Legacies - There's A Place Where Lost Things Go

Discussing Ep. 2.14

Well, after about a month of a hiatus that made me wonder if this show was ever going to return, we finally did return and have now been introduced to the new Big Bad.

Can't complain about this because this is what I've been asking for. And I think it's a good move. Plus, I love this look. Being a Tim Burton/Addams Family fan, this look is very Lydia Deetz or Wednesday Addams. So I like it a lot and am glad Josie will be running with it for a little while.

Plus, she appears to be super powerful and that's good, as you don't want to make it easy for Hope and the gang to overcome this particular Big Bad. It's obvious that they're taking a leaf out of the Buffy playbook, replicating the Dark Willow story arc, right down to the veins and the dark eyes.

So my question is...how are they going to make it different? In Buffy, they couldn't fight her magic with magic because Dark Willow was so powerful, so they had to rely on Xander, of all people, to reach that core of Willow that was still good in order for her to break free of the darkness herself. Are they going to do the same here with Dark Josie? The fact of the matter is, they won't be able to live up to the original redemption arc of Dark Willow. Willow went dark after her lover got killed (and I still remember the way Dark Willow got her revenge, essentially ripping off all the skin off the guy who killed Tara). They built up that relationship between Xander and Willow for years before they had this moment between them, where it could only be Xander who could save Willow in the end, and this moment was VERY powerful!

I can't see them doing the same with Lizzie being the "saviour" because they've sort of already had those sister-to-sister moments where Lizzie has admitted that she's selfish and has not been a very good sister. So who will they get to do it? I really hope it won't be Jade. She's a new character and even though they've practically rushed Jade and Josie to the altar, there is no connection there other than a superficial attraction. So who could they get?

You would think that it would be Hope, but she too doesn't have that deep connection with Josie that would make anyone believe that Hope could reach that core that would allow her to overcome the darkness within her. It's sad to say, but I don't have a lot of faith in the writers being able to bring this story arc to a satisfying conclusion. However, they have surprised me in the past so I won't lose hope (no pun intended) so quickly. After all, they surprised me with this episode.

I was actually worried that this episode was going to come off as too corny, and that they were going to pepper the episode with popular catch phrases and dialogue from 1940's era films like Casablanca. I was fully expecting MG or even Landon (who was suspiciously absent this episode....he's working on his flying?) to start talking like Humphrey Bogart and spurt out lines like "Here's lookin' at you, kid!" and "Franky, my dear, I don't give a damn!" But they didn't do that. For the most part, it was all played less for laughs and more for a whodunnit kind of atmosphere, and I feel like it worked pretty well. Also, I feel like there were some actors who, had they been born in that era, could have worked quite well in a black and white film, with Lizzie, Josie and Hope being among them.

Some elements of the episode confused me. Seeing Vardemus again, while a pleasant treat, felt very arbitrary. The fact that Emma had a box that Vardemus himself created, basing it off the Chambre de Chasse (a nod to TO), only for Vardemus himself to show up in a locker....where he has been locked up this whole time? I didn't get this at all and that's why it felt like they made this up as they went along JUST so they could get Alexis Denisof to reprise his role as Vardemus again. Mind you, I like Alexis and I welcome his return, but have it make sense for crying out loud! When did Clarke lock him up? How long has Vardemus been in that locker? While I suppose it feels like forever and a day since we saw Clarke on the show, in Legacies time it must have been at least a few weeks. It had to have been more than just a couple of days! So Vardemus was there for weeks? Makes no sense whatsoever. The one thing that I do hope for is that, with the exit of Emma and Dorian (which I'll get to later), that Vardemus will stay on and perhaps work with Alaric. We don't necessarily know if THIS Vardemus will be as antagonistic as the Clarke Vardemus was with Alaric. But I do hope he sticks around.

Also, in regards to Hope. Again, she felt very much like a background character. Even though she came to the rescue at the end (and it felt very obvious that she would), I really didn't get her story arc throughout this episode. Her talk at the end with Raf, saying how she realizes that there will always be an obstacle between her and Landon, didn't make much sense. She made it sound like she was alone in her experience, like it was the hand of Fate or the Universe or something that was actively working against her and Landon being together and that's just bullshit! For crying out loud, talk to Bonnie, to Stefan, to Klaus, to Elijah,....to anyone from the TVD/TO universe who fell in love with someone and didn't get their happily-ever-after. I feel like she's trying to build up the troubles between her and Landon as being something cosmic rather than something pedestrian. I suppose I liked that they were sort of trying to build on Hope's abandonment issues, but you can't develop that with one episode! We were TOLD she has abandonment issues....we haven't really been SHOWN them! Either way, she really feels far from being the star of the show, and maybe that's their intent although it's somewhat confusing considering Legacies was a spin off of The Originals BECAUSE of Hope Mikaelson!

I also don't get having Emma return, only to have her leave again for the most ridiculous of reasons. She and Dorian are getting the fuck out of dodge because they're scared? Because they can't hack the dangers anymore? Because she feels incompetent and guilty after what happened with Vardemus's box? I could see if perhaps Emma was pregnant with Dorian's kid and therefore felt like she needed to protect her baby from the threats that seem to plague the school. But for her and Dorian to just up and leave because it's too dangerous and leave Alaric hanging, having to deal with all the threats all by himself? That's just fucking selfish and cowardly if not incredibly irresponsible! Emma herself stated that she's well aware of the dangers that are going on at the school and the threats that are arising. So....she's not going to do her part to help? She felt like she was abandoning Alaric and that's because she is! And how selfish of Dorian to 1) abandon Alaric yet again (Alaric has to be used to it by now), and 2) not even say goodbye in person! Seriously, I hope we never see these two hacks on the show because they aren't good friends or good characters. Good riddance!

I was somewhat impressed with MG throughout the episode, as it seemed like it was the actor's time to shine. However, my admiration lies on a very thin edge right now. At the end, when Lizzie comes by and fully admits that she only pays any attention to him when she feels like crap and her self esteem is low, she offers that perhaps her attitude needs to change and that she needs to treat him better than that. Then MG, being the forever "nice guy" that he is, says that he doesn't want anything to change. What?!? What kind of response was that? Look, if he's comfortable being consigned to the Friend Zone with Lizzie, then all power to him. At least he accepts his fate in that regard. But I don't want to ever....EVER.....hear MG even hint at any kind of lust or attraction or a longing for Lizzie in any way, shape or form from now on. I want it that this episode was the last time that MG felt anything romantic for Lizzie because, after this acceptance of being a doormat on his part, he doesn't deserve to be with Lizzie!

And as for the other revelation, with Ted The Necromancer making an obscure appearance, I will say I'm somewhat intrigued. What did Ted do to Raf? How did he get to him and how did he make an appearance in that simulated world? It almost felt Pennywise-esque the way Ted showed up in that photo. Kind of creepy. So some questions I have are: what is Ted's ultimate plan? How does Dark Josie and Raf fit into all of that? Will Dark Josie submit to Ted or she going to go her own way? And if she does go her own way, what is her ultimate goal? I get the feeling that Hope and Landon and Raf will be handling The Necromancer threat while Lizzie, MG and Alaric will handle Josie. That's how I see all this breaking down.

Manifest - Airplane Bottle

Discussing Ep. 2.9

So now I'm confused!

My initial instincts were correct. Capt. Bowers is involved in something, just not in what I figured she would be. I figured that she'd be with The Major, which she still might be, albeit peripherally. She is in on that whole scheme with Jared and Simon and the Xers. What I don't get though is why Jared has been essentially going at this alone. Why didn't he go to her to get official clearance to get Mick's files? Why did he go down a route that would essentially put his own career on the line? I suppose she needs to protect herself too but aren't they all in this together?

What is Simon's organization? I know he leads the Xers but it's been shown that they are very well organized, a bit too well organized for a mere startup anti-828 group. For him to have that many moles in the police force alone, from Internal Affairs to the Captain to the police union rep....I'd have to believe that he is involved with The Major in some way in order to get that kind of power over them all, much like The Major had those moles in the hospital. But I still don't get why he seems bent on eliminating the 828ers when it seemed like The Major was bent on exploiting them. Their goals don't align UNLESS he's BSing about eliminating them and is looking to exploit them too. Or he is working with The Major but he has his own agenda. A possibility. His discovery about the 828 telepathy....I would have figured that The Major already knew about all of that. Then again, maybe she doesn't and if she finds out about it, such a power could certainly be something she would exploit.

And it seems I was partially right about Jared. He's doing something covert, maybe even with the Captain's help, to perhaps bring down this Xers organization from within. However, I do question some of his motives. He was willing to give Simon the information from Mick's files which he assumed Simon would put on the internet. So Jared was fine with that? If he and Capt. Bowers are working covertly in this, they seem to be willing to give up a lot of sensitive information to Simon for it. Granted, perhaps that's how they gain his trust, but still. Either way, it does seem like Jared isn't a lost cause and he hasn't given up on Mick and her family just yet, essentially saving her life from going with that union rep on the road. I'll be very interested to see how this develops.

And then we have Saanvi Brundle! I had to laugh because she was getting so manic and so jittery that I seriously thought that she was going to turn into The Fly by the end of the episode!

So it seems like the side effects of her cure aren't necessarily chemical as much as it is....spiritual? I'm curious to know if she can reverse what she did, and also how it ties into what Al Zuras wrote in his book. According to TJ, Al Zuras and his crew also tried to rid themselves of the callings. The thing is though, they were on a ship hundred of years ago and didn't have the miracles of modern technology and medicine to change their genetic makeup to rid themselves of the callings. So what did they do? How did they try to get rid of the callings? Whatever they did, it seemed to have had the same effect on them as it does on Saanvi—madness!

But this is where I don't get the nature of the callings once again. The callings gave specific visions to Ben, Cal and the others, including that guy who robbed the bank, about their own Death Date. So of course, they're going to try and find a way to get rid of the callings. But now that Saanvi has essentially done that, they find out that getting rid of the callings is perhaps what brings the Death Date into being. Whoever or whatever is giving these callings has the most horrible sense of timing! Is this what happened to Al Zura and his crew? Like, why give a Death Date calling at all and not give some kind of hint that the Death Date was perhaps tied to them NOT following and accepting the callings? It's one of those too little-too late kind of deals.

It was funny how I mentioned that we hadn't seen Cal in a forever and a day and how he hasn't been getting the callings like the others. Even Grace pointed that out, saying he hasn't had a calling in a long time. But now he was front and center, and I'm wondering if he's back to being more involved than before. If so, I really hope he ditches that whiny, bratty attitude. He's been somewhat intolerable when he does show up, being rather petulant. And though I know he's a kid and in this episode, they were all losing their tempers...still. I have to say, I loved the attention to detail regarding the rain. I noticed that whenever Ben or Grace or TJ or Cal were talking, it was raining and thunder. But when Olive was talking, it was sunny. I thought it was bad editing but it turns out it was intentional. Well done! And so they all shared a similar vision, being on Al Zuras's ship and seeing Flight 828 in the sky. I liked how Ben recalled Capt. Daly and his seeing the dark lightning. What I took away from this was that perhaps what Flight 828 did was essentially accomplish time travel.

While it has yet to be proven, I think it's implied that Capt. Daly essentially time travelled into the future by 5 years when he flew his plane into the dark lightning. So it could be that Flight 828 did the same thing, that they time travelled into the past when Al Zura was on that ship and therefore endured that event that led to Al Zura and his crew getting the callings, and the 828ers doing the same. The fact that Al Zura recorded seeing a silver dragon in the sky means that he did see Flight 828. But what does he mean that "despair and our own demise" rests on the wings of that dragon? The bringing up of Capt. Daly is interesting because I wonder if it means that we will see him again this season or if we will see Ben and Co. try and recreate what he did. If they do, will they go back to Al Zura's time again? Did Capt. Daly travel back to Al Zura's time?

What I found rather funny, if not very considerate on the part of the callings, is that Mick didn't get this particular calling as she was being interrogated by Internal Affairs. I mean, they were leaning on her pretty hard and it would have been a hoot if she started feeling sea sick and suddenly showed up on Al Zuras's boat along with Ben and the others. I'm sure that would have gone over really well for her and the Internal Affairs investigation!

So now the big question is, can they reverse what Saanvi has done and will it affect the rest of them? And what is Zeke's connection with all of that since he isn't an 828er and didn't interact at all with Al Zuras's boat?

Wait and see, I guess.

Manifest - Carry On

Discussing Ep. 2.8

I knew it! I fucking knew it!

They tried. Bless their hearts, they tried. And they did a good job but I still didn't believe it. And I feel like they cheated, dedicating much of the episode to the grief and loss of TJ, only for him to be alive at the end. I don't get what the point was other than perhaps to bring Olive and Ben closer together as well as to add a new dimension to the callings themselves.

Like I said, they tried. And they almost had me. Having Mick "identify" the body and having Isaiah be holding onto Olive's bracelet as though he was TJ.....pretty clever. But the episode just had this vibe that it wasn't going to be over with TJ. While seeing Olive break down when Mick came by to tell her the news was heartbreaking, the fact that Ben kept getting that chanting voice in his head and that he was the only one getting them, and the fact that it had to do with a Buddhist temple gave me the impression that, perhaps as the very least, Olive and Ben were going to get some kind of vision of TJ.

It's kind of funny when you think about it, how Olive and Ben went through the motions of saying goodbye to TJ by creating their own Buddhist practice and sharing their memories of him, only for him to be alive at the end. Like I said, I suppose the point was to bring Olive and Ben together seeing as how they seemed rather distant in recent episodes. But other than that, it felt very cheap to have them go through all of that, go through all of the emotion of accepting TJ's death only for him to be alive at the end. At the same time though, I'm kind of glad because I don't think Olive would have recovered from TJ's death. I think she would have had gone down a dark path, perhaps even start to hate the callings because they didn't save TJ and who knows where she would have gone after that. And TJ really endeared himself not only to Olive but to Ben as well, and I think he's become a really integral part in helping them figure out what the callings are all about. So I'm glad that he didn't bite the dust at this point.

I'm still wondering about Prof. White. I figured him to be a part of The Major's unit, trying to figure out and infiltrate the 828 community in order to collect intel for The Major. But it seems like he's kind of running a counter community to what Adrian had started with the 828 Church, inciting his followers to believe that the 828ers are a threat rather than a blessing. It's almost like the 828ers are like mutants and he feels threatened by them. So he started this community to stop them? It's rather strange, if not scary, how he could be so cold after some 828ers died in that fire and he still feels like they're a threat and is determined to see them wiped out. For that reason, I'm sceptical as to whether or not he's working with The Major as she seems interested in exploiting whatever powers they have, not seeing them wiped out of existence (at least not before she can weaponize the powers they have).

And as far as Jared goes, doubt in him is beginning to creep in though I haven't lost faith in him completely. Even Mick, while doing surveillance on him, couldn't believe that he had fallen so far. She admitted that he wasn't the same guy that she was willing to marry. Though I do think she bears some responsibility considering she was the reason he ended his marriage with Lordes only to reject him for a guy she just met, it wouldn't justify in any way Jared aligning himself with a group of Xers who were bent on doing 828ers harm, or especially aligning himself with someone like Billy. This turn from Jared really does seem out of character and like I said before, I can't believe that he'd grow so cold against people like Ben or Cal or Mick because of a broken heart, so I do think there's more to his involvement than meets the eye.

The thing is though, even if Jared is doing his own undercover operation, he's still going to be hurting Tamara in the end, which doesn't bode well for Jared's trustworthiness. Though Tamara may share some feelings against the 828ers with her brother, she doesn't seem as hardcore about it as he is. She cares about her brother but recognizes that he's an idiot. She seems to have fallen rather hard for Jared and is essentially pure in her intentions towards him and isn't in it for anything other than that she likes him and cares for him. So for him to betray her like that will just makes him look really bad and hurt her unnecessarily.

So thanks to the surveillance work of Mick and Mikami, the Captain was made aware of Jared's activities and I don't know if what she said to Jared at the end was "You've got a problem" or " We've got a problem." Because if it's the latter, then obviously Captain Bowers is in on it and is herself associated with the Xers, although that would make little sense since it really seems like Jared has been doing this all on his own. If she were involved, then I don't see why Jared would have to go to such lengths to get Mick's files when he could have gone to her directly for help. So if he's been doing it all on his own, I don't see how he's going to explain any of it. Even if he is undercover, it's not official and he is essentially doing his own vigilante work, which I can't imagine that Captain Bowers would approve of. So I'm really curious as to what is going to happen to Jared now.

I thought that this was a very interesting development. So it seems like Saanvi's "cure" had the unintended side effect of wiping her memory, at least as far as certain sections of it. She went to the trouble of tracking Alex down and giving her a big kiss on the street, only for Alex to come back and tell her it's definitively over and Saanvi doesn't remember doing any of it! How far does this effect reach? Will it erase all of her memory or is it limited to just short term memory? Will it affect anything else? I like this new wrinkle because even Zeke was looking for a miracle since he's suffering frostbite that seems to indicate he's starting down the path to his own death and Saanvi's cure, while it may save him, might also erase his memory of Mick. That would be an interesting choice: be saved from the Death Date but lose all memory of who Mick is and what you had together, or spend the remaining time you have (which is less than a year) and spend it with Mick. A very interesting conundrum.

So I feel like they've drifted away from The Major storyline, and while they kind of covered it by having it that The Major and her minions are busy pouring over Saanvi's research and trying to make sense of it all and therefore that's why we haven't heard from her, I'm beginning to miss it. What happened to Vance and his efforts in trying to find The Major and counteracting all her manoeuvres? Why wouldn't he be interested in Saanvi's ongoing research and the recent discovery she has made? Sure, she hasn't exactly made it public but now that Zeke and Mick know, it's only a matter of time before Ben knows and then the word will be out. What happened with Grace and her calling in regards to that woman, Erica, and that gargoyle vision and her association with the Xers? What happened with Cal? I kind of feel like they've drifted away from some very important elements that they introduced earlier on in the season and I hope they return to them soon.   

Manifest - Emergency Exit

Discussing Ep. 2.7

So I missed commenting on last week's episode, and since there is no episode this coming week, I was able to catch up. And DAMN!.....there was a lot to catch up on.

It was rather surprising to see Cal again considering we haven't seen much of him this season. Last season, he was the Wonder Kid, the 828er who was receiving all the weird callings and feeling the pain of the 828ers who were being experimented on. Now, he's barely been profiled. I think that was really one of the things that shocked me about last week's calling, when they were all in that burnt out plane, how Cal never got anything about it. He's really faded into the background and though he got some TV time in this episode, it wasn't really impactful, other than to show how much of a brat he's become. Instead, it seems like all the adults are getting callings, including Grace.

I thought this was surprising and somewhat pointless given that Grace didn't really do anything in the end. At least Zeke went in and helped Mick save that woman from underneath that burning beam. Grace didn't really do anything, other than perhaps alert Jared. Not that I was expecting her to given that she's pregnant, but why didn't Ben or Mick or TJ or any other of the 828ers who were present at the club get a more clearer calling? They were right there!

And it was odd because though Adrian and Ben and Mick and Saanvi all got that calling and the vision of being in that burnt out wreck last week, it wasn't anything specific. Grace and Zeke got a more specific vision, where they saw people dancing and saw someone lighting a fire. I don't get how the callings work and why the work the way they do because, at best, they're very inefficient and unnecessarily confusing. That latter vision would have been a ton more helpful to Ben and Mick had they gotten it rather than Grace and Zeke, because Ben and Mick were actually there.

I also don't get this message from Adrian that they're trying to pitch to the viewer, that somehow he believes that all 828ers are miracles who are ALSO somehow immortal. Where did that come from? I never got the impression that he taught that or that anyone believed that the 828ers were somehow immortal or invincible. Last season, there were a bunch of 828ers who died! I don't know why Ben never pointed this out to Adrian. So where did this idea that the 828ers were somehow invincible? Regardless, it seems like that isn't the case anymore....or is it?

I thought it was very ballsy of them to kill off TJ, especially in the midst of this budding romance with Olive (which was sort of getting on my nerves already, to be honest). I'm taking this as I did with Vance....SHOW ME A BODY! Unless they show definitively that he died, then he may very well still be alive for all we know. And if he is, that spells trouble because not only does it validate what Adrian was teaching, to an extent, but it also creates a problem regarding what Saanvi was able to do.

So she apparently was able to reverse the callings affliction by genetically engineering it out of her system. So she no longer gets the callings. But if that's true, then it's quite possible that if one could genetically take it out, then one could conceivably put it back in or implant it in someone else. If the power is limited to callings alone, then it's not a great weapon to have. It's more annoying than anything else to get confusing callings to save people. But if it also includes the power of immortality, or some kind of invincibility (like Zeke seemed to have exhibited), then I could totally see The Major wanting to weaponize that, use it for American troops in battle. Hell, she might use it on herself, to essentially live forever. It's an intriguing premise considering they could use it to help people (with the cost that they would receive callings that they would have to fulfil) or use it to help themselves.

But speaking of Saanvi, I have to get this out of the way.

What was the point of this swerve? Why couldn't they establish that Saanvi was a lesbian (or bi-sexual) last season? Why spring this on the audience like this? I felt like they did it for the shock factor and it came off very cheap. Like they did with Hope on Legacies and Freya on The Originals, they present a character as leaning one way in terms of sexual orientation, only to shock the audience when they begin a relationship that subverts that orientation. I have zero problem with Saanvi being a lesbian or being bi-sexual. But they totally built it up that she was strictly hetero, considering she seemed to have this chemistry with Ben (to the point that folks, myself included, were shipping them), and even this season, she talked about how excited she was that Troy was interested in her. But now we have this. And it seemed rather pointless other than for the shock value. Much like having Saanvi's father show up (where the hell was he and her mother when she was in the hospital the week before, or when she returned from Flight 828?), there were elements that they just decided to insert for no other reason than to provide some kind of shock value to it all.

I have to admit, this part was very strange. When Ben carried Olive out of the nightclub and saw that shining light....what was it? Was it directing him to the outside? Is that the same light that Cal saw when he was on Flight 828 when he looked out the window? And of course, why would it be depicted here? Whoever or whatever is initiating these callings, I'm assuming there's a much bigger plan to it all. Because that calling left some 828ers for dead, like that guy from last week who gave his son a liver transplant. He was left for dead, as was TJ and who knows who else. The calling implied that Ben and Mick and Saanvi and even Adrian had to prevent that tragedy and save the passengers. Well, they failed. While they saved SOME of them, they obviously didn't save all of them. So what does that mean? It's a failed calling. What are the consequences of that other than the deaths of some 828ers?

I'm also beginning to wonder if I was perhaps wrong about Jared. I still think he's on the right side but him going behind Mick's back and accessing her case files was really sketchy. Also, him being hounded by Billy to get the files seems rather out of place for Jared, who I can't imagine would stand being bossed around by anybody other than an official authority in the precinct. Still, given the fact that he went to check on Mick and helped with the evacuation and saw first hand how the hysteria surrounding the 828 phenomenon could have tragic consequences, I can't see him moving forward with an anti-828 agenda that would see any of them come to harm, especially Mick and Ben and Cal. So while his actions have me worried, I'm still thinking he's doing everything covertly to uncover the agenda and overall power structure of the Xers.

So at the end of all of it, we get a glowing book! Which was a little bit corny, to be honest. Like, if that book is glowing, it's got to be like something akin to The Ark of the Covenant or something like that, right? Actually, that would be rather funny, if it was like Indiana Jones and Ben showed the book to The Major and her organization and the book started to glow and everybody started melting away!

Seriously though, I'd imagine that that book is the key to everything at this point. I mean, it fucking emits light! It has to give answers to a bunch of questions that are plaguing Ben. And I figure that it will become a centrepiece in the war against The Major. Couple that with Saanvi's apparent cure, and I could totally see it all coming down to a sort of personal choice: keep the callings and save the lives of a bunch of people (or at least make a significant difference) while having a definite Death Date...or...take Saanvi's cure and live your life as a regular human being, with no idea as to when you're going to die.

It's an interesting choice.

Legacies - You Can't Save Them All

Discussing Ep. 2.13

So we got two new recurring characters from the TVD universe....Convenience and Contrivance!

How I've missed them.

First of all....was it my screen or did the special effects look like shit in this episode?

I mean, it looked like they darkened her eyes with MS Paint or some shit like that. And then there was this:

Look, I'm not expecting MCU type of CGI special effects here, but Kai was clearly standing in front of a cheap green screen or a photo backdrop of the front of the school, and it looked horrible! Add to that Alaric's clearly fake beard and I'm beginning to wonder if the CW is strapped for cash or something.

Beyond that, let's get some questions out of the way in no particular order.

My first question is....how is it that this werewolf guy (I've already forgotten his name) can change into a partial wolf?

I do recall on TVD that werewolves could access a part of their powers as they got closer to a full moon, but never like this! The only wolves who could do this were the Crescent wolves from TO, and that was when Hayley, who was a hybrid, did some magical ceremony where they could all access their powers despite there not being a full moon. Otherwise, werewolves can't do this. And the excuse that he learned to control his powers is just contrived. As was this:

Just when Alaric needed someone with some medical knowledge, she shows up, humanity restored and all, ready to help! Rather convenient that Jade trained as an EMT for 6 years and was able to talk Alaric through a difficult operation. But beyond that, how the hell did Alaric even carry Lizzie all the way to the hospital? Her car crash was like WAAAAAAYYYY beyond the borders of Mystic Falls, and Alaric was able to carry her all the way to the hospital in town? And he didn't get any help from Josie (which was funny as she seemed uninterested about it). Actually, that brings up another question: why did Josie restore Jade's humanity? How did she restore it? She could have easily knocked her out to stop her from attacking Alaric. I'm thinking it was for that subtle callback to TVD when Klaus compelled Stefan to turn off his humanity, and when Elena asked him what he did, Klaus replied "I fixed him."

So when Josie restored Jade's humanity and Alaric asked the same question and Josie replied "I fixed her," it was a nice nod, though it made little sense. I think it would have been more appropriate if Hope had done it but that's beside the point.

I also want to know what the point of this was:

When Jade is talking Alaric through the operation and tells him to pick up this particular clamp and is describing it to him, Alaric replies "Yeah, I know what it is....my mother invented it." What the fuck? What is the significance of that line? Was this their way of explaining away Alaric's medical aptitude? I don't know....I thought that was a weird line to throw in there.

Then, of course, we get to the whole prison world issue.

Dark Josie stated that because the prison world runs on magic, that she could therefore siphon the magic to create pockets or holes in it which would allow everyone to return to the real world.

Well, that's just peachy keen, isn't it?

HELLO?!?!

This dude can siphon magic too! He's a Heretic!!!!

Why couldn't he do that in order to get out? Why didn't he bother to think of that? What the fuck kind of convenient writing is this? Not only that, but he also had another witch in his company which would have made their magical abilities all that much stronger. In the 10 years that he was with those other three, they couldn't figure it out to do what Josie did? I don't want to hear that only Josie could do it because she had dark magic. That's just too easy an explanation. This is why the whole siphoners/Heretic concept was such a bad idea. There are no rules to it (much like magic in general in the TVD universe) and they can do just about anything when it's convenient and find obstacles to NOT do something when they want to create some contrived drama.

Like, for example, Kai's final moment.

He was chained to that post thanks to magic. WHY DIDN'T HE SIPHON THE MAGIC OUT OF THOSE CHAINS TO SET HIMSELF FREE?!?! Did he forget that he could do that? He siphoned the entire Traveller spell off of Mystic Falls, siphoned vampire magic out of Sheriff Liz, and siphoned magic out of a knife. But he can't siphon magic out of some magical chains because of reasons. When Alaric came at him with that sword, why didn't Kai magically swat him away or telekinetically disarm him or something...ANYTHING?!? Hope threw a stake at him and he stopped it in mid air, like he was Kylo Fucking Ren using the Force.

So why couldn't he stop Alaric from killing him? This made little to no sense as to why Kai was so helpless in that situation. That he would stay chained to that post for the better part of the evening without even trying to siphon the magic out of it or doing something to set himself free just doesn't make any sense. However, maybe that's just his weakness......he forgets what he can do. Reminds me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon when Daffy Duck would fall off a cliff, and Bugs would question out loud "I wonder if that silly duck will remember that he can fly?" And then Daffy doesn't and goes SPLAT! on the ground. And Bugs is like "I guess not!" So I guess Kai is the new Daffy Duck! What a horrible way to go out.

Speaking of flying, now we have this.

And really, all I could do was go...

Again....convenient. And though I am somewhat impressed that Landon has that power, I worry about what they're going to do with it. Like every other power, I feel like they're going to waste it or not use it when it's convenient not to use it.

I was about to applaud the show for having the iron to kill off Dorian, because he's just basically useless as it is anyway. But beyond that, it would have raised the stakes on the show to have a semi-regular character bite the dust. And his death would have been heroic, so it wasn't a bad way to go out. But nope, Bonsai Head (or Lando as Kai called him) had to go and grow fire wings and fly him back to the school. This also completely negated the impact of the decision that Hope made.

I mean, it was very Dark Knight Joker-esque of Kai to give her those two options....save everyone in the prison world, or save Lando. She couldn't do both. Neither option, in the end, came with any kind of consequence. Sure, Hope was perhaps able to stall Alyssa long enough that Josie could get everyone back. Otherwise, she would have destroyed the Ascendant before they could all return. So I can't say her decision wasn't important. But I think this is why Dorian should have died, to give weight to the decision that Hope made and perhaps cause her to make a different decision in the future which would have bigger consequences. They played it too safe.

And then there is this fucker....

....who can't seem to decide whether he's good or bad. First off, when they were all wondering who was going to stay behind and become the Anchor (thank goodness Bonnie wasn't there because they'd have all volunteered her for the job), nobody thought of making it Drowned Pirate? Nobody liked him, including Lizzie, so I don't get why he never became an option. I suppose they didn't do it specifically for this dramatic, heroic turn on Sebastian's part to volunteer for it as a way to make it up to Lizzie. How romantic! Again, very convenient as it allowed Alaric and everyone else to return, except for the wolf guy who apparently was so pissed at Alaric that he'd rather die in a prison world than hold off his anger for like 5 minutes.

Sigh!

And then we have this last bit of contrivance that I couldn't care less about. So Kaleb was pissed at MG in that episode with his sister NOT because MG had betrayed his own intentions towards Kaleb's sister, but because Kaleb has a thing for Alyssa? And so does Jared? But Alyssa likes MG instead?

Who the fuck cares?

This episode was disappointing on so many levels, from the Sphinx riddle being fulfilled already, to Kai's interaction with the Legacies gang, to Kai and Hope's fight (I was expecting so much more between a tri-brid and a Heretic), to Kai's death, to everyone being saved and essentially having a happy ending for them all except for perhaps Lizzie, who lost Sebastian....as far as we can tell. Maybe he did make it to Malivore and will show up anyway. I could see that.

Josie restored Jade's humanity and now it looks like they're going to be an item...Jadie (you can't do Jose because that's too similar to José, which is a Hispanic name for a guy). I'm actually amazed at how Josie can forget past romances in the blink of an eye and move on to a new one. Penelope left her in S1 and she got with Landon. Then Landon left her and she's now with Jade. That's pretty quick work!

Now Landon has fire wings....which he better be able to do something cool with them. I mean....they're made of fucking fire! If all he can do is fly, that would suck! He better be able to burn shit to the ground like Nuclear Godzilla!

I think the one thing I'm happy about is that we have not seen the last of Dark Josie. It seemed weird that she returned to normal but at the end of the episode, we got that glimmer of darkness again. I liked Dark Josie and she has potential. She also has great hair! So much more volume and style than her typical hair. She needs to go back to Dark Josie.