WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Legacies Season 3, Episode 3, "Salvatore: The Musical," which aired Thursday on The CW.
The much-hyped musical episode of Legacies, "Salvatore: The Musical," which was intended for last season but had to be delayed until now is here! The musical is supposedly about the founding of the Salvatore School but it’s really a retelling of The Vampire Diaries, and if the musical numbers are any indication, Legacies’ parent show just might make a great musical in real life. In Legacies, the musical is the brainchild of Landon, who’s been tasked with writing and directing (and possibly even choreographing) the project by the mysterious new guidance counselor, Dr. Robin Goodfellow, who’s made everyone believe he’s known them their whole lives. And as Landon toils away on the play, it gives Legacies the perfect vehicle for commenting on The Vampire Diaries universe while tackling Landon’s current troubles with Hope.
On last week’s episode, Landon and Hope discovered Landon has become mortal, and Landon confronted Hope about her inability to handle him no longer having his phoenix abilities to resurrect after death. This left the couple in an ambiguous place. Hope is angry with Landon for doubting her, while Landon is still attempting to figure out whether to stick with the relationship. So when Landon asks Hope to help with the musical and Hope instead demands he leave her family out of it, it’s clear repairing things between them isn’t going to be so easy.
Nonetheless, Landon plows forward with the play, which puts him in the position of having to delve into and interpret the story of The Vampire Diaries. His first obstacle is auditions where everyone who tries out wants to play Damon, a subtle jab at how people are more attracted to the vampire bad boy than the typically far nicer Stefan. In fact, the only one to audition for Stefan is Jed, who is cast immediately for lack of other options. Still, both he and Landon bond over the fact that Stefan’s the anchor of the story, something everyone else seems to miss.
Later, Josie, who’s been cast as Elena, tells Landon she doesn’t understand her character. She sees Elena as selfish because she doesn’t know what she wants and then she chooses herself in order to have a normal life, arguments that some TVD fans have made at some point. Josie also points out Elena’s final song about undying love doesn’t fit, but Landon explains it does because he thinks the show's about never giving up on love. Josie counters that he doesn’t believe that given he’s given up on Hope twice, putting both his take on the musical and his current falling out with Hope in sharp perspective.
Meanwhile, Landon is drowning in the plethora of monsters the characters in TVD contend with -- an especially ironic issue since Legacies has featured far more monsters than any of the other shows in the TVD universe. Landon is also having a hard time with things that left fans similarly scratching their heads, like Bonnie disappearing for long periods of time. Plus, he’s especially annoyed by the Sleeping Beauty spell that was put on Elena, which was specifically created so TVD star Nina Dobrev could be written out of the show after the sixth season.
If that weren’t enough, he comes to the disturbing realization that not only was Dr. Saltzman, the Salvatore School’s supposedly dependable headmaster, once a badass vampire hunter but he was also Caroline’s teacher. Obviously, while fans know the full scope of all the entanglements on The Vampire Diaries, like many children, the next generation in the TVD universe is less well informed about their parents’ activities before they came along. As a result, Landon may not be aware that Caroline more or less acted as a magical surrogate for Lizzie and Josie and is considered their mother because she raised them with Alaric, although supposedly there was never anything romantic between them.
All of the information makes Landon realize he has no idea what he’s really trying to say with his musical. However, after Dr. Goodfellow gives him some advice, he realizes it’s Hope’s family’s mantra of "Always and Forever" that is the missing piece of the puzzle. He confesses to Hope that he wants to be with her, but when Hope realizes he’s used a letter Klaus wrote to her as lyrics, Hope only becomes angrier with him.
When the musical is finally performed it touches on the rivalry between Damon and Stefan, their love triangle with Elena and Stefan’s final sacrifice at the end of TVD, along with doppelgangers and Caroline’s Season 1 insecurities. Meanwhile, the crowd gasps during the scene where Klaus donates the money to fund the Salvatore School, revealing many of them weren’t aware of Hope’s father’s deep ties to the institution's founding. And backstage, Dr. Goodfellow tells Hope her father was an entertaining conversationalist but a terrible painter, bringing up Klaus’ hobby of choice -- one that Hope shares -- although, in fairness, Klaus' paintings frequently got mixed reviews on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, depending on the viewer.
In the end, after Josie breaks her arm and can no longer continue playing Elena, Hope steps in to sing the song Landon used her father’s letter to write. It turns out to perfectly sum up how Hope -- and perhaps all the characters in The Vampire Diaries universe -- feel after experiencing incredible amounts of loss: that they’d rather have had the people they loved in their lives even if they eventually had to say goodbye to them.
After the musical, Hope and Landon apologize to each other, showing that their experience with the play ultimately helped them both. Landon admits he’s still mourning the loss of Rafael and was speaking to that through his work, and Hope admits it was good to have her dad portrayed in the show because it let the school see him the way she did. Yet, while the couple have made up and seem to be back on the right track, Landon is still human and Hope and the students at the Salvatore School still have a tendency to get into a lot of trouble with the supernatural. As a result, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before Hope’s concerns for Landon’s safety will rear their head again.
Legacies stars Danielle Rose Russell, Jenny Boyd, Kaylee Bryant, Quincy Fouse, Aria Shahghasemi, Peyton Alex Smith, Matt Davis, Chris Lee, Ben Levin and Leo Howard. New episodes air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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