Welcome back to the world of Mystic Falls folks!  How we have missed thee!

I don’t know about you, but I went into this pilot with a lot of hesitation as well as reservations.  I might be singling myself out here, but some of the shows on the CW channel have begun to get too young for me.

For instance, the Charmed reboot looks lovely.  It has great special effects and actually has a look similar to what we’re used to with the Vampire Diaries and the Originals.  However, the main characters are all just a little young for me.  Usually, there is a balance in these shows of adults to teens/young adults.  Then again, I haven’t tried it yet and probably shouldn’t judge.

This was why I was unsure going into the pilot for Legacies.  I was delightfully surprised.

Lonely Hope

Hope is back living at the Salvatore School.  She seems to have carved out a space for herself as a loner.  For the most part, she actually seems comfortable with that role.  Sure, she gets lonely and she wants more, but considering the family she comes form, it’s pretty fitting too.  It’s also a great place for our heroine to start.

This brings us to Landon Kirby.  If he looked familiar, I’ll tell you why.  (Once I researched it and found out for myself, that is)

We last saw Landon in the last few episodes of the Originals.  Remember that lovely day Hope and Elijah spent together?  They went to a cafe in Mystic Falls and Landon served her a milkshake and invited her to a dance.  The scenes we see in the Legacies pilot of Hope and Landon dancing are from that episode, only with Elijah cut out of them.  (Grr!)

Landon and Rafi

Now, I’m not one to slap down a bromance.  In fact, the quickest way to get me watching a TV show is tell me there’s a bromance in it.  This, however, is where I think the show is weakest so far.

The episode opens with the bond between these two boys.  Life has obviously been hard on both of them, but their friendship has gotten them through it.  This shows in how Landon won’t leave when Rafi goes into the church.  It shows in how Landon refuses to stay outside when Hope goes into the church with Alaric to save Rafi.  Finally, it shows in Landon refusing to leave the Salvatore School until he knows that Rafi will be okay.  (We’re ignoring any alternative motivations for now)

The problem arises to me when the episode reaches the party.  Landon leaves Rafi there because Rafi so obviously belongs with these werewolves.  That fits Landon’s character of wanting to do best by his friend.  What doesn’t work for me is how freaking easily Rafi lets Landon go.

These two knew each other well.  Rafi would not have been fooled by Landon’s trick of “let me go get us drinks, which is code for my sneaking into the woods.”

This relationship should be my favorite in the show right now, but so far, it just frustrates me.

Confusing Dynamics? 

It’s still early, but so far, I like the relationship between Alaric’s two daughters, Josie and Lizzie.  I do wish they would have spent more of the episode together and less time pining over boys though.  When one of the sisters has a freak out, (which seems to be a regular thing, considering her subsequent meditation session with her dad) wouldn’t that have been a great time for her sister to calm her down?

The confusing dynamic, however, has to do with the sister who just went through a nasty breakup.  Are we, as viewers, supposed to like the mean girl we keep seeing flashes of?  Why would anyone want to date somebody unkind like that?  These must be questions the show intends to answer later on.

3 Highlights from the Episode

(1) Hope gives a starry ceiling to Landon so that he can sleep, resulting in a pretty adorable kiss.

(2) Alaric does meditation with his daughter to help calm her down after an intense freak-out.

(3) All the pop culture references!  It is something that Vampire Diaries did a bit more of than the Originals did, but it’s a lovely addition!

3 Things We Want to Know More About

(1) Why did Landon steal that weapon?  We have to believe he didn’t mean to kill everybody on the Greyhound bus at the end of the episode.

(2) Does Hope see Alaric as a father figure?  I wonder how Klaus would feel about that . . . (sniffle.  Sniffle.  Sorry.  Still not over the Originals finale).

(3) Where is Caroline?  Most fans went into this series hoping she’d at least pop in every now and then!

All in all, it’s a stronger pilot than I was expecting.  There are parts I have issues with, but there are also parts where I see the potential for the long life of a TV series on the same level as its predecessors.