snowflake challenge #9 - promote one canon you adore

[resnullius_bells]

This is a great opportunity to make the Legacies rec post this blog needed.

First, and most importantly: the show is FUN. It has endless charm and I haven’t been bored in a single episode, even ones where my favorite characters were away. And though it IS an spin-off of an spin-off, I’ve watched neither of those and can follow it pretty well (I plan on watching the previous shows at some point because I’m sure they’ll enhance the experience, but my point is, you don’t need to).

The story is set in a boarding school for supernatural kids; witches, werewolves and young vampires, for the most part, with a few rarities thrown in. It follows a monster of the week structure (or more accurately, creature of the week; “monster” doesn’t really fit some of them) that I hadn’t realized I missed until I stumbled into this show. Its Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer homages are shameless and I love it for it.

There are characters, ships and dynamics for everyone. I happen to fall in the non-canon and/or problematic camp, but that’s just me LOL.

The lead character, Hope Mikaelson, is an orphan and the descendant of powerful supernatural lines, and somehow a witch/werewolf/almost vampire hybrid. She’s closed off and prone to anger, pretty badass and a marshmallow on the inside.

My favorite characters are the twins, Josie and Lizzie (points to icon. Lizzie is the blonde one, Josie the brunette one). They’re the human Headmaster’s daughters (I don’t know if “somehow even more of a questionable Headmaster than Dumbledore but nowhere near as brilliant” is a selling point here, but it makes for interesting plots LOL). They’re witches, but instead of having their own magic, they can only use it if they absorb it from their surroundings. Their biological (dead) mother was a witch, and there are dark secrets in her former coven that will haunt the twins. Their co-dependent dynamic is everything to me. And Lizzie's actress is a comedic genius, I swear.

My other favorite is another witch (witches FTW) that’s just been added to the show, Alyssa Chang, as the Mean Girl. I liked yet another Mean Witch, Penelope -Josie’s ex-, but it looks like the actress has left the show for good. Other characters you’ll find are Rafael, a recently turned werewolf (the werewolf mythos in the show is pretty interesting, BTW), and Landon, his foster brother with a mysterious backstory; Dorian, a badass human teacher; or Kaleb and MG, two teen vampires that take very different approaches to their status as such.

The show is the most fun I’ve had with a new fandom in years, and it has plenty of lovable characters to pick from, and interesting relationships all around. Its antagonists and creatures of the week are often hilarious -a few episodes ago there was a Santa vs. Krampus fist fight. It was awesome-, or reveal interesting sides from our main characters. It’s only a season and a half long at the moment (26 episodes total), the first one available in USA Netflix, and it’s already been renewed for a third season, so you don’t need to be concerned about a possible cancellation.

I don’t really like to put the focus on representation when it comes to recommending fiction, and though it’s not perfect by any means (the racial dynamics have some issues, although from what I’ve heard, not nearly as much as the parent shows), the show does interesting things when it comes to mental illness (Lizzie is canonically bipolar, and it’s a topic treated with immensurable sympathy by the writing), and it acts on the assumption that any of the teens could be queer and it’s no big deal (Hope was recently confirmed as having at least once crushed on a girl).

I would love to find people to talk with about this show, so I’d ask that you guys give it a try! You'll get a The Wish homage episode that made my year, powerful teen witches wreaking havoc, supernatural creatures harder to find in genre fiction, great family and friendship dynamics, hilarious villains, and did I mention the Santa vs. Krampus fight? That sure was something.

Comments

[author_by_night]

You've really sold me on Legacies. You said it's on Netflix?

[resnullius_bells]

Yay! And yes, the first season at least. The second one isn't up there yet, but I assume they'll upload it when it's over too.

[muccamukk]

I'm surprised trope soup show like that doesn't have an active fandom. I hadn't actually heard of it before. I wonder if people think they need too much backstory? It sounds really fun, anyway.

[resnullius_bells]

It seems to have a big enough following on tumblr and twitter, but I'm not very social in those spaces (too much drama LOL). And yeah, at first the fact that it was a spin-off was a drawback, but so far I've felt they give you enough backstory to keep you informed without making it an info-dump.

[wheatear]

This show took the Original family away from me so I never felt any desire to watch it, but it does sound fun. (I might try the episodes with Kai.)

[resnullius_bells]

Yeah, I understand that. The Kai episode is next week, so you won't have to wait long ^^

[wheatear]

I'll look out for it! (Don't mind me being melodramatic, haha. Seeing reactions to Legacies has gotten me feeling nostalgic.)

[resnullius_bells]

It happens to me everytime there's a new spin-off/remake/whatever of my old favorites, so I get it ^^

[spikedluv]

You've made this show sound very interesting. I watched, like, the first five seasons of TVD, I think? But never The Originals. It's a plus that you can watch this show without having seen that one.

[resnullius_bells]

Yup. Some characters might be mentioned in passing, but I think it's a nod to fans from previous shows and it's pretty inconsecuential; we get a bit more information if the actually have some minor appearance (or in Caroline or Klaus' cases, because they're respective daughters are our protagonists), always related to how it affects OUR characters, so I never feel like I'm missing out anything.