So, have you gotten yourself together again since last week’s episode full of missing-Rebekah feels, Haylijah feels, and awesome violence? If, by some miracle, you missed season 2’s premiere “Rebirth,” check out my recap here.
Elijah launches us into episode 2, by reminding us that the Original family was happy in New Orleans once, and that Klaus’s expectations of what would happen when Hope was born were . . . a bit off (and Klaus does his trademarked let-one-tear-fall-to-break-my-heart). We see Klaus telling Hayley (although you can’t see her) that they need to work together, Marcel telling Josh what he’s fighting for is more than real estate, Marcel giving his speech to the pack of humans Josh brought him, Mikael being angry with Davina (and Davina standing her ground *cheers*), and Klaus reminding everyone that Esther isn’t going to stay dead without a fight. Then a couple quick shots of Cassie/Esther and Finn/Vincent when they first arrived, and then Cassie/Esther telling us that Caleb is really Kol (that was a nice surprise last week), with a little of his flirtation with Davina. And then, with a nice little bit of editing . . . Finn/Vincent asks Cassie/Esther what she has planned, and Klaus answers “whatever it takes to save our family.”
And . . . I really need better names for these two-faced (pun intended) characters. How about Cassther? Finncent? Koleb? Hit me up in the comments if you’ve got some better ideas, because Cassie/Esther just takes too long to type and is a little confusing!!!
And as the episode-for-real gets under way . . . we’re treated to horses running . . . which give me a bit of a WTF moment before I realize what’s going on. It’s flashback time!! My favorite time on The Originals! Spain 1702. Apparently, Kol has been a bad, bad boy. Oh, the wigs. Oh, the bad boy Kol. I think I might have died a little seeing Nathan Buzolic back!
Mikael is almost upon them, Elijah tells Kol, but Kol is not bothered. Says that if Mikael was there, Klaus would be “quite dead.” Klaus tells how Mikael left the head of his horse on a pike as a message, and Kol is his awesomely sarcastic self about it. Kol wants Klaus to leave so that Mikael will chase him, and Kol can make himself Mayor and stick around for a while. As you would expect, Elijah objects to splitting up, and as Rebekah is already waiting on the ship to leave, Kol must remind everyone why she’s so pliant – she fears Klaus. And, Finn? Well, Finn is daggered in a box. As per standard operating procedure. Kol insists he’s staying, and the two older brothers gang up on him, while he spouts threats of someday being harder to subdue and gets a dagger inserted – rather slowly – into his heart for his trouble.
Now, is this flashback foreshadowing of what Cassther is planning? Hmmmm….
Either way, Koleb seems to be enjoying his new found freedom (and powers?) as he struts around the French Quarter and makes the wind blow up a pretty girl’s skirt. He commits a little petty theft, and distracts the vendor with an apple avalanche, and then spots what he’s been looking for in Davina. She looks stressed, and Koleb looks . . . predatory.
Back at the compound, Mr Awesome Scruff (Elijah, in case you missed it) looks a little disturbed by the bloodied corpse he finds . . . with bloody paw prints – that turn into footprints – leading away from it. It seems Hayley is being rather messy. On his way to find her, he finds another corpse, and then Hayley in the bathtub. She’s unapologetic about her meals (the witches are no more than food to her now), and stands up – stark naked – in front of him. Elijah hands her a towel and berates her about her behavior, seemingly unmoved by her nakedness.
Turns out, Klaus gave Hayley those witches to eat, after he discovered that they couldn’t help him find the White Oak Stake. Klaus blames Elijah’s high standards for Hayley’s behavior, and Elijah insists he’s trying to help her by getting him to help her. Klaus says Hayley is “just fine” and Elijah strongly objects that that is good enough. Elijah believes that Hayley would benefit from a trip to the Bayou – a return to her family – to re-connect her with her humanity that he believes she’s losing to the hybrid she is now.
And . . . Marcel is pontificating again. He’s decided to turn the girl who showed up last week, but challenges the others on whether or not they are ready. As Marcel describes what it is to be a vampire – and that it isn’t for everybody – Elijah walks up and Marcel’s words are like a gut-punch to the Suited One. And we’re back in Flashback Town! Young Marcellus is struggling with a piece on the piano, in New Orleans in 1821. Elijah has been tutoring him, it seems, and Klaus walks in being all jealous and hurt and drunk. Rebekah is mentioned in passing as pouting over the Governor’s son (chalk another Rebekah-lover-death to Klaus!). Klaus is upset that he no longer has a playmate, and reveals that he has undaggered Kol – who seems to be eating his way through New Orleans.
The parallel is being drawn between Kol and Hayley, and here it becomes quite obvious. Kol speaks as though he’s forgiven Klaus for his recent “rest” but admits that he’s “still cross” with his older brother.
Marcel is surprised by Elijah’s visit, as surprised as Elijah is that Marcel seems to be forming an army. It seems Marcel fears the apparent alliance that is forming between Cassther and the wolves as she makes them daylight rings in return for their loyalty. Marcel jokes that Elijah should join his side, as he one of the last true vampires around. But, Elijah has an offer for Marcel. In exchange for letting Marcel continue making new vampires, Elijah wants him to find the White Oak Stake for him. Marcel doesn’t know where it is, or how to find it. Elijah carefully threatens Davina – says their conversation might get messy if he goes to her – to get Marcel to go and talk to her in his stead.
In the Quarter, Davina is studying, making notes from Esther’s grimoire with Mikael heckling her. She desperately wants to un-link her friends so that they won’t die when Mikael kills Klaus. He taunts her with his help, but she is wisely cautious. Koleb texts her, and she leaves to meet him.
But Koleb is tricky. As Davina leaves, he slips into the church and heads upstairs. Then he’s with Mummy Dearest and her doormat (Finn) in the cemetery, telling them that Davina is indeed hiding something. He doesn’t know what, as Davina put a spell on the lock of the door that he couldn’t break. Cassther tells Koleb that he should apologize for standing Davina up for coffee by taking her to dinner – and the boys squabble as they always do. Cassther wants to know where Davina’s allegiance lies. The threesome turns a corner, and there is a pretty numerous pack of wolves awaiting their arrival. Cassther has got the witches crafting Moonlight Rings for a wolven army that she plans on using against the vampires.
Klaus and Hayley are wandering the Bayou, looking for wolves. Klaus wants to get to “her lot” before Cassther gets to them, to get them on her side. He tells Hayley that its her job to find them, she’s got all the heightened senses of a hybrid now, she needs to use them. She shrugs him off. Klaus tells her she is their Queen, and she doesn’t think so. She says she cries all day, then feeds all night, and is a complete mess. All she can think about is missing her daughter, and Klaus says that he feels that too. They compare notes about how miserable they are, and then Klaus gets Hayley to focus on the scent of someone in her pack.
Marcel has arranged to meet with Davina, Elijah waits in the wings and listens, and while he does he falls into another flashback. Kol and Klaus have been on a rampage, Elijah is angry and worried about exposure. Elijah is worried about Marcellus’s safety and Klaus, in a jealous rage, insists that the boy stays with them, and in the process seems to choose Marcellus over Kol. Davina tells Marcel that Koleb stood her up, he gets all big brother type and threatens to kill him for it, and then he swoops in to ask for the favor he wants from her. He needs her to do a locator spell for the White Oak Stake. She hedges, and then protests that even if she did find it, she wouldn’t give it to Klaus and/or Elijah. And that’s when Mr Awesome Scruff makes his appearance.
Davina refuses to cooperate, which raises Elijah’s suspicions. After Davina storms out, he tells Marcel his theory. The reason she’s not worried about the location of the White Oak Stake that would kill both Marcel and Josh if it is used on Klaus? Elijah thinks its because she “knows precisely where it is” and believes she’s had it ever since it went missing. (And, he wouldn’t be wrong!!!)
Hayley and Klaus find the Bayou wolves, with Oliver acting like their new Alpha. Hayley’s reluctant to go and talk with them but, after being reminded of her crescent birthmark, Klaus convinces her to go. As soon as they see her approaching, they start to scatter. Oliver confronts them, and Hayley starts to talk. She asks them to let her be their leader. He says that none of the wolves will follow her, now that she’s a vampire/hybrid. Oliver and Klaus have a little spat, resulting with Oliver under Klaus’s boot. Once he’s convinced they will listen to her, Klaus goes off to confront Cassther.
Elijah and Marcel continue to discuss the White Oak Stake, and what it means for them. Marcel jokes that Elijah needs to be on his best behavior while Davina has it, and Marcel wonders aloud how he managed to survive the Original Family. Flashback time!! Kol toys with Marcellus, “teaching him theatre” and ends up daggered again by Klaus for his trouble.
Mikael continues to rail against Davina, and the way she’s choosing to do things. (The way she keeps taunting him with that bracelet is getting annoying. Its almost as though the writers don’t want us to forget that she has it . . . for some reason.) And Davina gets a text from Koleb, asking to meet for dinner.
Klaus barges into the cemetery, demanding to see Cassther. When a pack of wolves greets him, first, he admonishes them for bowing to a witch’s will. Cassther finally appears, calling him Niklaus (which should be his first clue this isn’t just some “16-year-old witch” he’s dealing with) and saying that she’s been expecting him.
Cassther offers her condolenses to Klaus on the loss of his child. She pours him tea, and they banter back and forth about the properties of chamomile. He confronts her about trying to ally herself with the wolves, and she preaches on and on about how the vampires are the scourge of the world, etc, etc, etc. Klaus looks suspicious, but cautions her that New Orleans is much more dangerous than she thinks. She counters that she’s already taking precautions as they speak.
Koleb and Davina are talking about their families over dinner – Koleb calls his mother a control-freak, and blames her for his no longer practicing witchcraft – and he talks about how they are kindred souls in a way. Davina gets a call from Marcel, and Finncent comes up behind Koleb to remind him why he’s there. Koleb explains that he’s trying wooing. Davina hangs up on Marcel (same ol’ I know you have the stake) and then heads back into Rousous’s and finds her way trapped by wolves. She attacks some, but they outnumber her and Koleb. She rubs her bracelet, says a spell of some sort, and POOF Mikael is free and tearing them apart.
He turns on Davina, but Elijah has arrived and throws his Father across the room. Shock evident in even his posture, he is clearly surprised. Marcel swoops in to save Davina as Mikael attacks Elijah with the White Oak Stake, but Davina tells him about her bracelet and that she can control Mikael with it. She makes him stop, and he whooshes away. Davina looks at Marcel with disgust and walks out. Koleb looks up from where he was hiding, and Elijah asks him if he has anything to say and he responds “not a bloody thing” but appears terrified all the same.
Klaus is back to talking about Chamomile with Cassther, and how his mother used to make that tea – and that he loathed it. She asks if he prefers mint. Klaus then tells her about his mother’s insanity, how she turned them into what they are and then acted as though it was their fault for the way they were. Once again, Cassther addresses him as “Niklaus” and he calls her on it. With a tear in his eye, he asks if Esther talks to her from beyond the grave. Cassther says that she knows what Esther would say – go to your room for being rude – and they stare each other down. The wolves appear to defend her, he threatens to kill them all – which she notes will undermine what he’s hoping Hayley can do (unite the wolves).
Klaus is talking to Elijah (and breaking the necks off of bottles to drink as he does) about how he watched Cassther’s reactions, the way she carried herself (the way she spoke of the awfulness of vampires), and swears that he saw their mother staring back out of her eyes. She’s not just guided by Esther, she is their mother. Klaus continues to react – with rage – and Elijah seems perplexed as to how this could all be happening. Elijah tries to interrupt his rant, and when he finally gets through, Klaus asks him, “What could be more important than our mother?” “Our Father,” is Elijah’s curt reply. Elijah tells Klaus how he saw him today, how he holds the White Oak Stake, and how Davina has control over him somehow.
“Which of our parents do we kill first?” Klaus asks.
Hayley brings a pack of wolves into the compound, and Klaus confronts her about it. When she replies that if they don’t stay with them, they go over to the witches’ side in all this, he agrees that she’s doing the right thing. Elijah stands in the wings, watching all this happen, remembering when Marcellus was young . . . hoping that Marcellus can be Klaus’s redemption. (How many times have we heard this already? Hey, Elijah? Maybe another person isn’t the answer. Maybe fixing Klaus is the answer, not bringing someone into his life!!) Back then, he blamed Kol and agreed that Kol should remain asleep as a “sacrifice” to save their family. Then, Elijah turns his back on Marcellus, forcing Klaus to begin to take care of him again.
Klaus realizes Oliver isn’t among the wolves Hayley brought to the “kennel” (his words). She says that they made a deal. Oliver is to go to Cassther and swear his allegiance to her and report everything back to Hayley. Klaus congratulates her, but Elijah looks concerned. Elijah goes to leave, past Hayley, and they have a moment that is reminiscant of where they were last season, but ends in Elijah walking away because he is “a bit uncomfortable” with all the wolves under his roof.
Koleb confronts Finncent. He thinks that the vampires were sent to Rousseu’s by Finncent and complains that he was nearly killed too. Apparently, it wasn’t Finncent, but Cassther that gave the order. Koleb seems more worried about the scar he’s going to have than what his mother’s plan was – “I’ve not had a scar in a thousand years!” – but she reminds him that Davina will try and come to him to apologize thinking that she made the situation worse. He’s upset that she’s stuck him in this body (whine, whine, whine) and she reminds him that he’s there because she brought him with her and he will only remain here because of her. She uses some witchy magic on him to bring him to his knees and make him listen. Finncent was watching from the attic, and explains what he saw. The attic door was open, the room was empty. Cassther wonders how Davina was able to attack the wolves that came to attack her. She asks if Davina had anything on her that would have called forth that much magic. Koleb lies and tells Mummy Dearest that he was knocked out in the attack and saw nothing.
Marcel’s new vampire-to-be is a bit of a violinist, and when Elijah walks up, he asks the Original to confirm what he seems to already know. Davina is gone. No trace. Elijah says she’s gone – letting Mikael recover from his wounds before she returns – and threatens Marcel if he already knew that Davina brought Mikael back. Marcel doesn’t see how that makes sense. Marcel asks Elijah is he’s on “Team Wolf” with Klaus. “I don’t do teams,” comes the reply. “Not an option,” Marcel says because he’s concerned the White Oak Stake will wipe out his entire line. Marcel wants Elijah to team up with him, in this new group that he’s creating. Marcel preaches again, and then turns Gia, and asks Elijah to be her mentor – hoping that he’ll be better with her than he was with him.
And BOOM!!! Until next week! (Not much of a cliffhanger at the end of this one, in my opinion, but sometimes I need my heart to not stop at the end of these things!!!)
