'd have liked it that there was some inner conflict, even if she did realize that he wasn't the real Landon and that the real Landon was essentially dead, because at least that would have been in line with her previous obsession over him. The fact that she could kill him was a step in the right direction but I feel like she made that decision much too easily.

And so then we get to this revelation. Again, kudos to the writers because I did not see this coming either. I was sure Twiggy 2.0 was Clarke, not the real Landon. And had Jenzy not mentioned that tidbit about the necklace, I would not have had any idea why he was holding that necklace out. I'm sort of iffy on this development because I don't know where they're going with it. So Landon has clearly been doing some hunting and becoming somewhat of a bad ass monster hunter. Cool! But what about his attitude? How will he react to Hope creating an idealized version of himself that he may or may not be able to live up to? Will they go off and become a nice and happy couple again? Will he be the same, placating Landon that he had been before? I really, really hope that they take his character in a very unexpected direction. They've surprised me so far so I am somewhat hopeful at this point.

Another character that they surprised me with was NecroTed. Fuck, was I ever surprised by this. I've said this before, I liked NecroTed at the begining but he became far too comical for my liking. Here, he was brilliantly downplayed and given a send off that I wasn't expecting but I thought was pretty decent. He had his moments of comedy but they weren't over-the-top. It was just enough that I thought he went off on a really good note and was also believable, given the fact that Ted didn't want to remember being NecroTed but could tell there was something of that personality still inside of him so he killed himself rather than let that personality come out again. I liked this and was very happy with his send off.

This last storyline was done pretty well too, though I think it could have perhaps, like Hope and Landon, been served better with another episode to give the break up of this dynamic duo a bit more impact. Still, it was believable and pretty touching how MG essentially gave up is only friend at this point because he couldn't trust him not to put himself in danger again. I love it that MG came to the rescue like a flaming superhero, really playing up on his and Ethan's love of superhero comics. The visual of that was pretty cool. And though I want to smack MG upside the head for telling Ethan EVERYTHING about becoming a vampire, I could believe that he did that and gave him some vampire blood to heal his wounds because he trusted Ethan. He didn't expect Ethan to go off and take that as an opportunity to become a vampire himself.

And of course Ethan, who saw MG's vampirism as a blessing rather than a curse, took it upon himself to turn into a vampire. I think my only gripe with all of it was that MG never really sold the downside of becoming a vampire. You couldn't fault Ethan for thinking the grass was greener on MG's side because MG never showed what the negatives were to it. Again, it would have helped if MG had retained his Ripper issues and used that as a selling point for NOT becoming a vampire. But beyond that, I think this well done and I'm curious if this is truly the end for the dynamic duo. If so, then I am a bit concerned where they go with MG now because this was by far the best storyline he's had in this whole series.

I won't touch too much on Josie and Finch other than to say that Finch has a lot of nerve for criticizing Josie for not telling her that she was a witch when she wasn't exactly quick to reveal that she was a werewolf. That was just so fucking hypocritical that I'm glad Josie at least threw that back in her face. As for the doo-hickey thing, I'm interested to know now what it is and how that involves both Cleo and DaVinci. Hell, I will give full props to the show because I was THIS CLOSE to just turning off the streaming when he walked in because I was, for sure, thinking he was going to start talking in English but with an Italian accent! I was sure of it! Thankfully, they had him speak solely Italian and I wish I knew what Cleo had said to him but it makes her backstory all the more intriguing now. 

And one more credit I'll give them, and I give credit if only because of what they COULD have done instead: the absence of Lizzie. Granted, her being away at some Wiccan Wilderness retreat or something where she was undergoing some kind of therapy....as stupid, if not weird, as an excuse that was, at least she wasn't in Offscreenlandia with her mother again. I will give them a fucking standing ovation for coming up with something different because it seems like every time one of the Wonder Twins has to be away, she is ALWAYS visiting Caroline in Europe. I'm so thankful they gave Lizzie something different and am curious if it will play any significant part in her return. 

So overall, a good episode. They surprised me with a lot of revelations and left me wanting to know what Cleo's story is and what her ultimate objective is and what kind of a person Landon is now. I'm a surprised as all hell that I care but I do, and I'll give the writers credit for getting me to that point.

Well done!   

Legacies - You Can't Run From Who You Are

 

Discussing Ep. 3.11 - I was pleasantly surprised at how good this episode was. Largely, it addressed some of my concerns from the last episode. Some of those scenes that I thought I would cringe at, I didn't (at least not massively). And it turns out that theory that Jenzy heard about is coming true after all. 

Dark Josie! Though she was merely an aspect of Josie's personality that manifested itself in visual form, nonetheless I loved seeing this side of Josie again. And damn...if ever there was someone who could play Wednesday Addams at any point, it's Kaylee Bryant! She just looks awesome! Anyway, as far as this episode goes, I loved Dark Josie making an appearance. She just comes off as more fun and carefree and entertaining than regular Josie. And it looks like Kaylee has more fun with that role. Much like Nina with Katherine and Paul with Ripper, it just seems like when the actor gets to play the villainous part, they have a better time doing it. 

Though I don't really get how that crystal thingy makes it that a person's subconscious act like a completely different person, at the very least it gave a plausible reason for Josie to be reluctant to re-absorb her powers. That, and the fact that Hope was in danger created a very believable and well structured problem for Josie. I like that development and how they set it up so that Josie had no choice but to take her magic again, and giving her a real conflict in not wanting to absorb it again for fear of Dark Josie returning. And giving Lizzie a viable and believable excuse for not being there was also a well established problem that led to Josie getting her magic back.

I'll say this as well, since I had expressed disappointment in Lizzie for not telling Josie about Finch being a werewolf. I also complained about how Finch should have known about Salvatore School and the werewolf community there but seemed oblivious about it. They actually addressed all of that quite well, because I had completely forgotten about the werewolf curse having to be triggered by the person committing murder! It was a viable excuse for Lizzie for not telling Josie and wanting to confront Finch herself. I say 'excuse' because I still believe that Lizzie wasn't necessarily doing it to protect Josie as much as she didn't want Josie developing a relationship with Finch and leaving her in the dust. Just her reaction at the end when MG was saying how Lizzie did it to protect Josie made it seem like she sort of had ulterior motives.

The story of how Finch became a werewolf was actually a good backstory. You could understand why she blocked out that particular memory and how and why she wasn't fully aware of all the aspects of being a werewolf and why she may not even be aware of werewolf packs in Mystic Falls and what not. She was never told such things by her grandfather. I'm assuming that he hadn't triggered his werewolf curse and was therefore dying of whatever he was dying from in the hospital and so he thought that Finch becoming a werewolf would save her from his fate. Again, a plausible reason. Therefore, I didn't hate this at all. 

Nor did I hate Hope's storyline. First off, I like this look! Looked scary and bad ass! Second, it was nice to have Hope be the one in danger and not having her save Landon for once. It also set up the conundrum for Josie as to whether or not she should re-absorb her magic. Thirdly, it also set up the revelation that Landon may not be Landon anymore. Again, I like the setup because it was logical and believable. Hope, as this monster that went after dead flesh, seemed to be going after Landon. While I assumed it was because it was Hope's incessant infatuation with Landon, it turns out that that may not be the case.

I was even impressed in how they used Wade. Now, it was a bit goofy how the monster was seemingly straight out of D&D but it gave Wade a role to play and the fact that he picked up on Landon's bizarre behaviour, especially as it pertained to playing D&D, made him quite useful in the episode. I think my only gripe with this is that it was revealed too soon and Clarke (as we're all assuming it's Clarke) playing the part of Landon was doing a bit too good of a job. If he has full access to Landon's mind, I don't see how he could not know about the D&D campaign that Landon created. He seemed to play the part of Landon to a T quite well up to that point. I'm sure they'll come up with a reason but either way, I am intrigued by this development.

I'm intrigued if only by the potential of seeing Dark Landon, so to speak. Like I said about Josie, it seems like the actors have a better time playing the villain, and so it would intrigue me to see how Aria (London) goes about playing that role. Actually, I was convinced that Aria was mouthing the words of NecroTed while his voice was being overdubbed by the actual actor. I was amazed that he could actually mimic NecroTed so well! So yeah, it would be neat to see an evil version of Landon. Also, could Clarke fall in love with Hope? Though he couldn't do anything beyond what Landon did (i.e. have sex) because he's also a son of Malivore and would die. Still, that would be an interesting twist that he did not account for. Also, I wonder what Landon would think that Hope, the love of his life, couldn't tell the difference between him and Clarke. Would he just let it slide or would he hold it against Hope. I would support the latter, giving the guy the Spaldings to be offended and maybe even change for the dark side, but if he's the simp he's always been, he'd probably do the former. I guess we'll see.

As far as the Cleo storyline goes, I was meh about it. I still don't get how it works with Cleo and her inspirational powers. And as far as her and Kaleb went, I will say that his attempts at trying to 'woo' her were cringe. In a lot of ways, I'm glad she just flat out told him to be himself and to knock that shit off because it was getting embarrassing. But I'm not really invested in that particular storyline. As far as that do-hickey goes, I will say that it's also a bit goofy that it was created by Leonardo DaVinci, but if they can make it that he did it for a plausible and logical reason, then I'd be willing to go along with it. 

Lastly, I wonder if they're teasing MG making Ethan a vampire already. I'm curious to know what it was that Ethan actually did, if he tried stopping the criminals on his own and got the shit beat out of him for it. Though I can't imagine he's on death's door considering he was able to get himself back to their clubhouse. Still, they left it on a good cliff hanger so it will be interesting to see if MG has to make that choice at this point.

Like I said, I didn't hate this episode. Whoever wrote and directed it did a good job with it. I know this quality won't last long and I weep already for the upcoming scenes between Josie and Finch or more romance between Kaleb and Cleo. So I'll enjoy the quality of this episode for this week.

Oh! And one more thing, there was no more of that stupid, yellow lighting in this episode! Everything looked fucking natural, even indoors. I applaud that!