The Originals - S5E5 - Don’t It Just Break Your Heart

Previously on The Originals, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”

I Bind You, Hope

Maybe this should have been obvious but Greta is German and it turns out her mentor is the German Hitler. She also articulates everything I dislike about the vampires in this universe. In addition to a fundamental misunderstanding of their origins, TVD/Originals vampires have an overinflated idea of their importance.

A little history: the original vampires, our Mikaelsons, were created by their mother, a witch, because she wanted them to be able to defend themselves against the werewolves. Werewolves, though cursed, were a part of nature as are witches who draw their power from nature. It’s vampires who are the abomination. Because Klaus’s mother also cheated on her husband, with a werewolf, Klaus had the werewolf gene and that’s why he’s a hybrid. Klaus’s mother bound his werewolf side so that he wouldn’t be too powerful and when we first met him, on The Vampire Diaries, Klaus was seeking the moonstone to lift his mother’s spell so that he could fully realize his powers.

Klaus and Elijah obscured the roots of vampirism in myth because they didn’t want people to know their weaknesses, but the way vampires call werewolves mongrels and treat witches like their personal valets is inexcusable when you realize vampires are the abominations. As it turns out, Greta is a part of this vampire eugenics cult and they’ve taken Hayley to force Klaus to bind Hope’s werewolf side so her “defects” are not a threat. Of course, this drives Klaus into even more of a rage because it brings back all his mommy and daddy issues and he (rightly) doesn’t want Hope diminished like he was.

Too bad Marcel already told Freya Greta’s terms and she relays them to Hope. Considering that Hope has become wary of her strength and that she wants her mom back, the idea of binding her powers doesn’t seem that bad. Klaus manages to talk her out of it, but Greta gets away (after attacking Josh) so they are back to square one on the finding Hayley front.

Over in flashback land, it’s Germany in 1933 and Klaus is hanging in a cabaret with a man named August, who’s pontificating on the wonderfulness of vampires and the lowliness of other supernatural creatures; he’s totally Vampire Hitler. Elijah shows up to warn Klaus about Mikael and he also stops Klaus from going off and revealing what he is to August. It’s sad because Klaus is truly upset at having to deny part of who he is and since Elijah wants to fly under the radar, the two of them part ways. Before leaving Germany, Elijah meets Antoinette, August’s daughter.

The Good

• Slow clap to The Originals writers for going back to the characters origins on TVD to round out this final season. I said this before but the tensions between the witch, werewolf, and vampire communities have always been at the crux of this show and Klaus and his family of hybrids, originals, and witches are just a microcosm of that.  
• Elijah and Antoinette. Although Antoinette lied to Elijah about knowing him and knowing that her father has beef with Klaus, seeing 1933 Elijah convince Antoinette to leave Nazi Germany and help her get away was lovely. She fell in love with him long before he fell in love with her and without losing his memory, it’s doubtful their relationship would be possible, but more on that in a second.
• Klaus trying to convince Hope not to bind her werewolf side because of the shame it caused him and then realizing that his shaming of August and his family back in 1933 has fueled the current hatred that Greta and  Roman are harboring towards him brought the episode full circle. And the reveal of Roman being Greta’s son now makes me question if Antoinette truly left her family or if she’s playing the long con.

The Hollow

• Freya convincing Hope to bind her powers felt so wishy-washy. Last week, Freya seemed desperate to find a way to help Hope gain control but this week she talks Hope out of binding, but tells Klaus it has to be done when he comes to stop it. It’s hard to tell what she thinks is right.

• This week I had the terrible thought that the only way for Elijah to get his memories back is for Marcel to die so his compulsion will end. And now I’m sad because that’s probably exactly how Elijah will regain his memories and come back to Team Mikaelson.

Possibly one of the strongest episodes of the series. Joseph Morgan killed this episode even better than when Klaus took out that village. Now I’m wondering what relations between the factions would be like if Klaus had been able to live his life as a hybrid. Maybe the shame and suppression that drove him to kill with abandon and the lives he cut down trying to break his mother’s curse wouldn’t have been lost. So much of who Klaus is is tied to shame and rejection. That he doesn’t want that for his daughter is admirable.