Legacies Review: By the End of This, You’ll Know Who You Were Meant to Be (Season 4 Episode 18)
We are in the home stretch on Legacies Season 4 Episode 18, “By the End of This, You’ll Know Who You Were Meant to Be,” and nobody is safe.
For a show that spent most of its run shying away from staking its favorite characters, Season 4 continues to embrace the darkness of its predecessors, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
The final battle claims its first victim in Kaleb, and I have to admit that my jaw hit the floor watching him die. Legacies rarely kills its teens off, so it’ll be interesting to see if this sticks or if the squad finds a loophole.
It’s noble of Kaleb to embrace death for the sake of the others, and we wouldn’t expect anything less from him, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking watching Cleo witness her lover die.
The editing choice to silence Cleo’s screams as she watches Kaleb die is perfect.
Her pain is even more potent as we witness it through silence. It flawlessly builds the dramatic tension and heartbreak as the others unknowingly celebrate back at the school.
Cleo and Kaleb finally found some semblance of happiness together, which is the perfect timing for disaster.
Cleo’s sentiment about his eyes calls back to the height of supernatural romance — Buffy and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is a reference that the series clearly loves, considering it mimicks the idea with Hope and Landon on Legacies Season 4 Episode 4, “See You On The Other Side.”
Although “By the End of This, You’ll Know Who You Were Meant to Be” hits on the emotional beats needed to prove the intensity of the Gods as villains and heighten the stakes, it isn’t until the final moments that it happens.
The episode spends too much time talking about strategy and not enough time dealing with the conflict itself. When is this battle actually happening? And will it live up to these expectations?
Legacies struggles to reach the dramatic heights of its mother show, The Vampire Diaries, which is glaringly evident as it attempts to build to something as massive as a battle against Gods.
This flaw is especially apparent in Ken, who is quite possibly the stiffest, blandest Big Bad I have ever seen. I know it is not helpful to compare everything back to The Vampire Diaries, but Klaus Mikaelson is the blueprint. Ken is a peasant in comparison to the king that came before him.
Although Ken kills Kaleb, which aims to prove his ruthlessness, his acting is flat and frankly boring. We know that he should be scary, but nothing in his performance shows us that.
“By the End of This, You’ll Know Who You Were Meant to Be” also struggles to connect Landon’s plot to the rest of the conflict, despite using an actual God.
Linn’s backstory doesn’t provide any information to help the battle against the Gods. Unless her story unlocks important clues that the Super Squad is missing, which it doesn’t, then it is unnecessary.
However, when examined as a completely separate part of the show, Landon’s scenes are lovely. Linn is right. Landon’s ability to rise above the unfair circumstances he faces in life and help others is beautiful.
It’s frustrating because although Landon makes an excellent Ferryman in Limbo, he deserves, more than anything, to go back to the land of the living. There is so much left for him to experience, and his painful upbringing paired with his enormous capacity for love proves that.
It doesn’t matter how capable he is in the Ferryman job; it’s unfair to his character to spend eternity dealing with complicated souls looking for peace.
While Landon’s subplot struggles to connect to the rest of the story, the time spent on “who” will die back at the Salvatore School undermines the impact of the death coming for the Super Squad.
It’s more impactful if the uncertainty of who will die looms over us as we watch the final episodes, keeping us guessing.
Plus, Lizzie Saltzman escaping the Merge to die at the hands of Ken is a depressing narrative choice when Alaric is right there. It’s blasphemous that Alaric continuously finds himself in situations where students are sacrificed over him, and he barely puts up a fight. And this is his own daughter!
It’s too early to reveal Lizzie’s death, so I’m still holding onto hope that Alaric is the one to die.
The series begins with Alaric mentoring his students, so it would be poetic to end with his sacrifice. He has served his purpose, guiding them into supernatural adulthood these past few years.
The Super Squad doesn’t need him anymore. They are all ten times more noble and selfless than he has ever been in his long (too long) time on our screens. It is time to retire Dr. Saltzman!
Overall, “By the End of This, You’ll Know Who You Were Meant to Be” expertly breaks our hearts in a necessary twist to sustain the story’s emotional stakes but struggles to deliver a strong enough episode to save the conflict as a whole.
However, the looming battle still has the potential to deliver on the darkness and tragedy that the franchise historically excels at in its final episodes.
Let’s hope for an exciting conclusion to the series as the Super Squad faces its toughest villain yet!
Stray Thoughts
- An Alyssa Chang mention! Who else jumped?
- After exiling her after her girlfriend left, it’s nice that the writers remembered Finch exists. She deserves more focus outside of dealing with Jed’s relationship drama, though.
- MG and Ethan’s relationship is bursting with romantic subtext, but we will have to keep dreaming on that one.
- Jed and Ben serve angst so well, and it’s nice to see them reconnect before Legacies turns out the lights.
- Lizzie is about to die, and her two most important family members aren’t rushing back to town. This is the problem with spinoffs!
- Alaric, people are dying. Why are you hosting a party?
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What did you think of this episode of Legacies? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Legacies airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Julia Paino
Julia is a TV and pop culture enthusiast who gets too emotionally invested in her favorite characters. She loves making people laugh and is always down for a Taylor Swift sing-along. She is firmly on Team Stefan and has been since 2009. Follow her on Twitter @juliampaino!