Four episodes in and Legacies continues to impress me with how much life it has breathed into The Vampire Diaries world. Most of this comes from its use of the monster-of-the-week format, which is unlike anything TVD or The Originals ever did, and thus immediately sets it apart from those shows. But that’s not the only thing that makes it feel like its own thing. The show moves through very familiar locations, but it makes them feel new again because it does so without any sense of nostalgia — which is surprising because both TVD and The Originals were series that got high off of their own histories. I noticed that this is what I specifically love about Legacies while watching tonight’s episode “Hope Is Not the Goal,” which was another strong outing that saw the drama break out some new tricks, too.
The episode opens with Alaric and Sheriff Matt Donovan (jokes!) holding the boarding school’s version of an assembly to discuss Dana and Sasha’s disappearances. And the sight of Matt Donovan lecturing students immediately made me imagine him turning into some kind J.J. Bittenbinder-like speaker, which would be the most amazing and ridiculous thing in the world and The CW needs to create a web series where frazzled Sheriff Matt lectures human students about supernatural danger immediately. But, I digress…
During the meeting, Alaric announces that he’s going to send some volunteers undercover in Mystic Falls High to gather intel that may help them find the missing girls. Feeling empowered by defeating the gargoyle last week, Lizzie dramatically stands up and offers herself as tribute because she’s a hero and capable of setting aside her hatred for Dana long enough to help her. Lizzie is a full-on drama queen and I love it. Hope, MG, and Kaleb, whom MG suspects of killing Dana since he’s been feeding on humans, also volunteer. Landon also tags along because he went there and because he wants to prove his worth so they’ll let him stay at the boarding school.
What’s great about the episode’s trip to Mystic Falls High is that the show doesn’t go out of its way to tug on longtime fans’ heartstrings. It didn’t drop in on Alaric’s old classroom or give us any library set scenes that were supposed to remind of us that one detention episode. No, instead we get a tight story that’s focused on the task at hand: the kids ignoring Alaric’s orders to stay together and splitting up to figure out what happened to Dana.
Landon tags along with Hope, who is still giving him the cold shoulder and eventually abandons him when some cheerleaders invite her to have lunch with them. Of course, MG teams up with Lizzie, which ends up not being the best idea because he’s so distracted by how well she pulls off polyester that his attempts at compelling answers out of a student during gym class fail. It’s right then that Alaric calls Lizzie and tells him that they found Dana’s corpse in the woods and it looks like she was killed by a vampire.
Meanwhile back at school, Raf and Josie are busy hanging out at lunch. Unfortunately, their cute conversation is rudely interrupted by the school’s alpha werewolf, who wants Raf to submit to the pack. Pack mentality is all new to Raf, so when Josie exits stage right to get away from the “storm of toxic masculinity,” he follows her. Alas, the conflict doesn’t end there, and the wolves corner Raf later in the episode and give him an option: Submit by revealing how he triggered his curse, or get beaten up and then submit. Thankfully, Josie helps Raf choose option C and uses magic to stop the wolves from hurting Raf. The fight leaves Raf bursting with anger and he runs off.
Next: Spider-Man is shook
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