Legacies: Hope, Lizzie, and Jed confront the past

Hope, Lizzie, and Jed each dealt with a significant storyline where they had to confront the past during “Was This the Monster You Saw.”

In Hope’s case, returning to the Salvatore School seeking help from the remaining Super Squad members is only the beginning. Knowing she may be in significant trouble, Hope arrives wanting back-up to help fight off an impending attack. However, no one is in the mood to grovel at her feet.

Instead, the Super Squad makes a deal with Hope regarding if they can defeat this week’s monster, a clown, without Hope’s involvement. Hope usually took control of defeating monsters, so the Super Squad is at a loss without its most powerful player. However, it allows the group to step up to prove what they can do without her.

However, the plan still focuses on wanting to restore Hope’s humanity by having the clown force Hope to relive one of her worst moments, the night she killed Landon to defeat Malivore.

Hope has not dealt with the emotional ramifications of killing Landon, having shut her humanity off as he died. However, Hope’s humanity may be coming out after all. Although No-Humanity Hope is determined to stay in control, Hope’s humanity makes one last surprising appearance at the episode’s end, forcing the two sides of Hope’s mind to confront each other.

Legacies used a similar tactic during the Dark Josie arc, portraying Josie confronting her darker half on various occasions. However, this is the first time showing so directly a vampire’s duality of their fighting humanity.

Lizzie’s journey with Aurora has them confronting their past behaviors, actions, and relationships. Lizzie calls out Aurora’s history with Tristan, describing it as a toxic dynamic. Tristan was one of Aurora’s most significant problems regarding her mental health, no matter how much Aurora loved her brother.

In Lizzie’s case, her actions speak to how she can not be alone. Aurora claims that Lizzie needs someone to be with and feel superior to, whether it be Josie, Hope, or Aurora. Aurora loves herself and can be alone, but Lizzie still needs time to do that.

Lizzie and Aurora have discussed mental health before, and “Was This the Monster You Saw” continues the trend of allowing them to speak openly and honestly about their feelings and experiences.

Jed’s confrontation doubles as a major reveal about his origin story. Although Jed has lightly teased details about his feelings toward how he broke his werewolf curse, “Was This the Monster You Saw” finally portrays the devastating and horrifying circumstances behind Jed’s transformation.

Jed had grown up with an abusive father but still had a friend in the pack he could rely on. Jed and Trey spend most of the flashbacks side by side, but it is not until the end of the flashbacks is the significance understood.

Jed’s father forces Jed and Trey to fight to the death, which would trigger one of their curses. Both boys are terrified at the prospect, but Trey is willing to sacrifice himself for Jed. Still, Jed will not pick up the baseball bat left on the ground.

Although the flashbacks do not show it, Jed reveals to Ben what followed. Jed never killed his childhood best friend and possible first crush. Instead, he killed his father, triggering his werewolf curse, and ran off. Jed was found soon after by Alaric but never saw Trey again.

Revealing the backstory and connecting it to Jed’s early bullying days also does a solid job of acknowledging Jed’s character development. He is aware that how he acted previously was wrong and understands that a bully is not who he is but who his father raised him to be,

As devastating as things may have been for him throughout the episode, Jed still gets to conclude it on a high note. After a conflict with his feelings for Ben, he finally acts on them. Jed and Ben share a first kiss in the emotional aftermath of the day, acknowledging their growing feelings for each other.

“Was This the Monster You Saw” shows Hope, Lizzie, and Jed confronting their pasts and dealing with them or, in Hope’s case, wanting to deny them. With Legacies heading into its following episodes, having a grasp on the past and moving forward may help everyone handle whatever comes next.