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The Originals: Wheel Inside the Wheel

"I know I ain't innocent, but I never lost sight of what I was fighting for."

Well, they've done it again. Another fantastic episode. There was a lot of name dropping this week. Some brand new and some returning to the fold.

I've been jonesing for some Esther backstory, and this week we got it. We met her sister, Dahlia. The writers made sure that Esther told us that Dahlia is more powerful. I still want to know where Davina fits into this hierarchy. She's been able to hide her efforts from Esther for a while now. Is she more powerful than Esther? And possibly Dahlia too? Maybe she will be baby Hope's saving grace. Dahlia makes perfect sense to me as "this season's big bad." Esther and Mikael feel more like lifelong enemies than one season wonders. Dahlia, however, already has so much evil potential should she show up. If she does make a trip to New Orleans, I wonder if Freya will join her?

If this story was supposed to make Esther more sympathetic, I'm not sure it succeeded. With the exception of throwing in a random daughter we had never heard of, everything we learned this week fit very nicely with what we already knew. And it was certainly interesting learning the lengths she went to in order to have the children that she has come so close to destroying. But, she still tried to have her granddaughter murdered, gives her own children nose bleeds at will, and just in general plays with them like dolls. At one point she even told Klaus that she was his salvation. Give it a rest, lady. You gave one daughter away to an evil witch, let one be tormented by his father, turned them all into bloodlusting monsters, chained one up in a cemetery... Maybe you don't have this mothering thing figured out as well as you hoped.

Esther brought Ansel back for Klaus, and Klaus is understandably not anxious for any father/son bonding. Hopefully Ansel is as open and accepting of his son as he seemed in this episode. Klaus deserves a little paternal TLC after enduring years of Mikael's torment. Also, while I know Esther did this for her own selfish reasons, I think it might be the first time she gave any of her children something that won't bite him in the ass. Unless he turns out to be as sinister as the two parents he already has.

Jackson, the leader of werewolf pack and Hayley's betrothed husband, found his way back onto the show too. Hopefully they can find something more interesting for him to do this season. He certainly wasn't any help saving Oliver. In a show that moves so quickly, especially one with so many players, it can be difficult to get attached to characters that we don't see as much of. I wasn't too broken up to see Oliver go and I only care about Jackson as much as he will get his pack out from under Esther's thumb. RIP Oliver.

People kept reminding us that almost everyone thinks that Hope is dead. I was wondering if these were hints that she would soon come back or that the truth was about to be revealed, but it turns out we were gearing up for the big reveal that there is still a price on her head. Is Dahlia alive? Does she know that Hope is alive? Esther mentioned that if she didn't kill Hope, then Dahlia would come for them all. So the big question now is, does Dahlia know that Hope is alive? I know that no one is a fan of magical baby plots, and it really only works if you cast the Olsen twins to play the baby, but I want Rebekah back, damn it! Maybe Dahlia will be what drives her and Hope back to New Orleans.

I feel like I give this show too many fours, but when the episode is this good how can I not. What do you guys think?

3 or 4 out of 4 New Cast Additions.

Bites and pieces

What happens to the mortals whose bodies Esther places her children? They can't be hundreds of years old like Vincent. Or can they? I'm a little fuzzy on all this.

I'm glad Cami finally knows about Vincent/Finn. It really bothered me that she was telling all of her secrets to someone that she absolutely wouldn't trust if he were honest with her. Maybe she should consider hiring a real shrink, and asking Klaus to compel him into not betraying her.

If Mikael loved Freya as much as Esther led on, I can only wonder how he will react when her fate is revealed to him.

Esther finally knows that Mikael is back, and I am still anxiously awaiting their first meeting!

If Esther makes all of her children mortal and they settle down and start having babies, won't Dahlia come for them anyway?

The blood that Gia drank to cure her werewolf bite didn't seem like very much. It seemed like more was needed last season when Davina had to choose between saving Josh or Marcel.

It seems unfair that Esther could kill Oliver even though his friends broke him out.

No Davina, Mikael or Kol this week. All of whom I find supremely more interesting than Finn.

Klaus: "Maybe I hate that I am the product of a whore's lechery."
Esther: *Slaps him* "Watch your mouth. You will do well to remember that you are still my son."
Wow. How many people do you think have slapped Klaus and lived to tell the tale over the years?

Klaus: "Hatred. A pure and perfect hatred that's greater now than the day I took your life."

Klaus: "You came after my child! And for that, I will make you suffer as only I can. After all, I am my mother's son."
I kind of cheered through this interaction. Every time Esther says something to Klaus, I want to throw something at the TV. Because as far as she knows, she had his daughter murdered. She can't really believe it's possible to come back from that! And he finally call her out for it.

Marcel: "You okay?"
Cami: "Yeah. To be honest, not the worst date I've had in this city."

7 comments:

  1. It feels like over the summer, the writers decided that they didn't have enough family drama to play with, so they went with deeply expanding the family.

    The whole Talia thing does work within the mythology of the series. None of Esther's children can have children, but they still live forever, therefore Talia gets no first born tribute. And I'm not surprised that Klaus's daddy finally showed up.

    I also liked Klaus versus Esther.

    Three out of four new cast additions from me, I think.

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  2. One more comment -- Nathan Parsons, who plays Jackson, was really wonderful in a vampire role on the last season of True Blood. I bet that's why they brought him back and made him broodier. If they give him more to work with than last season, he could be a much more enjoyable character, and possibly even romantic triangle material. Or would that make it a rectangle, now that Klaus is sort of in the picture?

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  3. I think Davina's less powerful than Esther or Dahlia and certainly less skilled and knowledgeable. However, despite the fact that it's never been explicitely made clear it seems that in order to break or bypass a spell directly you need more power than was required to cast the original spell. For example Bonnie needed the power of 100 witches to kill an original and back when she fought Klaus (when he was in Alaric's body) after Maddox had cast a protection spell on him she found it hard to break despite having the power of 100 witches at her command.
    In addition, many people have speculated that Esther is putting them into different bodies so that if they have children in those bodies they won't be genetically part of Esther's bloodline and thus not be owed to Dahlia.

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  4. I love TVD and I was really enjoying TO at the beginning.

    But...I haven't seen any eps of The Originals since midseason last year. I just got irritated with one of the characters...Marcel...I just couldn't stand him. His smug smile drove me crazy, and I was thinking, "I like this show, don't let this chracter bother you"...but I just sort of just piled up the episodes on the DVR and never watched them...

    So...I'm wondering. Shall I reconsider? Is season 2 making up for my Marcelotitis??

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  5. TJ,

    I, too, tired of Marcel early in the first season. But at this point (early in season 2) I don't find him smug or annoying--he is a much better character now.

    I think you should reconsider!

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  6. Great review and just an fyi they did mention the oldest daughter dying from a disease back in tvd and how that was the reason they left europe to come to america...and then when the youngest son died from the wolves that was the reason mikael told esther to find a spell so no more of his children could die...i believe this was said in season 3 by rebekah

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  7. TJ, you should definitely reconsider. Marcel becomes much less involved in the story as well as becoming less grating on the nerves.

    Anon, I had no recollection of them ever mentioning Freya. Thanks so much for commenting, and reminding me. I guess centuries worth of mythology is kind of a lot. :)

    Also I noticed that the witch I referenced as Talia is being called Dahlia in some places. Closed captioning says Dahlia is correct. Whoops.

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