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The Originals: The Kindness of Strangers

“We all make each other miserable.”

What is family for if not for making each other miserable? Especially true for The Mikaelsons. Either busy cutting each other down, building each other up or avenging each other. Never a dull moment.

As off putting as this final season has been, finding out that Mikaelsons would be reunited this week had me giddy. Cautiously giddy. At it's best, The Originals has always been about this family –their relationships and the ways they love each other. Getting the gang back together and locking them in with almost no outside distractions was as close to a hug as TO are capable of giving. I wonder if they knew it was my half birthday?

Let's dive right in, folks.

So we're in the fake house. The chambre de chasse, which Google translated as 'outflow chamber.' And when I googled 'outflow chamber' there was a lot of info about heart valves and aortas and pumping. So take that on your journey, whatever it means. Probably nothing.

I though it was really lovely that the Mikaelson reunion happened at the compound. Not just in New Orleans but within the (fake) walls that they shared and made into a home. Even for Kol, this place is where his siblings finally accepted him and fought for him. Although it's also where they betrayed him countless times and murdered his wife. Rebekah also spent a lot of time daggered there. So... okay... it wasn't always a fully functional home but still a place that they were bound to in their shared dysfunction. I'm glad that for all the crap the fans have taken in this final season, we at least got this one episode of The Originals. I'm going to pretend that they weren't tearing apart the symbol of their bond while searching for their keys. I'm going to pretend, until next week at least, that Klaus didn't obliterate the family crest. I'm sure it wasn't foreshadowing anything anyway.

So everyone needs to find their key in order to unlock the locks so they can access their doors to get back to reality.

Kol's key was in a book he sent to Hope for her ninth birthday.
Rebekah's key was in the floorboards.
Klaus' key was in Hayley's unopened letters to him.
Elijah's key was in a coffin filled with snakes and maggots. Oh teenagers, ever poetic.

I'm vaguely curious where Freya had hidden her own key. Or where Hope had hidden it? Marcel sort of shared Rebekah's key. It was where they exchanged their hidden letters and plus he was the one that found it but I wonder if he felt a little left out. He's spent so long feeling left out. Oddly, I didn't mind him crashing the Mikaelson slumber party. I can't put my finger on exactly why. Maybe the looming finale is getting to me or I'm softening in my old age. I still don't care about his and Rebekah's relationship though. Will they? Won't they? Blah blah blah.

Of course it was Hope. I should be thanking her instead of rolling my eyes into the back of my brain. Lucky for me, I can do both.

Well, Elijah Mikaelson has his memories back. Poor Daniel Gillies got no sympathy out of my cold heart and that's saying something. The boy can act his socks off. Too little too late and all that but what do we even care at this point? With so much story left to unravel with the Hollow, so much to set up for the spinoff and so little screentime to do it I can't imagine this will be dealt with appropriately at all. Rebekah reminded us that Elijah wiped his memories without telling anyone. It was his choice through and through and that's maybe the truly unforgivable part. He gave them all up voluntarily and Hayley paid the price. The audience and the other characters know Elijah well enough to know that the consequences of his actions will eat him alive. Are they going to make him suicidal? Endure rage induced fits? I can't see a way for the writers to handle this that ends with him alive. And I'm worried that's the point. He got his suit back on – maybe that's as close as he'll ever get to the person he was seven years ago.

No rating this time. It wasn't without its problems but I just want to enjoy what was probably the last episode of my originals.

Bites and pieces

Kol mentioned he was waiting for Davina to come home from work. Not that it matters but I'm really curious about what kind of 9 to 5 she snagged.

I looooove Rebekah but all she ever gets to do is whine about being stuck as a vampire. Get the girl a therapist. I appreciated her mentioning her grief over losing her friend/sister-in-arms, though.

It occurred to me that as Klaus' adopted son, Marcel could've gone by Marcel Klausson a la the Mikaelsons. I enjoyed this thought.

Check out Daniel Gillies on Instagram @mr.danielgillies. He posted a picture of himself and Phoebe Tonkin with the caption "i miss her too. i love her. i do not write our show. please behave accordingly." His caption sent me into a fit of hysterical laughter.

It's been fifteen years since a pregnant Hayley was taken hostage by the New Orleans witches.

If Elijah or Rebekah die, is there anyone (That we've meet on TO or TVD) we know in their sire lines that will die?

Will Antoinette's heartbreak turn her evil?

There are only four episodes left.

Rebekah: "Oh, Nik. Always so dramatic."

Klaus: "She needs a name, Hayley."
Hayley: "Zoe?.. Catelyn?.. Kathryn?
Klaus: "Oh, God no."
Hahahaha.

Freya: "We've all done dangerous things for family and we've seen each other through it. Now it's her turn."
Honestly, this seems like one hell of a point. And if the most powerful witch in existence (right?) thinks she has an idea to reunite the family, let her have a crack at it. On the bright side, there really isn't time for Klaus to really hold this against his sister or fly off the handle in the real revenge-y way that he is infamous for.

Marcel: "You know you're all the same. You setting fire to your guilt. Rebekah pretending she doesn't love me and Elijah lying about his memories."

Elijah: “Have you ever considered the possibility that perhaps you don’t even want me back? I mean, it seems to me that I make you all incredibly miserable.”
Kol: “We all make each other miserable.”
Rebekah: “But through it all, we are family, and we made a vow. Always and forever.”

Rebekah: "We are capable of doing terrible things, but we are also capable of forgiveness."

5 comments:

  1. Much agreement. Wonderful performance by Daniel Gillies. Elijah was the center of this episode, as he should have been. I also noticed that even though she caused all of this, we didn't see Hope at all. It was like we got our show back for one brief moment.

    In fact, this episode was exactly what I wanted the final season to be. I'm just hoping it's not all downhill from here.

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  2. So many tears...I’ll watch through the end but I like you don’t really know what I want from this show. Unless Hope becomes immortal Klaus will eventually give in to the rage whether it’s it two weeks or 60 years from now. Now Elijah will be permanently unhappy... Rebekah’s latest excuse for not being a constant on the show drives me crazy.

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  3. I really enjoyed the relationship between Klaus and Hayley even since Vampire diaries...They always seemed to understand each other on a level that only they could. If you watch their progression since season 1 its quite beautiful actually.
    Klaus carving Hayley's name into the tree. ''Little Wolf''...Dammit stop trying to make me forgive the lamest death ever with great scenes and acting.

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  4. Good that Daniel Gillies pointed all the internet rage towards the writers as it should be. :) Blame the guilty.

    I wonder if we'll see Davine one last time before it's over. And from what I see there are 5 episodes left not 4.

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