Okay, Now ‘Legacies’ Needs to Bring Back Penelope Park for Real

Given the short time she spent on Legacies, Penelope Park (Lulu Antariska) made a big impression. She seemed to be the HBIC of the Salvatore School for supernatural kids, though of course she turned out to be a whole lot more. By the time she left the series last season, it was clear she was actually in love with her ex-girlfriend Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant), and was leaving because she couldn’t stand to see the codependent, possibly doomed witch destroy herself for everyone else.

Since then, fans have incessantly been asking when Penelope would be coming back to the show, and as of this week’s “Screw Endgame,” it’s clear Penelope has to return — and soon.

Spoilers for Legacies Season 2, Episode 5 “Screw Endgame” past this point.

First, a little setup. Last season, Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) jumped into a literal memory hole, erasing herself from existence in order to save the world. In order to make sure it stuck, her mentor Alaric Saltzman (Matt Davis) burned every record related to her. That way, nobody would go after her, and undo what she had done. Only, as it turns out, he missed one little thing; though more on that in a second.

While Hope was missing, her boyfriend Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) moved on over the summer, getting together with the similarly lonely Josie, still heartbroken over Penelope leaving. I’ve written at length before about the relationship, which the actors, writers and behind the camera staff are doing a bang-up job of trying to sell, only I ain’t buying it. Mainly because given how tied Landon is to Hope — he’s a Phoenix, and every time he “dies” he’s been picturing her face — and Josie is to Penelope, it feels like the couple is just biding time to create complications.

Turns out I should have known better. Legacies is one of the smartest shows on TV mainly because it’s aware of its own writing structure, and allows its characters to work at the top of their own intelligence. And it thankfully skirts the edge of being self-aware and winking because the characters are hyper-intelligent and constantly probing their own emotions.

That becomes distinctly clear during a plot-line where Josie’s sister Lizzie Saltzman (Jenny Boyd) and Hope are trapped in an ’80s style video game labyrinth, constantly dying and going back to the beginning. In the process, Lizzie — who remembers Hope, after Josie cast a spell — ribs Hope about her choice to not tell anyone she’s back on Earth.

“No one’s been better off without you,” Lizzie says. “Landon and Josie are just filling a void, left by you and Penelope. My dad is lonely, Raf is a mess, again. And apparently, I’m hallucinating boyfriends. If my broken mind can remember you, then maybe that spell Josie did could bring everyone’s memories back. You and Landon are made for each other. Which is why you need to tell him and Josie before they do the deed.”

I mean, come on: having characters talk about who is and isn’t “endgame” while literally being trapped in a game that seemingly has no end? That’s cute.

Regardless, lots to unpack there, but in case you didn’t catch on while Hope and Lizzie are trapped in a game Josie and Landon are figuring out whether they want to have sex, back in the real world. Josie seems into the idea, though Landon is nervous because it’s his first time. And yes, this is all from Lizzie’s perspective, but she’s right: even without knowing that Hope was even there, Landon is using Josie as a surrogate for his one true pairing.

It’s the same for Josie. She likes Landon because he’s a nice guy, he’s cute, they have fun together. All good reasons to be with someone, but it’s clearly not the same passionate, heart bursting out of your chest fiery love she had with Penelope Park. Unlike Landon, she knows about her lost love, and is using the time to heal — probably also why she’s more into consummating the relationship.

Mind you, once Lizzie and Hope escape, they see the two together and make other choices, realizing they need to live their lives for themselves. But Lizzie still isn’t wrong, and we get to see that when Penelope makes her presence felt, stopping Josie and Landon from sleeping together even though she never shows up on screen.

The one piece of material Alaric didn’t destroy was a diary given to Josie by Penelope. When we see it, it’s abandoned under a bed in Josie’s room. The book, which Penelope gave to Josie in a tear-filled scene right before she left town, contains every piece of writing from everyone in the Salvatore school. It’s a spy book, basically, and something Josie was loathe to use. Based on Josie’s reaction — she thought the scratching sound was rats, rather than magic writing inside a book — she forgot about it, most likely because it contains references to Hope. When she does open the book, she sees a page with “A Song About Hope” written by Landon Kirby, one of the pieces of music he wrote for her when the two were together.

Seeing this, Josie decides not to sleep with Landon, and while he is very understanding about it, she’s left crying on the bed when we see her last. And it’s heart-wrenching for Josie, but in the span of the show it’s the right decision. Landon is going to remember Hope, sooner or later (even though she ends up seemingly moving on with Landon’s best friend by the end of this episode), and when he does, the more complicated his relationship is with Josie, the worse it’s going to get for everyone. Instead, the accidental intervention from Penelope Park saved them from making a decision everyone will ultimately regret.

And there are a few potential paths Josie will probably head down from here, with the most likely one being she’s going to turn to the dark side. The Salvatore School’s new headmaster Professor Vardemus has been grooming Josie to become his disciple, and particularly with the revelation that he’s secretly the show’s big bad villain Ryan Clarke (Nick Fink) using a glamour, there’s every reason to believe Josie is going down a bad path.

Who better to turn her back than a returning Penelope Park? She was already called out this episode as the Landon to Josie’s Hope by Lizzie, with the implication that they, too, are “made for each other.” Penelope even saved Josie without even lifting a finger. If Josie is about to get corrupted, she needs her endgame to return… Even if the title of the episode disagrees.

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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