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The Originals: Red Door

"I told you to clean yourself up. That if you were clean, no one would know what you are or what you had done. And you did exactly that. And more. You created a place in your mind to put your victims. You began to believe that as long as your suit was immaculate and your hands clean, you can look at yourself in the mirror. No one need know what's behind that red door."

That was pretty amazing. Does it really get much better than this?

Maybe not that much actually happened. Elijah didn't escape his chains, Mikael is still a threat and Esther is still throwing her weight around as mommie dearest, but everything in this episode felt important.

This time they gave me an answer to a question I never thought to ask. Elijah is always dressed so immaculately, because mother told him to. My question is whether Esther simply used the power of suggestion to create the door in Elijah's mind, if she had a active witchy hand in creating it or if she created it now just to torment him. I feel like any of these options are possible, but maybe my hatred of Esther is clouding my judgement. Esther's treatment of Elijah breaks my heart a little each time it popped up on my screen, especially the looks of disgust that she throws his way. What makes her even more evil is the fact that she shows no remorse over what she has put her children through over all of these years. Hats off to the actress. I believe everything she does and says.

Finding out that Elijah, the honorable one, keeps all of his sins buried in his mind so he can more easily live with himself is an entirely different box of crazy, but it just makes perfect sense doesn't it? Remember last season when he promised Sophie that he wouldn't let Klaus kill the elder, only to rip her heart out himself? He kept his word, but not the spirit of the agreement. Would a truly honorable person do such a thing? Or will that decision be another one that haunts him now that he has opened the door? The Hayley dream sequence was just completely unexpected. Poor Elijah. Esther isn't playing fair.

The other part of this episode was the hunt for Mikael. Mikael is confusing to me. If he doesn't value human life, then why does he hunt vampires? He certainly didn't value Cami's life even though she was directly responsible for him being spared by Klaus. He didn't bat an eye at setting defenseless partying mortals up for Klaus to kill. Interestingly, his plan didn't work because he didn't count on the fact the Klaus could have people in his corner. People that would fight to protect him. People that love him. I don't think Klaus counted on that either, since the only person he called was Elijah. Of course Mikael turned community and camaraderie into a way to belittle his son. Mikael is pure class. I think he's lost an advocate in Cami, anyway.

Nina Dobrev guest starred as the original doppelganger, Tatia, this week. I love a good flashback, and I enjoyed getting to see a little bit of a character that we've heard about a few times now. They did a little rewrite of what we already knew, having Elijah be the one that killed her, but I think it fits nicely. As if that is what the truth always was. I also enjoyed what little we learned about Tatia. She was just a girl that liked a boy. When she found out the boy was a vampire, she did her best to stay strong and get herself out of the situation. She might be the most well adjusted doppelganger we've met so far. Except the boy ate her.

4 out of 4 Wingless Butterflies.

Bites and pieces

Esther revealed why Elijah is such a snappy dresser. It's no coincidence that he spent this episode in a dirty, tattered and bloody outfit. The writers are telling us that Elijah might not be who we thought.

Esther liked to compare Elijah's love interests with butterflies. She said he tore the wings off of them. Judgy Wudgy was a bear. I feel like if anyone has been tearing wings off of butterflies, it's Esther.

Will Kol ever be able to break whatever hold that allows Esther and Finn to give him sporadic nose bleeds?

I am seriously digging Kol and Davina.

Esther needs Klaus alive and connected to his sire line. Why? Does she have ulterior motives? I find that incredibly easy to believe.

Is Oliver dead? Do we care?

Esther wanted to call Tatia daughter. Maybe it's better that she died.

I know she's busy babysitting, but I miss Rebekah.

Esther: "Have you forgotten where you are, son? Save your strength. My chains don't break so easily."

Tatia: "Don't tell me you came to save Loki the pig from his fate."
Elijah: "No, I'm afraId Loki's fate is to become food. Just as you are fated to love another."
Tatia: "And you? Fated to watch from the shadows? A noble martyr? Fate does not dictate my heart Elijah. I was fated to throw myself on a pyre when my husband died in battle, but I did not. I chose to live and I chose to give my heart once more. To someone strong, smart fierce, noble yet gentle. I choose you Elijah."
Shades of Katherine. Tatia was a survivor, too.

Klaus: "You seemed to have crossed continents to weasel your way into Davina's good graces. Thereby meddling in my family business. Strange. Isn't it? Unless, of course, it's your family business. You know ever since dinner with my mother and Finn, I've been wondering when you might make an appearance, Kol."
Kol: "Then the jig is up. Hello brother.

Klaus: "Elijah, where are you? Mikael is loose with the stake, Cami is a hostage, and I'm weaponless and in need of reinforcements. Urgently."

Davina: "Klaus?"
Kol: "Angry bloke with dangerous aim. He smashed the place up and then he left."
Davina: "Where'd he go?"
Kol: "To hunt down your pet serial killer friend. Not to be Mr. Judgmental here, but I'm starting to question the company that you keep."
Davina: "The white oak stake?"
Kol: "It's gone, I'm afraid The serial killer one took it."

Davina: "I can give you a list of the people that have underestimated me. Not one of them has done it a second time."
I like that Davina makes her own decisions now, and doesn't rely on Marcel or anyone else to make them for her.

Kol: "You don't disobey Mother without some consequences. She's mad as a hatter. And that man you made your pet, my father, well he's more of a lunatic than she is.

Mikael: "You have a warriors heart. Perhaps I'll keep it as a souvenir."

Mikael: "You think having people makes you strong? It proves how weak you are."

Davina: "Are you alright?"
Kol: "A little light headed. May have something to do with being knocked ass over teacup by dear old dad."
I'm starting to really like Kol.

2 comments:

  1. A lot certainly happened in this episode, even though much of it wasn't resolved. All this backstory does explain Elijah a bit. He's so heroic, except when he's not. That Hayley hallucination was powerful, too.

    I think Mikael just hates. Has he ever shown that he cares about humans? My memory of the Mikael stuff in the past isn't that great. One thing I realized this time is that I'm fond of Cami and I was invested in Klaus saving her from Mikael. And then I loved that Cami saved Klaus right back. Maybe I'm shipping them a bit.

    Judgy Wudgy was a bear. LOL. Nice review, Laure.

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  2. Judgy Wudgy indeed.

    Seriously though, Esther is so evil that I just want her gone. Defeated, thrown off a very high cliff so she can have a Disney death. She's just the one I seethe over, probably because she was responsible for all the really heinous stuff last season. She's behind the witches being so unrelentingly awful. The thing about Esther is that she seems to just be twisted and evil. Her motivations are fuzzy at best, and vindictive and cruel at worst. Perhaps they are based out of love, but I truly doubt it.

    Mikael, I hate nearly as much but I don't want him to just die. I want him to suffer a bit first. He needs to be schooled, made humble, and then put into the ground. His kind of evil is based on ignorance and hatred. It's a much easier kind of evil to wrap your head around.

    Kol is working for me, perhaps even a bit more than when he was in his original body. He's not invulnerable, so his arrogance comes off as a bit more grounded. Plus he and Davina definitely have some chemistry. If there is on resurrected sibling I want to continue, it's probably Kol.

    Elijah... somehow I don't believe Esther. He might have this wall, he might have done numerous very bad things especially since he's been around for a thousand years. But somehow, I don't think he's as evil as she thinks he is. Because if that is true, she might convert him to her side, and that would just be miserable. It would be character assassination to make him evil, since he is basically the main hero of the series.

    Really good moment where Cami, Marcel, Hayley, and even Davina and Kol came to aid Klaus in that last moment. One on one, Klaus and Mikael are almost even. Klaus with back up is basically unbeatable.

    Anyway, great review, and a fun episode even if it was a touch frustrating on the Elijah front.

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