How many times is Legacies going to avoid activating Hope's vampire side to make her a full-fledged hybrid? 

Legacies Season 2 Episode 7 was an exhilarating episode of this very addictive The Vampire Diaries and The Originals spinoff, but my biggest complaint about the series remained. 

The show is purposefully weakening Hope, to the point the whole powerful aspect that comes with having some of the most-talked-about supernatural beings as her family is starting to wear thin. 

The producers have crafted a convincing reason for stifling the teenager's power: Klaus or Hayley never faced anything the Malivore pit is spewing out, but still, it sucks when we're being led to believe Hope is powerful, only to have her play second fiddle to other characters. 

Clarke's plan was sound. In his disguise, his manipulation of Josie worked, and he got ever so close to becoming Hope. We already knew he wanted to kill his father, but taking over Hope's body would have been a low blow. 

Jealousy oozes from Clarke in an unhealthy way. He's always been the child his father doesn't care much about. It's all about Landon, so his pursuit of his brother is not entirely surprising. 

Still, the dude was prepared to activate Hope's vampire side to take down his father for good. That's the sign of a sucky person and one that doesn't deserve to stick around for much longer. 

Josie: I hate myself for having to ask you this, but cut to the chase. Who are you going to choose?
Landon: I still don't know because I am not him. I'm a prismatic hologram from your subconscious. I only know what you know. You have to find out what he knows.
Josie: Yeah, but he's holed up in the library doing research, and avoiding everything.

• Permalink: Yeah, but he's holed up in the library doing research, and avoiding everything.

Simu-Landon could become the Buffy bot of Legacies. The similarities were there, and I respect that Legacies isn't afraid to take aspects that worked well on other shows. If you don't try them out, you'll never know if they work, right?

The addition of Simu-Landon provided all the heartbreak for Hope during "It Will All Be Painfully Clear Soon Enough." Legacies loves to make Danielle Rose Russell bawl her eyes out for half the episode, so why not have heart broken into a million pieces multiple times?

All Simu-Landon knew was his love for Hope. He felt more like the Landon of Legacies Season 1 than the real Landon of Legacies Season 2 does, but that just goes to show how much the character has developed since then. 

Without knowing about Hope, the world moved on, and Landon is battling with his emotions. He has feelings for both Hope and Josie, and he thinks he's harming everyone by staying in Mystic Falls. 

Writing the note with Penelope's pen was his way of saying goodbye. He wanted to provide closure to the two girls who have strong feelings for him, but he also wants to keep everyone safe. 

The villains from Malivore all want Landon. There's no sidestepping that, and he thinks that by leaving Mystic Falls behind, he'll be able to keep them safe. 

Clearly, the teenager hasn't been putting the Stefan Salvatore library to good use because he would know that evil is always lurking in Mystic Falls. It's just a matter of where, and who becomes a casualty. 

It's sad, but it's true. We witnessed it for 8 seasons of The Vampire Diaries. The major positive about Landon's departure is that it allowed Hope and Josie to have the talk to see where they stand with each other. 

Vardemus: As crazy ideas go, this one certainly takes the cake.
Josie: But, it could work, right?
Vardemus: I suppose it could. However, it would require a certain level of black magic and I know how your father feels about practicing such sorcery.
Josie: It's life or death.

• Permalink: It's life or death.

If you watch Legacies online, you know they had a sisterly bond going for them, so it would be a shame to say goodbye to that in the name of fighting over a boy. 

Many shows would keep the two teenagers apart as they hurled insults at each other, but not Legacies. This is not your typical teen drama, and the writers should be commended for handling things differently. 

Always one to sacrifice her happiness, Hope was ready to skip town to allow Josie to be happy. That took a lot of guts, but I'm thankful Josie gave Hope her blessing to return to the school. 

Hope has struggled to belong anywhere for years. There's always been some drama keeping her away from the people she wants to spend her time with. Also worth noting is the addition of Lizzie. All three of them make for a dynamic trio that I could watch sorting things out for hours on end. 

Hopefully, they continue to work on being nicer to one another because I would hate for a silly plot to be thrown in to drive a wedge between them. 

Landon's decision will come soon enough, but I have faith that Josie and Hope will be able to give their blessing to the other, no matter what he decides. 

One thing that bugged me was the way Alaric looked puzzled when he looked at the chart on Professor Vardemus. It was a hastily cobbled together way to reveal the truth about Clarke, and it could have been handled a lot better. 

This did help bring Alaric back into Dorian's orbit, but there's bound to be more drama when Dorian inevitably becomes the headmaster of the school. Dorian is well-equipped for the role and knows a lot about the supernatural world. 

That being said, the riddle from the Sphinx was concerning. Kai Parker is probably much worse than Malivore could ever be. He's unhinged and will stop at nothing to get all the power he can. 

Whether Legacies will soften him up a little, I don't know, but we have until February to chew on that. 

As for Legacies Season 2 Episode 8, it's a Christmas spectacular, complete with Santa, Krampus, and more Clarke. 

That should be fun!

What did you think of Hope and Josie working things out?

Did Landon take the easy way out by leaving town? 

What's your interpretation of the final riddle from the Sphinx?

Hit the comments below. 

Legacies continues Thursdays on CW. 

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.