ReviewsTV Recaps

‘The Originals’ Review: A Light in the Dark

3
Annette Brown/The CW

I will never forgive The Originals for killing Cami.

It’s one of those things I will always look back on with nothing but hatred and anger in my heart. Like when I think of the series finale of How I Met Your Mother.

Rage, disappointment, and grief over what might have been forever taint my viewing enjoyment.

Tonight, Leah Pipes brought Cami back into the fold in “The Quarter.” Of course she was a figment of Klaus’ imagination—a side effect of Marcel slamming Papa Tunde’s blade into his chest. Cami appeared to help Klaus find his way to the right decision.

Annette Brown/The CW

Much like she did when she was alive, she served as confidant, therapist, conscience, and a powerful force of love.

She saw the light in Klaus’ darkness, and pushed him toward it. Cami urged Klaus to be a better man.

It hurt to watch. Not only because Leah Pipes and Joseph Morgan have fantastic chemistry and the Klamille shipper in me would happily take any scraps the show offers my broken fangirl heart.

But their scenes reminded me how much Cami is needed. Human or vampire, she wanted to help people. She wanted to find the good. She believed in doing her part to make the world better. For the humans, the vampires, the witches, and werewolves; it didn’t matter to Cami. She made everyone around her work toward the light.

Cami deserved better than to be killed to enforce Klaus’ never ending pain.

Annette Brown/The CW

While we’re on the subject of people deserving better, I know this Vincent storyline will eventually tie into the rest of the show. We saw a hint of that tonight when he called Marcel to warn him about evil lurking in the city. Evil he may have caused.

But right now, the story is eating up screen time at an excruciatingly slow pace.

All we know is while searching for a missing kid, he found a book with the symbol Hope’s been drawing on it.

I’m guessing this will somehow lead to his wife. Remember, Eva Sinclair? Rebekah inhabited her body for a while. She liked to collect witch children. She’s dead (and Maisie Richardson-Sellers is a regular on Legends of Tomorrow), but that doesn’t rule out a ghost or a never-before mentioned partner in crime.

(Also, wouldn’t the Vincent scenes have been more interesting if Cami had been there to tag along as a co-investigator and sounding board?).

Annette Brown/The CW

As for the Mikaelson family, Operation #FreeKlaus was a go. After killing a bus full of prisoners to gather their strength, and against Kol’s objections, the siblings headed to New Orleans to rescue Klaus.

Rebekah tasked herself with distracting Marcel, Kol kept an eye on Josh (who has a new boyfriend), and Elijah, Hayley, and Freya stepped into the tunnels to rescue Klaus.

I’ve never been on board with the Rebekah/Marcel relationship. Claire Holt and Charles Michael Davis have chemistry, but the pining for centuries doesn’t feel as urgent and desperate as it should. Therefore, it’s not believable. But I do enjoy watching Rebekah try her hardest to negotiate her brother’s freedom. No one’s hurt her more, and no one’s loved her more, either. Always and forever.

Annette Brown/The CW

Unfortunately for Rebekah, Marcel’s latest lady friend, Sofya, arrived with a crossbow. She managed to keep Rebekah down until Kol showed up to rescue his sister.

This was a highlight followed by a delightful moment between the two when Rebekah thanked him for the rescue. Kol must have been feeling generous because after snapping Josh’s neck, he sent a text to Josh’s boyfriend to make sure he wasn’t alone.

It’s nice to be reminded that Kol’s not all bad. We watched him grow a lot while he was in Kaleb’s body. And his love for Davina humanized him. Kol’s still a killer with little regard for others, but every now and again, he can do something surprising. Davina would be proud. Too bad she’s dead, too.

(Yup, still bitter about two women dying in one episode).

Annette Brown/The CW

Once they found Klaus, Freya got to work channeling Hayley to rescue him from the circle. Cami encouraged Klaus to remove Papa Tunde’s blade, and Elijah did his best to hold off Marcel.

The two fought for the fun of it, I guess? Because they both knew Marcel could and would bite him again. But he held off and then Hayley got in the middle, and begged for her daughter’s father back.

I know Marcel has genuine reasons to be angry at the Mikaelsons and vice versa. But this conflict grew stale in season one.

Watching them fight each other is boring. We know no one’s going to die (and that’s not a challenge, writers). Something will happen to get them on the same side. Then, something else will happen to force them apart. Been there, done that, please do something different.

Klaus freed himself, jammed the blade a quarter of an inch into Marcel’s chest, and left with his siblings, and Hayley. To the surprise of no one, Marcel pulled it out immediately, and followed. He met them at the rendezvous point, and threatened to kill them all again. Was anyone worried? At this point, the actors don’t even look like they’re trying to pretend to be worried.

Marcel gave a speech about how he’s better than the Mikaelsons and they’re only alive because he allows it. Remember when Klaus gave a similar speech? But sure, Marcel. Keep telling yourself you’re nothing like your father.

They promised never to return to New Orleans, and then got in the car, and drove to the house where Hayley’s living with Hope.

And then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, didn’t happen. Seriously. Hayley took Klaus to Hope’s room, and their daughter was sound asleep. Klaus opted not to wake her. But he smiled as he watched her. Adorable, but not exactly what we’ve been holding out all episode for, show.

While the hour had its strong moments, I would have preferred a faster pace (we’ve only got 13 episodes this season!). I’d also like Cami to be alive, Klaus and Hope to be reunited, and Marcel to team with the Mikaelsons to face an enemy without any of them betraying each other.

At least we’ll get Klaus and Hope next week.

Mandy Treccia
Mandy Treccia has served as TVSource Magazine’s Executive Editor since 2016, formerly as Editorial Director from 2012-2016. She is an avid TV watcher and card carrying fan girl prone to sudden bursts of emotion, ranging from extreme excitement to blind rage during her favorite shows and has on more than once occasion considered having a paper bag on hand to get her through some tough TV moments. Her taste in TV tends to rival that of a thirteen-year-old girl, but she’s okay with that.

General Hospital Spoilers: March 27-31, 2017 Edition

Previous article

‘General Hospital’ Week In Review: Stubborn Love

Next article

You may also like

3 Comments

  1. I miss Cami, too. Really bad decision on the part of the writers. I think they may have succumbed to the fans who eventually want to see Caroline (Vampire Diaries) with Klaus. I wouldn’t mind a crossover but I loved Cami…and I loved her and Klaus. They really need to think of a creative way to bring her back. As for Marcel…maybe I’m not remembering it correctly but if I recall they didn’t mean to kill him…and when he fell into the abyss they were devastated. Why haven’t they told him that???

  2. Are you kidding me? On his worse day, Marcel is a million times a better person than Klaus and his siblings. They are monsters. If they weren’t the stars of the show, most of the audience would be rooting for them to suffer deaths as terrible as the ones they inflicted on all the innocent people they killed.

  3. What also makes it hard to enjoy is me thinking “How would things be different if Cami was alive?” For three seasons they built up the O’Connell legacy. After her Uncle’s death Cami began learning about the dark objects but it wasn’t until season 3 she truly embraced her family’s legacy. She chose to turn and become a vampire so she could carry on her Uncle’s work. I couldn’t have been more excited at this time! She was now a therapist, a bartender AND leader of her family legacy.

    Her embracing her legacy also would have meant it would have kept Cami in the thick of things in New Orleans even without the Mikaelsons to drag her in. It would have been her OWN separate story.

    Cami would have wanted to do everything possible to protect the children of NOLA. I also would have loved to see her darker side. She assaulted a man for hitting a woman we learned – I’d love to see that dark side come out again as she protects people in New Orleans. There were so many story possibilities but the writers decided that ultimately these stories weren’t important – what was important was her dying a second and final time to teach Klaus – for his development. Davina’s death also was frustrating in that so many storylines were stripped from her too for Kol’s development.

    I am happy they are yes, honouring Cami’s memory. We are seeing that yes – Klaus is still carrying her with him. We are seeing that Cami’s goodness, her light – has changed Klaus and he’s not forgetting what he learned from her and that because of Cami Klaus can be a better man – the man his child deserves. I know they are showing us how people come into our life and change us and we lose them but we still carry them with us….

    But to tell this story they had to sacrifice Cami and all her possible future storylines. It’s sad and frustrating especially given the writing team is always talking about how important female characters are. TO and TVD writing team do create amazing women but them sacrificing women in the name of male development is discouraging.

Comments are closed.

More in Reviews