Legacies Brings Rebekah Back to Mystic Falls as Alaric's Fate Hangs in the Balance

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Thursday's episode of Legacies. Read at your own risk!]

It's a new era of Legacies, in more ways than one. The CW drama has officially arrived in what was always supposed to be Season 4, and a few major things have changed. Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) is the tribrid, Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) is dead, and Alaric (Matthew Davis) might be dead too. Showrunner Brett Matthews promised that Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) and Josie (Kaylee Bryant) would have "bigger fish to fry" than their respective romantic pursuits, and he was not kidding. Humanity-free Hope assaulted Alaric and left him for dead, and now he's in a coma. And if the dark, tearful conclusion of Lizzie and MG's (Quincy Fouse) trip into his mind was any indication, he's also braindead. 

It may be naive to say it, but I did not see this coming, and I'm kind of thrilled — not because I don't like Alaric, but because it feels like Legacies is finally measuring up to the peaks of both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. It's always been good on its own, but now it's like the best of all three...the ultimate tribrid show. 

Now, let's dissect the best and biggest parts of "I Thought You'd Be Happier to See Me," including a much-appreciated visit from Aunt Rebekah (Claire Holt) and a new threat looming over a probably unthreatenable Hope. 

"Fancy Bitch" Rebekah Returns

Holt reprised her Vampire Diaries and Originals character Rebekah and paid a visit to Mystic Falls, planning to teach her niece the ways of the vampire. She was a little surprised to learn that Hope was humanity-free (but not THAT surprised), and a little horrified to hear her declare that she was her father's daughter. Rebekah proved she hasn't changed a bit when she demanded that Hope's new lady friend should change the music in the bar, "because I'm a very fancy bitch, and country music is for garbage people." 

The New Hope

Tribrid, humanity-free Hope is absolutely terrifying and also quite alluring, which the best vampires always are. She was spending her time compelling bartenders to give her a drink and hitting on women to give her another kind of drink, until Rebekah showed up and killed her fun. Rebekah tried to kill the fun even further by pulling out the trusty White Oak Dagger to put Hope to sleep, but surprise, surprise, it doesn't work on the tribrid! And for now, that's a good thing, because otherwise she would have been kidnapped by an evil vampire. But more on that in a second...

The New Threat

That bartender Hope was compelling turned out to be a vampire himself. He worked for the Triad, an alliance of vampires, witches, and werewolves who are no longer concerned with Malivore but now have one focus: destroying the tribrid. After Hope chained the bartender up, shot him with darts, and then killed him, she set off to track down these mysterious people herself, and my mind is racing with questions. Who are these people? Is there actually a way to kill the tribrid? What happens when Hope inevitably gets her humanity back? Will anyone at the Salvatore School have her back after what she did to Alaric? Will Hope even want to keep living when she realizes what she's done? 

The End of Alaric?

For a while, Lizzie and Josie had no idea what had happened to their dad, but a quick supernatural trip into his memories cleared things up. After her speech about killing Landon and switching off her humanity, Hope had attacked Alaric, stepped on him, and left him bleeding on the ground. The girls know it was not the regular Hope who did this, but they'd still be ready to kill her if she were anywhere nearby. Alaric is in a coma, but with help from MG, he and the twins got into his head to see if they could track down his subconscious. They found themselves in various moments from the past, like Lizzie's disastrous 11th birthday and when Alaric was trying to decide if someone as dangerous as Hope belonged at the Salvatore school. 

Finally, they found him at the hospital the day that Lizzie and Josie were born, and that's where Lizzie got to say goodbye to her dad before all the lights went out and his consciousness appeared to die. Alaric's body was stable, MG later explained, but his mind was gone. Lizzie and Josie are still determined to figure out a way to bring him back, but things aren't looking good. Might we suggest telling Candice King that if ever there was a time Caroline was needed, it's now?

Anyway, Matthews sure wasn't joking when he said Hope's transformation would have "major implications" and take the darkness up a notch in Season 4, and I gotta say I'm on board. 

Legacies continues Thursday at 9/8c on The CW.