The Originals - S4E7 - High Water and the Devil’s Daughter

Previously on The Originals, “Bag of Cobras”

First off, shout out to Charles Michael Davis (Marcel) for his directorial debut. You did that!

Daddy Lessons

The way this episode opened, with Hope discovering young Marcellus’ toys in the attic, I was sure we’d be getting some flashbacks and the patented CW bad wig period drama, but alas it was not to be. What we did get was a lot of fatherly angst and brother-sister bonding between Klaus and his “children”. Because Dead Dominic isn’t really dead, Freya has placed a protection spell around the house; Klaus, Hope, and Hayley are staying inside, despite Klaus’s claustrophobia. Since Marcel is also trapped in the dungeon it’s a full house and a family reunion.

Marcel and Hope finally meet and it’s just as sweet as you’d expect. Although Marcel clearly wants to be free, he also sees himself as Hope’s older brother (which he is) and he does want to connect with her. When Dead Dominic and his minions show up, Hope wants to use her powers and join the fight but Marcel convinces her to use her powers to release him instead and let him help. Later, when Klaus is worried about the violence Hope must have seen, we learn that Marcel told her to close her eyes and sing. That’s what Klaus used to tell young Marcellus when he didn’t want him to see the carnage. It’s also what gets Klaus to relent and work with Marcel. They’ve always been family and finally they’re on the same page.

Don’t Hurt (Yourself)

While Klaus is stuck at home Elijah and Freya are trying to take care of the Hollow by awakening the ancestral magic and stopping Dominic respectively. Freya uses Josh and an illusion spell to lure Dominic into a trap but when he threatens Keelin, she’s distracted long enough for him to get the upper hand. Occasionally, I have to remind myself that although Freya is an all-powerful witch she’s spent about 2 years interacting with people outside of her family, which is why she has the emotional intelligence of a puppy. She goes from 0 to 100 real quick, shutting down on Keelin because she feels like Keelin is a distraction. Luckily, she has the emotional intelligence of a puppy, so she breaks pretty quickly and the two of them (finally) make out. #Freelin

Elijah on the other hand … Elijah gets away with a lot because he wears a suit all the time. He leaves Klaus at the house because he’s afraid of what Klaus will do on the streets but then he goes and sacrifices four innocent girls. In a throwback to the beginning of the series, Elijah wants Vincent to perform the Harvest ceremony to reestablish the link with the ancestors who will help keep the Hollow at bay. As Vincent reminds Elijah, the severed ties with the ancestors because they hate the Mikaelsons AND him but Elijah decides to slit four girls’ throats and force Vincent to figure it out from there. Vincent ends up using Davina’s bones in a last ditch attempt to save the girls lives and reconnect with the ancestors. The spell works so now the Hollow is on the defense and decides to possess Sofya’s body. Now it’s a race between the Hollow who wants to sacrifice Klaus and Marcel and the Mikaelsons who discovered that another bone artifact was entrusted to Tyler Lockwood’s werewolf line. We’re going back to Mystic Falls!

Even with the episode being Hope-heavy, the relationship between Klaus and Marcel has always been a compelling anchor for this show. Next week, it looks like we’ll also be revisiting Marcel and Elijah’s relationship which is also a rich area to mine. The connection to Mystic Falls was unexpected and given that The Vampire Diaries ended before The Originals premiere, I assumed the time for crossovers was over. It should be fun to watch the series be self-referential next week. The Freelin kiss was perfect. The two of them have been dancing around this sexual tension and Freya has been the only Mikaelson without any sort of outside connection. Always and forever can only take a girl so far. The real test of this season will be if anyone calls Elijah on how far he’s going to “protect” everyone. Klaus is almost always scapegoated as the bad guy but Elijah is proving to be the most ruthless Mikaelson of all.