Post — Aaron Ngo

WARNING! Major spoilers are in this episode review. Caution!

Last week's episode was a brutal one. If you haven't read my review of it yet, the link is here. Read it and come back here. It's worth the trouble.

This is the aftermath of that rushed brutality. We all had a week to process what happened and how it happened. I'm still not okay with it. I understand the death and how it will propel things in another direction, but the way it was handled felt off.

Hayley Marshall deserved better. She had a one-night stand with Klaus, raised a child, and joined a family that promised "Always and Forever" until forever ends. It ended for her when she saved Hope and Klaus - her family. She sacrificed her life to keep them safe, but I think it could've been built up better.

Klaus is troubled and knows he must leave New Orleans before Hope arrives for the funeral. But then a letter drops in magically and we get a special Klaroline moment before the dark stuff happens. Caroline is unable to come to the funeral but offers Klaus support and to remind him that she is only phone call away.

I love how much these two have grown with each other. Caroline loves his family and has grown considerable close to Klaus over the last few years. It's implied she has bonds with other members too like Hayley, Rebekah, and Hope. I can't wait until Caroline pops up again near the end of the season.

But let's get into how Hope is handling her mother's death.

Not well.

She needs her father but because of the dark magic (The Hollow), it's preventing them from getting close. Klaus has requested Ivy to do an astral projection spell so he can be there for the funeral and to comfort his daughter.

The other Mikaelsons (Kol and Rebekah) are mentioned but are staying away because the more of them joined, the more chaos they bring. However, one Mikaelson forgot and dropped in for a visit to pay his respects... for the wrong person (Greta).

This causes problems because Klaus and Elijah aren't supposed to be this close. After Elijah and Antoinette meet with Greta's followers, Klaus ambushes them and takes them outside the city to rot in a jail cell. He snaps Elijah's neck and then gives Antoinette a nasty werewolf bite.

Elijah begs Klaus to save Antoinette's life and offers the one thing he has: himself. He is willing to let Marcel and Vincent restore his memories in exchange for the cure. Klaus refuses his offer and hangs up the phone. This doesn't stop Elijah, who somehow still has the phone.

He dials for Marcel and Vincent, who accept the terms. They figure it'll take some time for Klaus to forgive Elijah, and with his memories restored, he will take Greta's followers with him out of New Orleans. That is some hopeful thinking.

Ivy and her ecstatic performance shined in this episode. She reveals the brand new prophecy promising the death of all first-born witches (herself, Freya, Hope, and countless others) if the Mikaelsons continue meeting with each other. She shares this information with Vincent and then with Klaus.

Klaus is horrified and is unprepared when he eventually astral projects to his daughter. She tells him to go away, hating him for not being there for her. Klaus also hates the situation and carves Hayley's name into a tree alongside Jackson and Mary (RIP).

This is an emotional scene. I was not prepared for the "little wolf" nickname to surface. Her death may have been a mistake, but her farewell episode (this one) was going strong. He shared his hopes and dreams for their daughter and how he wished he could rely on her advice

I teared up a little thinking back on how these two characters went from a one-night-stand to two parents raising a beautiful daughter, who is getting her own spin-off. He wants her to grow up, to achieve her dreams... you know, like any other parent would hope for their child.

But Hope isn't ready to hear any of this from her father yet.

Hope is still distraught about the funeral disaster. None of Hayley's friends came (Marcel and Vincent), all the people on the streets were strangers, Declan wasn't informed, and then a bunch of Greta's followers attacked the scene, interrupting the grieving.

Hope blows up one of the vans and the others escape. Freya is knocked to the side when she tries to stop Hope. Klaus, in astral form, arrives too late to do anything about it.

Freya is in pain too. She doesn't know how to comfort Hope and is in need of comfort herself. She also misses Keelin and struggles without her around.

Marcel and Vincent go meet Elijah and bring a vial of Klaus' blood. They prepare the spell and begin to restore his memories. Elijah starts hearing his memories through the doors until he encounters the red one - the one with his most horrific memories on the other side.

He is too scared to let it all come back and it threatens to destroy him. He is overwhelmed, fighting off Marcel's compulsion, and gets knocked out. Marcel and Vincent leave, promising to give Antoinette the cure if he wakes up with his memories intact.

Freya calls Klaus and tells him about what Marcel and Vincent did. He is furious because he believes he already lost Elijah. He wanted to spare his brother the pain of letting Hayley die and if he got those memories back, it would destroy him. Either way, their Elijah is gone.

Despite the warnings, Klaus arrived in-person for the werewolf ceremony for Hayley and held his daughter's hand. Keelin also showed up and reunited with Freya. They are too good! I'm so glad they're back together.

The chaos starts happening and everyone evacuates except father and daughter. Klaus and Hope share "I love yous", finding their situation impossible. Hope swears to find a spell or something to free their family, to save "Always and Forever", and Klaus hopes she finds it someday before speeding away.

The episode ends with Klaus and Elijah getting trapped somewhere. More accurately, their minds have been put somewhere else. Elijah is still memory-less and it looks like they will be forced to work together to escape wherever they've been transported to.

These episodes are starting to look amazing. Next week we're getting the entire Mikaelson Family and hopefully Elijah will finally face his memories head-on and the guilt that will inevitably come for him.

Comment and share your thoughts. I'd love to hear them.

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