Investing fully in its own funky locale, in flashbacks, in the French Quarter, in the legacy of the Old South, are all things that strengthen this show. Unlike its sister vampire show, which has lost track of its authentic history in pursuit of teenage love triangles. This show has love, but it’s between adults. Klaus’ manipulation of Camille still takes into account that Camille is a woman, not a girl. Her decision to relieve some of her tension with Marcel this week is reckless, but it’s not a child acting out. It’s a woman indulging her demons.
Klaus and Hayley are starting to make sense as an estranged couple, because they’ve both got bigger things to worry about than their affair or attraction. Each, in fact, is the scion of their families. His every move is about ensuring safety for his siblings. Her every move is about assuring freedom for her wolf pack. This makes them more like the negotiating nobles (and their Machiavellian political maneuvers) than we might have suspected from the feckless Hayley who arrived on the sister show (and got herself pregnant) first, though we probably always knew Elijah had it in him to deliver royal decrees.
Klaus, as always, is up to his own nonsense, but his agendas, while always serving himself, don’t always have to hurt everyone else. He feels a kinship to a different wolfpack than Hayley’s, and he makes deals to ensure their safety, too.
Rebekah is completely off canvas this week, which probably won’t last forever, but the show had so much going on, her vacation is timely enough. They’ve invested in their characters, their backgrounds and their history enough to allow them just to probe and explore the various plot threads in the air at the moment.
For Elijah to throw a party for the humans, wolves and vampires (where he has to forcefully insist they behave themselves) is a master move, not least of which for finally introducing a human operative (kind of Whitney Frost type, if you know your Iron Man) who is CW-camera-ready.
It’s a pretty sexy episode all around. Klaus is always at his most likable when he’s painting (and how he does dab away an errant touch on his canvas from one of the wolves). Of course, he’s painting a city gone up in flames. Is that an echo of an earlier scene with Davina (spurred on by sweetest best gay friend ever Josh) finally puts an end to Monique’s bullying by creating a floor to ceiling bouquet of blooming hothouse roses? Whether yes or no, the answer on this show is always red.