'Legacies' Season 2: Dark Josie was a letdown, but the story arc still can be redeemed
Spoiler alert for Season 2
The arrival of dark Josie was hinted at through much of Season 2 of 'Legacies' and even before the season premiered, fans had said they would love to see Josie Saltzman - the "good Saltzman twin" - turn dark.
That plotline started to take shape with the arrival of Professor Vardemus, who was secretly Ryan Clarke, Malivore's son. As Vardemus, Clarke got Josie to do dark magic. He even got Josie to trap all of her black magic energy into a magical object shaped like an hourglass, called the mora miserium.
If the mora miserium were to break -which it will eventually according to the show - it would signal the unleashing of dark Josie.
The witches of Salvatore School then worked together to send the mora miserium into the prison world. Unfortunately, fellow witch Alyssa Chang who was on a path of destruction, sent Josie, her sister Lizzie Saltzman and her father Alaric Saltzman into the prison world as well.
There, Kai Parker - Josie's villainous uncle - told Josie that the only way she could leave the prison world was to break the mora miserium and become dark Josie, who would be powerful enough to get back to the real world without the use of the Bennett blood.
When we saw dark Josie, she seemed more in control than we have ever seen Josie to be. Yes, she was powerful and other than the fact that her eyes turned black while performing magic and that she looked like Katherine from 'The Vampire Diaries', the new Josie did not seem threatening at all.
When everyone got back to the real world, dark Josie disappeared and Josie was back to normal.
There were a couple of reasons the dark Josie story arc was potentially terrifying. For one, it spelled Josie's definitive victory during the upcoming Merge with her sister Lizzie. It also meant that one of the heroes could become a villain.
Unfortunately, the arc announced its arrival with a bang, only to leave with a whimper. We expected more darkness when it came to the Gemini witch's darkness - more powerful than Kai and more dangerous even. But this did not happen.
It can still be rectified, however. Dark Josie may not be gone fully and this side of Josie can appear again considering that the season's main villain, the Necromancer intends to use that darkness to make him the most powerful being on the planet.
But this time, hopefully, Josie will be truly dark - no holds barred. We have seen villains turning heroes many times in 'The Vampire Diaries' universe. A reverse story would not only be compelling but also raise the stakes for 'Legacies'. For the show to reach the thrill of 'The Originals', such an arc is a must.
'Legacies' airs on The CW on Thursday nights at 9/8c. The next episode will air on March 12.