Season three of The Vampire Diaries.
The songs were catchy and well-written, especially to fans of the original series that Legacies was born from. Along with the songs, the performances on stage also featured many nods to The Vampire Diaries as well. Longtime viewers were sure to appreciate these excellent callbacks to a universe that has been running for over a decade.
The First Meeting
The opening number of the episode is "Welcome to Mystic Falls." The whole premise is to introduce the audience to the weird world of this small Virginia town where so many supernatural things occur. In the middle of this number, the characters of Stefan and Elena take center stage.
Played by Josie (Kaylee Bryant) and Jed (Ben Levin), the scene reimagines the pivotal first meeting between Elena and Stefan. They bump into each other just as the characters did way back in 2009 when the pilot episode originally aired. It was brief but meaningful.
Name Drops
The shortest song of the entire episode is "Just Don't Think About Damon/Doppelganger." Although it only clocks in at around 53 seconds, it features many nods to the original series. For starters, it obviously says a lot about Elena's feelings for Damon throughout the early seasons.
However, the best bit comes right at the beginning. Before ever even mentioning Damon, Elena notes the people it would be okay to think about. That includes Bonnie, Jeremy, and Caroline. The latter is mentioned often on the show but Bonnie and Jeremy were welcome surprises.
Hello Brother
Arguably, the best song in the episode is "Hello Brother." It is performed by Jed and Kaleb (Chris Lee), who portray Stefan and Damon. It is a wonderful retelling of another pivotal pilot episode moment when Stefan sees Damon for the first time in years.
As good as the track and the lyrics are, the highlight is the way that this number delivers it all. Some of the camera angles are exactly how they were in the first episode, including the specific zoom-in when Damon first appears on the screen. Longtime fans caught this small note.
Katherine Was Secretly There
If there was one major gripe with the episode, it's that it didn't feature enough music. There was so much more story that could've been told through song and dance since The Vampire Diaries did span eight total seasons. One character absent was Katherine Pierce.
However, the fan-favorite was apparently actually there. According to Kaylee Bryant, "When we were doing 'Hello Brother,' I was talking about how Elena, when she looks at Stefan, is Elena and then she switches to Katherine every time she looks at Damon. That's a little Easter egg for the fans that we were playing with."
Season One Caroline
If you weren't all that familiar with The Vampire Diaries in its early days, then the song "I'll Be OK" was probably confusing. In it, Lizzie Saltzman (Jenny Boyd) played her mother Caroline. Beginning with season two of TVD, Caroline was a badass vampire and a beloved character.
Things were much different in season one though. Caroline was a human then and she was very insecure. That made "I'll Be OK" a sweet nod to that forgotten era. Caroline sings about how she plays second fiddle to someone like Elena because there's nothing special about her.
Animal Attacks
The most references easily come during the opening number, "Welcome To Mystic Falls." That includes a pretty funny look back at how ridiculous things are in Mystic Falls. In a town where supernatural deaths happen so often, humans had to be protected from knowing.
The combination of vampire compulsion and lies is what did that. The lie told was that any vampire attacks were caused by random animals. A few could be written off but after so many, it became something of a running joke. The singers made sure to note it in this track.
Mystic Falls Locations
Once again, some wonderful references came straight from "Welcome to Mystic Falls." It's actually the most appropriate of them all since a song introducing the town was sure to make note of some of the area's most famous locations.
There were back to back lines that made note of The Grill and Wickery Bridge. The Grill is where the characters often hung out and had many memorable moments. Meanwhile, Wickery Bridge is where Elena's life changed as her parents died there and Stefan saved her.
Events
For the final time, a reference from "Welcome to Mystic Falls" is noted. Just before the aforementioned lines about the famous locations, there is a pretty funny set of lyrics regarding all of the pageants and events that the town is known for.
A running joke was just how many special days there seemed to be in Mystic Falls on an annual basis. That included Founder's Day, the Masquerade Ball, Miss Mystic Falls, the Comet Festival, prom, Tree Lighting Day, the Decade Dance, and so much more, all mentioned in the song.
Klaus's Letter
Okay, so technically this is a reference from The Originals instead of The Vampire Diaries but since it's all from the same universe, it works out well enough. Klaus hasn't made an appearance in Legacies but his presence looms large whenever history is discussed.
This episode saw his past as a killer brought up early on and then his more positive side was mentioned. Landon used a heartfelt letter that he famously wrote to Hope for a song, "You Will Always Be My Hope." She wasn't pleased with this decision but it was still a great nod to who Klaus truly was.
Elena's Diaries
It's quite easy to forget but when The Vampire Diaries began, a major part of the show indeed involved diaries. Elena would often be seen writing in them, including in random places like graveyards. It was meant to be a reference to the books the show is based on.
Over the years, the whole concept of scenes where Elena jots down stuff in her diary was lost. There was a focus on much more important things. In "I'll Be OK," the diaries were brought back as Caroline sang while Elena wrote on a bench.