Legacies finally gives us some answers in the engaging episode “One Day You Will Understand,” in which Hope and Landon’s reunion doesn’t go as planned, while Alaric struggles with what to do with Cleo. Josie shows Finch around and Landon comes to a conclusion.
Welcome Back | Alaric (Matthew Davis) calls Dorian to get the artifact back with the intention of returning Cleo (Omono Okojie) to its depths, which Kaleb (Chris Lee) surprisingly agrees with. As Josie (Kaylee Bryant) shows a skittish Finch (Courtney Bandeko) around the school, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) has about a million questions for the newly returned Landon (Aria Shahghasemi), but he is hesitant to answer. Kaleb asks Cleo to defend the fact that she tried to kill Hope and she uses magic to put Kaleb into her past in Nigeria- in 1464 AD!
Kaleb witnesses the young Cleo listen to a story from her grandmother about the villagers negotiating with a monster in the woods that wanted something. The grandmother then locks Cleo in her hut as she leaves to do something. Cleo breaks free to find the villagers talking to Malivore and she immediately offers herself to it and they leave together.
An Impartial Third Party | Hope takes Landon to Mystic Falls High to retrieve the artifact from Dorian, but Landon ends up in a fight with an old bully and he and Hope run off into the woods. Landon tells Hope that he was trapped in the prison world for years and fought monsters every day to survive, only escaping through the portal Hope created with Josie and Lizzie, but this means Landon has been back for weeks.
Kaleb tries to talk Alaric out of banishing Cleo, but since both of them can’t fairly judge Cleo, Alaric steals Josie away from Finch to have her relive Cleo’s past. Cleo shows Josie the years she spent in Malivore’s clutches and how she was forced to create a perfect body for him, but used her control over it to trap him and escape. Josie calls Alaric out for allowing her to come back to the school after her Dark Josie rampage, but condemning Cleo for doing far less.
Hope Mikaelson Must Die | Hope asks Landon why he let her be with his copycat for weeks and he says it’s the same reason she let him be with Josie- because she was happy. At that moment, the Malivore body that Cleo created arrives and goes for the artifact in their possession, but Hope and Landon team up and kill it. Alaric confronts Cleo about why she tried to kill Hope and Cleo says that in order for Hope to kill Malivore, she must die and become a vampire, becoming a true tribrid.
Cleo shares her full story with Alaric, revealing that she was released from the artifact when Hope unlocked it and made the fake Landon to prevent Hope from searching for the real one and risk freeing Malivore. When that failed she tried to kill Hope so she could trigger her vampire side. She also casually shares that she was romantically involved with DaVinci centuries ago and inspired his famous works. Alaric sympathizes with Cleo’s plight, but they both agree that Hope becoming a tribrid should be her choice. Alaric then offers Cleo a choice to stay at the school, but she chooses to leave.
Finch decides to stay at the school on the condition that Josie calls her her girlfriend. Landon finally confronts Hope and tells her that since her blood can destroy Malivore they literally cannot be together and leaves her in tears. He runs into Cleo at the bus stop and they leave to find a way to kill Malivore.
Legacies returns on Thursday, June 10 on The CW.