The Originals Episode 112
“Dance Back from the Grave”
Written By: Michael Russo and Michael Narducci
Directed By: Rob Hardy
Original Airdate: 28 January 2014
In This Episode…
Klaus comes back from last week’s The Vampire Diaries in a very good mood, which only makes Marcel feel even more rotten. Adding to the overall rottenness is the fact that two vampires have shown up dead in a circle of black magic symbols. The Originals recognize it and assume some new hotshot witch is mimicking “the old ways.” The vampires haven’t been staked or burned; they are just dead - obviously it is witchcraft. Marcel leaves the compound and heads to Rousseau’s to wait for Sophie. All he finds there is Cami. He tells her about Davina and the two drink together. Klaus heads to the Cauldron to roust some witches and hopefully find Sophie. Thierry takes Rebekah to the docks to show her where Marcel had another base of operations. Elijah stays back at the compound with Hayley.
We will start with Rebekah and Thierry. At the docks, the vampires are confronted by a powerful warlock named Papa Tunde, one of the witches that Celeste / Sabine resurrected. Rebekah recognizes him - it can’t be. He grabs her and desiccates her with a touch and a chant. Thierry runs, and Rebekah ends up unconscious in the center of another ring of black magic. Elijah has been unable to reach Rebekah all day, so he asks Thierry, now back at the compound. He admits he bailed on Rebekah and tells Elijah what happened. Elijah nearly breaks him in half out of anger. Hayley insists on going with him. They find Rebekah but cannot reach her - the circle has some kind of binding spell around it.
Klaus finds Sophie, and though he is pissed, he realizes he needs her. She explains the symbols are indicative of black magic centered around human sacrifices. The vampires were sacrificed so that the witch who drew these symbols could absorb their power. Elijah calls and tells them about the binding spell. Sophie suggests they need another powerful mystical bonding agent to “screw up” the carefully orchestrated spell. Hayley offers up her blood, since her fetus is one-quarter witch on his dad’s side. They sprinkle it on the circle, the spell is broken, and they whisk Rebekah out of there.
Threaded throughout this episode are lots of flashbacks to 1919. Marcel was just returning from WWI. Elijah and Klaus were meeting with the Guerrera crime family (who also happen to be werewolves) to discuss the new rules about sneaking in bootleg liquor when Prohibition is enacted. And there was a very, very powerful warlock, Papa Tunde, who interrupted the proceedings. He was new to town and wanted a seat at the table with the vampires and the werewolves. Klaus still ran New Orleans and he didn’t need any hotshot warlock invading his turf - even if he did bring Klaus the severed head of the city’s mayor. Elijah had tried, at some point, to arrange a truce: offer Papa Tunde something to sate him without giving him any real power. Papa Tunde wasn’t into this, so next came Klaus’ way: swift and brutal violence. Everywhere Papa Tunde went, his twin teenage sons went. They all had black magic symbols carved in their foreheads, and Klaus figured out that Papa Tunde channeled his power from his sons. So Klaus served up their heads to Papa Tunde in a large box. Klaus then proceeded to kill Papa Tunde by gouging his eyes out with his thumbs.
Rebekah and Marcel were on the outs by 1919, and had been for half a century. Marcel admitted to Rebekah that he was the one who had called forth Papa Tunde in the hopes that if Klaus was scared off, or at least distracted by some new threat, he would leave Marcel in peace to attempt to win back Rebekah. Clearly this didn’t work, but Rebekah informed him that the only person Klaus ever ran from was her father. So we have that to look forward to.
Anyway, back to the present. Papa Tunde surprises Marcel at Rousseau’s, and he is surprised that a witch that should have been dead for a century is so strong. Marcel snaps Papa Tunde’s neck and he literally just shakes it off - he has the power of an Original flowing through him. It seems that his plan is to take all the powers from the Originals and rule the world. For now, he takes Marcel’s power, and Cami manages a call to Klaus to tell him what is going on. Klaus arrives in seconds - just who Papa Tunde was hoping to see. Klaus is shocked by his strength - he cannot get away. He starts his ceremony over Klaus, but it is at this point that Elijah removes Rebekah from the circle. Papa Tunde loses virtually all his power, drops Klaus, and runs.
Klaus gathers all the vampires at his compound and speaks to them, basically asking them to forget the fact that he initially wanted to kill all of them, and wants them now to join with him to fight against the witches. Thierry would rather leave New Orleans than live under Klaus’ rule. He leaves, and takes about half the vampires with him. Marcel thought he would lose more. They drink to that, and things seem to be mended between them. Klaus brings Sophie in to find out how a dead warlock could be alive. She suspects that someone jacked the power from the Harvest and used it to bring back four witches - just not the four who were supposed to be resurrected. Marcel’s interest is piqued because this means that, in theory, the power could be returned and Davina could be resurrected. Klaus doesn’t care - he just wants to know how to end Papa Tunde. Since his power comes from the power of others, Sophie suggests he keep Papa Tunde from from killing anyone else - eventually his power will just fade.
Unless, of course, Papa Tunde has found a cache of vamps ready to be sacrificed. Which he has - Klaus and Marcel go to the garden and discovers all the entombed vampires dead.
Celeste (we’re just going to call her Celeste from now on) meets Papa Tunde in the cemetery and turns over the sword which now contains all the power he harvested, enough to do horrible things, even to an Original. There just needs to be one final sacrifice: Papa Tunde himself. Celeste slits his throat unceremoniously.
Dig It or Bury It?
I had a number of issues with this episode. First off, Cami makes a point to tell Marcel that she takes vervain now. Yet when Marcel needs to feed after being attacked by Papa Tunde, Cami insists it be from her, and he feeds without feeling any effects of the vervain. Elijah and Rebekah each threw a couple of utterly boring temper tantrums about the same old things: family, relationships, alliances, how to handle Klaus.
Most egregious was killing off Papa Tunde. You introduce this awesome bad guy, give him an elaborate backstory, and give him an entire episode - only to kill him? He is way more interesting than Sabine / Celeste / whatever.
And what happened to the other witches Celeste resurrected? We see hints of the lovely young woman from the 1920s, but never get so much as a formal introduction.
Prophecies?
The witches declare “war” on the vampires. Hasn't this war been declared a dozen times over already?