by Dianna Berrian
Ding ding ding! I’d like to make a toast. Here’s to those who have stuck around this long with a show that has had its ups and down. And to our fallen comrades who have left “The Originals” behind for greener pastures, I honestly cannot blame you. For a mid-season finale, it seems to have fallen a bit short from all the actiony goodness that we were overindulged with last week.
The episode opener is a dinner party hosted by the humble hybrid himself with a guest list composed of Marcel, Hayley and the leftovers of the vampires still loyal to their former leader. As Klaus lectures on the importance of loyalty in his kingdom, the wait staff slits their wrists to pour their blood into the bowls set out before the guests. Marcel zones out for a moment and flashes back on a conversation he had with Rebekah briefly after his relinquished his throne where she gives him some advice: “Give him what he needs most. Loyalty. Or at least, the illusion of it…Make me a promise: You’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive.” And following suit, trusty sidekick Diego flashes back to Marcel assuring him that it isn’t over yet, and to follow his lead. Klaus assures them all they are not defeated. His intentions are to celebrate what they have, “what Marcel, in fact, took – and built into this true community of vampires.” Diego asks about Hayley whom Klaus deems untouchable, but knows they are perturbed by the rumor that he intends to use the baby to make hybrids. He assures them he will not, and in an effort to gain their trust he sends them off on a wolf hunt so that there are no wolves in the Bayou for him to sire. And I am all about that, starting with Hayley!
Rebekah and Elijah, however, are dealing with the consequences of crossing Klaus, meaning the loss of all their furniture. Elijah is more concerned about Hayley’s welfare and takes off to see that she doesn’t suffer for their mistakes. Meanwhile Klaus is back at it having Cami type up his memoirs, but she is wondering why she’s even needed anymore? Marcel interrupts, surprised to find out Cami actually knows all. That is, until she leaves and the compulsion kicks in. They both question whether their feelings for one another were ever real, but Klaus reassures them that he only compelled her to give him a chance, and anything she felt was real. “And for the record, the level of awkwardness we are all currently experiencing is entirely genuine.” Ha!
Cami shows him the photograph she found from 1919 which spurs a mini-episode where she whines about how he’s tampering with her sanity. So, naturally, he compels her to forget finding it and remember nothing of their life as vampires as soon as she leaves. It’s no surprised that she’s right after dismissed. Marcel has come to inform Klaus that the humans aren’t thrilled with the new status quo and offers a tip for the new ruler of the city: “Politics and diplomacy with the human faction goes a long way.” But first things first, Klaus has a few things to get off his chest. Like the fact that he used Thierry, Cami and Josh in order to reclaim his kingdom from him. Oh and Davina struck a deal with Elijah to stay in the attic so he could let her study their mother’s grimoire. Whew, doesn’t that feel better to get off your chest? P.S. and by the way, Davina’s moving into the compound now.
Hayley is wandering on her way out of the compound when good ol’ Diego tries to stop her but Elijah gets rid of him. And Rebekah gets rid of the other two vampires skulking around to stop her. They try to spring the prisoned wolf but she’s actually fine, under the protection of the all mighty Klaus. But it’s the wolves who need help. Elijah is clearly ready to run around the Bayou and stop the wolf hunt but Hayley has to play the orphan card to appeal to a less than willing Rebekah. But then, considering “The Vampire Diaries”, we should all be used to Hayley being manipulative to get what she wants, right?
Upon arriving home, clear-headed Cami finds a sticky note on her mirror: “Believe nothing Klaus tells you.” And another on her book: “Your bag. Inside pocket.” So she checks it. And voila! It’s a voice recorder. She clicks play and hears everything that she was compelled to forget in the last 24 hours with Klaus. Smart cookie.
With instructions to relocate, Marcel makes a trip to see Davina and tell her she’ll be moving to the compound and that he knows about her deal with Elijah. Klaus comes in a little after and picks up on the fact that she’s an artist (if you could call it that…) and attempts to make himself relatable but it seems to just come across creepy, especially when he says “I look forward to witnessing your many talents.” He and Marcel retreat downstairs for their meeting with Father Kieran and the human faction which turns out to be just Kieran and the mayor. The mayor wants to be sure their pockets stay full, but Kieran lays down the city rules: “No feeding on the locals, don’t bring any unwanted attention to the city. If you cross the line, you answer to us.” Klaus laughs in amusement and lays out his own set of rules: “You will take whatever scraps I see fit to leave you and you will be grateful. If that doesn’t suit you, I may decide you’ve outlived your usefulness.” Well then.
And speaking of following rules, the vampires are out ransacking the Bayou for stray wolves to kill when Elijah and Rebekah show up to put a stop to it. They nicely tell the vampires to scat and leave these particular wolves alone. And just when Rebekah thinks the job is done, Elijah hears something and blurs off to find Eve hiding in the woods. Yep, she’s still a creeper. And it just so happens she has some helpful info for them. She brings them to another section of the wood and whips out her map of the Bayou to show them the wolves beloved swamplands which she explains are being infiltrated with newcomers from out of town. Apparently news spread about the demon spawn – sorry – miracle baby and the poor out-of-towners won’t know where to hide from the vampires. So? “You’ll want them kept alive.” Oh. Okay.
There’s a daytime feeding frenzy going on a the club while Klaus and Marcel share a victory drink. It’s short lived as a phone call from the human faction interrupts to tell him they’ve reached a decision regarding his terms. As he’s about to ask, the windows of the club are shattered and sunlight pours in. The night walkers go up in flames and wooden bullets, I presume, are fired inside, hitting both Klaus and Marcel. The windows of the club are busted and shots are fired. Humans rule, vampires drool!! …Ahem. Marcel is enraged when all is said and done, and blames Klaus for the death of more of his men. He says these are his people now and if he wants to run the city and be respected he has to own up to that fact. But Klaus is happy to see rage in his progeny’s eyes and says now that they’ve finally reached this point, how would you advise I respond? Marcel’s advice: “Let’s go kill them all.” Ooh. Dark bromance, eh? I dig it.
Davina is exploring the compound, but it seems like she’s looking for something and she finds it in the garage – Josh. (Shout out to the old school automobiles!) Turns out she was able to sense him there. He’s been hiding out until dark, scared to death of Klaus considering he betrayed him. But she promises him that he can trust Marcel, and if Klaus tries to hurt him, she’ll hurt Klaus. Hayley waltzes in on their cute friend moment, discovering Davina the all-powerful make-your-blood-boil witch. With a look that says she is wondering what kind of advantage she could take from the situation, she says “Maybe there’s a world where we could all look out for each other.” A world. A world? Oh, writers…
Kieran rushes over to Cami’s, answering her very paranoid voicemail. She questions him about the photograph from 1919 she found that he deemed a coincidence and lets him hear the voice recorder. She begins crying in fear about how she thinks Klaus is erasing her memory. But Uncle Kieran blows her off for a phone call and says they’ll talk later. He goes to meet with the faction and hears for the first time about how they attacked the vampires. He berates them for their actions, saying that they’ll start a war but they don’t want to listen. Then there’s suddenly a bout of confusion as they all wonder who who called the meeting in the first place. Klaus emerges all too happy to announce he set them up. He feels bad he didn’t listen to Marcel’s wise words the first time they met, but he won’t be making that mistake again. Enter Marcel, making an example out of the greedy mayor by stabbing him in the throat. It doesn’t take long until all of the humans are strewn across the floor, bleeding out and Klaus and Marcel’s bellies are nice and full of blood. Kieran stands as the lone survivor. “What a sad day for the city,” Klaus muses as he concocts the cover story about a tragic boating accident on the Mississippi. Before he can kill the clergyman, Marcel argues Kieran can do more for them alive than dead, and reminds him that he’s Cami’s uncle, playing to the supposedly evident feelings Klaus has for his niece. Klaus ignores that and tells him to remake the faction and they’ll reopen negotiations.
Rebekah and Elijah are out in the woods looking for the wolves Eve told them about. Their camp, however, seems to be empty so Rebekah seizes the moment to call him out on falling for Hayley. He tries to deny it at first but eventually he begrudgingly admits “it’s complicated.” Oh Elijah. They’re interrupted by Marcel’s vampires running after one of the wolves, but Elijah quickly puts an end to that with an ever so calm threat that seems to just do the trick. The wolf that was attacked gets back on his feet, expressing no gratitude whatsoever and instead asks who they are. But spying the pendant hanging on the string around his neck, Elijah says better question is who are you?
Before heading back into the compound, Klaus calls Marcel out on his act – imitating friendship. And Marcel points out that, in picking up the coin, he swore loyalty, not friendship. It has to be earned. So, in a valiant effort, Klaus finally tells Marcel the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God. In short, he says if he didn’t take Marcel out of power, the witches would kill the baby. At first the baby meant nothing to him, but then he recalled his father and how he held him in contempt from the moment he was born. As Marcel’s did with him. “I will not do to my child what was done to me. To us.” Marcel is cynical of his maker’s new outlook, but Klaus makes himself admit that he was, in fact, jealous of the empire Marce made on his own and he wanted it. But Marcel didn’t do it on his own. “I stood in the shadow of my father my entire human life and I never would’ve gotten out from under it if it weren’t for you.” So what now? Klaus can rule them but cannot win them, not without Marcel. “So rule with me. Side by side. As equals. Friends. Brothers.” He offers the flask as a peace offering, and Marcel will drink to that. And so will I because all I’ve been wanting throughout this whole war, since the backdoor pilot in April, was a Klaus/Marcel bromance! Yippee!!
Inside, Klaus is doing some more reading when Hayley stumbles upon him. She’s in a pissy mood, probably those pregnancy hormones acting up. She’s pissed about the wolf hunt he cast over her family. “They haven’t done you much good, have they? They abandoned you.” To which she argues, “Maybe they had their reasons.” Well, so does he. He is trying to keep her safe. Apparently Hayley has a brain this episode and asks that which is inevitable: “What happens when I have this baby?” Klaus has no answer. Clearly because he doesn’t care about her, just about the kid. Eh. But since Hayley is a raging hormonal pregnant woman, she’s hell bent on revenge. That’s when she finds Davina unpacking, looking for her violin. (Which is really Tim’s.) She shares the secret with Hayley that the witches are after her, but Hayley informs her that Agnes is dead. “But Agnes was the last living elder. If she’s dead, I’m safe. Marcel would’ve told me.” Cue Hayley’s manipulative nature kicking in: “Maybe he didn’t want to lose his secret weapon against the witches.” Except Davina isn’t as naïve as she looks. She knows Hayley just wants something from her and that’s why she’s sharing. And, yeah, she does. She explains to Davina how most of her family is cursed, thanks to Marcel, but every curse has a loophole. And since she’s a super powerful witch… But unlike Marcel, she wouldn’t lie. She’d just ask to get what she wants. (Or you know, manipulate.) Josh comes in just as Hayley leaves and brings back the missing violin. When she questions his opinion of Hayley and her trustworthiness, Josh confirms that Agnes is dead. “Elijah went all berserker on her crew. I guess it was super gross. Like, just, heads and guts, blegh.” I love this kid. Davina is in a panic that Marcel would lie to her and refuses to stay there anymore so she tells Josh he has to get her out. Uh, isn’t he supposed to be laying low? And doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose and just put him higher on Klaus’ list?
Klaus is toying with the piano in the plantation when Rebekah and Elijah come home. He’s a bit ticked off that they disrupted the wolf hunt. To make up for it, Elijah tosses him the pendant from the wolf’s necklace which is actually a ring. “Do you recognize it? Perhaps you don’t. It has been a thousand years since you last saw it grace the hand of our mother. The ring was in possession of one of the very wolves’ whose extinction you just ordered…He spoke of a legend wherein long ago a chief of theirs had fathered a child to a very powerful witch. Their mythology further states this child, a son, is later transformed into something this clan had never before seen. Something werewolf and vampire.” Ooooh! I get it. That lone wolf is tied to Klaus’ werewolf bloodline! Totally freaking awesome. Hold on. Wait. Klaus’ biological wolf family. Like…his father? Who might not be dead? Even though Mikael slaughtered the wolves when he found out about the adultery? Could one or two have survived, sure. But seriously? Sorry. I’m excited. But Klaus isn’t. He’s kind of fed up with the idea of family right now.
Father Kieran is lighting a candle at the church for his fallen friends. Klaus wanders in with a favor request. It involves helping people who need protection. From him. He was too hasty with the wolf hunt, but if the vampires find out he’s protecting them, it won’t sit well. Ohhh, so he does care about family. Aha. Kieran is sure they can arrange something, on the condition that it’s time for Cami to leave town for her own good. Which doesn’t make sense until Klaus shows up at Cami’s to compel her to leave. He finds her listening to her recorder and tells her “You’re looking for truths you don’t want to find.” She calls him a coward, afraid that he’s shown someone who he really is but he says if she knew even a fraction of who he really is it would break her in two. So she demands he show her. And he grabs her and suddenly flashes of his past play out, cause apparently he has this new superpower too, not just Elijah. We see images of him becoming a vampire, feeding and killing for the first time, turning into the wolf, his father chaining him up as he begs his brother not to let him. When they break apart, she’s sympathetic, claiming no one should have to experience that. And the waterworks are back on, because Klaus is the new Stefan and going to be crying in every. single. episode. Refusing to let her be killed for her involvement in the supernatural community, he compels her to leave New Orleans. Forget everything she learned there today. Forget him. She has no reason to stay.
Down in the Garden, Marcel is having another secret meeting with Rebekah. He explains how things are finally good with Klaus but if they keep meeting, they probably will be shot to hell. “You’re choosing him over me, aren’t you? Again.” Poor Bekah. My heart breaks for you, sweetie. But before leaving him, yet again, she asks him if he remembers what came next in 1919 after that picture. “Or have you forgotten our little secret? I know the words that will make him hate you forever. Remember that when you’re embracing your new family.” Say what????
Hayley is lingering out on the balcony when Elijah shows up to assure her the wolves are safe. She hugs him as a thank you and her shawl slips to give him an opportunity to remind her again to keep her birthmark covered. (We get it, writers, you’re foreshadowing!) They both look at each others’ lips for a moment like they want to kiss but, thankfully, he has to go find Klaus. He finds him heading up the stairs into the compound and takes the moment to wholeheartedly apologize for the accusations he made. “You don’t make it easy to love you, brother.” It strikes a chord for Klaus finally says, “when you are ready, should you be so inclined, both you and Rebekah are welcome to join me here. It is after all our family home.” Awww. Everyone is making up. Yay! Happy happy happy. Except for Hayley.
But let’s not forget there must always be a cliffhanger. While Cami is packing to leave the city, Davina shows up with a cry for help. “Marcel’s been lying to me and I can’t trust him anymore.” Oops, Cami’s been compelled. That’s okay, Davina can fix it. “I’m really sorry but this is gonna hurt.” You know what else is going to hurt? Having to wait SIX weeks for a new episode.
New episodes return Tuesday January 14th!
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