The Originals
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“The Originals” Ep.5.12: “The Tale of Two Wolves”

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I was really worried that “The Tale of Two Wolves” was going to be too much backdoor pilot and not enough main plot of “The Originals” which would have been extremely annoying given that it’s the second to last episode of the series. Luckily that was not the case. Instead we got a small glimpse of what we should see on “Legacies” while mostly continuing the “Originals” plot dealing with Hope’s Hollow power.

The Originals
Photo credit: The CW

We open with Marcel informing Elijah that Davina and Freya can’t find anything to help Hope. If it weren’t for her upcoming transition they might have more time to find something else, but as it stands Hope is almost definitely going to die at the full moon. Klaus overhears them while he’s watching Hope sleep and he decides he’s not ready to give up on Hope so he and Elijah are going to take her to Mystic Falls to try and find a cure.

We’re then treated to a voice over from Caroline over some shots of very peppy supernatural kids as she explains to prospective parents that the school and students are both academically and supernaturally gifted. They also promote inclusion of the species with witches, vampires and werewolves all cohabitating except at the full moon when the wolves get locked up. Klaus shows up during this tour and asks what they do with the hybrids. Caroline hilariously calls him Bob the janitor and takes him to her office which if I’m not mistaken is Stefan’s old bedroom.

Klaus tells her about what’s going on with Hope and that he needs her twins to use their siphoning powers to take the Hollow out of Hope before it kills her. It appears he’s thought of everything too because when Caroline asks what they’re going to do with the power once it’s out of Hope, he says they’re going to put it in him and then drop him to the bottom of the ocean like they were always trying to do back on “The Vampire Diaries”.

Elijah is keeping Hope company around the manor. There’s lots of memorabilia around like the old picture of Katherine and Stefan’s diary which Hope says paints Klaus and Elijah as nothing but straight up villains. Elijah tries to argue that Stefan was biased but Hope pulls Alaric’s receipts also. I’d be willing to bet that Alaric is pretty biased too (especially after this episode) but the point is made that the Mikaelson’s are considered the villains to pretty much everyone in Mystic Falls.

Hope is also not having a very good time hanging out with Elijah and he insists he can cheer her up by taking her to a place in town for burgers and milkshakes. I’m not trying to be a dick because Elijah is really trying right now, but something tells me Hope knows all about the Mystic Grill since she’s lived in Mystic Falls for literal years. Before we join them there we get some glimpses of things around town that reference “The Vampire Diaries” like a plaque on a bench for Matt’s extraordinary service as Sheriff (LOL), and the Elena Salvatore medical practice. Mostly the second one just annoyed me because I’m certain Nina Dobrev is not coming back to be on “Legacies” so I kind of wish they hadn’t even shown that one.

In any case, Hope has had a burger but she’s still not totally at ease because there’s a plaque inside the Mystic Grill dedicated to a woman Klaus killed in a moonstone ceremony. I’m sure I should remember who it was but I can not. Elijah tries to help Hope think a little better of her father and tells a story about young Klaus who spent so much time trying to make better and better paint colors and who was beaten by their father. Klaus wanted to run away after the first time but Elijah refused to leave Rebekah and Kol so they stayed and Klaus continued to be subjected to Mikael’s rages even though Elijah promised to protect him.

A cute boy named Landon brings Hope her milkshake with whipped cream on the bottom which I’d never heard of before but I’m definitely trying the next time I order one. He seems to like Hope and they have a little talk about New Orleans and Jazz music and the music festival they’re setting up in the town square. He asks if Hope wants to go but she deflects by saying she has something to do that night. He also ends up calling Elijah “Mr. Marshall” which Elijah looks endlessly pleased about.

Some asshole jocks from Mystic Falls High start throwing shit at Landon until Elijah catches one of the things. Elijah asks why Hope wouldn’t go to the music festival with Landon and she basically says what’s the point because she’s dying.

A quick jaunt to that abandoned house in the woods where Klaus and Caroline are explaining to the twins what they’ll need to do to help Hope. They are bargaining hard for rewards for doing this good deed. They want new cell phones, to go to the senior dance, and for Caroline and Alaric to withdraw the rule about skirt hemlines because it’s sexist. Caroline says no to the phones maybe to the dance and absolutely yes to “fighting the patriarchy one hemline at a time.” Klaus starts saying thank you when Alaric shoots him through the chest with an arrow with NO warning! He’s got a terrible attitude all of a sudden and I suppose it’s possible it’s something I missed by never finishing “The Vampire Diaries” but he seems way more anti-Klaus than feels appropriate. He locks Klaus in the dungeons until they can get him away from the town.

Back with Elijah and Hope she explains that she knows she’s dying because of all the witchy activity back in New Orleans, the creepy black veins all over her body and because it literally hurts her. Elijah admits they don’t think she will survive the full moon and then Hope admits she thinks it might be better if she died. The jocks continue to be assholes to Landon by not even paying their full bill. Elijah obviously overhears it and leaves him a three hundred dollar tip while asking if Hope has driven before. Apparently Hayley and Declan taught her a little but Elijah thinks it’s time for her to try driving a Bentley.

All these scenes with Elijah and Hope are so great and such classic Elijah that it just makes me furious about all the good Elijah we missed this year while he was dicking around with Antoinette and being willfully obtuse about his family. It also lends a lot of credence to the theory that he’s going to end up sacrificing himself for Hope so he can be with Hayley in the afterlife. But we’re not there yet. First we have to understand why Hope might be ok with just dying. She explains to Elijah that she’s never felt like she was supposed to be in the world anyway because the universe has been trying to kill her since before she was born. And also the sheer number of coincidences that had to occur just for her to be conceived between Klaus and Hayley in the first place. She says she’s kind of fine dying if that’s what has to happen. Instead of contradicting her outright, Elijah directs her to the high school where the jocks are either having a carwash or the main jock is making his friends wash his car in the school parking lot. In any case Elijah says they are not bound by trying to keep their jobs like Landon was so they’re able to retaliate against the boys on his behalf. Hope legit freezes the whole car solid and the windows explode. It’s truly awesome until she faints after blaming herself some more for Hayley’s death.

Meanwhile Caroline and Alaric are arguing about using their twins to help Hope and Klaus. He doesn’t understand why Bonnie can’t help which seems like he’s just purposefully misunderstanding the very specific powers his daughters have. I hope this isn’t going to be his personality on “Legacies” or it’s not going to be fun to watch at all. Klaus breaks out of the dungeon (duh) and he says Alaric is right about dropping him to the bottom of the ocean. It won’t be enough, which is why he has a white oak stake. Where he got it and how long he’s had it are a total mystery since we’ve watched the last white oak stake get destroyed no less than one thousand times.

Klaus and Caroline have retreated to the abandoned house where she’s lent him some of Stefan’s old clothes that aren’t covered with blood and arrow holes. It’s determined the twins will take the Hollow power from Hope when she’s mid transition. Caroline seems upset about Klaus’ plan to die once the power is inside him. I’m mostly worried about where the power will go once he’s dead. The Hollow feels exactly like something that would find the next closest host to jump into if the body it was in died. In any case Klaus knows there’s no more time to find another option because Hope will die that night if they don’t go with the plan.

Elijah runs the unconscious Hope to the abandoned house where Klaus is and they try to revive her. He’s in the super blue afterlife place everyone in this universe goes to when they die and she sees Hayley in the woods. They have what’s actually a supernice talk about how it’s not time for Hope to be there yet and that Hayley is at peace now because she’s with her parents and Mary (yay!) and Jackson (yuck). Eventually Hope does go back to the real world and she decides she doesn’t want to die and Klaus assures her he has a plan to keep her alive and safe.

Klaus ends up taking Hope to the music festival in the town square while he explains the process of the spell. She ends up going to sit with Elijah on a bench and they make up and forgive each other when they realize they’ve both had too many responsibilities from too young an age. Elijah says he sees a lot of Hayley in Hope which triggers Hope’s memory of seeing Hayley in the afterlife. She says Hayley told her she’s still holding out for her dance with Elijah. Hope is pretty sure she was just hallucinating but Elijah looks touched. She gets up and leaves to go dance with Landon and it’s very cute. I’m excited for “Legacies”.

Klaus and Caroline watch Hope dance while they have a lovely conversation about their past and he thanks her for trusting him again. She tells him about the time she took her twins to New Orleans for help but he wasn’t there. She says despite the past she’s always known he wasn’t meant to be the villain in her story. Then they very nearly kiss until the biggest cock block in the world, the clock tower, chimes and Caroline pulls away because it’s time for the ritual.

Hope gets chained up in the dungeons for her transformation and Klaus gives her some tips. Unfortunately, Elijah has discovered that Klaus plans to die after the ritual and they fight and wreck the Salvatore house for probably the millionth time. Eventually Klaus breaks Elijah’s neck and decides to take Hope out of the dungeon so her first transformation can be out in the woods like Hayley would have wanted. The transformation starts, the Hollow is removed from Hope and she turns into a very pretty CGI wolf before she runs off to frolic in the woods.

After her transformation Klaus runs to the ceremony but Caroline’s not there. Alaric thinks she just couldn’t bear to watch Klaus die which is heartbreaking. The twins put the Hollow into Klaus and Alaric spirits them away so fast I’m surprised they didn’t leave a little puff of smoke behind. Elijah shows up at the end of the spell and tries to stop Klaus but he can’t enter the circle the twins set up. Just as Klaus is about to stake himself the episode ends!

I’m not totally surprised but I’m not sure I needed that much of a cliffhanger right before the finale. I also can’t decide who’s actually going to die next week. It’ll be either Klaus or Elijah but the preview didn’t give enough clues and I’m not psyched about either option. I guess we’ll find out though!

Catch me live-tweeting the finale on Wednesday, August 1 at 9/8c on Twitter.  You can follow me at So…I’m Watching. 

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