My Review of The Originals 3.04- A Walk on the Wild Side

Marcel is recruited by Strix at a party which has several party crashers and he makes a surprising and gutsy move.

Marcel’s decision to have Hayley bite him, knowing that the vampire he was fighting liked to feed on his foes, was really smart and seriously gutsy.  If Klaus had refused to heal him or if the venom progressed further and faster than he expected, he could have died.  Serious props to him.  He was also very smart to have figured out what happened to his ring.  I do have to say that I assumed that the ring was taken after Marcel offered his hand given the fact that they lingered on his hand in that one shot, but I didn’t notice the ring at first, so I knew I could have been wrong.

I have to wonder why Tristan and a group of Elijah’s line are accepting someone so close to Klaus.  I worry that they are planning to use him to get to Klaus somehow.  Given what Aurora did to Lucien’s seer this week, you know the conflict between he and Tristan is going to escalate.  Like I said last week, I suspect that this whole war between the sire lines has more to do with Lucien and Tristan than anything else.  The worst part is that I honestly don’t think that either of them wants war.  The problem is that the two of them hate each other so much that it is easy for an outside force to manipulate them into going to war with each other.  They both think the worst of the other, so it is not a stretch to think that they can be manipulated easily, particularly by someone who knows and possibly hates them both.

Watching Klaus and Lucien pretend to be completely hammered in order to get Freya into the party to find the seer was completely hilarious.  Klaus virtually guaranteed that they wouldn’t be taken very seriously with the gambit and it gave him the chance to tweak their collective noses.  It also distracted everyone long enough for Hayley to bite Marcel so that he could win the fight.

Elijah is really disappointed in his “children”.  He was looking to elevate vampires to a more cultured level, but instead he managed to create “a gang of psychopathic egomaniacs” (or words to that effect).  He is always looking for ways to make vampires better, but he was thwarted by (presumably) Tristan.  Given the stares he was getting from the attendees, he is obviously quite well known by the people there.  I loved the look on his face when he figured out that Klaus was faking the whole thing.  He seemed a little surprised, but also seemed to be enjoying the whole thing.

What did the seer see that could kill Klaus?  It would have to be something *VERY* powerful given the fact that, at this point, nothing should be able to kill him.  And what was in that vision she showed Freya?  It went so fast, but I think I caught an image of Freya being buried alive in a casket.  Not fun at all.

Until next week!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 7.04- I Carry Your Heart With Me

Damon frantically tries to fix the problem caused by Veronica last week, Bonnie works with Alaric to bring Jo back, Nora and Mary Louise have a fight, and Enzo finds out about Julian.

I was very surprised that Damon allowed Tyler to take Elena away tonight just after he got her back.  I approve and think it is a big step for him, but I was still surprised.  After all the time and effort he went through to get her back after ripping out Malcolm’s heart a few weeks ago.  What I was not surprised about was the how focused he was tonight trying to bring Oscar back after Veronica killed him.  When he really wants something, he can be very focused.  I was a little annoyed at Stefan when he blamed Damon for what happened.  While kidnapping Oscar was probably not the best idea, Damon would never have actually harmed him because that would have caused Lily to use Elena as retribution and Damon would never knowingly put Elena in harm’s way.

I was definitely surprised that Bonnie was going along with what Alaric wanted.  Then again, I suspect that part of the reason she took it as far as she did is that she needed to bring back Oscar in order to get Elena back.  It’s hard to believe the number of spells she had to try before that shamanic ritual worked.  I am just worried about what the repercussions will be to bringing Jo and Oscar back.  I thought that Oscar’s bloodlust was a consequence of his being brought back, but given that he is a Ripper like Stefan and Lily, I am not sure if that is the case.

Stefan and Caroline’s plan could have backfired in some spectacular ways.  Fortunately for them, it didn’t.  Kidnapping Mary Louise to force Nora to siphon off the spell Veronica put on Caroline?  Severely risky.  And given the fact that the Heretics seem to hold grudges, that could seriously come back to bite them on the ass at some point.  I really hope that Caroline got what was bothering her about Veronica out of her system now.  I do worry that Stefan may be in denial about Veronica, but at least the two of them can touch now.

Enzo knows about Julian now and doesn’t seem pleased about Lily wanting to bring him back.  Given what we saw last week, I don’t think having him back is a good thing either.  I hope that the Heretics now having use of their magic will help them to keep him in his place.  Unfortunately, Lily seems so be blind to all of his faults, which complicates matters.  If they make a move against him, she may take it personally, which is not a good thing.

I do hope Mary Louise manages to adapt to the modern world the way Nora has.  Otherwise, I suspect that they will continue to experience issues in their relationship.  The two of them obviously care deeply about each other, which is nice to see.

I found it hard to have much sympathy for the tour director or the people on the tour.  While no one deserves to be slaughtered the way they were, if a place is quarantined, it is definitely prudent to avoid the area as much as possible.  Speaking of humans, the show needs to either start giving Matt something serious to do or just drop him.  It’s really annoying to have him show up for a few minutes in an episode before disappearing again.  I feel bad for poor Zach because it seems like what he does could be done by almost anyone.

Until next week!

My Review of The Originals 3.03- I’ll See You in Hell or New Orleans

We see the creation of the first vampire progeny, we see a possible cause underlying the sire war, Jackson helps Hayley readjust to existence as a person, and we meet a vampire secret society….

Lucien was the first vampire progeny?  Interesting, particularly because it was a complete accident.  I also suspect that this sire war is largely a war between Lucien and Tristan, who seem to really hate each other.  This makes me wonder if Lucien’s explanation of the sire war to Klaus was entirely accurate.  Both he and Tristan seem to be doing everything they can to muddy the waters and get their respective sires to line up with them.  Lucien insists that Klaus has to trust him in order to protect the people closest to him and Tristan tells Elijah that Lucien has w weapon that can kill an Original.  I almost wonder if both are telling the truth and this war is some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.  Each of them suspects that the other is getting ready to attack, so they both take steps to eliminate the competition, thereby leading to the war that might not have existed otherwise.

I am also noticing that each of the Originals seems to pick a particular type of person to turn.  Elijah’s progeny seem to be a lot like him, smooth and sophisticated.  Klaus’ progeny, on the other hand, seem to be a little more of the ordinary man who raises himself to a higher level, much like Klaus himself.  It could be that they are trying to create progeny in their own image as a method of self-perpetuation or it is also possible that their progeny choose to take on certain traits of their sires in order to please them.  This obviously wouldn’t hold true for their entire line because the different members of the line who are more distant are less likely to pick people like the Original they are “descended” from, but it would hold true for the progeny they create themselves.

Cami needs to be really careful.  Her proximity to Klaus is both protection and a target on her back.  Anyone who harms her will have to answer to Klaus, but she could also be used as a bargaining tool to get Klaus to do something that his enemies want him to do.  She’s not a witch and can only rely on her wits and the moves she’s picked up to help her survive.  Vincent may be able to help her, but he has limits to what he can do.  I think it was wise of her to talk with Lucien, particularly since it was in such a public place and she needed to talk with him to get a better sense of what type of person he is.

Given the obvious tension between Tristan and Lucien, I wonder if there is a third party stoking the tension between them.  Lucien thinks Tristan is killing people to separate him from Klaus and Tristan thinks that Lucien is out to kill Klaus and Elijah.  What if there is a third party hoping to take advantage of the tension between them and their sires to provoke a war of attrition in order to get rid of the Mikaelsons once and for all?  That would be someone to reckon with.

Until next with!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 7.03- Age of Innocence

Damon, Bonnie, and Alaric take a trip to find the sixth Heretic; we find out about Stefan and Valerie’s past; and a new villain is introduced….

So Stefan meeting Valerie was sort of planned by Lily.  She met a male friend and wanted to leave, but not before ensuring that her sons would be ok.  So she sent her friend (Julian) and Valerie to suss out Stefan’s state and sent Oscar (the sixth Heretic) to get a read on Damon.  Unfortunately for all involved Stefan and Valerie fell in lust for each other and he got her pregnant.  I won’t say it’s love yet given the frequency with which Stefan seems to fall for the ladies.  I have no doubt feelings were involved, but he was a 16 year old boy who was still blaming himself for the loss of his mother, so I’m not sure if it was actually love or looking for a replacement for his lost mother.  Regardless, she seems to have had quite real feelings and still seems to be harboring them to this day.  Not good at all.

I loved Oscar.  He was so much fun up until the point when he realized that Bamonic (gotta love these name combinations!) have the Phoenix Stone and he turns from fun loving stoner party boy to Heretic in a split second.  That was just fun to watch.  And Bonnie was severely pissed at Damon and Alaric for hiding the fact that Alaric hadn’t destroyed the Phoenix Stone from her.  Can’t say I blame her, but someone needs to knock some serious sense into Alaric.  Necromancy is not something to be trifled with and he is not thinking straight at all.  He is so blinded by his desire to get Jo back that he is not thinking about the consequences of his actions.  I know that he’ll hate anyone who stops him, but someone needs to.  Seriously.

We’ve only seen Julian for a brief period and I already hate him.  Lily wants to bring him back, but the Heretics don’t seem to be onboard with the plan.  The problem is that they won’t stand up to her and try and stop her, probably because she may very well go all psycho ripper on them.  The thing is that they could probably overwhelm her if they really wanted to, but they won’t.  Anyone who will deliberately attack a pregnant woman and kill her unborn child is not someone you want living with you.  I wonder how they got separated from Julian in the first place.  Did he run away when the Gemini coven tracked them down to trap them in the prison dimension or was it something else?

You have to feel sorry for poor Caroline.  Being forced to sit there and listen to Valerie go on and on about her and Stefan while Caroline is currently dating him had to suck.  Between that and the spell which is keeping Stefan from touching her, she is not having a good time right now.

It was almost sweet watching Stefan teach Lily how to drive.  She can be so normal sometimes that you can almost forget she is a complete psychopath.  That said, she is also a woman of her word and released Caroline after Stefan was honest with her.  So she has that going for her.

How exactly does Tyler end up back in the picture?  Is he Caroline’s fiancée or not?  I suspect not given what he said to Stefan, but I could be wrong.  And where is Bonnie in the future?  I am worried….

Until next week!

My Review of The Originals 3.02- You Hung the Moon

Cami comes to Klaus with a theory, Davina takes steps to keep her position as Regent using Hayley, Elijah visits Lucien, Freya confirms the vision Klaus saw last week, and the looming war between the sire lines heats up.

As revealed last week Klaus turned Lucien and this week we find out that Elijah turned Tristan de Martel and someone turned Aurora (the girls from the end of last week’s episode).  Tristan apparently wants to wipe out Klaus and his line.  I am curious if Tristan wants to kill Klaus himself or if he is really after Lucien or other members of Klaus’ line and sees killing Klaus as his best shot.  I can only assume he is after Klaus because killing Klaus never has been (and never will be) easy.  While the enchanted dagger would stop him, only the white oak stake can kill him, unless some immensely powerful witch emerges and then they would probably have to contend with Freya.

Which leads us to the vision from last week.  What on earth could be powerful enough to destroy the Mikaelsons?  Freya said that one would be taken down by a friend, one by a foe, and one by family.  Since the white oak stake (the last one known to exist) was destroyed last season, I don’t see there being another weapon that could kill them.  As I said above, a powerful witch could conceivably kill them but I can’t imagine Freya just sitting by while that happens.  She is incredibly powerful on her own, although we did see that the power of the Ancestors could thwart her when she was searching for Hayley.

Speaking of Hayley, she is definitely not someone to trifle with and is a force to be reckoned with.  She was able to fight through the magic of the witches and kill the entire gang attacking her, which cannot be an easy feat.  I do wonder if the spell Davina placed on her provided with any semblance of magical protection, which would explain why she was able to fight them off.

Cami knows that Lucien is killing the people who have been found around town and that detective knows Cami knows something.  He had better be wary because humans who become enmeshed in the supernatural world in New Orleans tend to have very bad endings.  If he keeps poking away at everything, he is not going to like what he discovers.

I want to know what that liquid was that Lucien injected himself with.  So far, Klaus’ blood has been the only antidote to a werewolf’s bite, but Lucien has another.  Is it some sort of potion made using Klaus’ blood or is it something else entirely?  Inquiring minds want to know.

How long is Klaus going to put up with Hayley having Hope just across the street from him?  He loves that little girl and I am not sure how much longer he will put up with her being that close to him. 

Davina is walking on a tightrope here.  She got Hayley to kill the witch who attacked her, and the Ancestors were obviously unhappy about it.  Between them and the son who swore vengeance on her, she is not going to have an easy time.

Until next week!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 7.02- Never Let Me Go

Lily shows why you should never cross her or the Heretics, Alaric makes a dangerous choice, Matt is tired of everything that happens in Mystic Falls, and Caroline finds out something new about Stefan.

I am beginning to wonder if there is a female on the show Stefan hasn’t been romantically involved with in some way.  He was into Valerie back in 1863, which puts his romantic interests on this show at some high number (honestly, I’ve lost track!).  I wonder if this was before or after she became a vampire.  I don’t recall that it was ever explained who turned them.  I assume it was Lily, which would explain why they are so loyal to her, but that may be wrong.  One thing we know for sure is that they are a tight knit group with remarkably complex relationships, mirroring a real family in many ways.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Damon.  Granted, he brought Lily’s wrath on himself without much help, but her reaction was cruel.  Forcing him into exile and separating him from Elena is quite possibly the cruelest thing Lily could have done.  Say what you will about Damon, but he does love Elena deeply and she is (well, was) his progeny.  And in this escalating game of tit-for-tat that he and Lily are engaged in, bringing in the missing 6^th member of the Heretics could be a very bad idea.  I guess that it all depends on what the reason was for the separation.  If the terms were less than amicable then we could have quite the nasty war on our hands.  If the split was amicable, then Damon is going to be in serious trouble.

I am really curious what that vision Bonnie saw was when she was attempting to bring Matt back.  Since it was at the same time Alaric was working with the Phoenix Stone and because the visions looked very similar to the ones she had when she was working her magic on the Stone, I assume that they were linked.  If they were, then things do not look good.

I wonder how long the Salvatore’s plan to play Lily will work.  She is their mother and may see right through them.  Then again, she hasn’t been around them for decades, so she may take their “split” at face value.  She certainly knows which buttons to press to get them to react the way she wants, which makes her very dangerous.

Alaric using the Phoenix Stone is a very, very bad idea.  I get that he wants Jo back, but given what Bonnie saw when she was testing the Stone, that thing cannot be a good magical object.  I would be willing to wager that because the person being brought back is probably being done for selfish reasons, the stone will inevitably twist the person in some way, shape, or form.  After all, as we’ve seen before, breaking the Laws of Nature never ends well and always comes with a price proportionate to the violation.

Who is Caroline’s fiancée?  I had assumed it was Stefan, but given her reaction to his name, that is not the case.  And why can she not go back to Mystic Falls?  That does not bode well for the future, nor does the fact that she was shot with a crossbow.

Until next week!

My Review of The Originals 3.01- For the Next Millennium

Welcome back to New Orleans and the fallout from Klaus’ actions when he was working to defeat Dahlia.  The siblings remain fractured, the witches are suspicious of Davina, an old friend returns to Klaus with disturbing news, and Elijah takes steps to protect Hayley and the wolves.

I believe that this is the eternal story of the Originals.  Klaus does something monumentally stupid or selfish, his siblings protest, they fight, and then Elijah and Rebekah return to the fold.  The only problem is that I am wondering if Klaus finally took things too far for Elijah.  While Klaus’ actions could be defended as fooling Dahlia, they were also deliberately targeted in order to punish people who hurt him.  Targeting Hayley and making it so that she could only see Hope when she becomes human on the full moon was cruel and hurt Elijah tremendously.  Klaus isn’t helping matters at all with the way he is acting, and if that vision he saw is correct, he will need his siblings to fight the new threat.

Elijah continues to be Elijah.  As I have said many, many times before, while he may be the most cultured and human of the Originals, he can be surprisingly vicious at times.  Tonight was the perfect example.  The hunters were out killing wolves, so Elijah hunted them down and killed them all.  Given that they couldn’t hurt him, it was (of course) remarkably effective and totally in keeping with his general attitude of using violence in the appropriate manner and time.  I did find it twistedly amusing that he turned Hope’s baby carriage around right before he killed the first three hunters.

Cami is in an interesting position.  Klaus likes her and seems to trust her above all others, so he opens up to her.  This does put her in a position of tremendous power over him, which we saw tonight when she spoke sharply to him.  He really needed to talk with her and she was fairly rude, which led to him having a classic Klaus temper tantrum and ripping the art critic apart.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Davina is also in a precarious position.  While she may be the nominal leader of the witches, she definitely does not have their respect.  It appears that she is going to use Hayley as her enforcer/attack dog (sorry for the pun there) in order to keep the witches in line if needed.  While I don’t doubt that Davina could take on any witch she really wanted to, it would probably be quite exhausting and the infighting would leave the witches open to attacks by the vampires.

The only witch who is apparently more powerful than Davina is Freya.  Either that or Freya is just so old that she knows much more powerful and different magic than Davina does.  I’ve never seen Davina teleport herself or anything else the way Freya did, or at least not that I can remember off hand.  I am curious as to what Freya will do in the incipient war between the sire lines.  She could potentially be a boon to whichever side can get their hands on her.

I am not sure if Lucien can be trusted.  He is undoubtedly acting in his own self-interestm given that the death of any of the Originals would result in the death of their sire line.  Given the last scene, I think it is safe to assume that he is the killer Cami and the police are looking for and he appears to be more than a little crazy.  Color me concerned.

Until Thursday!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 7.01- Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take

  

Welcome back to Mystic Falls everyone!  In the season 7 premiere, the gang deals with a post-Elena world, Lily and the Heretics make an immediate mark on Mystic Falls, a deal is struck and then shattered, and in the future, the Salvatore brothers are running from someone….

The premiere was a definite improvement over last season.  It seems that the loss of Elena has given the show a shot of adrenaline and new life.  It helps that Lily and the Heretics are a very fun and interesting type of villain, much like Kai was.  While Lily is trying to get the Heretics to fit in, they are having none of it.  It didn’t help that Damon violated the deal that Stefan and Caroline brokered within a few days of returning to Mystic Falls.  This war between the Salvatores and Lily and the Heretics is not going to be pretty.

I also love the flash forwards.  According to Julie Plec, the flash-forwards will be caught up with about ¾ of the way through the season, so by that point we will have found out why Damon chose to be put in a coffin until Elena returned and who the mystery woman was hunting him and Stefan.  A well done flash forward is a nice storytelling tool through which you know where something will end, but the mystery is how the heck you got there in the first place.

Damon is, predictably, not handling the post-Elena world well.  I admire that he made the choice to focus on helping Alaric to wallowing, which shows growth.  I am also impressed that he and Bonnie are still working so well together.  Given that Bonnie’s continued living is the thing separating him from Elena, I am happy that he has not completely returned to the old Damon and tried to off her.  Definite growth there.  Unfortunately, the old Damon definitely reared his head when he ripped the heart out of the one Heretic.  Stupid, stupid move there.  Classic Damon, but still stupid.

Stefan and Caroline also made definite progress in their relationship.  Stefan is being very patient with Caroline while she works everything out and she has admitted to having strong feelings for him.  Unfortunately, her kidnapping by Enzo is probably going to put a damper on their incipient relationship.  Their plan to evacuate the town in exchange for allowing the Heretics free reign on anyone who returned was probably the best choice of many bad ones.  As was demonstrated at the police graduation, the war would be very messy for all involved, so getting the humans out of the town was smart.  I just wonder how the Heretics will handle Matt, since I assume he stayed.

Alaric is definitely not handling the post-Jo world well.  He has fallen back into the bottle and is apparently planning on somehow resurrecting Jo.  I am not sure how he intends to do that though.  It has been months since she died, so I don’t think the whole person swap that Kai did will work.  Besides, Kai was very powerful when he did that.  The only witch close enough to that is Bonnie, and I doubt she would willingly perform that spell.  Unless Alaric can somehow persuade one of the Heretics to perform the spell, which would be interesting to see, I don’t see how Jo will come back.

Until Thursday!