#I don't expect people to flock to watch it bc there's a lot of context you're missing if you haven't seen TVD

[dragonbleps]

Dad and I finished Legacies last night and while I'm sure there's nitpicks I could make, and it's corny sometimes because it's a supernatural teen drama, I'm glad to say it was really diverse and handled a lot of things better than I expected and I'm glad I watched it

Mostly I'm glad that the show just let the characters speak for themselves rather than having them give a heavy handed "This is important because I'm a XYZ" that a lot of shows do which immediately makes some people turn their ears off and categorize it as "wokery" rather than them just being... people. existing.

Like, I spotted my somewhat homophobic Dad actually smiling at two guys kissing because the show just let them be. There was no angst about homophobia because there was no homophobia, it wasn't necessary to the story, they were just allowed to exist. One was a werewolf and the other a demi-god, so they had other things to worry about lmao

Also the gay characters don't die. Well, one does, but not permanently, he comes back. They stay together to the end and live happily.

There's women as the main characters. There's straight relationships, there's a lesbian relationship, there's a gay relationship, there's characters of color who have a healthy relationship, there's an interracial couple.

There's healthy male friendships. There's two guys who like the same girl and it could have EASILY turned into the dreaded "love triangle" that is not actually a triangle, but instead the guys stay affectionate friends and say "it's her choice not ours and we'll still be friends either way". There's multiple characters of color that are also mainstay characters who are JUST as powerful and important as the main 3 girls.

There's even mention of mental illness, although it's very vague. They call it her "brain chemistry" being different from others. Which is. something? I guess. I mean I guess it could be better to be vague rather than to incorrectly represent a specific illness in a way that'd further stigmatize it. Idk. But it's there. I can't really speak on how well it's handled since it's vague though.

Are there things it didn't do great? Almost certainly. Alaric and Caroline's relationship is, uh, weird, and I won't defend it other than to say that the full context is missing from the show bc it happened in The Vampire Diaries and it's complicated. But still iffy tbh. It's not really talked about, I just know about it from The Vampire Diaries, but even the characters admit "Hm. This is kinda weird actually" lmao

But it was nice to see a show that treats diversity as, yknow, normal rather than giving themselves a pat on the back about it by making characters bring it up in a "tell rather than show" kind of way. You know what I mean?

#missy rambles #i wasn't originally going to make a long post about it but. idk. it was pleasantly diverse in a positive manner #I don't expect people to flock to watch it bc there's a lot of context you're missing if you haven't seen TVD #but still. I figured the positivity was nice