Legacies 2×04 recap: RED ALERT RED ALERT!
The cameo you've been waiting for is here.
Legacies 2×04, “Since When Do You Speak Japanese?” aired November 7, 2019
What else am I going to title this recap?! Yes, there’s a lot to break down from episode 4, “Since When Do You Speak Japanese?”, but we first must talk about THIS CAMEO RIGHT HERE:
For you newbies to the TVDU, this little cameo is that of Kai Parker, arguably the most evil, irredeemable villain in all of the TVDU. He also happens to be Josie and Lizzie’s uncle, the twin brother to their birth-mom Jo. (It’s also been confirmed that Christopher Wood, the actor who plays Kai, will be guest starring on the series in 2020.)
Here’s the 10-second background on Kai:
In TVD, Kai (the twin brother of Jo) was a special case of the Gemini Coven. He could only siphon magic from another witch through contact (kind of like his nieces!) This was seen as a weakness by the coven, and the next set of twins, he and Jo’s younger siblings, were to “merge” when they came of age.
Kai wasn’t down for this, murdered his siblings, and Jo was able to save some by cloaking them. She transferred her magic to a knife so she couldn’t merge with Kai, and the coven put him in a prison-world time loop. So, he didn’t age and relived the same day over and over again. If you haven’t picked up on it, Kai is a huge dick and one of the best villains to come out of the TVDU.
As Jo lived a magic-less life, she met Ric, became pregnant with Jo and Lizzie, was killed by Kai at she and Ric’s wedding, then the coven transferred the babes to Caroline. Now, here we are! Oh yeah, and last we saw Kai, Bonnie Bennett locked him in another prison world.
If you’d like more details on Kai and the Gemini Coven, check out this article.
Let’s break down what this cameo could mean, plus all of the other happenings in this week’s episode.
“All of this time travel has been hard on the camera…”
When MG is given a camera from Wade, head of the AV Club at the Salvatore School, he turns it on to see that the “tape is used”, and someone’s on it. That someone is Kai Parker, who is heard saying, “all of this time travel has been hard on the camera…” We know from the prison world that time works differently—er, freezes, or is in a time loop, rather.
UPDATE! TVD Fans Online informed us on Twitter that this tape is from “the ‘”90s prison world….and that was Kai’s message to Bonnie about the sleeping spell he had put on Elena.” (Yes, I am ashamed I didn’t remember this right away. I was too excited about all of this Kai Parker news.)
We now know that Kai will be back for the 12th episode of season 2, and this is no bueno for our students. (But it’s a freaking delight to us fans!)
Lizzie finds out her boyfriend is invisible… then MG gets a visit from Mr. Invisible.
I love the way this played out, because when MG reveals to Lizzie that Sebastian is only seen by her, we’re left thinking that maybe Lizzie did make him up in her mind. Later, we see that Sebastian is now seen by MG—and only MG. This might be a first for TV-love triangles, and I’m here for it.
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So what’s Sebastian’s deal? I’m thinking he’s a spelled-vampire that’s trying to use Lizzie to break the curse he’s under so he can be seen by everyone. He did ask for her human blood, so that means he’s “alive” (vampire-wise.)
What was heartbreaking was Lizzie’s breakdown after finding out Sebastian was “a figment of her imagination.” There was some much-loved comedic relief when she was binging ice cream before she came across possessed-Landon walking towards the Malivore Pit, but her moments with Josie where she was begging her to end her life was gut-wrenching. Lizzie’s struggle with her mental health is all-too relatable to several viewers, and it’s refreshing to see this played out onscreen. Portraying a supportive Josie who wouldn’t give up on her sister sends an amazing message to viewers as well—if you let those who love you win, they can always find a way to help.
However, there are some consequences when that way is through Dark Magic…
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Josie’s rash and Vardemus’ magical dark-magic-sucking-vase-thing.
Whelp, it’s no secret that Vardemus’ “vase that sucks out dark magic” is probably a vessel to hoarding dark magic that he can then use for whatever scheme he’s up to. Is he a part of the hooded-cloak crew? (More on that in a minute.) Who knows, but what we do know for sure is that he’s 100% using Josie and doesn’t have her best interest at heart.
Josie feels a little too good after expelling the dark magic from her, which means there are probably some severe consequences for the magic she’s been practicing that have yet to be unearthed. I can’t help but think this will have something to do with Kai and her Gemini Coven-magic, but we’ll see!
Landon and Hope: I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
Landon, Josie, and Alaric are chasing down an Oni, a Japanese-demon that possesses people. A Samurai from the 1300s that was spit out of Malivore was harboring the demon so it couldn’t harm anyone else, but it’s escaped.
While they’re hunting down the Oni, Landon clearly knows that Hope is hiding something from him. Whether he suspects it’s that they used to be soulmates that shared an epic love… well, that’s still up in the air. Hope confessed the truth to Oni possessed-Landon, but of course Landon doesn’t remember when the demon is eventually taken out of him by Lizzie. Lizzie stabbed Landon, causing him to die, so Hope moved Landon to the woods so he could rise from the flames in secret. As per the usual, Landon saw Hope’s face when he came-to, and confronted Hope about this. She played dumb, and urged him to get back to Josie after her battle with dark magic.
Not only is Landon going to feel terrible when and if he ever gets his memories back, but Josie will, too. Josie and Hope were friends before the Malivore memory-wipe, so this on top of whatever consequences will come with her using dark magic hopefully won’t put her over the edge.
It’s also worth noting that the show isn’t letting the Raf-Hope connection hinted in season 1 disappear. Raf makes it clear he’s into Hope to memory-wiped Landon, which throws yet another wrench in this very, very complicated love (rectangle?)
Alaric and Sheriff Mac: Two ships passing in the night?
Sheriff Mac is crushing hard on Alaric, and she feels she may have blown it by carrying around police files of him and his daughters. I would normally file this under “unnecessary” when looking to date someone, but this is Mystic Falls, after all. I’m thinking Sheriff Mac may know more about the supernatural world then we think.
Also, special shout out to Ric’s shih tzu (or was it a westie?) coffee mug.
There are two cloaked people!
The red-cloaked mystery person was revealed to be two different people at the end of the episode, and now we’re left wondering: could there be more? Who are these Malivore priests, and what do they want? The obvious choice is that one of them is Vardemus, but I think Plec and Co. have more tricks up there sleeve.
Lizzie remembers Hope!
At the end of the episode, Lizzie wakes up and remembers who Hope is. When Josie took all of that dark magic out of Lizzie, did she also take out whatever Malivore-magic was suppressing her memories of Hope? This could be really fun to see unfold, because if Hope is a memory that’s been restored, what else could Lizzie possibly remember that Malivore’s erased?
That was a lot to unpack. What are your thoughts on this week’s episode? Drop a line in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @lizprugh.
Legacies airs Thursdays at 9pmEST/8pmCST on The CW.
Featured image: Legacies — “Since When Do You Speak Japanese?” — Image Number: LGC204b_0741b.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Kaylee Bryant as Josie, Aria Shahghasemi as Landon, Danielle Rose Russell as Hope, and Matthew Davis as Alaric — Photo: Jace Downs/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
