SUMMARY
Hope stops Klaus from staking himself as the Mikaelson family must deal with the darkness inside of Klaus. While chained up, Klaus hallucinates his father, Michael who implores him to kill Hope while a vision of Camille stresses that he not and follow his heart. Klaus escapes into a Mardi Gras parade and is continually tormented until Hope finds. Elijah subdues Klaus while Kol departs New Orleans against Rebekah’s wishes that he remain. Meanwhile, Freya asks Vincent to help father a child for her and Keelin, but he refuses over his reluctance to put any future generation through grief and pain. Elijah undergoes a spell to help dilute the darkness knowing it only buys Klaus a little time. Caroline arrives and Klaus takes her on a tour of the city while his family get together to celebrate Klaus and their memories of him. That night, Caroline helps Klaus deal with saying goodbye as he and Kol return to share in a family dinner of laughter and stories. Marcel swears to be by Hope’s side whenever he needs her and the family perform one last wish-burning to commemorate Klaus’s passing. Klaus says his goodbyes and leaves with Rebekah and Elijah. Vincent later returns and agrees to help Freya and Keelin start a family as Hope paints a picture of the Mikaelsons with Hayley’s spirit watching. In the square, Klaus tells Rebekah that Caroline is getting another cure and it’s her if she wants it. Rebekah thanks him and leaves to find Marcel who dismisses the remaining vampires from the city. Rebekah proposes to Marcel and tells him that she also intends to take the cure. Back in the square, Elijah breaks the last white oak stake and tells Klaus that he too intends to leave the world with his brother, having already said his goodbyes. Klaus laments that he doesn’t deserve his brother’s love but the two embrace and put an end to each-other’s lives as they slowly turn to ash and dissolve in the city.
INITIAL THOUGHTS
The Originals brought its family back one last time to say goodbye to not only Klaus, but Elijah Mikaelson as well. Both sacrificed themselves for the future and Rebekah with the others are free to make their futures as bright as they can make it. The course of Klaus’s end was never in question on this night as he fought to take the darkness with him. Cameos were all-present and the tears were very real. Their stories will hopefully live in for the next series to come and start its new course. It’s up to Hope now to carry that legacy into the next arc of the Mikaelsons and their unbridled nature to attract evil and drama. In short, this was the appropriate and fitting end that never lost sight of Klaus’s over-arcing story of redemption. Maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t, but one thing’s for sure. His story and Elijah’s are concluded…for now.
THE GOOD
This was a masterful work of sorry and goodbyes, a series of laments and laughter softly echoing in the background as Hope had the most trouble understanding what was going to happen and how to deal with it. Luckily, the writers were kind and gave everyone as much of a fairy-tale ending as they could given the longevity and life-style of these rich and troublesome characters. The most epic for me came in the presence of Rebekah’s happiness and choice to at some point become human. She was always my favorite character and if you want to get really technical the only Mikaelson to never truly succumb to a permanent form of death, although the body switching came drastically close. I think if anyone deserved to finally be free of the drama it was her and now, unless Legacies draws her back, she should be on her way to having a normal-ish life with a powerful vampire as her husband.
The choice to end both Klaus and Elijah’s lives together was interesting and while at first I thought it wasn’t necessary, I understand why it happened. With the exception of Hayley, Elijah never really wanted anything for himself that wasn’t some form of helping Klaus. If she were still alive I wonder what choice Elijah would have made here, but it’s possible the brothers might have gone out the same way regardless. It’s hard to film a vampire’s noble death, let alone two at the same time, but hats off to the crew for helping make Klaus and Elijah’s final appearance a heart-felt one…no pun intended.
THE BAD
No scene with Elijah and Hayley dancing in the afterlife or Klaus being accepted in an afterlife of redemption. Sometimes it’s best not to know, but in our case, maybe a little assurance that a character like Klaus won’t be stuck in limbo forever.
FAVORITE MOMENT
Tough to spot. I’d like to say that last moment when the brothers shared their ashen and silent goodbyes, but because Rebekah seemed so happy to hear about the cure that it was her goodbye to Klaus I am going to favorite this time. I’m just glad she made it through this series without dying and there were certainly a few times that seemed like it was plausible.
CHARACTER MVP
How can I not give it to the brothers, Klaus and Elijah as together they met their ends by each other’s hands and no one else’s. Klaus learned his last lesson on how to say goodbye and maybe even forgive himself for everything’s he’s done. And even if he couldn’t, Elijah was there to do it for him. Validation and redemption, the two key pieces for these two and they, in retrospect, accomplished what they set out to do, one helped his brother find peace, and the other made sure peace was what he needed. Always and forever, right?
ENDING THOUGHTS
I guess I don’t really buy Michael and Camille’s visual showcase of his internal struggle to deal with the darkness inside him. The plot here was a bit off on how the darkness was going to affect him in that he was supposed to get really angry and dangerous but ultimately some voice in his head wanted him to kill Hope while the other voice pleaded not to. I would have thought the darkness would, (Given a 2 hour finale if it were one) be set so that Klaus would become apocalyptic and really put the world, or the city in this case in real danger. The family themselves would be forced to make the sacrificial decision for Klaus but instead the darkness was very much in the background in place for a tidy ceremony of goodbyes. I suppose it was more therapeutic to handle Klaus’s end this way rather than make him a fashionable villain one last time, but the stress of the darkness taking Klaus just wasn’t there at all from my perspective. It felt a bit hollow…no pun intended.
I think it’s safe to say Marcel will somehow cameo in the Legacies series given his statement to help Hope whenever she needs it. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if almost everyone on this show at one point or another shows up. I also fully expect Klaus to appear in some spiritual capacity in Legacies as well, if nothing else to confirm that he journeyed to the other side with barely a bump in the road.
I’m also not convinced that every vampire is just going to leave New Orleans be considering it’s natural pull to bring the supernatural in one place. I get that there probably won’t be any more stories to showcase there, but Legacies doesn’t always need to be tied to Mystic Falls. After all, which town/city handles daily parties better?
OVERALL SCORE
10 out of 10. They didn’t twist anyone’s fate and the show didn’t back down on Klaus and Elijah’s either. Two Mikaelsons died and the world will move on. Every goodbye was heartfelt as were the promises that those left behind will do good by those near and far. After reviewing all five seasons of this neck-snapping, high intensity, family driven, drama I can honestly say it was a fantastic ride and the Mikaelsons got the screen time they deserved after debuting in TVD so long ago. Now it’s up to Hope and the school to see where they can take it from here. Thanks for reading, we’ll be back this fall.
No more words
bladeofthesashurai 