Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Read with Caution!

Family reunions are always the best... especially for an immortal family of vampires and a few witches thrown in there. The special occasion of Freya and Keelin's wedding is the reason everyone returns while also mourning the lost of Josh in last week's episode.

Rebekah, Kol, and even Davina came back in this episode to celebrate/mourn. I loved Davina in this episode, but she was completely underutilized. The short scene between "Aunt" Davina and Hope was a nice touch and a nice surprise considering the last time they spoke on-screen, Hope banished her away for trying to kill Klaus back in season four.

I wish Davina was given more to do, but she was only given that scene, a cute one with Kol, and then a plot moving scene with Marcel. Davina and Marcel had such a strong bond in the first three seasons but season four and five have done nothing with their daughter-father love for each other.

She only gives him some wise advice on how to deal with Declan and his threat to regroup the Human Faction. I wish the season had more time to develop Declan and his motives... because if he wasn't related to Father Kieran and Cami, I wouldn't care about him that much.

Freya is having cold feet on her wedding day, which is worsened when Vincent can't be her best man and Elijah refuses to walk her down the aisle. Then she drops the bombshell of "not wanting kids" on Keelin because of the miscarriage she suffered under Aunt Dalia's tutelage.

Rebekah and Freya shared the most scenes together in this episode. She reminds Freya how she sacrificed everything for their family and how they are not doomed to become their hated parents (Esther and Mikael). If Rebekah continued on as a series regular, I would've loved to see moments like this between them in the earlier seasons.

After the sister pep talk, Freya consults Keelin and is now more open to the idea of having children someday. Keelin also admits how she didn't want children originally, not wanting to pass on the werewolf gene, but Freya changed her mind for all the love she had for family.

HOW BEAUTIFUL! I love them so much as a couple!

While all this drama is going on, Elijah continues to harbor his guilt over Hayley's death. He pains himself with a memory of Hayley, who visited Elijah in France during the time jump. She used her birth name "Andrea" and their chemistry was on high alert. Even memory-less Elijah picked up on their profound connection.

I have never been a fan of Elijah and Hayley, but their feelings for each other were indeed powerful and toxic, not even they could explain it better themselves. Klaus and everyone else is starting to come around on the idea of forgiveness, but Elijah chooses to run, not wanting to be forgiven for this horrible act.

Only after learning of Hope's imminent death and reading Hayley's letter addressed to him, Elijah begins to forgive himself and offers to walk Freya down the aisle. Klaus joins in and also wishes to escort his sister. This is a touching scene between the three of them, a scene that would've been way more powerful if it was Rebekah's own wedding to Marcel.

While Freya, Klaus, and Elijah are a fierce group of siblings, it doesn't hold a candle to the Original Original Mikaelson Trinity Group: Rebekah, Klaus, and Elijah. But the wedding carries onward, without Vincent, and only happiness lurks throughout the day.

Hope is genuinely happy for one day. She is surrounded by her growing family and how the vow "Always and Forever" will always keep them all together. The full moon is coming and so is her first transformation, but she is happy and grateful that her dad will be there with her.

The episode ends with Klaus being unable to tell Hope about her approaching death and Elijah hugging his brother out of comfort. These two are going back to "protect family at all costs" mode for the final two episodes of the series.

I bet y'all those two will die by series end to save Hope.

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