‘The Originals’ Review: Farewell to Miss Mikaelson

Last night’s episode of The Originals broke my heart, but not for the reason I was expecting. This is hard to admit, but there was a part of me, one that got larger and larger as we got closer to the beginning of the episode, that believed that Klaus would carry out his threats and use the white oak stake to kill Rebekah.

The thought terrified me because not only is Rebekah Mikaelson my favorite female character on The Originals, she’s my favorite female character to ever grace my television screen and all of that is due to Claire Holt and her flawless portrayal of the immortal Original sister, who wanted nothing more than to find love in this lonely world.

So I spent the last few hours leading up to the episode trying to imagine how I would feel if she was gone for good. I kept telling myself that I was being silly and the writers were not going to go there because Rebekah is way too amazing to die in season one (or ever, really). And I was right to think that because Rebekah did survive “Farwell to Storyville,” although Klaus stabbed her with the stake, but he missed the heart.

Once again, all three actors – Holt, Joseph Morgan and Daniel Gillies, gave incredible performances as the battling siblings. Klaus wanted revenge, Elijah wanted peace and Rebekah just wanted to be heard. The flashbacks to them as children, before there was even a hint of how drastically their lives were going to change, were beautiful and heartbreaking. The siblings loved each other, but even then, Mikael was filled with rage and took it out on Klaus and anyone who dared to help him.

We learned that Rebekah once stopped her father by threatening him with a sword and another time, she stood over him, prepared to murder him, but Elijah intervened. Klaus didn’t know that story and was understandably moved by it, even as he remained determined to make Rebekah pay. The siblings went back and forth throughout the episode, each getting the upper hand at one point or another. Klaus ended up stabbing Elijah with Papa Tunde’s blade and then he and Rebekah aired their grievances once more before he stabbed her as well, purposely missing her heart.

After that, it was just Klaus and Rebekah, both extremely broken and sad and tired of fighting. The scenes were powerful; the emotions the actors brought out in one another as the siblings more or less gave up on each other and their family, even as they each stated that there was still a tiny bit of hope in them. Klaus asked Rebekah what she wanted and it was the same thing she’d always wanted – a home and someone to love her. So Klaus granted her the freedom to have that, but he banished her from New Orleans in the process.

My panic came back at that point and I watched the rest of the episode, waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for something to happen that would keep Rebekah in New Orleans. She said goodbye to Elijah in what was left of the plantation house after the fire. Then there was Marcel, who said he couldn’t go with her because he needed to fight for New Orleans. Rebekah was okay with that – she’d never been good at sharing. Finally, she said goodbye to Hayley and asked her to tell the baby about her crazy Auntie Bex.

But it was the last shot – Rebekah leaving New Orleans the same way she came to town in her red convertible – that really hit home for me. There wasn’t going to be any last minute interventions or emergencies that pulled Rebekah back into the fold. She had her freedom and the smile on her face said that she was happy about it. And in that moment, even as my heart was breaking, I was happy for her. Rebekah has earned this freedom. She has fought her entire life to have a chance to be happy the way she wants to without Klaus or Elijah or Mikael or anyone else telling her how to live or who to live. This is the ending Rebekah deserves.

That being said, I am still absolutely devastated that Holt is no longer a series regular. The thought of not having Rebekah Mikaelson in my life on a weekly basis is incredibly depressing. I also have some concerns about how the show is going to do with only two Originals in the mix. Not to take anything away from the other cast members, but what is always and forever without Rebekah? It’s going to be really hard to adjust to this change and I’m curious to see how the show will handle this huge hole in the canvas.

In the meantime, I am grateful that we got to have Rebekah for the past two years on The Vampire Diaries and for the first 16 episodes of The Originals. Holt has been brilliant from her first episode on TVD and she brought it home with her final appearance as a series regular. I do hope that she’ll come back as a guest star in the future because the thought of never seeing Rebekah Mikaelson again is just too terrible to accept. I wish Holt the absolute best and I can’t wait to see what she tackles next.

Now, it’s your turn. Did you enjoy the episode? Will you be able to accept the show without Rebekah? Are you too busy crying in the corner to process any of this? If you are, you’re in good company. Feel free to hit the comments and share your thoughts with us.