The Originals 2.05 “Red Door”

Boy they get a lot of mileage out of that bayou graveyard set on The Originals. The witches love hanging out in a swamp, and it’s where Esther 3.0 is holding Elijah. He’s the first chink in the armor for getting her family to all become ensorcelled witches, which means she has some very mean games planned for him.

Unfortunately for her, Elijah has learned how to handle both of his toxic parents, and he does his best to fight off her head games. He knows everything she does is a spell, and he even knows how to undo some of them. But first she must strike at his soft spots: the women he’s loved and lost. There’s a brief flashback involving Tatia (the original Katherine doppelganger), but those two never had any fire.

Klaus has more pressing current problems, in that he’s drawn the ire of Mikael, and Mikael has kidnapped Cami in retaliation. Cami is back to her foolish hectoring of immortals this week, but her bitter bravery does bring her up a notch or two in Mikael’s medieval value system.

Keeping up with the fast pace of change on this show, it takes Marcel and Hayley two seconds to realize Elijah’s in trouble, and Klaus and Davina both figure out that Caleb is none other than Kol this week. He seems slightly less deadly with witch powers rather than vampire hungers, but I still wouldn’t trust him and the only reason Davina does is that she’s usually the most powerful witch around. She’s going to get a concussion what with all the blows to the head from the riled up villagers, though.

A nice spooky moment comes from a troupe of hillbilly revelers in Halloween masks that Mikael compels to fight Klaus in the woods, but let’s face it, Mikael is on the run. For all his bravado and his sneering at Klaus’ friends, it is beyond satisfying when Marcel, Hayley, Davina, Caleb, and Klaus all arrive as Camille’s cavalry to continue her good work of messing with his mind (what does he call her at one point, an “alienist?”). She’s therapist to the demons, that’s for sure, and she’s permanently on Klaus’ good side for pulling out the White McGuffin Stake (not realizing that Davina and Caleb had already toggled the dark object to pause). Mikael will be back when Klaus is done “hiding behind women and children,” yeah, just go home, dad, you’re drunk!

I was torn between enjoying the Klaus hunt through the woods, and hating the
Elijah torture scenes all episode. But the advantage of having friends is also visited upon Elijah, when wild hybrid Hayley arrives to feast on Lenore’s blood and rip up her voodoo dolls. Kids today, they just don’t want to listen to their elders anymore.