Legacies Season 4 Episode 13 Review: Was This the Monster You Saw
Ashley Myers
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As soon as Kaleb told Cleo things were looking up for the Salvatore School, it was clear trouble was on its merry way -- in the form of a clown.
On Legacies Season 4 Episode 13, our favorite characters faced their greatest sins.
Owning up to past mistakes leaves room for reconciliation and growth, making this a transformative episode.
First up on our list of sinners? None other than Mr. Alaric Saltzman, the man of the hour.
"Sin" was loosely defined as any remote wrongdoing, not just obvious acts like murder, so Alaric's tendency to make poor decisions and leave out the Super Squad was sin-worthy.
When Alaric was finally discharged from the hospital, his noncommital response to MG's mention of his promise to Landon to change his ways did not bode well for his personal development. I was sure he'd fall back into old patterns.
MG: I am right on time to be your accountability buddy.
Alaric: So long as it doesn't interfere with me helping my daughters.
MG: That's almost the spirit.
However, Alaric proved me-of-little-faith wrong by involving his students in deciding what to do with Hope and breaking Cleo out of the school's dungeon so she could help him defeat the clown. *Cheers for growth*
Alaric verbalized this growth while casually waiting by the fireplace for the clown, sitting next to a pile of his sins, literally. (How did that man have the time to fill all those scraps of paper?) He described the plan as a group effort, cueing the arrival of Cleo with an icy blade to finish the clown off.
Cleo thankfully got her mojo back, mentally speaking, since her powers still faltered. She didn't need her abilities to save the day. She is a veritable badass.
Who I am is strong, with or without my power.
Cleo
It was touching to see Cleo remember her strength, Kaleb by her side.
Speaking of Kaleb, did anyone else have difficulty buying that the worst thing he ever did was lock Cleo in the dungeon so that she wouldn't get bitten by a lunatic clown? Lest we forget, he went on a rampage and murdered a slew of his classmates.
This is not to say his actions should be condoned. Locking up one's significant other is typically not the best move.
Kudos to Cleo for standing up for herself. I had the strange urge to applaud when she told Kaleb to fight beside her rather than stand in front of her.
Whose sins shall we discuss next? How about loverboy werewolf Jed whose heart nearly leaped from his chest when Ben (and his bulging biceps) helped him with the confetti canon? (They are canon, after all.)
Ben: Trust that no matter what you have to say to me, I will hear it with my very soul.
Jed: Oh boy, well that's a lot of pressure.
Ben: Well then, perhaps if I put it in your parlance. What's up, bro?
Jed: Yeah, that totally helps.
The clown was a clown in the Urban Dictionary meaning of the word, too, for interrupting Jed's heartfelt speech to Ben.
It deserves some credit, though, for allowing us to glimpse Jed's traumatic past and for him to address his sexuality by realizing Trey was more than a childhood friend.
Petition to have Trey join the show! Love triangles can be infuriating, but this one could be fun.
For now, let's bask in the light of Jed and Ben's epic first kiss and be proud of Jed for completely letting go of the bully his father raised him to be.
Oh, boy, daddy issues. That's never good. Trust me.
Hope
When Hope crashed Alaric's surprise party, she wanted to shine a light on the cracks in the Super Squad, to convince them they needed her. Instead, Hope found the cracks in herself.
Her humanity is alive and well. I, for one, am stubbornly planted in Team Humanity, so this episode gave me hope.
Was the spectral form of her humanity revived again when MG brought Hope blood to snack on? Or was it waiting for them to be alone?
While everyone else was being terrorized by the clown, Lizzie and Aurora were tormenting each other, putting on their therapist hats for the day while they tracked down Jen.
Aurora undermined Lizzie's attempts to therapize her by recognizing Lizzie's low self-esteem and deep need to be around people she can claim superiority over. Lizzie confirmed this theory by balking at Aurora when she said she was leaving, just as she begged Hope not to leave her.
Is it moral superiority she feels she has over them? Because she is not more powerful or more intelligent than either.
Aurora: People have always made us feel as though we need to be fixed. But we don't need to believe them when they say we're broken.
Lizzie: That's borderline empowering. Keep it up.
I'd argue Aurora is broken and in dire need of fixing, given the number of people she's murdered in her past, yet the show continues to paint her in a sympathetic light. Then again, Klaus slaughtered countless innocents, and I forgave him, so perhaps Aurora deserves forgiveness, too.
It is fiction, after all. The worst of characters are redeemable in a way they never could be cast in reality's harsh glow. Yet, I trust Aurora as much as she trusts everyone else, that being very little.
That distrust is well-founded, given she waited until Lizzie was seconds away from being spiked to death before stepping in to offer her a deal.
Now for the least godly god to exist. Every scene with Jen makes me more confused about the gods.
Ben speaks like he's straight out of a Victorian novel, while Jen sounds like she was born in 2000 and suffers from chronic boredom.
If they are both ancient, why does he avoid contractions and use phrases like "as you wish" while she employs the word "dude" so much it's painted on a sign in her place? It's inconsistent with what we are learning from Ben.
I could get on board if we weren't led to believe the gods had been off-Earth for centuries. Then Jen could've been living out a human life, up to date on slang and hippie culture. But she was not around.
Ben didn't know what a clown was, but Jen's as modern as she is? Who else thinks the pieces don't fit?
Will Alaric continue honoring his promise to Landon? What's next for Jed and Ben? Will Lizzie and Aurora convince Jen to help them? Will Hope's humanity prevail?
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
You can watch Legacies online right here on TV Fanatic if you missed the episode.
Legacies airs Thursdays 9/8c on The CW.
Ashley Myers retired from TV Fanatic in May 2022..
