The Originals Review: Episode 2×13 - “The Devil is Damned”

Some Family Reconciliations May Be In Order, But With More In-Fighting and Danger Than Ever, Who Will Be Left Standing In The End?

On this week’s The Originals, Hayley and Jackson are making preparations for their wedding, as the Alpha werewolves arrive in order to join Jackson’s pack so that they can gain the power that Hayley will spread. But when Finn frees a pack of hungry vampire hostages nearby, will this union be over before it’s even begun? Freya reveals her return to Finn, who in turn shares the news that baby Hope is alive and well. He’s struggling to get Kol to do his bidding in order to aid his hunt for Hope but will Klaus be able to convince Kol to put his dying needs aside for the good of their Mikaelson clan? Elijah’s still struggling to make peace with his bloodthirst-ridden past and will a cut on baby Hope’s forehead be too much temptation to resist? As he finds himself fighting for baby Hope and the rest of his family, just how far will Elijah go to protect his loved ones? Let’s discuss!

Well Aren’t You Just The Perfect House-Husband?

Things are about as good between Hayley and Jackson as they’ll probably ever be. There’s a closeness in their relationship stemming from their shared desire to help strengthen their people and keep them safe against any potential threats, particularly from Finn. Hayley’s marriage preparations are interrupted by the arrival of Marcel, who has been sent by Finn in order to acquire some of Hayley’s blood in order to help him find baby Hope with a clear threat that each hour another of Marcel’s vampires will be killed until he returns with it. Hayley hopes to use some of Jackson’s blood to trick Finn but the arrival of the bloodthirsty vampires interrupts the ceremony underway, made all the more dangerous since the alphas had been slicing their hands to compile their blood as part of the ritual. Hayley and Marcel fend off the attacks and do their best to keep the groups separate to prevent any further casualties but thankfully, Rebekah and Kol end Finn’s channeling of his parents in time, which renders the vampires unconscious. This leaves Hayley more determined than ever to marry Jackson so that her people may be safe.

“I need some of your blood. It’s a stall, I’ll explain later.” ~ Hayley
“Your timing is perfect.” ~ Jackson

This shift in Jackson’s characterisation is an interesting one. On the downside, he’s a little too generic in his appeal. He has everything you’d look for on paper: good looks, positive attitude, considerate, nonthreatening (to Hayley, anyway), loves his family, good with kids. But there’s something lacking in the character other than a ‘perfect man’ archetype. There’s no romantic chemistry between him and Hayley, which is perhaps a good thing since it allows for Hayley to be focused on more interesting parts of her arc, fighting to protect her loved ones. But we don’t mean to come off like we dislike Jackson or the way he’s been developed. What we actually love about this relationship dynamic is that it flips the gender roles too often used, in which a man has all the interesting content while his female counterpart is generically appealing but has little to no agency of her own. This is an important thing for the show to do, considering that there has been far more compelling material given to the male characters on the show. Jackson poses no threat to Hayley’s agency, though admittedly we groaned at seeing him show her the crib he had been working on. If you look past the sweetness of the gesture, it’s a rather dim move on his part considering that Hope’s existence is supposed to be a secret. We’re really loving seeing Hayley take things into her own hands, and a stand-out moment was that of her and Marcel telling each other to try not to kill any of each other’s people, as they try to keep them safe and apart. It was nice that both these characters had this opportunity to shine as leaders in their own right, as they’ve both had occasions where their plots were overshadowed by those of the Mikaelsons.

Family Reconciliation Despite Arrested Development

As Kol finds himself nearing death, the expression “Desperate times call for desperate measures” is entirely fitting. He must now to turn to Kol and the newly-returned Rebekah in order to get help to save his life. With the clock ticking and tempers flaring, not to mention a millennium of family baggage, plenty of arguments ensue. Rebekah is still holding a grudge over Kol’s most recent betrayal, hence her witchy entrapment in that enchanted house as well as her new body. Kol also feels like an outsider, a sentiment he’s apparently always had, so Klaus employs some surprisingly insightful words of advice to him, reminding him of the importance of family and thus refusing to kill him. Kol decides against getting Klaus’ blood for Finn, instead bringing them to Finn’s lair where the secret is revealed to Kol about baby Hope. Klaus offers up the utmost trust to Kol, even giving him the white-oak stake, and allows Finn to channel him so Finn and Rebekah can use their witchy abilities to undo Finn’s channeling of his parents.

“This family makes me want to murder people.” ~ Klaus

Writers Christopher Hollier and Julie Plec once again nailed the strong dialogue for Klaus, superbly delivered by Joseph Morgan as always. His impassioned speech to Kol about family was compelling but also funny, as he responded to Kol’s complaint about being daggered by saying that he has daggered all of his family members. The writing of Kol, however, was a tad more questionable. The lashing out and emotionality of the character read more like arrested development and juvenile temper tantrums. It makes us perfectly fine with the notion of the character being killed off. We’re unclear on whether the problems arose from the writing or the acting but even after the reconciliation of Kol with his sibling, we just didn’t care much about him. We appreciated the good will Klaus showed him, and that he was able to have a nice moment where he promised Rebekah that he’d get her back to her original body. However, with all the selfishness and self-serving tendencies of the character, we just had a hard time taking his words seriously. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice… well, we all know how that goes.

Badass Lady, Badass Baby

The return of Freya was one of the more exciting plot developments as of late, and this episode saw her reunited with Finn. Needless to say, he was shocked. Also, Yusuf Gatewood’s performance during her reveal really stood out, as his expressions conveyed so much with every change, no matter how slight. Freya’s performance was also quite impressive, as there was something entirely eerie about her mannerisms, speech pattern, and just that scheming look in her eyes. It almost had us wondering if “Freya” was actually Dalia, possessing another body or something equally bizarre. Given the way her gaze grew fiery at learning that Klaus had managed to procreate, we bet there’s something big brewing behind Freya’s return.

“You have to some things die, so that others might live.” ~ Freya

It was really only a matter of time before the writers went down the path of weird with baby Hope, as anyone who’s ever watched media containing a mystical baby/pregnancy will tell you. This episode brought us the first glimpse of this. After a little mishap left baby Hope with a scratch on the forehead, we later see that she has supernatural healing, as Cami sees the cut has disappeared far quicker than it should. Admittedly, that display wasn’t quite so surprising, given her parents’ respective abilities at the time of conception. But it gave us another glimpse at Elijah’s tortured state. Though Daniel Gillies has been playing this part beautifully, we can’t help but feel frustrated at Elijah’s stalled plot. It’s understandable that it’s difficult for writers to maintain everyone’s stories at the same level considering just how many characters they are but we’re hoping this is the end of Elijah’s darkened-hallway nightmares since they’re starting to lose their potency. His final sacrifice of using himself to blow up the safe-house in order to kill/stop/injure (?) Finn was a phenomenally brilliant character moment. But getting back to baby Hope, it was fascinating to see how she seemingly stopped Cami’s car to keep them from being injured in the explosion. We’re not exactly sure as to the science of supernatural genetics, but perhaps she inherited the witchy abilities, seeing as how Esther, Finn, Kol, and even new-Rebekah have shown a knack for witchcraft at one point or another. But perhaps the writers will take an entirely different approach, and Hope will be something we’ve not even seen yet… but either way, we hope it’ll be great fun to watch.

FINAL VERDICT

There was some excellent work from many people on this episode that is worth noting. Director Lance Anderson threw a great shot in during the scene with Freya and Finn, where the camera moved in on her hand as it clutches the necklace she is wearing. This was done immediately following her learning of Klaus’ having a baby so we are certain that it wasn’t accidental. A magical pendant perhaps? A communication device with Dalia? We’re still playing with the idea that “Freya” might actually be Dalia given the fact that so many of these characters have been body-jumping this season. The special effects team also had a nice touch of darkening Elijah’s eyes as his bloodlust kicked in when baby Hope cut her forehead, and though it’s a subtle touch, we’re of the mindset that beauty is in the details. As we mentioned earlier, writers Christopher Hollier and Julie Plec did excellent work with Klaus’ family-centric dialogue with Kol, and Joseph Morgan played it tremendously well. What’s amazing about Joseph Morgan’s acting is how utterly gripping it is. It’s been a while since we really took the time to praise him so we’ll do so now, as there’s a rawness in what he does that often reads more like the type of performance you’d see in live theatre. He’s also enormously funny, as that line, “This family makes me want to murder people,” had us laughing out loud to the point that we had to rewind the scene because we needed to be sure we hadn’t just laughed our way over any important moments. We’re also loving seeing Phoebe Tonkin’s growth as an actress. She’s come a long way this season, due in large part to the better material her character has been given, but we’re truly enjoying seeing her blossom. Just one more episode till a month-long hiatus and we fully expect it to knock us off our feet!

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• Yusuf Gatewood has such a fantastic voice.
• That emotion in Finn’s eyes at seeing Freya again I WASN’T READY.
• Nonchalantly suggesting decapitation as a solution to your problems. #JustKlausThings
• Hayley wasn’t this awkward at the mention of sex when it was Elijah getting naughty against bookshelves and on tabletops… #ButThatsNoneOfMyBusiness
• Kol: “Ohemgee guyz I’m dyeeeing” Everyone: *doesn’t blink* *yawns*
• Damn, Finn, you are ice cold.
• *grabs water spray bottle* *spritzes* No, Elijah! Eyes off the baby! *prepares to smack with rolled-up newspaper*
• Awww, Jackson’s cute with all this giggling. Still, I won’t miss you when you’re gone. (Yes, I’m still constantly expecting him to get killed).
• Kol is the most insufferable, juvenile, pathetic excuse for a character, my GAWD, can he be killed off already?
• I know you are not about to do manual labour, Elijah, GOOD LORD CAN YOU WARN ME SO I CAN GET MY FAN FIRST?
• I’m not a fan of magical babies… I don’t trust them.
• Nooooo, not my precious Elijah! Finn! How could you!
• I always knew Elijah was hot, but that was just ridiculous.
• SEE! Trust no mysterious baby! Ever!