I had some serious issues with this episode, and it had nothing to do with its quality.
Perhaps it's asking too much too soon for Klaus to have undergone any substantial change to his personality or behavior. It just feels like at times he seems to have made so much progress, like all that it'll take is a few revelations about himself and he might turn an important corner. At this point though, I don't know if that's possible. Or if it is, I have no idea what the catalyst might be. And I think that's a bit of a letdown, because a part of me tuned in to see if this horrible character could maybe someday, someway be redeemed. Unfortunately, he was mostly just classic Klaus in this episode.
Sure, he wanted to believe in his sister at first, but when he found out the truth he just played along with the witches' plan. You'd think he would put off his need for revenge because of their blatant manipulation. For most of the episode I was hoping his controlling nature would buck against their plotting and he'd turn on them instead of his sister. I mean, isn't his hatred of being turned into a puppet just as strong as his need for absolute loyalty? Why was his first action to go after Rebekah?
Watching Klaus stalk Rebekah was horrible, because it wasn't death he was going to give her. No, his intention was far worse, an eternity of waking agony. The thing that bothers me more though, is how much it all ends up on Rebekah. Every single horrible thing Klaus does, Rebekah either has to support it or look like she's a traitor. She has been so emotionally abused by him over the centuries that her default habit is to hide everything from Klaus.
Knowing how awful Mikael was, and how horribly he treated Klaus, I can totally understand how big of a betrayal this is, even though Klaus can't see that it's his actions that drove her to that end. She even regretted the choice as soon as she made it, that after pulling the pin, she realized what a mistake it was. And even though what she did to Genevieve and Celeste was pretty damn horrible too, it wasn't as if she had much of a choice. Killing two witches in cold blood would've drawn a lot of attention from the local coven, and she couldn't let Klaus know because she would've ended up in a box for centuries.
Now that it's all out in the open, what can Rebekah do to escape? How can this be resolved without a fundamental change in Klaus? Perhaps because Elijah was the one that intervened and stopped Klaus from boxing Rebekah, again, something might actually come of this whole situation. Or maybe when Klaus is freed he'll incapacitate Rebekah and Elijah, and kill Marcel for the fun of it. That'll drop the cast down to just him and Cami, which doesn't sound like a viable option.
I think in the end, I feel like they have to stop hurting Rebekah. She's literally the most powerful woman on the planet in this fantasy universe, but that isn't an excuse to constantly torture and maim her for the sake of plot.
Bits:
Hayley kicked butt. Seriously, she blindsided Celeste and captured her. I doubt it will go Hayley's way, but for now that's awesome.
Again lot of really great camera work, using some neat transitions between shifts to flashbacks. The tone was also well done, with both the dilapidated and the retro hospital/asylum looking rather creepy.
So it looks like Rebekah's coup has ended before it began. I guess I'm not surprised, but I hoped for more.
Early on Tuesday Daniel Gillies tweeted "let's all take our shirts off at 8pm". I imagine there are plenty of Originals fans who liked seeing him with his shirt off. However, it feels a bit marred by the fact he was covered in witchy tattoos.
The name riddle on Elijah's chest was interesting, but I'm not entirely sure it worked for me.
So Sophie is officially dead, like Davina. I'm not at all thrilled at losing our two sympathetic witches in exchange for three evil ones. It feels like a poor direction to take the series in the long run. I was hoping to learn more about the witches and their heritage, but now I just want them gone.
Elijah working with Marcel was fun. They should interact more.
Flashbacks to 1919 and the Spanish Flu epidemic.
So no quotes section because Klaus, Rebekah, and Hayley weren't that talkative in this episode. The rest of the cast do get good lines, but those three tend to be the best source for them.
For the most part this show is well written, well acted, and consistent in plotting and execution. Sometimes things fall flat, but that's generally the case for any series having to fill up 22 hours of content. Honestly, getting as much good as we get is remarkable. For me this wasn't a bad episode, quite the contrary I think it was very strong. It was just disappointing on a personal level. In other words; how dare they not meet my expectations!
3 out of 4 Betrayals.
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.
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