'Legacies' Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: "Since When Do You Speak Japanese?"

This episode was definitely my favorite, mostly because Lizzie Saltzman (and Jenny Boyd!) was the star of the show – she has always been, let’s be real – and not just because she took one for the team and finally stabbed Landon. (I’m mostly kidding about that last part.)

This is the face of someone who knows they’re the best character on their show.

This week’s monster is a Japanese spirit or oni that possesses people and shifts hosts through touch. It possesses a samurai, Kurutta, who was the only one who could kill it with his special sword. Originally absorbed by Malivore roughly seven hundred years ago, the pit regurgitates him (ew) with the purpose of taking Landon back to his father. Also for plot purposes, there’s portal to Malivore right in Mystic Falls now.

Except a well intentioned stranger touches Kurutta in an attempt to help him when he wakes up, disoriented and lost. Why is it hard for the citizens of Mystic Falls to avoid physical contact with the strange samurai in the middle of town square is a question we have no answers to.

Kurutta’s sword, also doubling as a supernatural honing beacon, leads him to the Salvatore school where he runs into Josie. Josie’s feeling the ill effects of doing black magic last episode and swears it off like everyone who wakes up on Sunday morning with a nasty hangover swears to never drink again.

She’s the only one who can communicate with Kurutta because she can also speak Japanese! Josie can do everything the plot demands her to apparently. Except make Penelope stay. (I’m sorry, that was too far, I know.)

Lizzie offers to help Josie hunt the oni, but she immediately rescinds once she learns the oni possesses people because she doesn’t want to risk her mental health, now that she’s finally feeling good about herself.

No other reason for me to include this but aesthetics.

Sadly for her, this feeling doesn’t last too long because MG proves to her that nobody else could see Sebastian but her, implying that she was seeing things again. This information breaks poor Lizzie and it’s devastating to watch her realize she’s only gotten worse when she thought she was becoming the best version of herself.

Josie and Kurutta track down the oni to Mystic Falls where Landon and Raf had gone in search of Alaric. Hope, who knows that the monsters are coming for Landon, is lurking about to protect him from any potential threats – something Josie isn’t too happy about. Kurutta tells them that he was able to have the oni in him and still stay in control because he had a “broken” mind.

Landon has a simple solution to their oni problem – he takes the oni, gets stabbed him with the sword, it dies along with him but only he resurrects again. But predictably, both Hope and Josie are very reluctant to do this and want to do everything they can to make sure Landon stays un-possessed. Even more predictably, they fail.

No other reason for me to include this but aesthetics x2.

Possessed Landon kills Kurutta (you will be missed, rip) and heads to the Malivore portal with the sword in hand. Fortunately for the actual Landon, he runs into Lizzie. She doesn’t have a moment’s hesitation before killing him. It tickled me that Lizzie didn’t have a second thought about making a decision that Hope and Josie refused to for most of the episode. It’s even funnier when you realize that she actually takes the oni from him before she kills him.

Lizzie manages to stay in control of herself as she fights possession just like Kurutta did and chains herself to a tree before Hope and Josie can get there. She wants Josie and Hope to kill the oni by killing her, because she thinks her mind is broken beyond repair and she’s tired of living with her mental illness. She’s heartbreaking and still hilarious in a way that only Lizzie can be and boy, Jenny Boyd is scarily good at being possessed.

Josie – who can do everything, remember – siphons the black magic from the sword and defeats the oni instead, postponing having to gruesomely murder her twin for six more years.

Turns out that Sebastian was real, after all! He was projecting himself from his body (why not?) so that only Lizzie could see him. Except he couldn’t reach her anymore, so he approaches MG for help instead.

Josie’s health worsens after the black magic she’s siphoned but Vardemus gives her an instrument that helps her to ‘indefinitely withhold the ill effects’ of doing black magic, making her better again. It looks super shady and has me worried for Josie, but honestly, when am I not worried for Josie?

Either as the result of the oni shaking things around in Lizzie’s head or due the strength of Hope and Lizzie’s bond now that they’ve finally met (we hope for the latter but know it’ll be the former), Lizzie’s memories of her come rushing back and SHE. REMEMBERS. HOPE. I am overjoyed because they make an amazing duo and Hope can finally have scenes with somebody other than Alaric or Landon.

Lizzie’s face when she remembered Hope. SAME girl.

The fact that it’ll be Lizzie is just icing on an already incredible cake.

Elsewhere in Mystic Falls:

Hope finally put herself (and us) out of her misery and told Landon that before she went into the pit, they were in love but he was possessed and consequently remembers nothing. Boo.

Landon finally realizes that it’s Hope he’s sees every time he dies. Congratulations to him for putting this together as quickly as he has.

Her smile when she’s with them, we love to see it!

Raf may not remember Hope, however his crush on her is still as present as ever. Landon is very supportive, but it sure will be fun to visit this once they remember who she is. The aftereffects of being stuck in his werewolf form for so long make it tough for him to adjust back to being a full time human, but Hope promises to help him through this difficult time.

This show’s got me defying all shipping logic, because I ship this too!

Alaric hits it off with the town’s sheriff and she asks him out a date, but he stands her up once he realizes that his daughter almost died while he was flirting with her. We can only pray that this is a wake up call for him to actually take care of his daughters, but I really don’t have any hope (heh) for this to happen. (Hope puns were so three episodes ago and yet here I am.)

Turns out that there’s actually two Red Coats instead of one and I still stand by my claim that this plot was lifted straight out of Pretty Little Liars.

And ugh, Josie and Landon talk about taking their relationship to the ‘next level’ soon but everything will be fine and definitely no hearts will get broken in the process.