The Originals 2.16 “Save My Soul”

Not a lot of central stuff in this stop-gap episode of The Originals, which is all about getting the players in place for the rush to the finale, I imagine. Now that Klaus has allowed Hayley’s marriage to Jackson to take place, he sees the wolves as under his control (though he’s sowing seeds against Jackson’s alpha status with Aiden), and can move on to the problem of Freya.

Freya already has Rebekah’s loyalty for freeing her from the witch asylum, and her nursery rhymes appeal to Elijah (who’s set up Spartan new digs across the river), but Klaus is having none of it. To test her immortality claims, he kills her. That claim at least proven true when she revives, he has yet infinite more tests. Klaus is always about looking gift horses in the mouth.

We get more flashbacks to Freya’s days with Dahlia, including a sob-story about lost love and a still-birth, all of which paint Dahlia as a consummate greedy witch. She wants immortality and invulnerability, and she gets it in a spell that limits her and Freya to one year of life per century. So that’s how Freya eludes her, as Dahlia also has to maintain her sleep in the fallow periods. Now both are awake, one presumes.

Rebekah’s problems are worsening as the owner of her body is waking up, and carrying out murderous rituals with witch children, including Dahlia. Rebekah is fighting back, but Eva is apparently a piece of work. Freya offers to put her to sleep to seal up Eva’s soul, but that sounds so much more convoluted than putting Rebekah’s soul back in the right body (something that actress availability prohibits I presume).

That would explain why they found such a good actress to portray Rebekah, who has sold every one of her intimate relationships with Marcel, Elijah, Hayley and even Klaus. Also being rewarded for talent is the actor portraying Vincent. Finn is out of the way, but Vincent is still here, and not only does he bond with Cami as well as Vincent did, he has a history with Eva: that of being her husband.

Onto the wolves: Aiden and Jackson spar in the woods, but it’s just an excuse for Aiden to question Jackson on his alpha-ability. Jackson wonders if Aiden wants the job, and so do I … would his homosexuality preclude or complicate such a play for status amongst the wolves? I ask just because Jackson’s status has been cemented by his traditional-looking marriage to Hayley (though not too traditional since Klaus is the father of her baby); would Aiden’s partner being Josh be worse because Josh is a vampire or because Josh is a dude?

Not even sure if the show is going there, as Aiden has never really played the part as one seeking leadership until now. But this speculative path is where all the plot machinations lead one just trying to keep up with the latest details. It’s not a bad idea for the show to get so much more ornate in the second season, since the first one pretty much exhausted every permutation of three immortal vampire siblings, but it leaves me without a clue where this is all going right now.