Post — Aaron Ngo

I used to have nightmares about Elijah Mikaelson back in high school. The vampire who put fear in the Salvatore Brothers in his debut appearance on The Vampire Diaries but had honor and kindness toward Elena Gilbert. I loved seeing his evolution on that show and his continued journey on The Originals.

And this episode proved he could have the life he always wanted: filled with love, happiness, and someone to share it with. It just took stripping everything that made him Elijah Mikaelson to do so. His memories, family, and his attire went away, replaced with someone who stole the entire hour.

If you want to know my thoughts on the first two episodes before diving in this review, links are here: 5x01, 5x02

Spoilers ahead:

Seven years ago. Around the time Marcel compelled his memories away, Elijah gets off a bus and is starving. He assumes he needs food. But when he meets a human being and hears his heartbeat, he discovers what he is and what he wants.

After killing this man, Elijah steals his clothes and ditches his suit. He puts on the trucker's hat... this is where I hit the pause button on my computer because I needed to Snapchat it. Elijah wore a trucker's hat and played with a Jesus bobble-head. It is currently on my Snapchat story as officially the most surprising thing I have ever seen Elijah do.

We're taken one week later in New York City. Elijah has killed another person for blood. When he hears someone else doing the same thing he's doing, he begs for answers about vampires and why they are like this.

The woman is named Antoinette. She is also a vampire and takes Elijah to a diner to explain everything he needs to know about vampires. Antoinette explains their abilities, how they can't walk in the sunlight, and how Elijah is able to do so because he wears a daylight ring.

Elijah explains his situation: he has no memory about anything. He doesn't know his name and only has a cuff-link bearing an E for a clue to his identity. They agree to call him that for the time being.

They're bonding and we know where that's gonna go.

They head to his crappy apartment. Antoinette - and the rest of us - is surprised to see him living like this. She introduces him to another handy vampire ability: compulsion. After the lesson about how he can get nice things using his eyes, Elijah shows her some of his things from the past, including a note. It reads: Don't Look Back. It is not in his handwriting.

Weeks pass after this. Elijah starts redecorating his apartment with a bunch of new things that he got through compelling. He also continues spending time with Antoinette and takes her to a vampire club to hang with their own kind. Elijah dancing in a nightclub is another sight I will never get over. He's so happy!

But Antoinette is uncomfortable and excuses herself. She does not like this particular vampire group because they shamelessly feed on innocent people and wear daylight rings. She does not like wearing daylight rings - she used to have one - but discarded it to live in the night and to embrace her full vampire status.

Then she shows him her way and feeds on an innocent, compelling the fear away. Elijah finishes the poor guy off and starts falling for the girl harder. Romantic on the vampire level? Most definitely. It is getting on.

They find a piano somewhere in the park and start playing. She tries to teach him, but Elijah discovers he already knows how to play. Their kiss scene is interrupted when Marcel arrives and tells Elijah to get out of town before "she" gets back. "She" is clearly Rebekah.

Marcel bails after giving this warning. Elijah wants to go after him, but Antoinette does not wish to follow. She decides if he is going to pursue his path, then they have no future. She says her goodbyes and leaves New York City.

Elijah stays and searches for Marcel. He rips his apartment apart when his search comes out fruitless and kills the vampires at the nightclub. I have no idea why he decided to take out those vampires, but it was put together beautifully especially with that scream in the end. I wanted to scream with him.

Marcel confronts Elijah again and reveals he was the one who wrote the note. But only because Elijah asked him to. I don't understand why Elijah didn't write it himself because it would've helped speed things along here. Marcel also tells Elijah that he did the memory wipe for a little girl and if he kept digging up his past, then the little girl will suffer.

Hearing this, Elijah leaves the past behind and goes to France. Antoinette is there playing the piano and they get back together. She said there was nothing to forgive. I hope they stay together when Elijah eventually gets his memory back.

Fast forward to the present day.

The two of them are playing piano and happily in love with each other. Elijah proposes to her, and she accepts without actually saying the word "yes". Instead she goes grab champagne to celebrate, only to run into the infamous Klaus Mikaelson.

Klaus attacks Antoinette and compels her to reject Elijah so he can take his brother back to New Orleans for the Hayley problem. He does this instead of killing her because she took care of his brother over the years.

I was prepared for her to reject Elijah. For Klaus to have yet again ruin Elijah's happiness for a thousand-year vow they swore to each other. But she does not reject him. Instead she warns him about Klaus because she has been taking vervain. What a twist.

Antoinette gets everyone safely out of the bar while Elijah confronts Klaus.

Elijah does not appreciate Klaus disrupting the life he made for himself here in France. But Klaus is desperate and begs his brother to return. He reminds Elijah about their eternal vow, their family (Rebekah, Kol, Freya, Hope), and how Hayley is currently missing.

But Elijah already did his homework. When Marcel told him his name, he put enough of the pieces together and has no interest in becoming Elijah Mikaelson again - the man who sacrificed everything for his family. That is not his life anymore.

Klaus is heartbroken over his brother's refusal to return and implores him to reconsider. This is the part where I went, "why are you doing this, Klaus? Elijah is happy! Leave him alone! And you're not supposed to get near him anyway. How will he help?!"

I think Klaus wanted his brother back and used the "missing Hayley" situation to bring him back into the fold, screwing the consequences. He needs his most trustworthy sibling by his side. Because I don't see him ringing Rebekah or Kol to return over this urgent matter.

This is where Antoinette stabs Klaus in the heart. The lovers try to escape, but Klaus recovers and asks his brother to hear him out. But Elijah does not care about the Mikaelsons, he simply wants to leave them all behind. He doesn't care about his past or Klaus anymore.

Then Elijah snaps Klaus' neck, declaring that "Elijah Mikaelson is dead".

Elijah and Antoinette retreat. Elijah confronts Antoinette about lying. She knew who he was the entire time and had been taking vervain since they met. Of course she knew about him. The Mikaelsons are legendary. Thank goodness she knew the entire time because I thought she was an idiot for not recognizing him or something.

Antoinette wants to fled before Klaus finds them, but Elijah knows his brother won't follow. The way he turned his back on Klaus had surely broken him. And he was right: Klaus woke up, called Freya, and told her Elijah was gone. He never found him.

Elijah Mikaelson is gone. The honorable Original we grew to love on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals is no more. He does no longer love the missing Hayley but instead wishes to spend eternity with Antoinette.

He removes his daylight ring and tosses it with the rest of his mementos. Elijah exposes himself to the sunlight, standing in front of the window, and catches on fire, letting the flames burn his past forever, finally letting go of Elijah Mikaelson.

I don't know about y'all. But I enjoyed how this episode felt so different from any other episode we've seen in the past four seasons. I rooted for the new Elijah 100%. His love story with Antoinette and his renouncement of his past was a big risk to take, but it stuck the landing.

Daniel Gillies gave it his all in his centric episode.

My love for Elijah has always been true and honorable, but seeing him like this made me wish he could truly leave his family behind. That this could be his happy ending somehow. Or when his memories do eventually return, this Elijah and the old one can somehow mix into a new stable Elijah. A man who can have the best of both worlds.

For the show to end properly, the entire Mikaelson clan needs to reunite, and that includes Elijah unfortunately.

Damn this episode is definitely going in my top 5 favorite.

First The 100 knocked it out of the park with Red Queen and now this Elijah-centric episode. I'm really impressed with the CW right now.

Hayley will die by the series' end. She's missing, hadn't been seen since the premiere, and a major death needs to happen. Hope has to pay some price for setting off this madness.

Comment below and let me know how we're all doing after that wonderful episode. I'm going to cry for awhile, but I promise I will get back to you. Always and Forever.

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