Courtesy of The CW
In an episode centred on the arrival of the next big villain, it is actually the relationship between father and son that shines through.
Let’s bitch it out…
Let’s take stock here – Klaus (Joseph Morgan) had two fathers, one biological that he met earlier this season and one that raised him and called him the “bastard son” for a thousand years. He has now killed not one, not two but three fathers. Figure that one out! On a show that celebrates characters returning from the dead, Klaus has now had the chance to get revenge on Mikael (Sebastian Roche) twice, which must have been satisfying.
I’m a fan of Roche, and I liked him when he originally appeared on The Vampire Diaries as Mikael. I also liked when he was killed the first time on TVD. In my humble opinion, he should’ve stayed dead. Bringing him back this season was a definite misstep by the writers. Mikael is a great character and a fantastic villain. He strikes fear in the heart of all of our original siblings, even Klaus, which opens up so many opportunities for stories. Or so I thought.
Bringing him back this season was ambitious. They already had so many story lines that Mikael just kind of fell flat. There wasn’t the same terror in the hearts of our main characters and honestly, he didn’t do anything to deserve their terror this time around. If anyone (Kol) was scared of him at all, it was based on past performance and on the thousand years he spent tormenting the family rather than on anything he was doing in the present day. I don’t know if Roche was busy filming other things at the same time, but there were just weeks that would go by without even a mention of his character being on the loose, whereas before, Klaus would’ve been trembling with his white oak stake in hand at all times. Like I said, it was ambitious to bring him back when they had already resurrected the rest of the family. There was too much going on to really give him anything worthwhile.
Having said all that, I saw two things I like tonight. Firstly, I saw the return of the Klaus and Mikael vitriol, hatred and fire. No one can quite say “bastard son” like these two! This is where they are at their best. And second, I love to see two characters that hate each other but have to join together for the greater good. There was one moment when they were down and out, fighting against all the surrogate witches in the church and they exchanged a look that brought a smile to my face. I love complicated relationships between people that are forced together despite their hatred of each other. But in Mikael’s final moments is where we saw the true relationship shine through. I was beyond surprised that Klaus made himself so vulnerable to Mikael in front of his siblings and demanded to know the reason that Mikael has never loved him. As Klaus waited with tears escaping his eyes, I found myself holding my breath for the answer as well. All in all, a great episode for Klaus and Mikael.
However, I am 100% happy with how it ended. Part of me didn’t think Klaus would actually follow through on pushing in that white oak stake, but I was happy to see that he did. This sham of a resurrection has gone on for far too long. It was time to bring an end to Mikael (again). I like the character, but as I said, he was wayyyy underused this season and it was a waste of a resurrection. Best thing is to put him out of his misery so we can concentrate on Dahlia (Claudia Black).
Its interesting that I just spent the greater part of this review talking about Mikael when the show actually centred around our first glimpse of Dahlia in present day New Orleans. I think that says a lot about how Dahlia went over for me. Honestly, the only word I can think of to describe my feelings towards Dahlia is “eh”. I’m underwhelmed. I get it that she’s supposed to be this all powerful witch but so far she hasn’t shown me anything different than any witch we have seen so far. The problem with witches on these shows is that they can all pull these disappearing acts, or do the vampire mind meld thing we’ve seen Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) pull a million times over on The Vampire Diaries. So to me, it seems like one witch is the same as the next. Every one of them is powerful and they all seem to have the same spells and the same tricks. <Yawn>.
Courtesy of The CW
Other Observations:
- The only thing I found interesting in the Dahlia story of this episode was the final moments, when Josephine (Meg Foster) so willingly gave up her life. Josephine instantly knew who she was dealing with and she just accepted her fate and let herself be killed. I suppose that speaks to how terrified we should be for baby Hope but I have yet to be convinced.
- Is Cami (an unseen Leah Pipes) just gone from the show? Did she leave New Orleans? Did she run off with Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood)? Chaos is surrounding this poor baby that Cami spent weeks caring for in a secluded cabin, and yet she doesn’t even pop her head in to the compound to see how everyone is doing? To see if there’s anything she can do to help with her uncle’s secret closet full of supernatural gadgets?
What did you think of our first scenes with Dahlia and the gang? Were you as underwhelmed as I was? Do you think she will get worse? What do you think will happen to baby Hope? Sound off below!
The Originals airs on Mondays at 8pm EST on the CW.