The Originals Episode 108
“The River in Reverse”
Written By: Declan de Barra and Julie Plec
Directed By: Jesse Warn
Original Airdate: 26 November 2013
In This Episode...
Marcel introduces Tyler to his inner circle. Tyler explains about the hybrids, their strengths and weaknesses, how Klaus slaughtered them all, and how his unborn child will be Klaus’s way of creating an army. Rebekah interrupts the proceedings, but she is not there to rip out Tyler’s heart; she is there to help. “The last thing Klaus needs is to sire a superior species.” Rather than rip out Tyler’s heart, she snaps his neck. She is not there to kill her unborn niece; she is there to take care of Klaus. Marcel stows Tyler in “the garden” while he and Rebekah discuss where they will store Klaus.
Klaus does not know that Josh has reaffirmed his loyalty to Marcel, so he takes the newbie vamp at his word when he tells Klaus that Marcel has the one remaining dagger which he is so desperate to obtain, and that Marcel is clearing out his compound for a date. Klaus is pleased with this information, but before he confronts Marcel, he must first talk with Father Kieran. He confesses without hesitation to compelling Cami (something that Kieran has suspected, though he didn’t know which vampire was behind it) and even admits that, at first, the compulsion was to use her as a spy, but now it is for her own safety. Klaus has become fond of the girl and worries that if she keeps digging into her brother’s rampage, the truth will get her killed. He wants Kieran’s help to get her out of town willingly so he doesn’t have to compel her out.
On to the good stuff. Klaus shows up in the courtyard of Marcel’s compound and sure enough, it is completely empty. Marcel appears, with the dagger - and Rebekah. A handful of his vampires appear, and Klaus scoffs at this meager showing - until Marcel whistles and a hundred more come out of the woodwork. Klaus mans up to the new challenge and drops a coin on the ground. Whoever picks up the coin will pledge their allegiance to Klaus and forever be in his favor, meaning they won’t be tortured for all eternity. Not a single vampire moves forward. Burn! Then all the vampires start to move in, a mob attacking him. Klaus dispenses with a dozen or so easily, but the mob grows and he is overcome. A couple vamps wrap chains around his wrists to control him. He is dropped to the ground, beaten, dragged, stabbed. It is a frenzy of violence, one that is almost medieval in its verve. Then Rebekah appears, dagger in hand, and Klaus is enraged in a way I have never seen before. It seems that the werewolf side (which he rarely lets loose) has come to play. Rebekah is so scared she drops the dagger. Klaus breaks free and starts killing everyone in his path. Rebekah rushes to Marcel and insists he grab the coin or else Klaus won’t stop until everyone is dead. Marcel does, and calls for the carnage to end. He pledges allegiance to Klaus and offers him back his family home. Klaus accepts - plus he now has that dagger.
But Klaus is far from happy. He is waiting at the plantation when Rebekah returns home, and immediately puts her in a choke hold - until Elijah comes home. (We will get to Elijah’s adventures in a minute.) Klaus releases Rebekah and throws a mighty temper-tantrum, revealing his jealousy over Hayley and Elijah’s closeness. Rebekah is offended by Klaus’s persecution complex, until he opens up, raw and teary. “I make no excuse for past sins, but you two could have stood by me, believed my intentions for my child were pure. You chose to stand against me.” Both siblings look guilty - they really had been unfair, thinking the worst of Klaus. Klaus has decided that he will move back into his family home; Elijah and Rebekah can stay at the plantation and rot. In a final, perfectly manipulative move, Klaus hands over the dagger to Elijah - hilt first. Outside, Klaus sees Hayley sitting on the porch and demands that he come with her. “That baby is the only thing that matters to me.” His passion and ferocity bring her to the car without complaint.
So Elijah. Hayley insists on caring for him out in the bayou while he suffers through the werewolf bite-disease that Klaus left him with. It won’t kill him, but it will take longer to heal than a normal wound. Elijah is nervous about Hayley staying there. At first it seems to be because he doesn’t want her to hear any of his hallucinatory ramblings (and, as it turns out, he invited her in to see his thoughts) but then it turns out that the fever can - and does - turn him violent. He is hallucinating about a particularly vile memory of Klaus and he jumps up, throwing Hayley against the wall. The mystery woman who has been spying on Hayley comes out of nowhere, stakes Elijah, and runs. Hayley follows her and finally concedes to some answers.
The woman is Eve, and she claims to be following Hayley because she brought Originals to town. When asked about the family tree in the bible, Eve reveals that Marcel killed most of those in the tree. Those that managed to survive were subjected to a reversal spell: their new natural state would be as wolves; they could only be human on the full moon. The werewolves were all hunted based on the crescent moon birthmark on the shoulder. Eve had hers removed; she recommends the same for Hayley. Elijah interrupts. The fever has broken, he has healed, and he is pissed about having been stabbed in the back. Hayley calms him and takes him home, but vows to Eve that she will be back.
Hayley and Elijah head back to the plantation. Hayley wants to know about Celeste, the woman that dominated Elijah’s fever dreams. She was the love of Elijah’s life (or at least one of them), but she was also a witch. It seems that Klaus, 200 years ago or so, in one of his trademark temper tantrums, had been going through New Orleans, killing people for sport. Elijah begged him to stop for fear it would catch the eye of their father. Klaus shrugged off Elijah’s concerns, saying he pointed the finger at the witches. He does warn his brother that they are rounding up the witches. By the time Elijah gets back to the house, Celeste had been killed, drowned in her own bathtub. The saddest part about that story is that, as Elijah relates it to Hayley, he blames himself - not Klaus - for Celeste’s murder, because he “abandoned him for my own happiness.” She lets her fingers brush against Elijah’s, and despite the desire in his eyes, he begs her not to, for fear that Klaus will kill her out of jealousy. Even still, he squeezes her hand for a moment.
And finally, let’s check in on Cami. When not with Klaus, she has no idea of her time with him, and it is eating her up. She is missing time and starting to think she is going down the same path that Sean did. But then she finds a sketch in her pocket, something she doodled while working on Klaus’s memoirs (and therefore not compelled). When Klaus saw the doodle she claimed it was a tattoo design, but when she shows it to Kieran, she tells him it was a secret code that she and her brother developed as kids. She decoded the swirls, which led her to a newspaper clipping from 1919. There, on the front page is a society photo of Klaus and Marcel.
Dig It or Bury It?
The opening was pointless. This episode opened with Rebekah confessing to Father Kieran for being a “liar, betrayer, and conspiring against my own blood.” Then we get a title that says “24 hours earlier” and the episode starts. I understand why Rebekah felt the need to confess, but the episode ends in church with Father Kieran and Cami. Not with Rebekah. In fact, I didn’t even remember that silly confessional opening until I went back to my notes to write up this recap.
So this is... what, like the fourth or fifth episode of the season in which Klaus cried? Klaus the hardass has now spent half the season crying. At least he has a good cry, a manly cry. He doesn’t sob like a baby. (You know who has the worst on-screen cry? David Duchovny. Seriously, it is embarrassing.)
I love the idea of reverse werewolves. I haven’t seen anything in lore about it, so it is nice to see a new take on an old monster. I also wonder if, perhaps, they are setting up Klaus or Marcel (or both) to be the Axeman, the serial killer who terrorized New Orleans in 1919, and who is now a central focus in this season’s American Horror Story.
Prophecies?
Klaus declares war on the remaining werewolves. I bet that Eve will turn out to be Hayley’s mom or aunt or maybe even her sister.