‘The Originals’ Review: And They All Fall Down

Has everyone started breathing again after last night’s penultimate episode of The Originals? If not, that’s okay because “The Battle of New Orleans” was basically a solid hour of OMFG! Moments that set the stage for the upcoming first season finale. It’s safe to say most of us probably expected a few of our favorite characters to be in mortal danger going into the finale.

But clearly we underestimated these writers because it’s not just ‘a few’ characters that might not make it out of the season alive. All of the characters are in peril thanks to a series of betrayals, revelations, deals with the devil and the vengeance that’s going to be driving the Mikaelson brothers once they recover from their wounds (assuming a certain ghost doesn’t get to them first).

So let’s talk about what was supposed to happen. Klaus altered Genevieve’s deal with Elijah. He didn’t just want a moonlight ring for Hayley – he wanted 100 of them and in exchange, he offered Gen his mother’s spell book as well as his protection and probably more sex if she wanted (which she totally did). Jackson and Oliver had been tasked with fetching the stones needed for the rings and it was up to Klaus to provide the final ingredient: blood from a werewolf that isn’t forced to turn.

Naturally, all of that went to hell. Marcel kidnapped Jackson and Oliver and let Diego torture them until they confessed what Klaus was doing. Jackson (who really is turning out to be a good guy unless there’s another twist coming) convinced them to let Oliver go and he’d tell them everything. Klaus and Elijah showed up not long after (first Klaus had to bite Josh to make Davina give up the information. And he didn’t feed him blood so there’s one of our favorites with less than 24 hours to live). The room Jackson was in was rigged with dynamite (Elijah recognized the charges as the same ones from the bayou).

They got Jackson out and Elijah delivered him safely to a grateful Hayley. Later, Elijah and Hayley shared another moment before everything went to hell. She finally told him about her betrothal to Jackson and Elijah said he understood an obligation to family (ugh, this guy is always in his own way). Hayley wasn’t impressed by that and told him that she wanted him to stop being noble for once and tell her that there was another choice. He stopped her midsentence with a kiss (swoon) and reminded her that she’d always have a choice. It was the best (unless of course you’re not a fan of this couple and in that case, let’s agree to disagree).

Since the stones were gone, Klaus turned to Francesca and her mob family to get them. She came through, but didn’t have as many. Gen got to work on the spell while Hayley watched over her along with Francesca. Elijah and Klaus had to deal with Marcel’s vampire army (more on that in a moment). Meanwhile, Cami had tracked down her uncle’s secret apartment and discovered a back room that was filled with all kinds of things, including a box marked “For Cami.” She started there and was tracing the genealogy of New Orleans main families and discovered that Francesca was definitely not who she said she was. She attempted to call and warn Hayley, but Mama Wolf made the terrible mistake of ignoring her call (Oh, Hayley).

Marcel’s plan was to draw Klaus’ attention to him and lead him away from the quarter while the other vampires attempted to get past Elijah to kill the witch and stop the spell. Seriously, has Marcel met Elijah? Did he really think his vampire army had any chance against him? This is Elijah BAMF Mikaelson we’re talking about and he didn’t even raise an eyebrow as he stepped into the courtyard, unbuttoned his jacket and got down to business kicking vampire ass without missing a beat.

Unfortunately, there was someone else the Original siblings never should have trusted. As Genevieve finished the spell on the stones, Hayley offered to take them to the bayou. But they weren’t going to the bayou – they were actually for Francesca because surprise! She’s not human after all: she’s a werewolf from the rival pack and she wanted the stones so her family could retake New Orleans from the vampires. She ordered her wolves to start killing the vampires and two of them bit Elijah, which was enough to take him down for the moment, but we know he can’t die from a wolf bite. Hopefully Klaus will be able to give him some blood before the hallucinations start, but that might be an issue.

Klaus and Marcel were fighting on the street and it didn’t take Klaus long to get the upper hand over his son. He pointed out all of Marcel’s betrayals and then he bit him! I’m not sure if Klaus was planning to finish him off then and there, but we’ll never know because Klaus began to lose control and was getting weaker and weaker. He had to go find someone to eat to try and build his strength, but it wasn’t enough. That’s when Gen appeared and explained that by using his blood for the spell, she’d bound the werewolves to him so every time they used their moonlight rings to keep from turning, they’d be drawing their power from Klaus’ strength and making him weaker. Damn. I knew it wasn’t going to turn out well for Klaus when she used his blood, but I was not expecting this.

Cami arrived at the compound to warn everyone in person, but it was too late since the place was mostly bodies. Marcel stumbled in as well and so did Diego, both slowly dying from the werewolf bites in their necks. Elijah interrupted their moment to demand to know where Hayley was and Cami managed to calm him down for half a second (am I the only one who wants these two to be friends? I think they’d make great drinking buddies). It didn’t take long for them to realize that it was Genevieve who had betrayed them.

The scene shifts to Genevieve, Monique and a few others dragging Hayley through the church. She’s going into labor thanks to Gen subduing her earlier. Hayley begs them to let her go, but Monique cruelly explains that they’re going to sacrifice her baby and she’s going to like it (seriously, this girl is twisted). Hayley screams/howls and Klaus hears her from the street where he was walking in a daze. He screams/howls too and if all of this was not enough to give the audience a heart attack – Davina seems to have decided to bring Mikael back because she desperately wants to save Josh. I’m going to need someone to hide the white oak stake right now.

Wow…it’s been over 12 hours and I’m still having trouble processing everything that happened in the episode. My favorite twist was Genevieve’s deception. I’m not surprised that she stabbed the Originals in the back (she did come back from the dead to get revenge on them), but even knowing something was weird about her using Klaus’ blood, I still was not expecting that. The idea of Klaus being weakened every full moon can open the door to so many story possibilities. We know he can’t be killed (aside from that stake), but this will surely be something his many enemies will want to take advantage of in the future.

Let’s talk about what’s coming up in the season finale: pain and suffering. Marcel, Diego and Josh are all dying from werewolf bites. Hayley and the baby are in the hands of the witches, who want to sacrifice Baby Girl Mikaelson. Klaus is weak. Elijah is going to be weak soon. Cami has angered Francesca, who is more than human. Davina is thinking about bringing Mikael back. And everyone who betrayed the Mikaelson brothers is going to pay dearly once they get their strength back. Seriously, is anyone going to survive this finale?

I’m not sure the audience will, especially if the haunting promo The CW has released is anything to go by. Again, it’s all pain and suffering and sadness. Will the baby live? I honestly don’t know anymore. If she doesn’t, I don’t think anyone will recover. Check out the promo and then hit the comments below and share your thoughts and theories with us. Who will be left standing after the finale?