'Legacies' Season 2 premiere: Hope perseveres in an episode meant to be a bridge to last season
'Legacies' is back to our screens and it couldn't have been a better premiere. Hope is back in Mystic Falls, Josie and Lizzie learn about the Ascendant, and most shocking of all, Landon and Josie are together!
The episode starts in June with everyone at the Salvatore School leaving for their summer vacations. Things are a little shaky with everybody as presumably, they all feel Hope's absence, even though they don't know it. Lizzie goes to Europe to spend time with Caroline and Josie stays back for two reasons: to learn more about the Merge and to keep an eye on her father, Alaric. Alaric was voted out as Headmaster of the school at the end of last season and he is struggling to reconcile with it. Rafael is still stuck in his wolf form and Landon stays back at the school over the summer to keep him company, and also because he doesn't have a home to go to. But let's unpack all that individually.
The Saltzmans
Josie and Lizzie may be in two different places, but the sisters are closer than ever. They talk to each other intermittently over the summer about what each is up to. The sisters try to figure out about the Ascendant and its connection to them. At the end of the episode, demanding answers from Alaric, Josie learns that the Ascendant is a key to the prison world where their murderous uncle, Kai is. Meanwhile, Lizzie is going to therapy and trying to do everything she can to get better. Alaric drowns his sorrow in the bottle - as we knew he would from his time on 'The Vampire Diaries.'
In the meantime, Josie also starts spending more time with Landon leading to something that is both cute and heartbreaking, which brings us to...
Landon and Rafael
Landon is quite lost as the episode starts. He feels Hope's loss even though he doesn't know what it is and understands that there is something buried in his mind. When Josie catches him drowning himself repeatedly, he tells her that when he is dead, he is able to unlock that buried part a little. As the two spend more time together over the summer, they also open up to each other about Rafael and the Ascendant.
Rafael is still stuck in his wolf form - needing Hope to change him back. Landon spends as much time with his friend, but as he suspected, the more time Rafael spends as a wolf, the less he identifies as human. By the end of the episode, he is missing and Landon knows it is because Raf does not want to spend time with his human friend anymore.
MG and Kaleb
MG and Kaleb are spending their summer in Georgia, grilling steaks and drinking animal blood. Kaleb has forbidden MG from speaking of Lizzie and forcing him to move on. MG does meet a girl who turns out to be a "sister" to Kaleb, and so Kaleb blocks MG's attempt at moving on with her. As the summer ends and the two vampires prepare to go back to school, Kaleb tells MG that he will help him woo Lizzie.
Hope
Finally, we see Hope stuck in the dark nothing that is the Malivore pit. But she isn't alone - she is stuck with Clarke, whom she pulled in with her when she jumped into the pit in the last episode. Hope figures out that Clarke knows more about the pit and casts a truth spell on him. When she learns that the light that shows up is her way out to the real world, Clarke begs her to take him along. Under the truth spell, he promises to leave Hope and her friends alone.
When Hope gets out, the first thing she does is go to see Landon at the Salvatore School. But just as she comes across him, she sees Landon sharing his first kiss with Josie. Heartbroken, Hope conjures up the fake Landon from Season 1 and talks to him. Thinking that Landon and the others are happier in this new life sans Hope, she decides not to tell him the truth about her.
The season premiere of 'Legacies' primarily acted as a filler between the first season and what is yet to come in the next. Though Clarke did say he will leave Hope and the others alone, we are not sure that this is the last we see of him. And we know the group still has to find a way to permanently destroy Malivore now that we know Hope is not the solution, and Clarke could become really helpful in that quest. Though it sucks to see Hope so hurt seeing Landon move on, Landon and Josie make a cute pair.
We can't wait to see what happens when everyone is back to start the new school year. It'll also be interesting to see Alaric reacting to this "new witch" whom he doesn't know of. But we are certain a part of him will feel the connection. He was, after all, a father figure to Hope in the absence of Klaus. Further, Alaric knows there were two people at the site where Malivore was nearly destroyed. Right now, he thinks that they have no connection to him. But it's only a matter of time before he finds out about destroying anything that would remind him of Hope in the last season.
'Legacies' airs on Thursday nights on The CW.