‘The Vampire Diaries’ 4.20 Episode Recap and Review: The Originals

After weeks of anticipation, hype, and excitement, The Vampire Diaries finally aired the highly talked about intro episode to their spin-off series, The Originals! The wait has been agonizing, enduring Joseph Morgan’s tease-filled tweets, along with cast updates, etc. But I’m happy to say that all that waiting has definitely been rewarded. Between the introduction of sure to be new fan-favorite characters, The Originals also delivered a shocking twist that had everyone in shock.

“Every king needs an heir.” -Klaus (Joseph Morgan)

After Katherine (Nina Dobrev) returned to deliver news to Klaus that a witch is plotting against him, Klaus sets off to the fun-filled town of New Orleans! Already there, Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) is on a quest to find her birth parents, something she had expressed a deep interest of in previous episodes. She meets two witches, Sophie (Danielle Pineda) and Jane-Anne Deveraux (Malaya Rivera Drew) who point her astray. In the end, instead of finding her parents, she finds out some shocking news. Meanwhile, Klaus tries to piece together a few loose ends and decides to meet up with an old friend… Cue Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), a vampire who came from nothing, to now being king of New Orleans, thanks to Klaus! After abandoning New Orleans 100 or so years ago to escape his father’s wrath, Klaus has come to find Marcel controlling every aspect of the town. He’s pushed the werewolves aside, contained the use of witchcraft, forced humans to simply look the other way, and built a vampire ‘family’ all commanded by him. He is king! And to prove it? Killing anyone that breaks the ‘rules’ that he has set into place. Once Klaus makes a claim that a witch named Jane-Anne has been conspiring against him, Marcel takes it into his own hands and kills her without a second thought… Shocking even Klaus. It’s obvious that Marcel has too much power, and it’s no surprise that there are people plotting against him. After Elijah (Daniel Gillies) shows up in town he questions Sophie, a witch, as to what she wants with Klaus. It turns out that Sophie doesn’t have an interest in killing Klaus, but rather an interest in using him to tear down Marcel’s reign and control. At first this doesn’t interest him at all, but when Hayley is brought into the picture with surprising news, everything changes. In the most shocking revelation of the season, it turns out that Hayley is pregnant with Klaus’ baby! Now, if Klaus refuses to help the witches in bringing Marcel down, they will kill, not only Hayley, but Klaus’ child as well. After much thought, and convincing from Elijah and indirectly a bartender named Camille, Klaus decides to take Sophie up on her offer. He will move to New Orleans with Elijah, and try to build something that he’s wanted forever. Not only a kingdom ruled by him, but a family as well. No more loneliness.

Back in Mystic Falls, the news has broke of Klaus’ lovechild with Hayley. Rebekah (Claire Holt) is still completely unconvinced that Klaus could ever change, even with a child in the equation. Elijah tries to convince her to come with him to New Orleans to try to start over, as a family, with Klaus, but she’s not having it… And neither is Katherine. Sadly, Elijah refuses to be persuaded by either efforts by both girls. He has decided to build the family he’s always wanted with Klaus in New Orleans. While all of this is going on, Elena is still locked up in the Salvatore cellar, desiccating away. Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) have continued their efforts of trying to torture the feeling back into Elena, but with no success. Until next week? This may be a tad bit morbid, but I’m looking forward to seeing Elena tortured!

This season of The Vampire Diaries has definitely been rocky for me. There have been massive highs, and disappointing lows, but after seeing The Originals, there is no doubt that this series will be extraordinary. I’m so pleased with the excellent cast choices for Marcel, Camille, and Sophie. To top off the astounding performances, from especially Charles Michael Davis, the writing of these characters made me interested into seeing more. The scene with Camille (Leah Pipes) and Klaus when they were discussing the painters backstory had me tearing up, and their performance was phenomenal. I just had to point that out. I love TVD, but I have a feeling that The Originals could possibly be taken a step further if it continues going the direction that was displayed during this amazing intro. The writers almost lost me on the insane “hybrid-baby” drama, but they eventually pulled me back in… Somehow. I can’t even iterate how excited I am for this series. Between Joseph Morgan and Daniel Gillies, it’s sure to be a hit. Veni, Vidi, Vici.

Rating:
A+++

Questions:

• WHAT?! Thoughts on Hayley being pregnant with Klaus’ baby?!
• Thoughts on Marcel and his ‘kingdom’?
• Who will cave first, Elena or the Salvatore’s?
• Who do you ship, Klaus and Camille or Klaus and Caroline?