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The Originals: What, Will, I, Have, Left

"It's a really bad idea, but there may be a way."

If ever I've heard The Originals summed up more perfectly than that quote, I can't remember it. Sometimes desperate hail mary passes are really the only options left. Especially when there are so many ever-changing parts.

Omg! Omg! Omg! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who saw this coming? I did not see this coming. Were there spoilers leaked that I somehow didn't stumble on? Man, I have really been out of the loop. After the ending of TVD maybe I should have.

I remember wondering many moons ago if the witches would still be as maniacal after Esther left the picture and I think a part of me is still waiting to find out they are just as evil as ever. With Vincent at the helm, I can't see them returning to their baby sacrificing ways but hopefully that poor guy doesn't snap. He's been wound pretty tightly since we met him.

Let's talk about Hayley for a minute. She's had such a strong transformation. When we met her on TVD, she was a wild party girl desperate for a family. She become a leader of her pack, a protector of New Orleans, a distinguished and trusted member of the most tightly knit family of all time, and a truly loving and devoted mother.

Hayley's death was very much a call back to the last time she died after giving birth. Klaus was there, trying desperately to save her. Hope was there, helpless. Even Elijah showed up late. This time though there is no magic to her blood to save her. I did rather enjoy the slow motion of her realizing that even though Klaus and Elijah had shown up, they weren't going to be saving her. And that even though her uber powerful daughter was there, Hope wasn't going to be doing any saving. And even though Roman is probably a relatively good kid that's mixed up, she couldn't rely on him to do any saving. It was a powerful moment. And when she realized that Elijah wasn't there for her? Owwww. It will be extremely hard for me to swallow if Klaus isn't royally freaking pissed at Elijah after this. Memories or no.

The scene was so fabricated, though. If she had enough strength to rip off fingers and run through doors, surely there was another option to murder/suicide. And seconds after the fact, Klaus was able to jump up and squelch in agony. It was a freaking toothpick to the back. We've seen him fight through worse. If Phoebe Tonkin weren't so phenomenal in this role, it would be 1 star for me... If only the writers had consulted me (ha). As it is though, I shed a tear and couldn't look away.

2 out of 5 toothpicks

Bites and pieces

Let's face it, everything that wasn't about Hayley is either a bite or a piece. Nothing more.

After Greta picked up Klaus' coin, he didn't just let the three of them go free. Roman was left dessecating in a cave.

Freya and Vincent bickered about cluing Declan in on the supernatural goings on. Ivy chimed in about free will. Freya lamented about spending her mortal life fighting for her immortal siblings. Blah blah blah. The kicker: Declan is Cami's cousin. Whaaaat! HE NEEDS TO LEAVE. That family has a terrible track record in New Orleans. GET OUT! I'm usually with Ivy on the free will train, but here's hoping Vincent can convince a vampire to get him to go somewhere else.

It really cut me deep to hear Elijah refer to Greta and Roman as family and not the Mikaelsons. Are they trying to make Elijah piss me off?

Charles Michael Davis (Marcel) directed this episode.

Do you think Hayley died with dignity? Or did TPTB max out their budget too soon?

Vincent: "You want to tell this guy that his girlfriend is being used in a violent supernatural tug-of-war?"

Vincent: "You and I both know that knowledge doesn't come cheap. Not in this town. The more you know, the heavier the burden."

Oh, and Caroline was there. Am I the only one that felt like she was very out of place? I'd rather have gotten to spend more time with Hayley or met up with Rebekah or really anyone we've been missing. Even when searching for pictures, I could only find ones with Caroline in them. Why?

8 comments:

  1. This is the kind of episode that can end reviewers careers. So kudos for writing it and not ditching the show the moment Hayley died with Elijah complicit in the death.

    The writers really need Hope to have dead parents or the spinoff will look very fake with noone visiting her. At least Klaus has the Hollow to blame for not coming to visit, but Hayley had to go. :/

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  2. Yes, this was an infuriating episode. How could they do this to Hayley and Elijah? Laure, I was even wondering if you would decide not to review it. As Patryk said, kudos for writing it and not ditching the show.

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  3. Maybe I’m not a typical reviewer-person, but I didn’t see anything wrong with this episode? Certainly nothing “nightmarish and career-ending”?

    Phoebe wanted off the show. There’s been a lot of BTS drama online a few months ago surrounding it. It kinda tainted the show a bit reading all about it, actually. :(

    Her death was leaked just after comic con last year (one of the writers tweeted a pic of the writers room with a whiteboard full of lovely little details... Hayley’s death was on there, in the exact episode and manner it happened too) When an actor decides to leave the show, and it’s not abrupt (lethal weapon, or Angel with the season 5 cancellation) and the writers have enough time to give the character a legitimate reason for leaving, it sometimes works out so much better. I understood Tony DiNozzo’s reason for leaving NCIS, but just lately, the show also knew Pauley Perrette was leaving, but Abby’s exit felt kind of weak storyline-wise. On The Originals, like someone said, the show needs a way to kill off both parents for an excuse to not have them on the spin-off. Hayley dies, and Klaus.... well, I think they’ll resolve The Hollow somehow, but since the shows ending for good, it’s very plausible to kill off more charcaters too. At this point though, I’m more worried about Elijah not making it out alive. Should he get his memories back, his guilt over the events in this episode are going to be tremendous and absolutely devastating. Klaus.... even in the first episode this season, he says something like “[hope’s] better off without me”. Granted Hayley was still around, but he might do some self-sacrificing on his own to “protect” hope. We’ll see.

    As for Hayley’s death... the finger scene was weak, but maybe it was just that last ditch of adrenaline that got her through it. A hand through the chest can’t feel good, and she’s been chair-bound and probably blood-starved too for weeks too. And Greta was older and at full strength. Poor Klaus. And poor (future) Elijah.

    The Caroline bits worked for me, but I’m probably biased there. I love her character and I’m glad they’re bringing her over to set up a possible sorta-happy ending for Klaus.

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  4. This is probably a comment that Laure should respond to, not me, but I'm not upset for a reason related to being a reviewer. I'm unhappy because the only ship on this show that mattered to me was Hayley and Elijah, and they made the circumstances of his participation, or non-participation, in her death infuriating. I avoid spoilers and I didn't know that Phoebe wanted to be written out; it's the last season and these things happen. I just wish they'd handled it in a way that didn't piss me off.

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  5. I don't know how I did it. I'm not someone that even actively tries to avoid spoilers, but I dodged this one in a big way. I really did not know it was coming. At all. On the bright side, I am glad to have missed whatever gossip is making watching a little less fun you for you, Anon.

    Like you've all pointed out, if Hayley isn't going to be visiting Hope in school then she really did have to go. But the way she went out didn't have to feel so contrived. And Elijah absolutely did not have to be part of it. I'm really hoping this isn't an end run at killing off every character they couldn't rope into appearing on the freaking spin off.

    Plus I don't love that so much of TO's final season is being spent on Hope and setting up the spin off instead of letting us say goodbye to the characters that I've been sticking around all these seasons for.

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  6. They're sacrificing the Originals characters in order to set up the spinoff, and that's like throwing the series itself away.

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  7. On another note - and I can't believe I'm saying this - Hope is starting to grow on me a little. Maybe it's because she had more to do in this episode than make awkward and pained faces at a boy. She was starting to remind me of a prettier version of Kristen Stewart (NOT a compliment, except for the "prettier" part).

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  8. I'm not sure why I waited so long to watch the last season of this, as I watched the rest as it aired. But yeah, after watching this episode, I'm kind of glad I did. I'm sure the Haylijah shippers were ticked. I loved them together, and for the show to end things like this, for her to die because he prevent her rescue - wow. At least a couple years of distance helped. Poor Declan too.

    Yeah, I guess the spinoff means very few happy endings. Before this episode, I would have been happy with Elijah getting his memories back, having a conversation with Hayley about the old days, and going off to live happily with Antoinette. Now I want that relationship to die a bloody death.

    I was thinking the Klaroline shippers were likely super happy with this episode during the car ride - the lovely sort of fan service writers toss in as a show is ending. I hoped for more of that.

    If they only got Phoebe for 2 episodes this season, I guess the writers had to do something crazy - I just wish it didn't hurt so much.

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