Post — Aaron Ngo

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

We are one week away from the series finale! The end of "Always and Forever" is approaching, and the adventures of Klaus Mikaelson will finally come to an end. This episode is the perfect setup for the series finale especially if you followed Klaus since his introduction in The Vampire Diaries.

Putting us back in Mystic Falls was the perfect way to set up the goodbye and to also remind us how far Klaus has come as an individual. It is also a good nostalgia trip as we got numerous references to the parent show and it also featured Caroline, Alaric, and their daughters.

Here is a list of the references I caught in the episode:

Stefan's diary and the iconic picture of Katherine
Stefan's death (cries)
Elena Salvatore M.D. on the window (awe!)
Matt Donovan bench
Bonnie mention
Indirect mention of Jenna (plague of a woman in Mystic Grill)
Several mentions of how the Mystic Falls Gang tried to put Klaus in the ocean (hehe)
Caroline-Klaus Romance

In addition, we visited historic locations like the school, the Grill, and a decades-themed dance. I loved all of it. The episode also acted as a backdoor pilot to Legacies as it introduced Landon, who will act as a main character in the series and reminded us about the Salvatore School.

The main point of the episode is Klaus trying to save Hope before the full moon. Marcel tells Elijah she will likely not survive the transformation with all that magic locked inside her.

This forces Klaus and Elijah to take Hope to Mystic Falls. He needs Caroline's daughters to siphon it out of Hope and to put it into himself. When Caroline questions how he will control himself with The Hollow inside him, he tells her to sink him to the bottom of the ocean and to make good on that threat this time around.

Anyway, Caroline agrees to the plan and asks her daughters to do it. This leads to a funny negotiation between them. The girls demand phones and to remove the skirt length rule because it is anti-feminist. She agrees only on the rule removal, but before Klaus can properly tell them what to do, he is staked from behind by Alaric.

Alaric refuses to have his daughters help Klaus. He has not lost sight of the monster he is or the agreement about Klaus not being allowed to visit Mystic Falls. He only relents to helping Klaus once everyone discovers Klaus plans to kill himself after absorbing The Hollow with the white oak stake... where did that come from?

Can something comment and tell me how that is plausible? It would've been more believable if Klaus had a syringe of Marcel's venom instead.

Meanwhile, Elijah is tasked with keeping Hope occupied in Mystic Falls. We meet Landon, get some driving lessons in, and punish a kid for being mean to Landon (her future love interest). He also apologizes to her for putting the pressure on her about being the savior of their family... it wasn't right of him to give her that kind of responsibility.

This brings them closer as she wants to know the burden Elijah carries for protecting Klaus and how they both were burdened with things they didn't deserve.

Then Hope reveals she knows she's dying. And that she doesn't want to fight anymore to live. This breaks Elijah's heart who begs her to keep fighting. She also confesses that she blames herself more than Elijah when it comes to her mother's death. All she wants is her mom and to be with her, even if that means she has to die to get there.

After the punishing of the boy, Hope tires out and falls unconscious. Elijah brings Hope to Klaus, who is furiously trying to bring her back to him.

Hope ends up in Peace... that's what I'm calling this world because The Other Side doesn't exist anymore. She reunites with Hayley and they embrace!

Hayley appearances are the best! I did not appreciate them enough when she was alive!

But Hayley begs Hope to go back to her father. Hope refuses because she can't forgive herself for her role in her mother's death. Hayley tells her she is forgiven and that she didn't cause her death, she helped her find Peace.

Hope sees everyone... Hayley's parents, Grandma Mary, Jackson, and other Crescent Wolves. Hayley is at Peace and will wait "a very long time" until she can see her daughter again.

Before Hope leaves though, Hayley gives her one more message.

Klaus is able to revive Hope and holds her close in his arms. This is a beautiful scene and how strong Klaus has become as a loving father. He will do anything to keep his little girl alive.

The two of them spend the rest of the day together. Klaus watches Hope dance with Landon at the decades-dance, and Caroline meets him there. He thanks her for letting his daughters help and for trusting him.

This leads to a cute scene between them!

Caroline admits to Klaus about the time she and the girls were in trouble. This was back in The Vampire Diaries Season Seven... when she drove all the way out to New Orleans for Klaus' protection, but he was too busy rotting underground at the time to help her.

The point is... Caroline tells him unlike everyone else (Alaric, Stefan, etc.), Klaus wasn't the villain of her story. He almost kisses her for the thoughtful confession, but their lips never touched! This is so cruel!

She is also having a hard time dealing with Klaus' decision, begging him to part wisdom onto Hope like on boys, taxes... SOMETHING! But Klaus chooses to say nothing. All he wants is to watch his daughter dance with a boy one last time. Caroline leaves him at that but gives one last look before disappearing.

As Klaus prepares Hope at the Salvatore School, Elijah confronts him about his plan. Caroline filled him in because she doesn't want Klaus to die! He wants to take Klaus' place so Hope can keep her father, but Klaus refuses to kill his own brother. They fight over the stake until Klaus manages to break his neck.

I wanted Elijah to take his place and watched closely, hoping he'd find a way to get to Klaus before his plan went into action.

The full moon rises and Hope begins her transformation. She got off really easy compared to Tyler Lockwood's first transformation, who actually suffered for hours. Hope only went through a couple minutes at most until her transformation was complete.

While that went down, Josie and Lizzie performed a spell to transfer the dark magic out and managed to get it all inside Klaus. Elijah made it too late!

The episode closes right before Klaus plunges the white oak stake into his chest.

What a set up for the series finale! Come on, Elijah! You gotta make it through!

Hope needs her father! You need to dance with Hayley! By the way, the final message Hayley sent out through Hope was to Elijah. She is still waiting on that dance!

Sound off in the comments! Always and Forever indeed!

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