Only on The Originals would Marcel turning a group of soldiers into vampires be the far lesser of two evils during World War I. It’s an episode of psychological warfare, so of course there are flashbacks to Marcel asserting his independence from Klaus by going off to serve his country. You’d be forgiven for thinking the title referred to the Mikaelson clan, but no, this time it’s the African American troops who don’t qualify for gas masks in the Great War (having been deployed as little more than cannon fodder against the Germans). They know what Marcel is offering them, and they take it so they can go feed on their enemies while being bullet and gas proof.
That’s an example of how the supernatural metaphors synergize with the real-world commentary on this show, and it’s probably the best thing they do. It’s the flip-side of the way Aiden and Josh’s forbidden desire for each other last week was emphasized when Aiden got sliced and Josh could barely stop himself from drinking him dry. The show has filled its cast with the beauty standards of CW casting, and throws them at each other in ways only barely concealed by all the magic, ghosts, demons and other slight-of-hand.
Seeing Klaus throw a tantrum when his “prodigal son” asserts independence is one thing. Happily Klaus lacks racial prejudice, ultimate outsider that he is. It’s his best feature, though he continues his pursuit of fairness and loyalty this week, faltering into old habits only when Kol pisses him off by being petty with Rebekah.
No one realized how powerful Finn has become, however; as the eldest son he must have learned a lot of magic from Mommy Deadest before he became a vampire the first time. He too laments Freya (given to Dalia long ago), and Esther’s affair with the wolf, and the parody his family became so quickly a thousand years ago due to the adultery. And he’s doing something about it, ensorceling both revenant parents so their dark magic can make the New Orleans compound a death trap and inventing a psychological realm where his brothers can be trapped and punished as he sees fit.
Yeah, in a way Finn-cent is worse than Mikael, because he’s much smarter, but just as self-righteous. Elijah and Klaus are also smart, and when they notice their icons in Finn’s mindscape (a wolf and a hart, while Kol is a fox, Finn is a boar, literally for once) they immediately start picking apart his simplistic visions of them. He’s blind to their complexities, and that undoes his magic fairly quickly. It’s also pretty neat to have unlikely allies (Davina, Camille and Marcel) guarding their bodies during the spell.
What else happens? Not much with Rebekah at the asylum (though Klaus tries his best to get answers), but Hayley freaks out over revealing her secrets to Jackson, and Finn realizes Klaus has a big secret of his own. Not good news, especially for Marcel, but a solid episode where the flashback enriches and resonates well with the present and the personalities of our argumentative clan.