The Originals - S5E6 - What, Will, I, Have, Left

Previously on The Originals, “Don’t It Just Break Your Heart” 

Highway to Hope

There is literally no reason for two vampires with super speed to be road-tripping and yet here I am swooning because Caroline called Klaus to tell him Hope is missing and now the two of them are driving from Mystic Falls Hogwarts back to NOLA together. In the illustrious words of that captivating chanteuse, Dido: I will go down with this ship.

While Klaus and Caroline are meandering down the highway flirting with each other (honestly, there’s no reason for them to be taking their sweet time), everyone else is actually involved in the action. Roman takes Hope to where Greta has been hiding Hayley and tells her that everything will be over once she binds her werewolf side. Hayley tells his sweet, naïve ass that Greta has no intention of letting Hope and her live. Greta, as a backup plan, runs to Manosque, France to enlist Elijah’s help. Since Elijah is in love with her “daughter” Antoinette, Greta spins a tale about how Roman “mistakenly” got involved with Hope and now Klaus is after him. And because Elijah has no memory and is eager to believe the worst in Klaus, he falls for it without question.

When Klaus and Caroline (finally) show up to save Hayley and Hope, Greta and Elijah are already there. Hayley binds her werewolf side to stall for time but that leaves her vulnerable to sunlight so Greta is able to pin her down. It turns into an all out brawl between the mothers and the brothers but when Greta goes to finish Hayley, she rips off Greta’s daylight ring and drags them both into the sunlight, sacrificing herself. WHAT THE HELL?!

The Good

• Even though it made no sense that Greta went all the way to Manosque and came back with Elijah before Klaus and Caroline drove across state lines, I was here for every moment of their walk down (past) lovers lane.
• Antoinette turned out to be innocent and hopefully Greta’s demise won’t turn her against Elijah and the Mikaelsons. She also had the good sense to contact Roman directly because she knows Greta is shady.
• Hayley is the first person to realize that Hope can unite the factions. Hopefully her sacrifice won’t be in vain.

The Hopeless

• Hayley’s sacrifice, though beautiful, is such a tragic end for her character. She has fiercely protected Hope throughout the series and it’s sad that she barely shared any screen time with teen Hope before being kidnapped and then killed.
• Elijah … *Marge Simpson grumble* I know his memory is gone, but my god he’s annoying. When he gets his memory back, I’m here for his eternal guilt over letting Hayley go out like that.

Firing. On. All. Cylinders. A show that has a clear endpoint and the singular focus to get there is a joy to watch. And give me ALL the fan service: Klaroline, Haylijah, all the ships. Removing Greta from the equation by sacrificing Hayley and pitting Elijah against Klaus sets up a situation that currently feels insurmountable for these siblings. That’s far more compelling than an outside villain. It will be interesting to see the other siblings step into this mess that Greta and her Nazi vamps created. Hope may be the key to uniting the factions, but uniting the Mikaelsons might be even harder.