‘The Originals’ Review: ‘I’ll See You in Hell or New Orleans’

The war between the sire lines heated up on the latest episode of The Originals. We’ve got a lot to talk about this week since “I’ll See You in Hell or New Orleans” easily slid into first place for the best episode of season three so far. Another sire line made its presence known in the Quarter, we traveled back to the beginning to see more of the Mikaelsons early vampire days, Elijah and Klaus teamed up to take down a potential enemy, and we learned a new detail about what could potentially end our beloved Originals’ existence.

I want to start with Hayley and Jackson. Setting aside my shipper bias (#HaylijahForever), Jackson did a great thing for his wife. He brought Hayley to Marcel’s fight ring and let her take her aggression out on him so she could try and get her vampire self in check as she readjusted to human form. Hayley’s worried Davina will screw them over at any second and she might be holding Hope when she’s forced back into wolf form. It’s a legitimate concern and I feel bad that Hayley’s gone from one prison to the next. But I need her to be connected to the main story. I know she hates Klaus and it’s awkward to be around Elijah and Rebekah is MIA, but it’s time to send Hayley into the sire line/serial killer mix. She’s the show’s leading lady and deserves more than to just exist in a bubble outside of everything that’s happening.

Now let’s dive into the flashbacks. I really love seeing Klaus and Elijah as newbie vampires that have no clue how much power they have. It’s such a different side to them and a brilliant decision on the writers’ part. We’re so used to vampire lore and Marcel trains his recruits like soldiers, but of course they would have been clueless as the first vampires in existence, especially since Klaus killed Esther so fast (and it’s just like her not to give her children the full story). So way back when, Klaus betrayed Lucien by messing around with Aurora and then Lucien ended up taking the punishment when Tristan found him in his sister’s room (their twisted relationship makes Klaus and Rebekah look healthy). The Mikaelson brothers stood by as Lucien was beaten and then Tristan added to the torture by carving a smile into the poor guy’s face (yes, exactly like our present day murder victims).

I don’t trust Lucien as far as I can throw him, but how do you not feel sorry for the guy after that? He attempted to attack Klaus and ended up accidentally getting healed with his blood. It turned out Tristan knew the Mikaelsons were demons thanks to Kol’s carelessness and threatened to out them if anything happened to him. So Lucien died with vampire blood in his system and rose like a phoenix from the ashes or that’s how he explained it to Cami and Vincent at the police station. This was after he compelled Detective Kinney to take a hike so he could speak to Cami. Again, I don’t trust the guy at all, but how great were the scenes with Lucien and Cami? She was not buying what he was selling until he insisted he wanted to protect Klaus (and we will get back to that particular thread shortly).

Elijah and Klaus decided to work together to get Lucien out of the picture. But when they got to his penthouse, he’d already been carted off to the police station so they spent some time with his psychic. Her visions showed them Marcel being in danger and Cami and Lucien together so Klaus raced off to save his therapist and Elijah went to Marcel’s place where he found Josh and the rest of the vampires on the floor after an attack by a BAMF named Aya. It turned out Elijah knew all about the lovely lady in question because he’d sired her. So he went to find her and Marcel and guess who else showed up to the party? Tristan.

So it turns out Elijah’s sire line is an organized secret society called the Strix and they’re super badass and deadly and have basically been responsible for every major thing that’s happened in history. Because of course they have! Would you expect anything else from a group that started with people Elijah deemed worthy of turning? I love everything about these people, including how similar Elijah and Tristan are, minus Tristan’s innate cruelty. Sure, Elijah can be ruthless and deadly, but he’s not the type to torture for the sheer pleasure of it like Tristan. Of course I need to know how/why Elijah decided to turn him. Blackmail seems the likely option. Either way, the Strix want Marcel to join them, which sends up a huge red flag because why would they want someone Klaus sired? No one can be trusted. Tristan also warned Elijah there may be some object capable of killing an Original and Lucien is the only one who may know how to find it.

Klaus arrived at the police station and tried to pull Cami out of there, but she suggested he listen to what Lucien had to say. Will returned and Klaus compelled him to treat him as Lucien’s legal counsel, but Will released Lucien since another crime had been committed while he was in custody. Does anyone else think Will might have faked being compelled? I just feel like there’s got to be more to this character (if you listen to The Originals AfterBuzz show, the hosts suggested a great theory). Cami and Klaus shared a private moment and she urged him not to kill Lucien and he appreciated her looking out for him (please excuse me while I bask in my shipper feelings).

Naturally, Klaus planned to kill him anyway, but Elijah stepped in and used some emotional blackmail to keep his brother in line (if he ever wants to reconcile, let Lucien live). I agree Elijah has every right to be mad and when it comes down to it, I’m always on his side, but it still hurts my heart to see the two of them so deeply fractured. Klaus attempted to apologize in his own way and promised Elijah he would never fall by his hand and Elijah just walked away. That’s painful, writers. But I’m also enjoying this darker side of Elijah. We all know they have to come back together at some point in order to defeat their enemies so I’ll just suffer through this angst (at least it makes more sense than the usual lame reasons for pitting them against one another).

At the end of the episode, Aurora called Tristan to let him know she was on her way to New Orleans. This was after she’d slaughtered all the monks and then she jumped off the cliff just in case we didn’t already guess that she’s super insane. I’m hoping having her in the fray will make her more interesting because at the moment, she just feels like a pawn in Lucien and Tristan’s war. Assuming there is a war…since I don’t trust any of them, I can’t help wondering if maybe they’re secretly working together. Maybe the sire line war is a façade and all they really want is a way to break the sire bond so they can kill the Originals and be the oldest/strongest/most famous vampires to walk the Earth. Anything can happen in this universe.

Next week, the Strix through a party and Elijah and Hayley look super-hot in their fancy clothes as Elijah realizes it’s an initiation.