Legacies Recap: Slay Uncle — Plus, Chris Wood Hints at Kai's Next Move
Thursday’s long-awaited episode of Legacies put the Salvatore School drama on the back burner, opting instead for an hour-long trek into Kai Parker’s prison world. And it was illuminating.
Let’s start with what we learned about Alaric’s shady history as a headmaster: Not only did he send Sebastian to the prison world a few weeks ago, but he and Emma also did the same to a trio of wayward students 10 years earlier. A vampire named Jade, a witch named Wendy (no relation) and a werewolf named Diego were all banished following the accidental-ish deaths of a few local teens. Naturally, Alaric’s former students didn’t exactly welcome his family with open arms.
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And then there was the episode’s special guest: Chris Wood, reprising the role of Kai for the first time since The Vampire Diaries‘ final season in 2017. Kai gave Alaric and Josie a far warmer welcome than we expected, saving Josie from Jade and his “beard bro” Alaric from Diego. But before you start wondering if that murderous psychopath has turned over a new leaf, just know that it was all part of his much larger escape plan.
Most of the episode focused on Josie and Kai’s reluctant partnership, which included a trip to the prison world’s hospital for a vial of Bennett blood. A series of betrayals ensued, with Josie and Kai swapping secrets — and a few lies — in order to achieve their shared goal while maintaining their own self-interests. In the end, Kai revealed that breaking the mora miserium would grant Josie the power she needs to send her family home.
As for Kai, the episode ended with him using the Malivore pit to travel to the real world, where the Necromancer was quite puzzled — but nonetheless excited — to meet Mystic Falls’ newest monster. “They’re both abominable and so full of hate,” Wood tells TVLine. “So it’s a fun partnership. Not only do they have this disdain and distrust, but they also both think they’re smarter than the other.”
As for Kai’s next move, Wood teases, “He’s going to try a very different approach than we’ve seen from Kai in terms of winning people over and getting them to ultimately fulfill his needs. He has a new tactic.” Hmm…
Also worth discussing…
* After reuniting with Sebastian in the prison world, Lizzie ditched her family to live out an elaborate Beauty and the Beast fantasy, complete with a stunning ball gown and a descent from a grand staircase. Sebastian invited Lizzie to stay in the prison world forever, and while the offer was tempting, she knew she’d miss her family too much. There was also the ever-present concern of a mortal dating a vampire: Would he still be into her when she’s old and gray? Little did Lizzie know, Sebastian had already fed her vampire blood with the intent of keeping her young and beautiful forever, telling her, “I will not lose you again, Cassandra… I mean… Elizabeth.” Dude, what?!
* What does everybody think Kai’s “new tactic” will be? Given Clarke’s success posing as Vardemus earlier this season, I’m thinking… body swap?
* How much did you love Kai’s shout-out to his favorites: “Who’s out there? Is it Damon? Bon-Bon? Katherine?” (Oh, how I wish it actually was any of those three.)
* Oh, right! In our preview interview for this episode, Wood mentioned calling executive producer Julie Plec and telling her about “the worst thing” he’s ever had to film. Now that the episode has aired, we can reveal that he was talking about diving into the Malivore pit. “It was pretty disgusting,” he told us. “It’s cold and you’re weirdly buoyant in it. I think it’s made of vegetable products? Either way, it got into places that were very difficult to get out of. And they said it’s never happened before, but it actually dyed my skin green. It took two hours to get that stuff out.”
Was Kai’s arrival everything you hoped it would be? Click here to peruse our gallery of Vampire Diaries crossovers throughout the years, then drop a comment with your thoughts on Thursday’s Legacies below.
Launch Gallery: <i>Vampire Diaries</i> Crossovers
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