Legacies Season 3 Episode 15 Review: A New Hope
Paul Dailly
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Those Salvatore students sure have vivid imaginations!
Legacies Season 3 Episode 15 was the show's take on Star Wars, and after huffing and puffing after the conclusion of Legacies Season 3 Episode 14, it was actually pretty decent.
It was far easier to digest the out-of-this-world elements when it became clear the happenings were down to stories both Lizzie and Hope wrote several years before.
Given that Legacies has a fraction of the Star Wars franchise budget, the series managed to pull off a much better look than I first thought.
The emotional ramifications of what happened while they were hallucinating will haunt Lizzie, Josie, and Hope for some time, but I absolutely loved the way they had Summer Fontana back.
Fontana played Hope on The Originals Season 4, so bringing her back was the perfect throwback, as was the way the younger iteration was still tracking down The Hollow.
The best part of it all, though, was the way the twins realized Hope had been through her fair share amount of trauma before even arriving at the school.
It was easy for them to blame Hope for not seeing their parents because they were too young to understand that Hope lost everything, and her very existence is synonymous with loss.
Alien: Want a drink?
Hope: I don't know, Lizzie, why don't you tell us what you want us to drink?
Lizzie: What I told you is that I wrote this story when I was a kid in my diary. I don't remember much of it, obviously, especially any no name space junk hoarders, so I don't even know what you're doing here, Hope. Drink whatever you want.
At least this was a bonding experience because the show works so much better when the trio works together with a common goal.
Clarke's return was a real shocker, mostly because it seemed like the right time for Malivore to appear in Mystic Falls, in the flesh.
Then again, we got some great movement on the Malivore front, and damn, it was about time.
Clarke's return was inevitable. He's been popping up in flashbacks of late, but what is his endgame here?
Is he back as a hero or a villain? If you watch Legacies online, you know he's straddled that fine line throughout his time on the show.
His connection to Malivore alone makes him a villain, but maybe he'll prove me wrong. Landon will probably want to know that his brother has miraculously returned from the dead, but this is assuming he is the real Clarke.
There's so much body-swapping on this show that it's hard to come to a definite conclusion. We'll need to tune into Legacies Season 3 Episode 16 to find out what's next, I guess.
"A New Hope" was a rare episode that actually advanced the overarching plot of the series, with Hope finally realizing the only path forward is to kill herself and activate her vampire side.
Josie: I am so good at cleaning up your messes and supporting you. It's almost as if I was written to have no wants or needs of my own.
Lizzie: Don't make me unplug you.
It won't be easy, especially when people like Alaric will be worried that Hope will drift to the dark side. There's no denying that it would be easier for Hope to cope if she turned her humanity off.
We've witnessed several characters in The Vampire Diaries Universe travel that route, and with Hope, it's not a matter of if; it's a matter of when.
Hope knows there's a higher meaning behind her existence, and Cleo trying to murder her only accelerated that somewhat.
The big question will be how she dies, and more importantly, whether the plan will work the way she thinks it will.
We've already delved deep into Malivore and what his weaknesses are, but the villain also has countless monsters in existence at his disposal.
Hope is aware that monsters will keep on coming, but she's yet to commit to becoming a full-fledge tribrid.
She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she didn't at least try to save everyone around her, and she would definitely fall apart if anyone were harmed.
Hope will undoubtedly be curious about Clark's return, but she will be highly skeptical of whatever he tries to sell her.
Josie: Hope, we were literally on drugs. Some stupid story you two wrote when we were kids doesn't mean anything in it is actually going to happen, or that your fate is sealed.
Hope: Except it does. Let's face it, my fate has been sealed since the day that I was born because there's always a loophole to magic and I'm the loophole.
Clarke reminds me of Klaus in that he will be nice to your face and stick the knife in your back as you walk away.
Legacies Season 3 Episode 16 was not supposed to be the season finale, so it's hard to imagine we'll get much closure on that episode, but hey, we're making some progress!
The Wendigo arc carrying on was clearly just a plot device to bring MG, Kaleb, and Jed back together as a group.
The drama between the three was too forced to take seriously, and it really didn't need to take up space in the episode.
Legacies is a highly uneven series, but it would be nice for the writers to think about how much exposition we as viewers need to see.
We don't need these developments spoonfed to us. We need the reveals told smartly, and while the storyline involving the witches worked, the team building for the boys was bizarre.
Emma yelling at Alaric for bringing Dorian into harm's way, once again, seemed out of character initially, but you could tell she was livid that Dorian could have died thanks to the Wendigo attack.
Dorian's death would have sucked, so at least he managed to fight through his injuries and live another day.
Emma giving Dorian free reign to choose whether to work with Alaric or not might allow their relationship to flourish.
Dorian, however, may have changed his mindset on the back of almost dying, but for now, he and Alaric appear to be in a good place.
All things considered, this was my favorite episode in some time. The plot is finally going somewhere, and the Star Wars-like setting was a huge part of that.
What did you think of all those throwbacks to The Originals?
Do you think The Hollow should have been a villain on Legacies?
How long do you think it will take for Hope to become a vampire?
Hit the comments below.
Legacies continues Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
