TV REVIEW: The Originals “Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire”

By Erin Resnick

The Originals returned this week with a bang to remind us that this show is just as crazy and good as ever and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (oh hey, Season 3 renewal).

Everyone had gathered back at Hope House, the random house where Hope was being kept safe, to congratulate Elijah and Hayley on the tons of shirtless hugging they had participated in the night before. Klaus had decided to bring Cami in on the festivities since she was no longer safe from Finncent. The joy on Cami’s face when she met Hope said it all; who cares if you’re in mortal danger when there’s a cute baby around? While Klaus and Hayley were headed back into the city, Elijah was to stay with Cami and play board games as a form of vampire Xanax so that he didn’t fall off the edge again and murder a ton of people in a roadside café.

Strangely, Finncent had decided to team up with Mikael, who seemed overjoyed that one of his children was actually paying attention to him. Unfortunately for the Mikaelson patriarch though, Finncent’s plan involved temporarily inoculating his father under some super-witchy spell.

Hayley and Jackson finally reunited to discuss their wedding plans, but it was all put on hold when the vampires and werewolves were all brought together. The party didn’t last long, as Finn arrived to taunt his brothers and then hex the compound so no one could exit.

Rebekah and her new vessel were having an awful time at the witch-asylum as two very nasty looking witches accosted her and force-fed her pills. Luckily Rebekah had a trick or two up her sleeve after watching Girl, Interrupted several times. Cassie approached Rebekah, sympathizing with her and her new teen body. Although Cassie had just wanted a quiet life of writing One Direction fanfiction and going to prom, she was stuck forever in the asylum. Rebekah decided that a haunted, magic-filled house would only help them send a message to her brothers.

Over at the compound, Klaus basically high-fived Hayley for finally having sex with Elijah, but also made sure to remind her that her and Jackson’s marriage would never stand if she wasn’t honest with him. Davina showed up to free the vampires and wolves by doing some flirtatious hand magic with Koleb, but Finncent was just getting started with his long-term revenge plan.

Back at Hope House, Cami was furiously trying to find Trivial Pursuit questions Elijah couldn’t answer. The vampire was bored with her games and had probably already played every version of the game at least twice in his lifetime. It wasn’t until Cami accidentally party-fouled on Elijah’s suit that his temper was sparked.

Hayley decided to heed Klaus’ advice and confessed to Jackson about her and Elijah’s tryst. Jackson point-blank asked if Hayley was in love with him, to which the hybrid was silent. Elsewhere, Josh and Aiden had found a quiet corner to be ridiculously cute and romantic in until Josh started to feel so hungry that he wanted to munch on his newly defined boyfriend. In fact, all the vampires acquired a thirst that felt like fire.

Klaus and Kol had decided that playing the mother card against Finn was their best option, except Elijah had received a phone call from Rebekah’s supposed vessel, only to find out that he had been creepily stalking a stranger with no Rebekah in her; Kol had spelled Rebekah into the wrong body.

Rebekah and Cassie tried to send a message, but Cassie was too drugged on magic flowers and Rebekah had no idea how to use her magic. It didn’t help that the asylum’s biggest bullies were outcast witches that liked to practice super dark magic in the form of necromancy and immortality (Dahlia’s coven, probably). They tried to force Rebekah into submission again, but a ghost in the form of an outcast from The Craft had shown up to ask “WHO ARE YOU” in Scrabble tiles and offer some help. Rebekah followed the ghost to a locked room with one single, transparent coffin. Rebekah didn’t stick around to dust it off and check just who was inside before one of the awful witches came looking for her.

Though Klaus had decided to trade Esther’s location for the safety of the people at the compound, Finn wasn’t about to wave the white flag. The realization that Esther had completed the transition into a vampire only fueled the eldest Mikaeslon brother’s anger.

Koleb and Davina were finally able to break through the compound spell to get the wolves safely out, but Klaus had other plans for Kol and his lies. He forced his brother back into the compound as a free-for-all for the ravenous vampires still trapped inside.

Finally back in the bayou, Jackson accepted Hayley’s confession, but met her with one of his own: he was in love with her and had been for a long time. He wasn’t going to force it on her, though, but was still excited for their perspective union.

In the asylum, the ghost-witch had finally decided to speak through the Scrabble tiles once again. This time to tell Rebekah who she was: Freya, the eldest Mikaelson sibling.

Things we need to discuss:

• Even in a glass case of emotion I can tell Freya looks darn good for a dead witch of over a thousand years.

• Can we ship Cami and Hayley’s friendship? How about Cami and Elijah’s friendship? How about Cami and everyone? How about Elijah and board games?

• I wanted 42 more minutes of Josh and Aiden.

• The actress portraying Rebekah pulled off her sass and independence quite nicely. I am interested to see the reunion between her and Freya.