Legacies - One Day You Will Understand

 

Discussing Ep. 3.13 - So we're back to our usual mixed bag. There were some elements in this episode that I liked and some that I definitely didn't like. Like, good grief, it was all about the couples, wasn't it? Hope and Landon. Cleo and Kaleb. Josie and Finch. I knew the good run of episodes couldn't last. 

The new Landon. I don't know about this. It's hard for me to put into words what my issue is with Landon now (though I will try). He is what I expected him to be and perhaps that's the problem. In some ways, this storyline reminded me of Angel, when his son, Connor, is taken into some Hell dimension upon being born and raised there, fighting monsters on a daily basis. He comes back to Angel all messed up and with a severe chip on his shoulder and it took a while for Angel to finally get through to him. I was hoping for something similar to happen to Landon, that he'd come back with an edge. And he did....but he didn't. It was more like he had PTSD (which would be understandable) which isn't the same.

I think my issue is that I wasn't surprised by anything he did. With Fake Landon, he surprised me in regards to his attitude. Real Landon didn't. He behaved pretty much as I figured he would behave given what he had been through. He was skittish, anxious, uneasy. It's what you'd expect. But he wasn't so transformed that you were shocked by what he became. Him breaking up with Hope wasn't shocking. Him beating up that jock wasn't shocking. Him attacking Malivore was fucking hilarious because he got owned, but it wasn't shocking. I suppose that me being genuinely surprised by various developments in the previous two episodes kind of got me used to that and so I had hoped that they would go in a more innovative direction with Landon.

Actually, I'll take some of that last statement back. They did, and that's having Landon and Cleo team up! I like that development (and I'll get to Cleo in a minute). And to be fair, he did what he was supposed to do with Hope. He broke up with her. But did he really have a choice? She's literally toxic to him so it's not like they had much of a future together anyway. I give him credit for having the Spaldings to walk away. But I think the one thing that bothered me was that he said that he got angry when he saw Hope with Fake Landon but then he accepted it. Again, it was something that you'd expect from him and though I'm glad that he backed off rather than try and fight for her love, so to speak, I was just looking for a different reaction.

I guess at the end of the day, I was hoping for Landon to turn into the big bad. When I think about it, that's primarily where my disappointment is coming from. We got a glimpse of what Aria could do when he channeled a bit of evilness in Landon and I liked it. If Landon had come back all messed up from his time in that prison world, surviving all the various fairytale monsters, and maybe becoming almost the opposite of what he had been before, that would have been distinct and perhaps captivating. Before he was the proverbial damsel-in-distress, always needing to be rescued by Hope and never engaging in a fight on his own. If he came back as having tasted violence and death and coming to like it, perhaps as an unexpected side effect of being Malivore's son, to the point where he's unstable and sees Hope and the rest of the school as a threat....that would have been different. Still, I'll hold any further judgement to see where they take Cleo and Landon.

Speaking of Cleo, this was disappointing. Before I get to that, I'll give credit where credit is due. They explained quite nicely all the different 'why's' that I had brought up from the previous episode. Why didn't she kill Hope before? Because she was trying to find another way to NOT turn Hope into a tribrid. Why did she want to kill Hope? She felt it was her only way to free herself of being hunted down by Malivore. Why or how did she know DaVinci? She dated him (and I could hang with the concept that all his brilliant ideas were inspired by her presence....it's clever). Though I do wonder what happened to DaVinci. He just seemed to disappear and there was no explanation as to how or why.     

They pulled the pieces all together and made it all make sense, so I have to give credit for that. My issue is that, again, it was somewhat predictable. I guess because I'm just looking for someone other than Malivore to be the threat at some point because we're in the third season and it's still all about Malivore, Malivore, Malivore!!! And with Cleo able to make her own creatures just by moulding them out of clay and bringing them to life...they could have done something amazing with that! I was hoping she'd be a bad guy because that would have been different. But instead, they had this sob story of her sacrificing herself to save her family and being stuck with Malivore for who knows how long and doing everything she did because she felt forced to. Is there no one truly evil other than Malivore on this show?

And then we get to the third storyline with Finch meeting the wolf pack. I don't know if it's just the way they believe that werewolf packs have to operate in that all the werewolves HAVE TO act the same way, but this was annoying. Of course Jed and the other werewolves are just a bunch of jocks! It was sort of the same on TO, with all the Crescent werewolves being just a bunch of bayou folk so it's nothing new. But still, it was rather comical if not off-putting. And of course street tough Finch fits in like a glove. Was there a little bit of eye action going on between her and Jed? That'd be just hilarious if Jed were responsible for yet ANOTHER break up if he hooked up with Finch!

Though I'm hardly invested in their relationship, I will question what they are doing with Josie as a result of it. I ask that because it some ways, she's sort of becoming like Landon. Though she always had a visible lady-hard-on for Finch that was just embarrassing, if not inappropriate, she seems to be losing her self respect now too. She's so worried about upsetting Finch and losing her that she essentially agrees with everything Finch says. She doesn't argue anything, at least not with authority. She's so meek when it comes to Finch that I'm just shaking my head at her. The part that took the cake for me was how Finch, all high and righteous, points out how Josie isn't like the other students because she's the Headmaster's daughter, implying that she gets special treatment. Then at the end, Josie is all apologies, essentially saying "OMG! You're so right! I'm such a princess and so disgusted with myself. Forgive me!" Like...what?

This was never an issue before (and if it was, I don't recall it) but in this episode, it suddenly became one. It created drama for Cleo and I suppose it was a flaw in Alaric's character that needed to be pointed out, that being that he wasn't giving Cleo a chance and he was clearly playing favourites with the students. Well...d'uh! He's only human! And I'll argue that him wanting to lock up Cleo and not trusting her was justified. Josie making the comparison between her and Cleo wasn't fair. He KNOWS Josie and raised her and therefore was practically required to give her a chance. He doesn't know Cleo. All he knows of Cleo is that she's been lying ever since she got there and was the reason why Malivore was sending monsters and she tried to kill Hope. Now I do agree that Cleo deserved to have her side of the story told but I don't blame Alaric for not trusting her. And yes, Alaric has made questionable judgements (not on his own though) on past students and sending them to the prison world. He's not perfect. How that suddenly translated into Josie being the school princess that got special treatment and she had to apologize for it doesn't make a lot of sense. 

I'm going to trust the writers on this because the show has been rather self-aware when it came to Hope being obsessed with Landon and they made it part of the storyline, so perhaps they are going somewhere with this too. Perhaps Josie is subconsciously over-compensating for her misdeeds as Dark Josie and that's why she's being such a doormat. I hope so because I can't stand Josie pandering to Finch, trying to impress her and not make her upset. The darker side of me just doesn't want them as a couple because I can't stand those lovey-dovey scenes but that's beside the point. I don't see what Finch brings to the table if she's always so judgmental and sensitive about things and willing to walk away from Josie at the drop of a hat. Nobody needs someone like that in their lives, especially Josie.

So it wasn't much of a cliffhanger that we were left with for the next three weeks. Though I will say, if Landon and Cleo do end up being an item, that would be fucking crazy! I can't imagine Hope would EVER see Cleo as a friend again. And why should she? I would support Hope being antagonistic towards Cleo if Cleo did that, since she's done nothing but lie to Hope, create a Fake Landon for Hope and then tried to kill Hope, only to steal Hope's love as a final kicker! It'd be so chaotic, it'd be brilliant!

So some questions that I'm left with: where is Lizzie? I miss her. Where is MG? He just disappeared. Why didn't Landon recognize Malivore? How did Malivore get out? I thought he was stuck in a prison world, not in some cave. Why did that doo-hickey break so easily? I thought that it was indestructible.

I guess we won't find any of that out for another three weeks.  

The Witcher - Season 1 Review

 

Discussing Eps. 1 - 8 - So with having Netflix and a bit of time on my hands, I decided to check out some shows that seem to be all the rage these days. I like a bit of fantasy, LotR-style, and since I had missed out on Game of Thrones, I figured I'd check out The Witcher starring Henry Cavill. I'll be reviewing based on select character's storylines rather than the entire season as a whole. But for a start, if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones or even Dungeons & Dragons, I'd recommend this show. It's only 8 episodes (and a second season is coming) so it's not that much to binge. It is cliché in some respects (and I'll go over that) but there are some good CGI and fight scenes and it keeps you entertained, so what more could you ask for?

*SPOILERS AHEAD* 

Geralt of Rivia. If we're going to start with cliché characters, we might as well start with the lead. I mean, this guy is like the prototypical RPG fantasy lead character. Tall, muscular, brooding, deep and scruffy voice, scary eyes, a skilled warrior, a loner, knows some magic, doesn't age (like other folk), popular with the ladies, slays monsters (for coin), and wears black....he's essentially a cross between Aragorn, Blade and Batman! And his backstory is shrouded in mystery. All you know from the first season was that he was created after his mother (a mage or sorceress or druid...haven't figured it out yet) gave him away when he was a child and he was molded by magic to become a Witcher. He apparently can't feel emotion and he can't fall in love (or so they say). Like I said, he'd be a character that you'd find in a World of Warcraft or Skyrim kind of game. Oddly enough, the book series was developed into a video game so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. And given the fact the books were developed in Polish in the late 90's, perhaps other franchises took from this character rather than the other way around. 

Putting on his best TVD vampire look! LOL!

Being the cliché lone wolf, he looks out only for himself but he clearly has a sense of morality and mercy, rescuing strangers and helping others out even if he gets no reward for it or gets hurt along the way. For these reasons, I had a bit of an issue with the whole 'no emotion' aspect of his character. I always get a bit nitpicky when a character claims to feel no emotions and yet seem to exhibit them quite often. Geralt felt and exhibited anger, disappointment, amusement, boredom, compassion, sympathy, frustration and relief. Just because he talks in a gruff voice and doesn't smile a lot doesn't make Geralt an non-emotional character.

I felt like they were trying to give his character a stumbling block that would make his emotional attachments to other characters like Yennefer or Cirilla or even Jaskier all that more dramatic, but it doesn't work if that stumbling block is routed time and time again. I think for that reason and because of the limited episodes in the first season, there wasn't much room for character growth for Geralt and whatever growth did occur had to be rather sudden. He was basically all about "money and monsters" at the beginning and that seemed to change over the course of the series as he interacted with more people, so I could see some growth there. What I felt was a bit contrived and rushed was both his devotion to the Law of Surprise (and by extension, Cirilla) and to Yennefer especially.

I didn't get this relationship at all. Look, I know Yennefer is hot (well, pretty much all the women on this show are hot!), but what was it about her that suddenly made him care so much? Was she a good lay? Was it her eyes? That whole episode with the genie that seemed to bond these two still confuses me as I don't get why Geralt went out of his way to save her. Like I said, if he were this professional warrior-for-hire who could feel no emotions, then he shouldn't have cared at all what happened to Yennefer. But he did and she seemed to become a focal point that I felt wasn't justified. At least with Cirilla, he was focused on her because of a vow he made (regardless of how casually he made it). But with Yennefer, his bond with her felt really contrived.

The other aspect that I wish they'd focused a bit more on, and perhaps they'll delve more into in the next season, was his upbringing and what was actually involved in him becoming a Witcher. I liked that scene with his mom, where he asked her to at least admit that she didn't know the low survival rates of children who went on to become Witchers before she made the decision to give him up. As impactful as that was, I think it would have felt more so had we gotten more scenes of the trials he went through, of the other kids perhaps dying and him suffering and wishing to go back to his mom. This really felt like the audience was told about the suffering rather than shown and it would have been better had we been shown. I think scenes like that would have helped to show why Geralt is the way he is and create a degree of animosity towards his mother by the viewer, and perhaps if/when she reveals why she did what she did, will allow the audience (and Geralt) to make a more informed judgement on her.

Beyond that, he was an enjoyable character to watch, especially when it got down to the fighting. The fight scenes in this show are excellent and very well done. What kills me though is how you always get these groups of jamokes who are stupid enough to challenge Geralt time and time again. Like...why?!? Why do they challenge this hulking mass of muscle who is known to KILL MONSTERS ALL BY HIMSELF FOR A LIVING?!? And I mean...MONSTERS! Like, multi-tentacled, razor sharp teeth and claws kind of monsters. Why do these guys think they have any kind of a chance? And worst yet, when these guys see Geralt kill like 5 of them with incredible ease, the remaining don't run away or surrender....NO, THEY CONTINUE TO ATTACK HIM! The fuck is the matter with you? That's not bravery, that's stupid! Those jabronis deserve to die because they're stupid! Still, it was enjoyable to watch and definitely the fight scenes are a highlight of this show.

Yennefer of Vengerberg. She was definitely one of the characters that annoyed me the most and was also somewhat cliché. Honestly, I thought this character was at her best when she was hunchbacked. She felt more relatable because she wasn't this super attractive character and she faced such an uphill struggle to the point that she wanted to kill herself. I felt it when she lamented how she was only sold for four marks. I found myself rooting for her in the beginning and cheering on her accomplishments. I was happy when Tissaia stopped calling her "piglet" and finally called her Yennefer. I was thrilled when Istredd fell for her and basically accepted her for who she was, hunchback and all, when she had been rejected so many times based on her appearance alone. In a lot of ways, they made her too much of an underdog that you could just tell that she was going to rise above everyone else and become this powerful mage that would become lost in the power and prestige that would come. 

I suppose for that reason, I was disappointed when she underwent that transformation to remove her deformities. And I was super annoyed when she failed to acknowledge that everything that she couldn't have was because SHE WANTED IT THAT WAY!!! The way she kept saying how her inability to have a child was a choice that was taken from her was such bullshit. Giltine told her straight up what she would have to give up (i.e., having a baby) in order to be transformed into what she wanted. She agreed! That was a choice she made on her own. I mean, I got the message and I thought that it was a good one: be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Plus, sometimes what you want isn't always what is going to make you happy and isn't always what you need. 

Those lessons were wonderfully displayed in Yennefer but it seems she herself missed the point. She got everything she wanted: prestige, beauty, adoration, sex, power. But she wasn't happy. And she just never seemed to hit that point where she acknowledged that her misery was of her own making. Whenever it was pointed out to her, whether by Tissaia or anyone else, she would always deflect and say "Well, what about you?" And I was like "Fucking hell, girl! Look in the mirror and realize that you are where you are because you wanted it that way!" I applauded when Istredd said how he pursued her but she basically kept rejecting him, only to have her finally come back to him and him realizing that he had moved on from her. I think in those moments I had the most hope that she would finally realize her mistakes but she would always deflect and move onto something else, never really letting the impact of the lesson hit her.

I suppose we'll see what happens in the next season. I like how she finally found a purpose (whether she'll see if it's HER purpose or not) and found a strength in becoming the general and coordinating the defenses of Sodden Hill. It was very impressive how she was able to direct all the mages and counsel them in the use of their powers. She really seemed to come into her own and I found that more impressive than her going Scorched Earth on everyone (though I will admit...that was pretty cool!). I guess what I'm hoping for this character is a sense of self-awareness that she didn't seem to achieve yet. Hopefully, she will.

Queen Calanthe. Speaking of self-awareness and owning up to one's mistakes, we get Queen Calanthe. I loved this character! I think it's because she wasn't a typical character. And I'll say that the time jumps (as jarring as they were) served to show how duplicitous, conniving and prideful Queen Calanthe was. On the one hand, she's this bad ass queen who prefers to dish it out on the battlefield rather than sit on the throne and look pretty. But she looks out for her own, especially Cirilla. But early on in the series they were able to show hints of her pride that was wonderfully shown to be her downfall. 

I mean, it was practically hilarious how this woman's pride kept coming back to bite her in the ass! She says that her kingdom doesn't need a mage and refuses them outright, much to the chagrin of the Brotherhood (although she did have Mousesack, who was a druid who knew magic and was a counsellor to her so I don't get the real difference there). Turns out it was thanks to a mage that Nilfgaard was able to defeat her army so easily. She dismisses Nilfgaard's invasion as a threat because she believes she has sufficient military reserves and her husband's navy to defend her kingdom. Turns out those reserves weren't enough and the navy was wiped out...thanks to a mage! She turns her back on Geralt, refusing to honour the Law of Surprise (again) and locks him up for trying to protect Cirilla, only to seek his help and send Cirilla to him when the shit hits the fan!

And there was such an amazing conniving nature to her. The way she was able to dismiss her daughter, Pavetta's, feelings for Urcheon of Erlenwald, the guy who looked like Sonic the Hedgehog. It was clear that Pavetta loved him and he loved her. And so Calanthe goes along with it all and seemingly makes peace with their union, only to literally try and stab Urcheon when his guard is down! She didn't fucking care! She didn't care that that would have broken Pavetta's heart. She didn't care that Urcheon was under a curse. She just went for it! And then when Geralt comes for Cirilla in order to protect her and fulfill the Law of Surprise, Calanthe tries to pass off ANOTHER woman's child as Cirilla and when that fails, locks up Geralt who probably would have stayed in that prison for who knows how long had Nilfgaard not attacked at that moment. It was just incredible the devious lengths this woman would go to, all because of her pride.

But why I liked her character over Yennefer's, despite clearly being as arrogant and prideful as Yennefer was, was because I felt like Calanthe got her comeuppance and I do believe she came to realize the error of her ways. She was so confident to the point of arrogance that she didn't need to fear Nilfgaard or that she didn't need Geralt's help that when it all came to the point that she was wrong on both counts, her crestfallen demeanour seemed to speak volumes about her realization that she was wrong. The fact that she sent Cirilla to find Geralt seemed to confirm that. My only gripe with her ending was that she killed herself by jumping out a window. That was weak! She was a fighting queen and so she should have gone down fighting. Beyond that, I liked this character if only because she was not conventional. She surprised me at various points and that was refreshing.

Jaskier. Not much to say about this character beyond that he was what I would have expected from a sidekick of Geralt. Where Geralt was always brooding and didn't say much, Jaskier was wisecracking and more light hearted that brought a balance to the pair. Though I never really understood how it was that Jaskier could just up and travel with Geralt without knowing anything about him. I get that he was trying to get inspiration to write a good tune based on Geralt's exploits but given the fact that Geralt was a monster hunter and Jaskier clearly was not made for that life, I found it odd that he would seek Geralt out and accompany him when Geralt clearly didn't want his company. Still, he was good comic relief and I look forward to him and Geralt mending fences and teaming up again.

Tissaia de Vries. I swear, I kept waiting for Harry Potter or Hermione to pop into frame at some point. She just seemed like she'd fit in at Hogwart's more than anywhere else. It was weird because they tried to depict her as this stern, heartless authority figure who didn't care about her students or especially about Yennefer. Even giving her the title of Rectoress gave her a sort of authoritarian aura about her. But I could tell that once Yennefer got the hang of things, we'd find out that Tissaia was actually quite caring and wasn't the hard ass that she was portrayed as being. 

For those who may have watched ER back in the day, her and Yennefer's relationship sort of reminded me of Benton and Carter, with Benton being this hard ass doctor who demanded so much from Carter but wound up being one of Carter's closest friends. Though they were hinting at that kind of friendship between Tissaia and Yennefer, we'll see if the relationship holds up into the second season. Mind you, she was still a bit cold hearted beyond her relationship with Yennefer, seemingly having little problem when some of her students "ascended" and became golden eels that powered the school! That was kind of cold. But beyond that, I don't know....I think I find her sexy in that demure, prim and proper kind of way. So maybe that's why I like her! I'm curious to know her background as she seemed to be rather empathetic to Yennefer, always referring to the two of them as "people like us." So we'll see what the second season brings for her.

Cirilla. Not a whole lot to say about her either other than Fortune seemed to be heavily on her side. Or perhaps it was Destiny, am I right?!? She always seemed to find a helping hand, whether it was Dara, the Elf, who accompanied her on her journey, or the Dryads of Brokilon Forest who gave her shelter and didn't outright kill her like they did so many other people, or it was her own innate Black Canary powers that were able to hurt, if not kill, any threat around her. I will say that it was kind of neat to see just how close she was to Geralt at any given moment on her journey because they really did make it seem like they were continents apart when in fact, they were practically right next to each other. I am curious what her role will be and how she figures into Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach's plan (aka, Nilfgaard's leader. Fuck, that's a long ass name. He's a bad guy just for having that name alone!). What is his plan? What is the Source that he's looking for? And what does Cirilla have to do with it all?

Overall, I liked this series. I think Henry Cavill did a fantastic job with the lead role. I do hope his character is expanded upon as well as the other characters. I was sort of disappointed that some storylines were dropped off like Renfri and that whole child-born-under-an-eclipse storyline....that seemed really ominous and it really amounted to nothing. The time jumps were a bit confusing but you did catch up to what was going on rather quickly and I really liked how they used those time jumps to weave the entire story together and made it cohesive. That was very well done. The CGI monsters are pretty decent (especially when I compare it to what I see on Legacies) and I love the fight scenes. 

So, yeah....I like this series a lot.

And it certainly doesn't hurt that it has some hot babes and nudity in it too. I guess that's a staple nowadays with fantasy shows. 

I ain't complaining! 😎       

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!