‘The Originals’ Review: ‘Out of the Easy’

It’s a long established rule in this universe that no one throws a dinner party quite like the Mikaelson brothers. On the latest episode of The Originals, Klaus and Elijah decided to invite Lucien, Tristan, and Aurora to Thanksgiving in order to drive a wedge between them in the hopes of finding Rebekah’s location. Like every other vampire dinner party, things went wrong in spectacular fashion.

“Out of the Easy” continued season three’s trend of delivering fantastic, fast-paced episodes. Power changed hands multiple times over the hour and we still can’t be sure who’s telling the truth and who’s pulling the others’ strings. It’s been a while since we last checked in with our favorite NOLA residents so we’ve got more to talk about than usual this week. Let’s start with a quick recap of the important bits:

Lucien, Tristan, and Aurora have been working together since the beginning. Why? It turns out Elijah compelled them to believe they were the Mikaelson siblings and they spent 100 years running from Mikael until the vampire hunters daggered the real Mikaelson siblings and Elijah’s compulsion broke (his increasing deviousness is the BEST). So they vowed to make the Mikaelson family pay. Since they can’t kill them without dying too, their plan was to use a dark object (a medallion) to bind them together and lock them away forever.

In order to get that medallion, Lucien took it upon himself to kidnap Cami and Detective Kinney. He tortured Will until Cami found what he needed. Then he compelled him to forget and also to believe he was worthless and bad at his job (ouch). He continued to hold Cami hostage because he wanted the vervain to leave her system and make her forget too. Lucien reminded Cami that against vampires, humans would always lose (judging by the look on her face, she took that lesson to heart).

Rebekah found a spell that would bring Kol back. But before she could claim it, Aya showed up and murdered her witch body (rude and thanks for being so awesome, Maisie Richardson-Sellers). Freya used astral projection to assist her little sister in a fight against the Strix, but Rebekah ignored Elijah’s demand to return home immediately. When the sisters went to retrieve the spell, Aya’s witch blocked Freya’s magic and Aya stabbed Rebekah with something similar to the daggers Klaus favors. The Strix were supposed to bring her body back to New Orleans, but Aurora intercepted them. She wanted to protect her sire herself…something she gleefully shared with Klaus from his bed.

The Strix also sent someone after Hayley to keep her away from Davina. Elijah managed to step in and save Hayley and Marcel from certain death. Then Freya arrived to tell them about Rebekah’s disappearance and now that we’re caught up, let’s jump back into “Out of the Easy.” Marcel was tasked with handling Davina. He warned her she was in danger from the Stryx and/or Klaus, depending on whose side she took. Davina refused to back down or leave town, which would be admirable if she wasn’t so bratty this season. Marcel and Vincent went to Plan B. Vincent tricked Davina into revealing the truth to the covens. Under witch law, the ancestors stripped her of the regent title and her magic and the rest of the witches literally turned their backs on her. I’d say poor Davina, but I think she needs this. She’s had way too much power for someone her age and she’s made some terrible decisions. Plus all that anger is not good for her or anyone else.

Freya attempted to use a locator spell to track down Rebekah, but the odds were not in her favor. Can we talk about Freya for a moment and what an awesome addition she is to the show and the family? I didn’t trust her at all last season, but I’m happy to be proved wrong. She spent a thousand years longing for a family and now that she has one, she’s not going to let anyone take them away from her, including the other siblings. Her reactions to Klaus and Elijah’s fights are the best. Plus now that she’s likely mortal, she’s all about taking advantage of everything the Quarter’s got to offer (in between family crises). Plus, having a witch on hand at all times is an added bonus since the Mikaelson brothers need at least one spell per episode, if not more (usually more). And like her younger brothers, Ms. Mikaelson also enjoys punching people in the face and using her magic to torment ancient vampires and it’s a joy to watch.

This week, Freya had some help from Hayley in that department. After the initial dinner negotiations hit a stalemate, Freya and Hayley took turns battering Aurora around to try and find out where she put Rebekah. Of course Aurora had an ace up her sleeve (which will get to). But I want to talk about how nice it is to have Hayley back on Team Mikaelson. I do understand why the writers chose to have her side with the werewolves last season and it did make sense. It also makes sense why Hayley has no desire to forgive Klaus any time soon. But Rebekah and Elijah have always had her back so it’s nice to see Hayley stepping into the fray. Unless you’re Jackson…he’s not supportive of Hayley’s decision to put herself in harm’s way since Klaus and Co. can handle murder. Jackson makes a fair point, BUT he knew the situation when he signed on. Hayley’s said time and time again that she’s part of the Mikaelson family. They even lived in their house after they got married. At the same time, it’s kind of nice to see Jackson being less agreeable (I still feel like he serves little purpose other than off-screen babysitter, but whatever).

Hayley and Freya weren’t the only ladies attempting to get things done this week. Cami refused to be impressed with the Thanksgiving dinner Lucien provided for her or with his dead witch’s hand-me-downs. Lucien picked out a vampire nanny for her and told him to kill her if he didn’t return from dinner. Cami attempted to get to the dark objects, but the vampire nanny blocked her and threatened to hurt her if she tried anything else. So Cami proceeded to get drunk or at least pretend to be long enough to one up her captor and cut off his finger to steal his daylight ring (BAMF). I love that Cami saved herself. Of course it only lasted until she got to the elevator and Aurora stepped out, but it still counts.

It’s time to circle back to the Mikaelson brothers. Again, I have to give the show credit for ending their latest estrangement. Sure, maybe there’s not 100 percent forgiveness on either side, but when push comes to shove, family above all else and neither of them is going to let anyone kill the other or harm Rebekah. Once Aurora revealed she’d dropped Rebekah in the ocean (this bitch), all bets were off. The hits kept coming when Klaus learned what Lucien did to Cami. The brothers attempted to threaten some sense into Lucien and Tristan, but Aurora dropped another bombshell: she and Tristan each held half the coordinates to find Rebekah. If anything happened to either of them, no one would find Rebekah. For about five seconds, it seemed the Mikaelson family lost, but Klaus made the decision to snap Tristan’s neck and hold him hostage until Aurora returned Rebekah. In the meantime, he ordered Lucien to take him to Cami AND give him the medallion.

Let’s start there. They returned to Lucien’s penthouse and Cami was gone. Klaus was all kinds of furious and he killed the vampire nanny. But Lucien handed over the medallion. Is it because he knows the winning side when he sees one or because he has ulterior motives? Possibly both, but for now, I think it’s the former. His ultimate goal is survival and he has to know Tristan and Aurora will choose each other over him so it’s smart to align himself with Klaus. That’s assuming Klaus doesn’t kill him for Cami’s disappearance, which seems like a distinct possibility. And my shipper heart could not be happier. I loved Cami casually pointing out to the nanny that Klaus wouldn’t take it well if something happened to her, but nothing compared to Joseph Morgan’s acting skills. His facial expression at dinner when Klaus realized Cami was in danger and the hitch in his voice when Klaus called her cell when she wasn’t at her apartment. I cannot wait for their reunion and I would not be sad if Klaus killed a few more enemies in his search for her.

Now setting aside my own shipper bias, we should talk about Klaus and Aurora’s romance. She did not take kindly to the fact that he cared so much about Cami. And now she’s kidnapped her. That’s after committing what should be the fatal sin of harming Rebekah. Even Elijah questioned if Klaus still loved Aurora after all of that because maybe he can’t be trusted to do what needs to be done (removing Aurora’s head/heart once Rebekah is safe). I believe Klaus and Aurora loved each other back in the day and Elijah did accidentally ruin that with his first compulsion. There are unresolved feelings there and let’s be real: Klaus, like his baby sister, tends to fall in love pretty fast. Maybe a part of him does still love Aurora or at least the idea of her and what they could have had if things worked out differently. But don’t we all do that as humans? We romanticize the what ifs. Of course there’s no real guarantee Aurora’s feelings for Klaus are genuine, especially since she seems to be mentally ill. Either way, there’s a powder keg brewing now that she has Rebekah AND Cami.

And of course we need to talk about one last thing before we go: Elijah’s realization that Alexis’ prediction is still coming true in spite of the brothers calling the Trinity out on their plans. The Thanksgiving dinner mess was one of the things she showed them. So that prophecy might constantly be changing, but it’s on track at the moment and that is not a good sign for the Original family or their sire lines.

The show’s on hiatus next week for real life Thanksgiving and when they return, Klaus is on a mission to find Cami. Aurora’s already hurt her and she can’t be trusted so time is of the essence. Meanwhile, Freya, Elijah, and Hayley team up to make Tristan’s life miserable. I can’t wait.