Landon compares his staying away from Hope and leaving her to be happy with Golem!Landon to when she did the same thing last season after escaping Malivore.
Both Kaleb and Josie point out that the last time Ric sent a student away to be imprisoned without knowing the full story it didn't end well and how he lived to regret it.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Everything about Landon screams Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and his description of his time in the prison world sounds like a soldier who experienced a particularly bad tour of duty. Alternatively since he was in a "prison" world, his description of being an Action Survivor can be interpreted as someone who spent time in a real prison.
Internal Reveal: Hope is less than pleased to realize that Landon has been back for weeks.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The central conflict between Kaleb, Josie and Alaric is convincing Dr. Saltzman that Cleo is this after seeing her Dark and Troubled Past. He eventually realizes they're right and welcomes Cleo to stay at the school with his apologies. Sadly though, she chooses to leave to find another way besides Hope to destroy Malivore.
Put on a Bus: Both Cleo and Landon chose to leave Mystic Falls; Cleo because she wants to find a way to destroy Malivore without activating Hope's vampire side and Landon leaves for similar reasons along with his PTSD.
The Reveal: Several about Cleo's backstory and the mystery of the artifact:
Cleo was a young girl who lived in a village in what is now Nigeria in the 15th century and was the granddaughter of a Muse. One day Malivore came to the village looking for a muse and Cleo willingly gave herself up to save her grandmother and the village. She spent her time in captivity creating new monsters for Malivore to consume.
Eventually she realized and inspired Malivore's plan to create a vessel, only to betray him and escape. Afterwards she eventually arrived in Renaissance Italy where she fell in love with a young man named Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci created the artifact for Cleo to hide in, which could only be unlocked by the person destined to destroy Malivore aka Hope.
Cleo is the one who created the leprechaun and Charon using the mud left from Landon's melting.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Landon, full stop. He has difficulty being around other people, he's stoic and his emotions are muted, and he's uncomfortable to talk about his time in the prison world.
