Chris24601

Honestly, I’m okay with it coming apart for awhile. Crisis basically highlighted the upper limits of what you could do in a crossover on a TV budget and was essentially the Arrowverse equivalent of the MCU’s Endgame in terms of a climax. Continuing to try and push the hype train down the tracks was never going to be viable, so best to give it a rest and do smaller, more organic, crossovers. Similarly, I know it’s actually because of Melissa deciding not to renew her contract, but I’m also pretty much okay with this show ending soon precisely because of how much Crisis has changed things. The Flash and Legends have always dealt with time travel changing histories so they can roll with it (and honestly, I don’t see either going longer than Arrow did so I’m guessing 2-3 more seasons at most). Arrow ended without having to really explore all the ramifications of the last episode happy ending changes it dropped. Batwoman had a complete reboot with a new main character (and has already been announced as ending next season). Black Lightning was also fairly separate, remains so and is also ending soon (though I understand it’ll have its own spinoff). Basically, it feels like the whole Arrowverse actually needs something of a back-to-basics fresh start with series created post-Crisis like Stargirl and Superman & Lois where the audience never has to question what did and didn’t happen in prior seasons due to time shenanigans (with Flash and Legends getting a pass because time shenanigans are basically their hats). So, at this point, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they announced that “Superman & Lois” actually takes place on either Earth-2 with Stargirl or is in its own separate Earth since that would make more sense with all the differences than pretending Supergirl exists in the same universe as Superman & Lois (would explain the different colored heat vision too). As to this episode; I know this was actually going to be the finale of last season, but it was just jarring because I’d completely forgotten just about everything going on so it felt like I was walking in halfway through a movie and trying to figure out what was going on. It really would have benefited from having a replay of the prior episode before the premiere. Kara lost in the Phantom Zone was probably intended to be something that would have run a bit longer to work around MB’s pregnancy if not for COVID delaying things to the point it became a non-issue.

Its been roughly a dozen years since TVD ended in the Legacies timeline. More than enough time for Elena to get her degree, and we further know she's in Mystic Falls because in the penultimate episode of The Originals (the episode that was this show's backdoor pilot effectively) there was a sign on one of the buildings in town that said Dr. Elena Gilbert (apparently she kept her maiden name for her practice). So my guess would be that Jo will be staying with Elena and Damon, though I doubt we'll actually see them on screen.

If he wanted to be a voice of reason that was listened to, then he shouldn’t have lied to them about the Ascendant. He hid it because he was afraid and wanted to take away their choice. And be sick to death all you wish, but Hope wanting to rescue the love of her life from a monster infested dimension as soon as possible is neither out of character nor some wicked selfish act. Let me ask you plain; if one of your loved ones went missing and you learned your friend had been withholding a means of reaching your loved one for weeks because your loved one was in danger and you could get hurt going after them... would you even SPEAK to that “friend” again? Because that’s MG. Not “Going after your loved one will be dangerous, so let’s make sure we can minimize the risks before rushing in, because you getting hurt doesn’t help them.” (That would be a voice of reason). Nope, he just unilaterally decided “I’m going to hide a tool that could rescue Landon so you won’t use it because I’m scared of what could happen.” And I’d possibly cut him some slack if he’d taken the Ascendant to Alaric (aka the actual adult responsible for Landon and Hope) and he was the one who decided to keep Hope out of loop until they had a better idea of what’s going on. But MG is just another student and a teenager who’s making decisions not just for fellow teenagers, but for adults like Alaric (and Hope, who is actually 19, being two years older than Josie and Lizzie who turned 17 last year). So, to me, MG didn’t come off like a voice of reason, he came off like a punk who got caught in a lie (and he wouldn’t have confessed to Lizzie without a guilty conscience telling him he was in the wrong) and is now getting passive aggressive about the people he hurt not wanting to do what he tells them to. Also, his saying he was a leader just comes off as being delusional as when he expected to win the honor council seat or tried to get the vamps to listen to his talent show ideas. He’s not a leader, that’s the whole point of his relationship with Lizzie and not being able to tell people no until this season where he overcorrects and says no to everything. I dunno if they’re writing him out for reasons, if it’s just something that will be gotten over next episode, or if it’s just writing around the limited appearances in the contracts while taking COVID into account (i.e. having their contractual absences be in consecutive episodes due to the quarantine policies)... but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Despite the monster prowling in the woods, why am I almost certain that Landon ISN'T actually back; or at least not back properly? Why do I find it MORE likely that the guy in the skull mask is the actual Landon? A) Dramatic Structure. B) Hope's dream where Malivore turns up and the Ascendant shatters. First thing "Landon" does is shatter the Ascendant after the gates were opened by Charon to the prison world. Also Landon NOT remembering everything from the second episode back... just the blackness. C) Me over-analyzing things. * * * * Also, allow me to direct this next part directly at the character of Milton Greasley as I think it is the best way to express my feelings; MG, MG, MG... I had hoped that you had some better explanation for hiding it than "my friends might be hurt because there be monsters in there." But nope, you were just a coward and covering it up with words about how noble you were being doing it. Yes, it could be dangerous, but you had ZERO right to take away Hope or anyone else's free choice to risk their lives to save someone they loved because you were scared they'd be lost too. Maybe if they'd not gotten the ascendant at basically the last minute they'd have had time to figure out that the whole dimension was soaked in dark magic and take precautions. Was Hope reckless? Yes, but Landon's probably been trapped at least a month by this point and you wanna keep her from ever being able to try and rescue him? You realize pretty much her entire identity at this point is wrapped up losing her parents in ways she felt responsible for and you want to take away her chance to save someone she's actually opened her heart to because YOU are scared? And you should count yourself incredibly lucky (except see above) that Landon was still alive to be saved in the present, because if Hope had learned that Landon died alone in the monster dimension during the time you were hiding the Ascendant (during which there were certainly other celestial events)? Well, Hope would probably have resurrected Marcel's desiccation garden just for you and, here's the thing, I'd be rooting for her as she did it. And to put the cherry on your pathetic self, you then had the gall to say that because no one had your back after you were clearly in the wrong... so you need to bounce? Well... don't let the door hit you on the way out. * * * * As for Cleo, I still say there's something up. She's just a bit too comfortable with dark magic and with Charon. She might not be a Muse, but there's definitely something MORE going on with that.

After 8 years of TVD and another year of guest spots on TO, the actress who plays Caroline decided she needed to take a long break from playing the character. She’s been willing to do some voice work (such as narrating the letter to Lizzie in the musical episode), but not to return in the flesh at this point. All things considered, they’ve written around as best you could short of killing Caroline off; which I don’t think would add anything even if they did it... they’ve already got Hope for all the dead parent angst you’d ever need. As for Alyssa Chang; they’re pretty lucky they got her actress for long enough to finish out that arc with a “video” appearance since she’s now the lead on the CW’s new Kung Fu series. They’d have had to put the actress into a roll on par with Danielle’s Hope to get her to turn down that opportunity. I’ll also agree that the mostly empty school is jarring; but I think they’re doing a reasonably good job of using that to their advantage by having it affect the characters and not just the viewers. They could have just as easily ignored the effects of the Covid restrictions in the writing and had scenes in deserted hallways without explanation. Instead they leaned into it and made it a notable issue for the characters... Lizzie’s obsession with losing the Smoothie Bar these past two episodes has been humorous and the general ‘down’ attitude reminds me a bit of the world in Lizzie’s first wish where Hope (and Klaus’ big check) never came to the school and so they were struggling for membership and funding. Side-note: Josie in that world remarked on how having Hope/a Tribrid at the school would help put it on the map and encourage others to attend... and in this world everyone not directly exposed to the memory restoration spell has forgotten Hope exists twice now and they’re now struggling to retain students. And it makes sense... without Hope in the story the only explanation is that Alaric has been sending ordinary students up against these monsters... whereas the truth is that almost all of the monsters were dealt with by a “tribrid badass and possibly ‘the most powerful witch the world will ever know’* with a little help from Alaric and a few of the more experienced students.” There’s a world of difference between “I’m sending my child to a school protected by an immensely powerful supernatural being” (where the number of student deaths was basically nil) and “I’m sending my children to a school where the headmaster sends students out to fight monsters” (and that there haven’t been any deaths yet is a minor miracle and better to get out now before the odds catch up with them). In other words, there’s actually some reasonably deep causality in what’s occurring and I actually appreciate that. * word-for-word the assessment of Dahlia (herself labeled the most powerful witch in history) of Hope’s potential.

I don’t think there’s much point to bringing Ethan into the school as a vampire or such unless Landon ends up not coming back. Bottom line is they’ve had multiple opportunities to make Hope/Landon a passing thing... They could have kept Landon gone long enough after he was voted out of the school for Hope to start a thing with Raf. When everyone forgot her, they could have just left those memories gone and hooked Hope up with Ethan or Raf (or sold a love triangle with both while Landon/Josie stayed a thing). They could have let Landon’s goo-ifying actually be his end and told a story about Hope moving past her first epic love where Ethan might have worked. At this point though there’s just no way to plausibly sell any alternative romantic arc with Hope as long as Landon is still in the picture. Which pretty much means Ethan is only there as a potential alternative to Finch for Josie and only one of those two can end up supernatural since the logical romantic dilemma for a show like this is “normal vs. magical life.” As for Cleo, I’m going to bet on “Muse as creativity vampire” just because she seemed so intent on getting Hope to move past Landon and start focusing on her... so my hunch is that to feed the Muse needs the mortal to focus on and be inspired by them and not some other source (Landon in this case). Basically, Cleo’s annoyed that Hope’s feelings for Landon are “all consuming” because she can’t sink her metaphorical fangs in for that creativity hit she craves until Hope lets go of Landon (though given its been maybe a month since Landon turned to goo and probably only a week since Hope finally allowed herself to admit he could actually be dead... all consuming feelings doesn’t even sound emotionally unhealthy at this stage). Basically, if they wanted Cleo to come off as just an empathetic person interested in really helping Hope, they’d have needed a bigger time jump (a year+) with Hope still holding onto the loss. Pulling that when Hope is barely a week past leaving the Denial stage of loss just makes it look like she’s got an agenda that isn’t actually in Hope’s interests. Now, I do admit there’s a possibility that this could just be the disconnect between how we’re viewing the story (where Landon melted just a month or so ago real time) and how the writers feel (Landon melting was written more than a year ago since it would have originally been the s2 cliffhanger), but that’s its own issue.

Its another side effect of COVID... specifically, you can get away with a lot sins with the background and props as long as you have a bunch of people milling around to keep your focus on. So if you can't hide it with warm bodies, hide it with lighting. They pulled the same trick in Star Trek Generations where they had to use a set built for old TV resolution in an actual big screen film. To hide how cheap a lot of the sets actually were, they switched from the even lighting of the television series to extremely saturated single source lighting to create lots of shadows and color patterns so you wouldn't notice (then blew up the ship at the end because they had no intention of ever using that set in a motion picture ever again). Alaric mentioned, along with "still having it" that he was reminded of how corrupt mundane governments could be and so went back on his initial idea of wanting to solve the issue without magic. Once magic is in play, getting the $91,000 paid off would be trivial. Heck, just have a vampire pay the tax assessor a little visit and compel him to write a new letter saying the lien was a mistake and all taxes are current. Or do some alchemy and turn lead into gold.

To be fair on the Hope angst... in universe it’s been maybe a bit over a month since Landon turned to goo and maybe two weeks since Hope consciously accepted that he’s almost certainly dead. No one who isn’t a TV character grieves that quickly and, no, already losing her mom, her dad and her uncle (not to mention the kid she helped make a hybrid who got his heart ripped out for it) would not make it go faster. Each one is its own unique pain. Frankly, it’s amazing Hope is as well-adjusted as she is... though you see the damage poke through from time to time (ex. since Dana’s mom turned up this episode; when she was telling MG what to compel Dana’s friend to remember you could tell it was coming from someone still carrying a lot of grief and loss). Those and the fact that she can forgive the guy involved in her mom’s murder or give MG her blood to save him right after he killed Landon (before it was known he was a phoenix) without even being asked to are why I cut her a LOT of slack. The fact that no one has the slightest concern for MG’s head still being attached to his shoulders next week after Hope found out he’d been hiding the ascendant for weeks now is testament to just how far from the protagonists of TVD and TO she is. As to Cleo, upon a little bit of research I’m going to guess that she’s a Muse. For starters, one of the traditional ones is named Clio who’s portfolio includes history (i.e. truthful recountings of events... and Cleo is big on people telling her the truth). Next, depending on the recounting there are either three or nine (three sets of three) of them so Cleo’s two dead sisters would add up to at least one version. Explains her general interest in art and Hope (as an artist who’s been blocked by her grief) in particular and why so much of her efforts with Hope are about trying to get her past her grief (i.e. back to her creativity). So, I’m gonna go with a Muse and that, like the Leprechaun and Cupid’s brother, Pothos, their mythology is a bit darker than popular culture implies... like maybe instead of supplying inspiration, they actually glom onto artists and feed on their creativity... which is why her sisters were killed and she got a Malivore timeout. She probably got out of the prison dimension the same way the Leprechaun did and there’s probably either something associated with the portal or in the prison world she’s worried will expose her... or she doesn’t want Hope to find Landon because she’s glommed her parasitic self onto Hope. Bonus points too if Cleo once acted as a Muse for Klaus just because of Puck’s mention of having met him and that he was a horrible painter (maybe Muses suck talent out of people) while Hope is quite proficient despite far less experience.

Calling it now; Cleo is a monster... probably one of the various Greek triple goddess sets (Fates, Furies, etc.). Given her statue deal, I wouldn’t even be surprised if she turned out to be a Gorgon (and distant aunt of the Medusa who turned up in season one). She’s just a little too creepy with the “let’s use your dead lover’s remains to make art,” a little too pushy about wanting Hope to not going looking for a portal to the Prison World, a little too against harming the monster then “accidentally” blowing it up when Hope might have been able to use the Leprechaun to track back to the Portal. A little too vague on just who her sisters were and who killed them. As to what they’re after; I’m gonna say that Malivore wants the Ascendant to escape the Prison World.

It’s not like Edge keeps his wealth in gold bullion they can just walk off with after offing him; it’s tied up in buildings, land, corporations and stock shares. How exactly do you lug off Galaxy Communications after offing the boss? Just how much is a stolen piece of art from his mansion worth after offing Edge vs. the six-figure salary, full benefits, stock options and expense account he’s supplying? What’s refreshing about this show is that they’re taking everything seriously in the sense that real world consequences are in play. Right after Lois quit people here started bringing up non-compete clauses and also how unenforceable they are. This episode a non-compete clause was dropped, followed by a scene with Lois explaining how it would never hold up in court if she counter-sues. Enhanced humans working for a paycheck is right in that line. 99% of the population isn’t going to turn into a hero or a villain if they got powers; they’d just find a career where they could cash in on using them. Enter Morgan Edge.

Still not as important as Oliver Queen was... the whole UNIVERSE is even named after him. 😁 Seriously though, the fact that Clark is basically dealing with things in a different corner of the world every episode just really highlights how much grander his canvas is compared to the rest; Barry, Kara and Jackson deal with single cities and have a support team while Clark deals with global crises solo. As for General Lane; my hunch is he’ll set up project 7734, but he’ll have a change of heart and try to shut it down, only to learn its completely run away from him and whoever replaces him will absolutely use it. Just a hunch, but I see a Redemption=Death trope coming for him around the end of the season. Since standard storytelling conventions are that parallel stories converge in the climax, it’s almost a given that Project 7734 will be using the X-Kryptonite metas. The question will be who, ultimately, controls 7734; Sam, Edge, Luthor, or some player we’ve not met quite yet.

I believe the pilot also mentioned the existence of other schools; but the Salvatore School is the only school that accepts more than one type of student. So there are witch schools, vampire schools and werewolf schools, but this is the only one that has all three interacting. And when you think about how the school got started it actually makes sense... you’ve got a mortal and a vampire with siphon witch daughters who got an early check from a vampire/wolf hybrid to see to it that his vampire/wolf/witch daughter had a place to go. That basically requires a full curriculum that dealt with all three. Caroline, Josie, Lizzie and Hope are the reason the school was established in the way it was; which is also why its about the only school that could even consider an unknown like Landon and continue to provide an education to Wade after he was revealed to be a Fairy. Dig a little deeper too and while Alaric was able to get 22 other names to stay... Hope and Lizzie grew up there; the school is literally their home. There is no school for fairies so where else could Wade go? MGs mom works for an evil organization and his dad and the rest of his old life think he’s dead... so the school is now his home too. Kaleb declared himself MG’s family and is extremely loyal so it makes sense he’d stay to look after MG. The only one of the students who returned without Alaric’s pressure/wooing who doesn’t have a solid in-universe reason for returning is Jed and, now that his actor has been made a regular, I suspect we might get some backstory on him in the near future that might explain that too (including some basic info like his last name). Alyssa also pretty much had the school as her home, but given her actress got a gig as lead on a new CW show, I now doubt she’ll be returning and expect we’ll get news she’s transferred to a different school. But, as a result, the Salvatore School is now a bit of an Island of Misfit Toys; a school with a bad rep for a bunch of supernaturals who don’t have anywhere else to go. And while I can’t blame the parents, I will point out that despite a LOT of monster attacks none of the Salvatore students actually died from them except Landon and that wasn’t because of a monster attack either (Alyssa was killed by Josie and it didn’t even stick an entire episode). So in terms of keeping the students safe, Alaric actually did a solid job.

A good chunk of the weirdness is simply that, were it not for COVID, this would have been Episode 3x02 (and last week 3x01, and the four before that 2x17-2x20). With effectively the start of three seasons now under our belts it’s pretty easy to see the formula now. The first episode establishes a status quo (The Salvatore School before Landon turned up; the world without Hope in it; everyone searching for Landon) and ends with an inciting incident (the burned up bus; the cyclops shows up and the realization monsters are still coming; the magic box works right after Hope throws it away and Landon comes across a door). The second episode sets up a new pattern (this is a fantasy monster of the week show; monsters are still coming and Hope not being remembered presents complications; the school crew is struggling to keep it open in the face of losing probably 75% of its students and faculty + Josie’s love triangle + Landon’s solo journey of discovery). Thematically, I think this season is going to be about dealing with changes. Everyone’s status quo is off kilter due to loss (Hope lost Landon, Lizzie lost having Jo always around, Jo lost her magic, Alaric lost most of his students) and now they have to decide how they adapt to it. So it makes sense if the show feels a bit off and unfamiliar... because that’s right where the main characters are at with their situations too.

We saw at least two other wolves with Jed during the tour... so that’s 10. I figure the odds for Pedro and Alyssa coming back are pretty good too. They needed to cut down on the number of extras for COVID reasons, but ALL the main students who’ve appeared often enough to be named are back so there’s no particular reason to write the other named ones out unless the actor found a better gig over the extended hiatus. That said, I expect the reduced numbers and both the two named new recruits apparently being witches to be because that way they can show a reasonably full (for a student body of 30) witch class that Hope and Lizzie would attend along with the new girls and Wade (was in the witch program until figuring out he was a faerie) and why the hallways are empty instead of bustling with extras). Come to think of it... social distancing probably also explains why they filmed Jo and Ethan sitting alone in the hallway to eat lunch instead of at a table in the lunchroom with a bunch of school extras. As for Hope’s trust fund; hopefully she went to visit her relatives again to restore their memories of her... again; otherwise everyone responsible for said trust fund wouldn’t even remember there IS a trust fund to give her. Come to think of it; that means no one at Mystic Falls High School, including Ethan, even remembers that Hope spent some time enrolled there last season (and Dorian might not have gotten the restoration blast either since he’d already departed the school by then). All the more reason that the Mystic Falls High and Salvitore School plotlines are unlikely to cross much.

I suspect a Finch/Josie/Ethan love triangle is almost inevitable once the COVID filming restrictions are taken into account. I don't think there's going to be much crossover between arcs this season for pretty much that reason. I also think that, just like the past two seasons, the second episode of the new season (the first four of season three were originally the conclusion of season two) sets the course for the rest of it (1x02 established monsters are real, 2x02 reconnected Hope with Alaric and that monsters were still coming). So, basically this season it looks like the main arcs are; - Landon Alone: solo character growth arc. He'll probably meet some humans that got eaten by Malivore over the years during his time in the prison world; possibly even a reunion with his mother at some point. This has the potential to run half-dozen episodes, maybe even to the end of the season if they skip episodes. - Josie Love Triangle: what it says on the tin; Josie gets feelings for both Finch and Ethan. Dorian is there to act as adult authority figure to provide advice and/or complications as needed. - Monster of the Week Crew: Hope, Alaric, Lizzie, MG, Kaleb, Jed, Wade and the two new kids (though based on past seasons I expect everyone but Hope and Alaric to skip an episode here and there) continue to deal with monster-related shenanigans (first and foremost why they keep turning up despite Malivore now being in a prison dimension). Hope gets over her grief, Alaric deals with the fallout for the school of two seasons of regular monster attacks, Lizzie learns to be her own person separate from Josie, MG stands up for himself, Kaleb pursues the new girl, Jed and Wade provide comedy relief.

Nope... COVID restrictions on shooting limit the number of extras so they needed a way to thin out the school and I’ll commend them for at least having a logical reason for most of the students not returning after two years of monster shenanigans. Nothing changes much in practice. The show has always been focused on a select few students, plus a few recurring and a bunch of background extras. Hope, Lizzie, Jo, Landon, MG, Kaleb, Jed and Wade are about 80% of the Salvitore students who showed up in more than one episode and hadn’t already been written out (Raf, Jade coming and going). We’ll have to see if Alyssa Chang returns in the flesh in a later episode since she was heard but not seen last episode and seen but not heard on MG’s mirror. If Pedro pops up among the 22 other returning students we’ll have 100% retention of the named regular and recurring students. Likewise, Dorian is still around and we’ve never really seen any teachers onscreen except Emma. Landon being mostly solo and Jo having essentially her own set of characters mean they can do some social distancing and shift shooting schedules around depending on COVID factors because you’ve got essentially three completely separate plots of indefinite length going on.

My hunch is its NOT an evil Kryptonian, but that Edge is somehow playing with splicing Kryptonian DNA into the human test subjects who've gone missing. So one has strength/invulnerability, another has heat vision, we'll probably see one later with flight, superspeed or freeze breath.

So, during the hiatus I started a rewatch of The Originals and it really helped refine this thought for me. Specifically, the reason I’ve been finding Legacies so much more watchable is that all the main characters are actually... heroic. There’s no protagonist-centric morality trying to justify Damon/Klaus/whoever has their humanity switch flipped off this week going on a killing spree because their feelings are hurt. Basically, if Hope and Salvitore School would have been around during TVD they would have staked Damon around episode three of season one at the latest. Take this episode for example; Hope is in a bad place, starts using, but doesn’t complete, a death spell, gets called on it and by the end of the episode has gone through enough of the stages of grief to decide against pursuing other means of resurrecting Landon because it could put other people at risk. It would take Damon or Klaus half a season and piles of bodies to figure that out. The same for Kaleb, MG, Lizzie, Jo, Landon, and even recurrings like Wade, Jeb and Pedro. Last episode they went to bat to save a school of innocents from The Necromancer and this episode were mostly looking for ways to recover Landon. This makes them far more root-able than the protagonists of the previous two series; that they actually deserve a happy ending. And the thing is, if they turned Hope into a vampire, you just know it wouldn’t be long until they decided to flip her humanity switch “for the drama” and we start have start excusing various atrocities and everyone else has to start justifying it. We were almost there with Josie when she killed Alyssa, but most everyone was horrified by that, Alyssa got brought back by The Necromancer in the same episode, then Josie gave up all her magic as part of her penance. I’d like to have this batch of characters remain heroic; be better than the prior generations. I find whiny relationship angst way more tolerable than pretending casual murder is no big deal. That probably requires Hope to not activate her vampire side.

Coming around to this thought late and know that this was written with the intent of writing Raf out means it could never have really been on the table (and they’d come up with some excuse for why if wouldn’t work I’m sure), but there was an even more obvious solution that would have taken far less work that I would have liked to have seen be addressed. Hope just needed to feed Raf a little of her blood before he died again and Alakazam! He’s a hybrid. But that plus being a descendant of King Arthur would have probably made him too interesting so... yeah. *sigh* and now I’m imagining a parallel world where Landon was written out of the show after melting to goo instead and Hope and the Hybrid Heir to King Arthur started bonding over his death.

Xander was always my fave, so definitely no insult intended. :D As to Hope's story being all "Landon, Landon, Landon", as I said, I think the show would be stronger if he just stayed dead; just like last year I felt it would have been a stronger show if Hope hadn't been remembered by everyone and had to reforge relationships with everyone fresh (Lizzie could remember because who better to have be the one person to remember you than your old frenemy you now get to bond with). You could have kept Mystic Falls High as a valid second location, kept the adorable Josie/Landon pairing and done more with Raf since, until his "always loyal to Landon" memories resurfaced, he was totally into Hope (and those two actors had much better chemistry) and a love triangle with the mundane football player (basically a "normal" vs. "magical" life choice). Dead Landon would mean Hope would have to move on to other things and interacting with other people; even the football player who may as well have fallen into the Malivore pit given how everyone forgot him. My biggest concern with Landon returning is they've basically ended every arc of his that isn't Hope-centric; Raf is gone. Phoenix is gone. Malivore has been relocated to a prison world so no more conflict there. Him hooking up with Hope and then melting into goo is pretty much the best ending we could hope for... cause now instead of just his death, it'll be his whole character that melts into ugly goo and probably poisons a few other characters along the way unless they can find something brand new for him to do.* As far as new things go though, I hope they do avoid the Hope becoming a vampire part. I just feel the vampire angle has been completely covered between TVD and The Originals and Hope is more interesting with magic whereas she'd lose the magic as a vampire (just like her father didn't have any magic because of the vampire in the mix) and become even more Buffy-like in terms of dealing with problems (i.e. physical prowess only). Throw into that too that she's already got the bit about her father's spirit not being able to find peace until she does and my gut-level hunch is that "vampire" is the LAST thing she wants to happen to herself (particularly since all evidence is that she'd self-turn if she ever was killed by anything other than old age). Basically, the THREAT of Hope becoming a vampire is far more interesting than her actually becoming one. Conversely, I do think they'll go Heretic-Vampire hybrid with either Josie or Lizzie at some point. They've already directly broached the subject with Lizzie's answer to Sebastian as a means of ending the threat of the merge so I think its really just a question of which one they go that route with rather than if they'd go that route. If you forced me to bet on it, my money would be on Josie just because Josie when she's darker is more interesting whereas Lizzie is interesting just the way she is. *Side-bar: I never gamble, but I would bet cash money we get at least one episode, if not a whole crumbling relationship break-up arc out of "Having sex with me killed you; it can never happen again" like S3 of Buffy w. Angel.

And now I have ANOTHER theme episode this show has to do at some point.

It did... everything up to last episode where they defeated the Necromancer and Landon melted into goo would have originally been the back end of season two if not for COVID. Its super obvious if, like me, you just last week realized the show was back, binge-watched most of season two as a refresher and jumped right into the new season by binge watching the first episodes of this season back-to-back. This episode would have been the season three premiere if not for that (and you can really see it changed hair styles and such among the cast that are typical between seasons, but this happening in the span of a week). So in judging both the previous episodes this season and this episode you really need to compare the previous ones to the back half of season one and this one to the season two premiere; Resolving the unresolved bits of last season? check. Good chunk of the non-regular cast written out? check. New characters that if they don't work out will be gone once their recurring contract runs out in 2-5 episodes? check. I think they had a chance at the start of season two to redefine the series in a way that would have made Mystic Falls High School a valid second setting for the series because they moved Alaric there as principle and Hope enrolled at school there because no one remembered her. You had the introduction of new normie friends for Hope who got tangentially pulled into the supernatural drama and a new sheriff/Alaric love interest, a new headmaster who while darker, was presented more as a rival than a villain and the issues with his daughters still attending the Salvatore school in the mix with monsters continuing to show up. If that general setup had continued and we still got the Dark Josie arc that ended with her giving up magic and deciding to attend Mystic Falls High School in this episode where we already had Alaric, Hope, her now well-established new friends and the Sheriff operating and they also happened to introduce a new love interest character for Josie at the same time; I'd have confidence of the story going somewhere and sticking. But they blew the Hope/Alaric at Mystic Falls High up after about five episodes with everyone re-remembering Hope and the new headmaster being revealed as a villainous imposter and throwing the entire Mystic Falls additions on a bus to not even be glimpsed again into virtually the season finale. So expecting anything to come of Josie going to Mystic Falls High when the only other people there are literally the boy they forgot about for the last dozen-ish episodes and a new love interest for Josie is pretty much a pipe dream. Honestly, once you accept that Hope IS the Buffy Summers of the Vampire Diaries universe and that Alaric is its Giles and Malevore was the Hellmouth, everything about this series makes a ton more sense. They seriously need to do a Buffy riff at some point (in addition to the above, Josie is clearly Willow, MG is Xander, Lizzie is Anya, Kaleb is Oz and Landon is Angel if he didn't have any powers or turn evil the moment he didn't feel guilty), perhaps as another musical episode.

To be fair to Hope; - Landon was the first person she really opened up to after her parents died, her first big love... and he melted into black goo while they were post-coital spooning; she had to get herself dressed and march to the school while literally covered in Landon’s remains (side-bar: I missed any vial of Landon goo Hope had, but I’d chalk that up less to obsession and more to the reasoning that some part of the body is pretty common in locator and resurrection type magic, so if you’re trying to get him back, keeping some of the goo is just good sense). - She already carries guilt because her parents died to save her and whether that’s actually the reason he melted or not, her subconscious at least believes that she killed Landon by having sex with him. Basically reinforcing her belief that everyone close to her dies. - She also had to cast a big dark magic spell to make everyone remember her... again (which is probably why it happened offscreen; what new would we learn seeing it again), and those can make you a little cranky. - The situation with the pawn shop guy was literally the first lead they’d found and even though she was presented with another lead they could pursue, she decided not to because the price was too high; pretty much the opposite of her father who’d burn the world down to get what he wanted. - Despite this she got through all the stages of grief including denial, anger, bargaining and depression to acceptance (for the most part) in what the show told us was a bit over three weeks. I do think the story would probably be stronger if they did leave Landon dead; without Raf or Malevore or the phoenix bit around anymore has no story beyond being Hope’s love interest. He may as well be the now ex-sheriff’s son (who also originally had potential if they hadn’t dropped the Hope/Alaric starting over at Mystic Falls High School plot after five episodes). As to the rest of the episode; it’s hard to care about Josie’s Mystic Falls love interest subplot after how Hope/Alaric’s Mystic Falls subplot went. I fully expect the whalloping two characters there to be put on a bus within five episodes. Right now the main thing I feel is that I’m waiting for the actual plot to start. If someone had found a real lead that suggested more was going on with Landon melting and there was a clear next step to take then it would have at least suggested a “hunt for Landon the McGuffin” plot. Instead it’s clear that Landon’s just going to turn up through no additional effort of the main characters and inflict drama in a few episodes once Hope is just starting to move on, but not in some larger connective plot tissue sort of way that Malevore provided during seasons 1-2 (last episode was clearly the planned season 2 finale). Then again season 1 and 2 both didn’t really get their plots started in their recognizable directions until their second episodes so I’m hoping we’ll see the same in a couple weeks when the next episode airs (seriously, who decides when to do the episode splits? This is basically playing the real season three premiere then taking a week or so off).

One of the truisms of comic to television adaptations that I first heard remarked on back in the Smallville days (particularly as it reached the later seasons) is that the average 20 page comic book can be read in 15-20 minutes so your typical 22 episode season of 42 minute episodes is about equal to FOUR YEARS of content from a monthly comic. In other words, for an ongoing series you either needs a monster amount of source material (ex. Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Flash) or you have to add a lot of original material to fill in that extra time (i.e. giving a supporting character who might have only shown up in a couple panels of a comic their own subplot). As such, I expect we’ll get a lot more rounding out of what were otherwise blink and you’d miss them characters in the comics.

She had no blood type or other genetic markers... she has blood, but its artificial and all their cells are probably generic so that you can use the same batch of blood/synthetic muscle tissue for every host that needs patched up and can't produce enough from whatever biological processes are going on inside them (they do eat after all) to recover. This is why, in season one, William could use the blood from one host to basically refill Teddy and get him functional again in season one. As to her seeming Terminator-like resilience at some times and not others; consider what adrenaline can do in a human being. Mothers lifting cars off kids, superior reaction time and people surviving ridiculous amounts of punishment and only keeling over once the adrenaline wears off are all pretty typical. Now give someone full control over their body chemistry (in this case via the Host control unit) so they can release adrenaline and all the other chemical boosters on demand. We know the hosts actually have this ability because we've seen the Samaritan Reflex before; when a human in the park was in danger a Host's normal "stats" would be ignored and the Host instead acts at the full limits of its engineering to save the human. Dolores can just access whenever she needs it instead of just when a human is in danger; but there are limits to even a boosted human body; which is probably why she collapsed at the end of episode one this season. In the case of the bullets she took in this episode, its worth remembering that it was basically the last thing that happened before a jump to her holo-conversation with Serac at the airfield sometime later; so it can be presumed that she probably patched herself up using the "dermal regenerator" tech that has been noted to work on both humans and hosts before boarding the plane.