‘The Originals’ Review: ‘Fire with Fire’

Klaus Mikaelson always has a plan and then another plan hidden beneath that plan and then another secret plan buried in that one and so on and so on because the man has been defeating his enemies for over 1,000 years and has no intention of stopping any time soon. Last night on The Originals, Klaus took his plotting to extreme levels in his effort to get to Hope while paying back his siblings and Hayley for wronging him.

“Fire with Fire” brought out the vengeful side of Klaus that the people close to him know all too well. Elijah, Rebekah (fresh from performing a spell to unlink her from the young witches) and Freya were ready to put their anti-Dahlia plan into action only to discover that Klaus had escaped his dagger-induced slumber. Rebekah placed an SOS call to Cami, but she didn’t know what she could do to help until Rebekah told her that Klaus would listen to her because he fancied her. Cami agreed to help and Elijah took a moment to (hotly) send Gia away when she wanted to lend a hand and avenge Josephine. Unfortunately, Gia headed for Marcel’s and Klaus was already there – impatiently draining his son’s blood so he could compel him.

Meanwhile, Hayley tried to set the wolves free from her reign so they wouldn’t die too. They didn’t want to listen and the group continued to trudge through the flooded bayou to try and escape Dahlia’s magic. Hayley took a moment to tell Jackson she loved him and tried to set him free too, but he wanted to stick by her and Hope like he promised. Jackson’s grandma had a magic detector and once the fake storm ended they were in the clear as long as there was no black or worse, red, smoke surrounding them. Back at the compound, Rebekah began the spell that would trick Dahlia into believing Hope was there with Freya while Elijah waited in the shadows to kill their aunt.

Dahlia came as expected (and how cool/creepy was the doll turning into Hope?) and proceeded to lecture Freya for being a traitor. But Freya insisted that all she wanted was to be free and that’s why she had Hope ready for her. Dahlia started to step into their trap, but a compelled Marcel arrived and stopped Rebekah’s magic. The baby turned back into a doll and Dahlia used her power to throw Freya around and ordered her to go to sleep early. Elijah attempted to kill Dahlia as planned, but Klaus had other ideas. Klaus and Elijah started to throw down, using their vampire strength to (hotly) beat the hell out of each other. But Klaus got the upper hand just as Gia arrived and Klaus forced Elijah to watch as a compelled Gia removed her daylight ring and burned to death (way harsh and not cool, Klaus). Klaus warned his brother that he had much worse planned for Hayley.

Elijah went into vamp mode (something I never get tired of after we waited so long for it) and Klaus mocked his red door issues before stabbing him with Papa Tunde’s blade. That’s when Cami showed up and told him that she believed in him and knew he was better than this, despite his pain. Dahlia didn’t appreciate the interruption, but Klaus assured her that Cami wasn’t a problem, just another victim. Even as he moved toward her, Cami held her ground and told Klaus that she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, she’d known that from the first time they met. Klaus told her that she was wrong and then he bit her (okay guys, I know this looks bad, but I thought he was just saving her from Dahlia who would kill her. Call it shipper bias if you will, but I had complete faith that Klaus was not hurting her just for the hell of it).

That left Rebekah as the last line of defense, but Marcel had slapped the anti-magic cuffs on her and then Klaus compelled him to kill Rebekah if she tried to leave before he took off with Dahlia. Losing her human life would be a nice punishment in his mind. Rebekah being Rebekah did not just want to sit around and do nothing while her niece was in danger, but Marcel agonized at the thought of hurting her. I go back and forth with these two and if they’re really the epic star-crossed lovers they’re billed as. Seeing Marcel so torn up at the thought of hurting her made me want to put a check in the ‘yes’ column and I was completely sold when Rebekah took the decision out of his hands and slit her own throat. She was confident she’d wake up in her normal body because she remembered how desperate Esther was to get rid of her vampire body. I think we should all take a moment and give a round of applause to Maisie Richardson-Sellers for stepping into this role so flawlessly. She kept Rebekah on our screens without missing a beat and I will forever be impressed with her talent (That being said, I flailed when I saw Claire Holt in the season finale preview).

Dahlia uses Klaus’ blood to track Hope and he arrives just as Jackson and Hayley are planning on striking out on their own with Grandma and the baby. Jackson and a circle of wolves try to take on Klaus, but needless to say they’re no match for him (I know we’re supposed to be rooting for the wolves because they’re doing the right thing, but it just seems like they have suicide wishes). Hayley wants to teach her daughter to protect the ones she loves so she leaves her with Grandma and goes back to fight alongside Jackson. Klaus remains unimpressed and tosses them both around without working up a sweat.

When Dahlia joins him, Hayley’s bones start breaking. Jackson and the other wolves are facing the same problem and when she asks Klaus what’s happening, he tells her that Dahlia was happy to modify Marcel’s crescent curse so it works on hybrids too. Since all the other wolves are bound to Hayley, they will share her fate. Hayley begs Klaus to stop it and tearfully points out that Dahlia is going to steal their baby (Phoebe Tonkin brought it in this scene). Klaus corrects Hayley by reminding her she’s the one who tried to steal his child and now she’ll pay for it (obviously this is super cold and terrible on Klaus’ part, but what a cool idea, writers. It really is a fate worse than death for Hayley – stuck in wolf form and unable to do anything for her daughter).

Grandma turns into a wolf too, leaving Hope all alone in the car, but Klaus arrives and promises Hope that everything’s going to be okay (can we talk about the baby’s perfect side eye?). Dahlia’s ready to claim Hope, but Klaus has some conditions. Back at the compound, Cami wakes up and remembers Klaus being inside her head as he bit her, telling her that she must do exactly as he says. The scene continues to alternate between the compound and Klaus and Dahlia. He doesn’t want Dahlia binding herself to Hope just yet because there’s no guarantee the baby has enough power to break the sleeping curse and Klaus will not risk losing her for 100 years. Instead, Klaus offers to let Dahlia bind herself to him to break the spell and then she can use Hope’s magic to teach her and protect her. As Dahlia considers it, Cami picks up Mikael’s knife and uses it to slice Elijah open and take out the blade (BAMF). He’s disoriented, but Cami tells him that Klaus has a plan and he did all of these terrible things to get Dahlia to trust him. Elijah is still skeptical, but Cami explains that Klaus told her Dahlia’s secret and now she knows how they can kill her (most likely with the blood of the witch she loves the most, which means it’s time to resurrect Esther).

As if all this Mikaelson drama wasn’t enough to make the episode awesome, Davina claimed her place as regent to the covens of New Orleans with Vincent’s assistance. Some of the witches were against the idea and Davina stood up to them and reminded everyone that she’s the only witch who has gone toe to toe with the Mikaelson family and lived to tell the tale. She’s done being anyone’s puppet and she wants the witches to stand with her. It was a BAMF moment (Kol would have been so proud) and I like seeing Davina take her rightful place as the head of the witches (she might be young, but she’s more than earned it after the hell she’s suffered). Of course I could do without the anti-Mikaelson sentiment because I’m always going to be on their side, but this reminds me of season one’s turf wars and I like the idea of circling back to them. There’s definitely potential here.

Everyone was great in this episode, but Klaus was on another level with his game plan. I don’t completely blame Elijah and Rebekah for mistrusting him, but at the same time, they should know better than anyone that Klaus always wins. His team is always the right team and he loves Hope more than anything or anyone so of course he’s not going to do anything to put her in danger like siding with Dahlia for real. Of course he’s still Klaus so he’s not going to feel guilty about hurting Elijah by killing Gia or using Marcel to manipulate Rebekah back into her body so he doesn’t have to worry about her running off and finding happiness without him (And I’m always Team Elijah so I’m ready for him to teach his brother some manners next week). What Klaus did to Hayley was awful, but it can be undone. Whether or not it’s forgivable is another matter altogether, but he didn’t kill her or Jackson (or any of the wolves) so in Klaus’ twisted way, that’s probably showing them mercy he doesn’t think they deserve for trying to run with his daughter.

So what’s in store for the finale next week? More family fighting and teamwork and did I mention Claire Holt is back?