Another week at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted means another week fighting a gnarly monster. This week it just so happened to be a massive, liquid-filled spider. Spiders are my worst nightmare, so I am more than thrilled to see one bite the dust. There are also a lot of interesting, new duos or squads who made their debut this week. Romantically or not, I’m always a fan of seeing our favorite characters bump heads or team up. As with every week in the town of Mystic Falls, I have a few aspects of the episode I want to break down.
Let’s get into it!
Superhero Squad
Ric sending a few of the kids to Mystic Falls High for information results in Lizzie forming a superhero squad out of Hope, Caleb, M.G., Landon, and herself. She makes it very clear that she’s the superhero and they’re her league during her mission. She wants to beat Hope to vanquishing the Big Bad. Lizzie wants her father to rely on her for once. Lizzie volunteered as tribute to build bridges with the kids of Mystic Falls High, find some answers, and save the day. By joining forces, and hands, with her sister and Hope, Lizzie is able to step into her superpowers and defeat the monster.
While Ric wasn’t all that happy with the way Lizzie handled things, Josie had her sister’s back. Again. Josie pointed out that the school doesn’t teach offensive magic, which seems like a major misstep on the part of the school. If these kids are meant to grow up and go out into the world where things may want to hurt or kill them, some form of protection may be important to learn. Lizzie also seemed to have a breakthrough about her father’s relationship with Hope. All this time, Lizzie believed she had to live up to or one up Hope. Ric told his daughters that “Hope is not the goal. Hope is a cautionary tale.” He built the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted to help kids like Hope and to make sure that more of them don’t go through similar situations.
Being a Vampire and a Feminist
M.G. is one of my favorite characters on Legacies. That’s saying a lot because I genuinely like all of the characters at this point. Having him, a teenage boy, explicitly state that he is a feminist is a game changer. It’s important and rare on television. I think the last time I remember a male character on a TV show saying he was a feminist was Elijah Mikaelson in an earlier episode of The Originals.
When the superhero squad were discussing what to do about Dana when they believed she was a transitioning vampire, M.G. didn’t offer his opinion. He knew it wasn’t needed because it wasn’t his place. He said, “I’m a feminist, bro. I’m not going to tell Dana what do with her body.” It may seem like a very small thing to celebrate M.G. saying that, but it’s much bigger than it seems. It’s not every day that a male character on a show will explicitly say he’s a feminist, be proud of it, and act accordingly. It really stood out to me.
It’s also clear that M.G. is uncomfortable with having to cover for Caleb and his actions. This leads to a confrontation in the final minutes of the episode. Caleb tried to lock M.G. into some vampire bond to keep his secret. M.G. wasn’t having any of it. When Caleb presented M.G. with “Vamps before tramps,” M.G. agreed with his friend. They were supposed to pick each other girls, M.G. was supposed to pick Caleb over Lizzie. Then M.G. thought for a second and took back his support of that sentiment and calls Caleb out. M.G. said, “Don’t talk about her like that.” M.G. didn’t let what Caleb said slide by; he checked Caleb on it. He spoke up when he disagreed with what seems to be a fundamental belief of a friend of his. M.G. acted the way a feminist would act. That’s epic.
The Start of Something New
I’m all in with Josie and Rafael. Their cute lunch hangout was sadly ruined by Jed the Alpha. He wanted Rafael to submit to him as an initiation into the pack. There’s some serious hazing leaves Rafael completely outnumbered and defenseless. Lucky for him, Josie swooped in, siphoned some magic from the walls of the school, and broke up the fight. In doing so, she saw a bit of Rafael’s werewolf side, which Rafael thought would scare Josie away. Of course it didn’t! Josie followed Rafael to that old, abandoned house and helped him through his fit of anger. She got him to listen to her heartbeat in order to slow his own.
That’s not even when they kiss, because Josie is smooth and smart. She kissed him in order to siphon magic from him to break them free of the insanely large spider’s web. Rafael told her not to apologize for kissing him, which was sweet and cute. When he asked if she got any magic, if the kiss had done its job, and she responded with, “I don’t know, the room’s still spinning,” my heart grew three sizes.
Josie was also the one to convince Rafael that taking a chance on the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted and the people in it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. She vouched for the school and the students, because she knew they always looked out for each other. I hope that we’ll able to see Josie and Rafael look out for each other more as the season progresses.
Old Friends, New Tensions
Watching Alaric Saltzman and Matt Donovan argue is like feeling my heart being ripped in half. It physically pains me because I just want everyone in the TVDU (The Vampire Diaries Universe) to be okay, always. I even knew all of this was coming when it was confirmed Matt would be making some appearances on Legacies, but I wasn’t prepared for their final scene in this episode.
Matt seemed to be pretty hesitant of Ric and his school when he believed a vampire had killed Dana, which is fair since Matt is meant to protect the citizens of Mystic Falls. Matt even made the comment that Ric had forgotten what it was like to be on his side of things. Ric has distanced himself from where he used to be. He’s a dad now. He’s a Headmaster. He’s Doctor Saltzman. He’s not a teacher at the local high school or a professor at the local college. He’s not the confidant of Matt and his friends anymore, or so it seems. That’s a little disorienting for any fan of The Vampire Diaries. I thought they would always find a way to be on each other’s sides. Of course, I knew there would be bumps in the road, but I thought they would always find their way back. There’s only so many people who have experienced what that group of people experienced over the wonky timeline of The Vampire Diaries.
So when Caleb inadvertently confessed to feeding on innocent girls in front of both Matt and Ric, the battle lines were drawn, and Matt and Ric were on two different sides. Matt is a Sheriff. His duty is to protect the mundanes of Mystic Falls. He puts his life on the line for them. Ric is a Headmaster. His duty is to protect the supernatural beings of the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted. He puts his life on the line for them. When it comes to it, these two men will do whatever it takes to protect people. It’s a side effect of them both having massive hearts. I just hope whatever all of this culminates to doesn’t result in the loss of their friendship.
Other Spelltacular Moments:
- Landon giving Hope a tour of the school was truly a walk down memory lane.
- Josie mentioning the Gemini coven is a great callback for fans of The Vampire Diaries and specifically fans of Kai Parker.
- Grodd guest starred in this episode, thanks to M.G.’s nightmares about his The Flash comic book.
- Josie and Rafael gave me some serious Tyler Lockwood and Caroline Forbes vibes this week. I loved it a lot.
- Caleb calling Matt Donovan “old blue eyes” was everything.
- Now that Hope has mentioned it, I’m sort of interested in Landon’s mixtape. I wonder what kind of music he listens to.
- I know it may be wrong, but I definitely laughed when Ric said he found Dana’s dead body in the glove compartment. Of course a bunch of kids think the glove compartment of a car is somewhere no one will look for a missing girl.
- Josie couldn’t pick up the weird medicine ball/basketball mash-up. My heart! But also…same, Josie.
Watch Legacies Thursdays at 9:00pm on The CW!
