Legacies recap: Landon's supernatural species is revealed!
Some answers are really worth the wait, and that’s precisely how I feel about the reveal of Landon Kirby’s supernatural species!! Not only was it an amazing reveal — I won’t ruin it in the first paragraph of my recap just in case but I will ruin it at some point so beware — but this show crafted one of its strongest hours, if not the strongest hour thus far, around said reveal. Every show out there that’s unraveling a mystery, take some notes!
We start by returning to the Salvatore School following last week’s road trip and finding out that MG, Rafael, and Landon are all missing … on the night of a full moon. And when Hope’s locator spell doesn’t work, that means one of two things: Either someone cloaked them, or they’re dead. Thankfully, it doesn’t take them long to find Raf. But here’s the bad news: He can’t remember where MG and Landon are or if they’re okay.
Seeing as how the full moon is still in the sky, it’s unclear how Raf is back in human form. Emma explains that he’s in something called lunar psychosis — his mind is trapped between his wolf and human states, which makes it difficult to bridge the gap and access his memories. Lunar psychosis only happens when someone’s transformation is stopped prematurely. Something has caused Raf’s body to shift back to its human form before the full moon ended. What could do that? Trauma.
Flashing back to Ric’s pre-spring break assembly, we learn that MG is staying on campus and, as head of the holiday committee, planning all the week’s activities. We see Kaleb talk to Raf (before setting out on his journey to help Ric with last week’s mummy), and he asks Raf to look after MG while he’s gone. It seems MG gets a little weird around holidays because his family never invites him home. And seeing as how Raf slept with the love of MG’s life, it’s the least he could do.
Raf, properly guilted, agrees, which results in him and Landon playing “Faction Feud,” a.k.a. a game MG made up, for hours. And when Landon can’t take anymore, he asks about MG’s father. MG says he doesn’t talk to him anymore, and Landon, being far too familiar with parental issues, suggests they go to MG’s home and get MG some answers. After all, he lives just over the state line in Maryland.
Back in present day, Raf tells Ric that they were supposed to make it back before the full moon. And with that, Ric wakes Kaleb up and they hit the road: They’re going to MG’s house.
After Raf freaks out and claims a monster was after Landon, Emma sedates him, leaving Hope without all the answers she wants. Although, the audience gets a few…
In another flashback, we see MG, Landon, and Raf make it to MG’s house, where his father is running for mayor and his mother tells her son, “Your father doesn’t want to see you. His faith is everything to him. There’s no room is his belief system for people dying and coming back to life.” As Landon puts it, “Except for Jesus … and Lazarus.” MG’s mother keeps MG from seeing his dad, but Landon won’t give up. When he finds a newspaper that says MG’s father ran for mayor following a speech that went viral about how he’d do anything to get his son back, Landon tells MG that his dad is using his memory to get votes. So Landon thinks they should attend his father’s next speech … tonight.
In present day, we find out that Penelope gave the boys a cloaking spell before she left for spring break, which is why Hope can’t find them. And when Ric and Kaleb show up and talk to MG’s mom, she is not too happy with the fact that Ric has lost her son. She lets Ric know that she’d like him to hold up his end of their “arrangement,” which Kaleb rightly thinks sounds suspicious. What is that arrangement? Well, as MG finds out when he goes to visit his dad during a speech rehearsal, MG’s father actually doesn’t know that he’s a vampire, and Ric promised not to tell him. (Next: The road trip goes terribly awry)
Back at the school, Hope crafts an elixir to help Raf access his memories, and when Emma tries to stop her from using it, Raf wakes up and sedates Emma himself. He wants answers too. After he takes a sip, he remembers more of the trip.
When MG shows up at his father’s rehearsal, his father embraces him, calling him a “miracle sent to me from our Lord in heaven.” It doesn’t take MG long to realize his father doesn’t know the truth, but Raf and Landon can’t stay. They are running out of time before the full moon, so Landon takes Raf out into the woods to chain him up. Once Raf’s secured, Landon forces Raf to admit his feelings for Hope so that he won’t do what he always does and leave things bottled up. But Raf swears to never act on his feelings, a fact Landon absolutely believes. Then, just as Raf starts to transition, they hear something else in the woods…
In present day, Kaleb and Ric go to the location in the woods that Hope tells them about, and there, they find MG. He’s been bitten by a werewolf and is delusional. He only has an hour or two to get the cure, which is Hope’s blood, by the way. So it’s a good thing she’s on the way.
Flashing back, we see MG tell his dad the truth about what he is, and instantly, his father calls him a demon. MG tries to explain that he’s not evil, “I just have to try harder to be good.” He compels his father to tell him the truth about how he feels and his dad tells him, “My son is dead.” But MG explains that he’s not. He’s still the boy he raised. He’s still “the boy who still has a lot of good to do.” MG, realizing his father was better off believing he died, compels his dad to forget today but to “always believe that you’re going to see the boy that you love again.” (Excuse me while I grab a tissue.)
In present day, Hope and Raf arrive in the woods, and when MG calls himself a “killer,” Raf remembers who the monster was: It was MG.
As everyone takes the information in, Hope falls to her knees in shock, and Rafael marches off to find Landon’s body lest he finish the job on MG. Once he’s gone, Hope gathers the strength to stand and gives MG her blood to heal him. We then follow Kaleb and MG back to the car where Kaleb admits that being a vampire isn’t everything he makes it out to be. Most of his big speeches are to make himself feel better about the fact that “you and me got a big struggle ahead of us.” It’s a hard life, but Kaleb tells MG, “We can be in it together.” MG’s family might not get it, and they might never come around, “But hear this brother,” Kaleb says to MG. “I’m your family now.” As for the people who will be mad at MG for killing Landon, Kaleb says, “They’re gonna have to come through me.”
Together, Kaleb and MG then exit the car and join Ric, Hope, and Raf in the woods where they’ve found Landon’s body. But before they can move him, Landon’s body starts to steam. Moments later, his body bursts into flames. Once the flames go out, he’s encased in ash. And when Landon breaks through that, it’s evident what he is: HE IS A PHOENIX!!! So to sum things up, Landon is by far the coolest supernatural being of anyone and I am OBSESSED.
This entire episode was such an impressive feat. The way they juggled the mystery with the heart-wrenching and actually very human stories of family and acceptance and love is something Vampire Diaries and Originals always did beautifully, and on more than one occasion now, Legacies has proven it can do the same. Legacies will give you a dragon or a talent show one week, and then the next week, it will weave together an extremely emotional, dramatic and shocking hour. So basically, get you a show that can do both!
