Legacies: Does its monster-of-the-week format work?

After bringing fans two of their favorite vampire shows in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, The CW then continued the franchise with Legacies. The series follows the story of the next generation of characters from these two original series at the Salvatore Boarding School., including Klaus and Hayley’s daughter Hope Mikaelson and Alaric’s twins, Josie and Lizzie Saltzman.

Unlike its predecessors, Legacies has generally used a monster-of-the-week during its first two seasons, and it’s definitely an intriguing tactic. Malivore’s role in the grand scheme of things is a vastly different approach from what viewers know from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. But does it really work?

In the context of opening the world to new possibilities and characters it does.

Including things like dragons, a dryad, the Lady of the Lake, a mummy, and more have all done an exciting job of expanding the lore used by the two previous shows. Going beyond the traditional witches, vampires, and werewolves is an interesting narrative choice that helps distinguish Legacies from the rest of the series in the franchise. It lets it feel more like its own show, rather than the next step in The Vampire Diaries universe, even if it references the past.

But, since plenty of these creatures are portrayed as antagonists, they don’t quite get the job done. As most of these monsters only appear in one episode, the tension of an intimidating villain does not resonate well. Nothing about facing off against these creatures feels personal to Hope, Josie, Lizzie, or any of their friends. Even Malivore being Landon’s father lacks a sense of emotional investment.

Legacies got closer with its Dark Josie arc. By portraying Josie as the villain, it placed Hope and Lizzie in fascinating positions. They will not kill Josie, but they need to remove the darkness from her. Meanwhile, Dark Josie is not interested in getting back to normal and instead enjoys wreaking havoc amongst the students at the Salvatore School. She plans the merge with Lizzie and kills Alyssa Chang, making it clear that her darkness is very much a threat.

At the same time, the Necromancer and Malivore have remained the series’ long-standing villains.

The monster of the week format offers plenty of potential for Legacies to introduce new elements for the main characters to interact with. Unfortunately, as of the first two seasons, nearly all of them have played a similar role in their connection to Malivore.

In the future, the monster of the week stories could make a bigger impact by creating a more influential effect on Hope, Josie, and Lizzie. The monsters have the ability to create change in the main characters, but they need to create a greater emotional connection.

What do you think of the way Legacies uses its monster of the week stories? Sound off in the comments.