Legacies Just Nodded To How Badly Vampire Diaries Treated Bonnie
The Vampire Diaries has often reduced Bonnie to a plot device for other characters' stories, but it seems Cleo Legacies won't suffer the same fate.
Warning: Spoilers for Legacies season 4, episode 11, "Follow the Sound of My Voice."
In an important scene, the final episode of Legacies subtly nodded at how badly The Vampire Diaries' treatment of Bonnie Bennett's character. The show has been rocked quite a bit, as some of the main cast in Season 4 of Legacies have left and new characters have been added. Moreover, the sub-series seemingly remembered being part of the world of The Vampire Diaries this season, finally took up the previously established tradition and created many links with TVD and its first spinoff, The Originals.
In the absence of direct links, there were many similarities between the two shows. Legacies Season 4 Episode 11 "Follow the Sound of My Voice" is another one of those parallels between two characters, but with a twist. In a scene important to her character's development, Cleo Omono Okojie), whose inspiring charm is taken as inspiration by The Originals' Aurora (Rebecca Breeds) in Legacies, confesses that she is secretly sick of how much people demand of her. "I'm tired of people wanting inspiration all the time," she explained to Ben (Zane Phillips). Although she joined the Super Squad only in Season 3 of Legacies, Cleo almost immediately became an indispensable member of the team, with other characters often relying on her inspiring power to solve impossible situations. Over time, this dependence has become more like taking Cleo for granted, which she finally admits she wore.
The scene can be read as Legacies' implicit nod to how The Vampire Diaries is not done properly by Bonnie, and arguably is Cleo's mirror on that show. Throughout the run of the Vampire Diaries, it generated a good deal of earned criticism for how he often sidelined Bonnie's narrative and character development for the sake of the other main characters, a special oversight considering that Bonnie was the show's only main character. As the powerful witch Bennett, Bonnie has often been the accompanying belt and eternal solution to the show, and when temporarily unable to perform magic or trapped in the afterlife, characters are lost without her to save them from the problems they had often created for themselves. She was not completely frozen but was often treated as a plot device for other characters rather than a well-rounded character in her own right.
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Legacies' development of supporting characters certainly didn't have a stellar track record during the first three seasons. But Cleo's confession to the Legacies series hints that the same fate will not befall her. At times in The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie has all said she's been playing second fiddle to the rest, explaining that her role was to support her friends no matter what -"no matter what" (temporarily) led her to death. While Cleo has been no less supportive of her friends and has always been willing to put herself in danger to save the other members of the Super Squad, it seems that at least she has a better sense of self and self-esteem than Bonnie. Unlike Bonnie, who never admitted in The Vampire Diaries how many times she was expected to magically save the day, Cleo has at least expressed that she's not infallible and has limits like the rest.
Now that Cleo is without charm in Legacies season 4, and doesn't know if she'll ever regain her powers of inspiration, she regrets all the times she's tired of everyone asking for something from her. She's almost certain to get her magic back at some point in Legacies, and when she does, it likely gives her a new appreciation for what she can do. But it would be good for her not to forget that she has limitations and to resent other people's expectations accordingly. Bonnie sacrifices her charm, health, and even her life at various points in The Vampire Diaries and completely destroys her friends when they find out about her. Cleo - and the show - would be wise not to put herself in the same fate; She deserves (and Bonnie deserves) better.
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