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sicklyscribe · 8 years ago

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gather up the thoughts: 4x01 review

So I figured I’d do another one of these, especially since some people (Ashley) are particularly interested (Ashley) in how I feel about it! ( @hopepeaceandblackgirlmagic)

I’m going to try to go through scene-by-scene with cons, then pros, because at the moment I feel like I have to get all the negativity out of me before I even try to see the positive.

Vincent’s speech to the alliance:

Opening lines have always been pretty killer for the premieres. Sometimes they don’t fit seamlessly into the scene or character context, but this one was broad enough and the setting was appropriate enough to match - in all ways but one.

I personally adored the relationship between Camille and Vincent in every episode where it was featured. It was one of those things that just made sense, felt so right, that these two people would become such close friends in such a short amount of time.

But Camille was in no way a sacrifice, in any sense of the word. Flashing back to Camille during the lines “We paid a high price for that peace” is incongruous and insulting. Camille’s death was not a quid pro quo, it did not achieve anything - the whole “point” was that she was chosen to die because she was special to Klaus. She was collateral. How much more clearly can the creators communicate how little they valued this arc in their story, if they don’t bother to reference it accurately? Vincent may have been thinking about how much he misses Camille for that entire speech, but Camille’s death had nothing to do with buying peace. That was Davina.

It would have been so easy to make those flashback dedications only about Davina, or to flash back to Camille during the lines detailing the Mikaelson horrors. There’s no excuse that’ll make that right.

So I have to believe that Camille was considered after the fact, and inserted thoughtlessly. Inserting Camille into the narrative whenever loosely possible is not honoring her memory, it is desperately and obviously attempting to make an apology to viewers that is much too late. If Camille’s final arc was written respectfully, if her death was truly being honored as a significant moment later on, these kinds of insertions would be totally seamless. There would be no need to construct situations to remember Camille, because they would occur naturally as the narrative progressed. The aftermath of poor decisions in a continuing narrative is that you have to build on those decisions - and therefore writing a good story becomes that much harder.

What I did enjoy about this speech is that Vincent has obviously been forging this community with nothing but the sweat of his brow. The witches are weaker, so much weaker now, but he has them beginning to work with vampires instead of against them. He’s not asking them to be friends. He’s just asking for what they all need - peace. And achieving that for five years is... well... Let’s just say I wouldn’t mind if Vincent kept being in charge of things. In fact, put him in charge of more things. Less people die that way.

Now I’m only a minute into the premiere and it’s already pretty long. OOPS.

Setup scenes (Marcel & Sofya, Hayley & Mary, Marcel & Josh & Vincent):

Gotta say, I am still unimpressed with Sofya. That’s nothing against the character, it’s because at the moment she’s being used as a plot engine. There is literally nothing else about her in the narrative. She gets information, she spouts information. Great?

I’m not really seeing the point of her, for this reason. Josh could easily be the courier of Sofya’s intel, providing some color and personality and actual relationship dynamic on screen for viewers to digest with their information-vegetables. It just comes off as so flat, at the moment. Having more screen time for a female character isn’t worth much if everything she says goes under the ‘things we need viewers to understand so we can get to the Good Parts’ column. Allusions to sex don’t count.

I’d love to be proven wrong, of course, but we knew Sofya a bit in s3 as well, and she served the same purpose then. Clock’s kinda ticking for me.

I do love how much Marcel has thought about what’s going on “behind his back” with Hayley. How much it must frustrate him to know that in order to keep Rebekah alive, he must keep Elijah alive.

As for my BABY! I love. I love. I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE how our very first shot of Hope this season, of Hope at 7 years old, is her drawing. It’s so cheesy it’s so unnecessary it’s so PERFECT all the same. Not only was Klaus’ biological father an artist, his daughter is as well. I’m not crying. Shut up. Shut.

As for Mary, sigh, I still hate her guts but i can acknowledge that she’s probably a great “grandmother” to Hope and a really good resource for Hayley. So I guess she can stay.

Now, something I thought I was going to rage over actually was resolved by a quick google search. When Marcel walks into Rousseau’s, we see him take a sad look over at the picture of Cami and Davina on the wall. In the shot, this picture looks sooooooo fake. At first glance it looked like two headshots smooshed together, and it made me want to vomit. I was outraged by the cheapness. Turns out, it’s an actual picture of Leah and Danielle together, only change being Charles is cropped from Leah’s left side. I still wish they’d chosen a different picture, but it’s not as cheap as I thought. Jumping to conclusions really does a number on my blood pressure.

I feel like Josh’s line “Everything Cami wanted” could have been delivered and framed waaaaaay better, but I feel like having it in the script wasn’t a bad idea. This line is actually referencing values that Camille held while she was alive. Also on that note, is Josh half running the bar and half... DJing at NOLA clubs??? I know the kid needs something to do and he’s kinda not that into being Marcel’s yes-man any more, but... It seems kinda silly to me. And later, when we see him ‘spinning’.... I love Josh, but that kid looks so awkward at the discs. Is all of it just because he said he liked House music in season one? C’mon...

A nice civilized conversation:

The only gripe - the only tiny gripe I have about this is that Marcel is still repeating the same exact line about ‘IT’S MY CITY NOW HAHA’. It’s a tiny gripe because yeah, Marcel still cares about it, but Klaus did officially relinquish power at the end of s2, right? Not that that means he didn’t still have a ton of power in the Quarter after that, but Marcel wasn’t really taking the city back from him last season. Like, it just seems unnecessary for the point it made. We know how Marcel feels about the symbolism of the city. It just wasn’t a big enough point to bring up again, because they are really bordering on broken-record with that line, no matter how it’s worded. It should only be brought up in specific and necessary explorations of that particular part of Marcel, and it was used to frame a much broader sense of personal superiority.

Also, confusion - where is Klaus being kept? It’s implied to be beneath the compound, but I would have thought Marcel would keep him in the Garden? Since we never knew there was a dungeon beneath the compound? Like, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was one, but it’s just strange to me. Marcel already has a place for this.

Other than that, damn. Just...

Joseph Morgan kills every single scene in this episode with his eyes alone. Mad with boredom at first, weak with hunger, unfocused and dull. But the core of all of it is shame. Sadness. The quietness of self-hatred. He’s not proud of staying alive for his family. He’s in a much older, much more familiar place in his mind in that dungeon. So he returns to the oldest, most familiar pattern.

Klaus makes a threat at the first opportunity. Trying to scare Marcel, just a bit, so that he can get that safe feeling of superiority for that small moment. I don’t think he actually wants Marcel to rot in hell - he doesn’t kill those he loves when they hurt him, he just makes them suffer. But saying he wants Marcel to rot in hell is what Klaus needs in this moment to make himself feel strong... like Mikael was strong.

“There’s two ways this can go” Marcel tells him, showing him the stick and the carrot - the Suffer Knife and the Blood Bottle - Klaus can’t help but laugh. Marcel didn’t react to Klaus’ posturing, but the fact that Marcel came down here wanting something from him is enough of a high, enough of a comfort. Marcel has the barrier holding Klaus in, Marcel has the blood and the blade, but Klaus is the one making choices, Klaus is the one that has something Marcel would come all the way down here to get.

But then Marcel does something that lets us know exactly how that shame and sadness became the ghost in Klaus’ eyes. And I’m not sure if he does this because he knows he’s given Klaus a bit of power in this moment, I’m not sure if he knows just how much this hurts Klaus, but he certainly is following a pattern he learned from Klaus - confront others with your power over them before getting what you need.

“You know, once I figured you had suffered enough, I pulled this out. And on that day, I heard a word that I had never heard you say: Mercy.”

The gleam of power in Klaus’ eyes dies in that instant. He can’t look Marcel in the eye, he can’t look at his own bound hands, he can’t think of the people he’s defending. “Why not just kill me?”

When Klaus submits to pain, he is reliving every moment his father ever punished him for. Asking for mercy is like saying he deserves to die. Because that’s what Mikael taught him. That’s how he learned words like weak and strong. For all those lonely years he has been re-affirming all of those “truths” about himself - his weakness, his worthlessness, his inferiority, patheticness. He’s been living with that, and only that, ever since Marcel took that blade out. There’s no power-play in his question to Marcel. There’s no angle. Just sorrow. Self-hate. Disgust. Klaus didn’t believe he deserved death for his crimes against his sireline, but he would welcome it after wallowing in this pain without dignity or endurance. Of course he knows he has to stay alive, but there is that almost wistful note to the question. Just that spark of longing. He’d asked for mercy. How can he ever pretend to be strong? How could he ever pretend to deserve to live?

After he asks it, though, he has to look up at Marcel. He has to look up and see with his own eyes what the answer is going to be, and if he believes it. What he gets in return is more of his own bravado thrown back at him - this speech from Marcel reminds me so much of the one Klaus gave to Mikael in 1918. “I am worthy, I am king, I am STRONG” - Marcel learned this speech, this need, from Klaus. And yet his very first sentence is “Because I’m not like you, Klaus.”

I adore it. Especially since, as I said before, Klaus doesn’t kill those he loves when they hurt him. He does exactly as Marcel is doing now. He isolates them, and makes them suffer alone. It is so perfect.

This speech has given Marcel enough momentum to get to his goal - Alastair. And this is the moment when life returns to Klaus’ eyes. His head rises, like he’s feeling lighter, less tired, less miserable. Because Marcel is not only asking something of him, he’s showing his hand. Which means he’s desperate. And he’s cornered. As soon as Klaus hears ‘Alastair Duquesne’, the wheels are spinning again in his mind. He can use this. He can use this.

He can barely contain that grin.

He’s got to work fast, if Marcel is going to buy it. So he bullshits at an exceptional speed and with commendable skill. I didn’t know if he was telling the truth, the first time I watched through. Because Klaus chooses his words so carefully when he’s like this. It’s impossible to tell if he’s lying. And he knows it, oh, he knows it.

I can’t help but think that when he ends his advice with “You’ll find him quite malleable.” he’s actually talking about Marcel. This is his game, and he’s finally getting to play it again. Marcel can tell that he’s broken Klaus, but he’s underestimated Klaus’ desperation. Even after saying ‘Mercy’, there was still that tiny bit of fire inside him waiting to be fed kindling, to blaze again. To prove superiority. To win the game.

He takes the blood as his prize, Marcel not knowing he’s rewarding his prisoner for setting him up to fail. That, alone, I think, is just as rejuvenating to Klaus as the blood itself.

“and I won’t be alone”:

and also this

Church Scene:

I really have nothing against this scene. I feel like it does so much work in so little time, and it does it while showcasing new and old characters. It flows really well. It just works.

Like I said earlier, the stuff with Josh was pretty awkward/forced to me, but here, he’s spot-on. Put Josh in more scenes with kids, please, it’s perfect. Also, Adam is acted really really well. That kid is talented. Where are all these talented kids coming from?

As a staunch supporter of villainshipping, the idea of Vincent with someone other than Eva is a little sad to me, but honestly the man deserves it. I adore the way Josh was headed to help her when the basket flipped, but Vincent zoomed in there like he had radar for the woman and you can just sort of see Josh scurry out of the shot - I wasn’t here, don’t mind me - wingmanning without uttering a single word.

I also like how Vincent is the practical, stoic leader, but he breaks the mould of the trope and again, it works. When Josh is like ‘The hot mom is into you, you should get on that’ he’s surprised for a moment, or kind of shy about it, but he doesn’t Repress(TM) like so many guys in his character type. He’s like, wait, yeah, I really should get on that. WAIT UP MA’AM I WOULD LIKE TO FLIRT.

It’s refreshing. It’s nice.

Also, I love any scene that gets into the practical mechanics of ‘Leading the Quarter/City’. It’s such a big deal in the show, but we rarely get to see what that actually looks like. For Vincent, it’s keeping his community safe by stocking them up on amenities for the weekend. Vampire Party Night is treated like a hurricane that must be rode out, and he realizes the ramifications of asking people to stay in their homes for days. He prepares for that. And he is appreciated for it.

Vampire Brunch:

They’re partying at like, noon. I love it.

Alastair is perfect. More on him and his glorious accent later.

This scene is so perfectly parallel with Klaus crashing Marcel’s party in what, episode 1? I love seeing Marcel tested in front of a crowd. It’s where he thrives. Whereas I’d say Klaus is slightly better with one-on-one manipulation, his son has got working a crowd down to an absolute science. They’re both unfairly good at both, but there are those tiiiiny advantages that play against each other so well in this show.

AUSTIN, TEXAS:

IT’S MY CITY! I love that Keelin is an Austin girl. Thank you, Carina. And yeah, I know it was you. Who else would have suggested that the new character be from Austin.

I adore Keelin. She’s everything Sofya isn’t, as a new female cast member. She has plot purpose, but she also has personality. She has fire. She already has a dynamic with Hayley from their first back-and-forth. It’s delicious. And Hayley really gets to shine in these scenes - every premiere Phoebe Tonkin blows me away even more. I’m always like ‘Wow, NOW she’s hit her stride!’ and then the next year she proves that she was only beginning to warm up. So proud and excited. I’ve done nearly a full 180 on Phoebe and Hayley since 1x01.

Civilized Conversation, Part Two: Electric Boogaloo:

Look at Klaus, sitting on the rock that he is chained to like it’s a THRONE. His voice is no longer weak with starvation, it’s deep and merry and sarcastic and reveling and perfect. He is in total control again, and he is thriving. He is smiling openly now at his captor, knowing that he has weakened him without even having to lift a finger, at his own behest.

I’m just gonna bask in the glow of that awful smile for a bit, guys. I’ve missed Klaus’ manipulation almost as much as I’ve missed his development as a father.

“You think I don’t know?” At this Klaus is a bit intrigued - what is Marcel’s next card going to be? And it turns out it’s the only card that can wipe that smirk off of Klaus’ face.

When Klaus realizes what Marcel is saying, what Marcel knows, the smile on his face goes from being genuine to being a facade. Marcel showed his hand and was hurt for it, so now he’s gonna reveal that he’s known Klaus’ ace in the hole this entire time. It really wasn’t something Klaus or Hayley could have expected to keep secret, not with Elijah’s sireline running around, but it stings Klaus to hear it from Marcel’s lips. To have it out in the open.

But Rebekah saves him, saves all of them, with the very thing Klaus can’t stand about her - her love for people other than Klaus. The Rebel romance has been a nuisance to Klaus from the start, and the wound its left on Marcel and his sister is never left to fully heal. Now that it’s saving his life, and the lives of his siblings, Klaus has a bit of a soft spot for it. Like I’ve always said, Klaus loves to be around lovers. They’re so easily manipulated. And this time, even in the romance he didn’t want to have around him, it’s working to his advantage without a single move on his part. Good old lovers, always so soft and sentimental. So weak.

“You may have no choice but to kill poor Alastair. Aw well, heavy head, heavy crown, et cetera, et cetera...”

I LOVE THIS MAN SO MUCH Y’ALL.

HE IS SO KLAUS.

I mean, there are cool things going on here power-dynamic-wise. Klaus is light on his feet, so to speak, switching subjects and smoothly offering advice without addressing his vulnerable family or the fact that he lied to Marcel to put him in this exact situation.

He knows he can’t make Marcel believe him any more, but that’s the beautiful thing - Marcel doesn’t have a choice now. He’s got to get rid of the problem, and that will inspire more insurrection in the future - the more he protects Klaus, the more unstable his rule becomes. All because he can’t kill Klaus (and Klaus would definitely like to believe it has less to do with Rebekah and more to do with their father-son relationship, but he’ll take what he can get).

But Klaus, in dodging the subject of his linked siblings, doesn’t realize that he hurts himself as well. What Klaus wants out of this Alastair affair is for Marcel to be challenged, and eventually bested. He is banking on the new leadership being incapable of restraining him or killing him, but he doesn’t consider how easy it would be for them to get a drop of his blood.

And find Hope.

Klaus’ face falls. He realizes his mistake. I’m reminded of that beautifully ironic scene between Klaus and Davina in season two - “How does that feel, to be one of us? Someone with something to lose?”

It feels beautiful. And it’s the most horrifying thing Klaus has ever faced.

“But hey, I guess that’s my problem, right?” Marcel is the perfect amount of callous in this line. Throwing back all of Klaus’ plotting and sabotaging in his face. And it’s exactly what spurs Klaus to a sudden declaration of a plan B.

It’s a spectacular proposition, really. Klaus offers to be the bad guy, because he is the bad guy. All Marcel has to do is let him. Marcel stays on the throne, and Hope can stay hidden away. Klaus can put on a show.

And Marcel knows first-hand how well Klaus can put on a show.

“Creatures such as they respect only one language, and I speak it fluently.”

Again, Klaus is using what Mikael taught him to protect his daughter. He’s fluent in this language. He suffered in this language. And he can deal out suffering in kind. It’s incredible. It’s everything I wanted out of the scenes of Klaus in captivity.

Witch stuff:

I would have really appreciated Marcel saying please. Just fyi.

I love those two men in power together. It obviously works. Just. Love it.

NOW FOR MY FREYBABY! Or, sleeping beauty, as a certain gorgeous new werewolf would say ;) ;) ;) ;)

She is so ready, as soon as she wakes. Quick hug, then right to business. I had a conversation with Ashley earlier about how this spell works, and I can totally understand why people would be questioning how it all works. If the siblings’ sleep is linked, then waking one instantly should wake the others instantly.

The way I see it, Freya cast the spell on all of them, but not before concocting that syringe for herself. I don’t think it was just a shot of adrenaline - it was an additional spell that would not transfer down the sleep-link. That spell allowed Freya to wake instantly, and delay the chain reaction that would wake the others as a result. The reason she’s rushing is because that delay is not going to be a long one.

The reason something like this is necessary gets to the start of an unfortunate issue with this episode that is nobody’s fault - Nate and Claire couldn’t be in this episode. There wouldn’t need to be a special wake-up spell like this if they could just have all the Mikaelsons in the scene where they wake all the Mikaelsons. So it’s a bit of a work-around, yeah, but there’s a reason for it and it’s pretty well-thought-out, considering. More on this issue later.

Puttin’ on the NOLA Ritz:

In other words, “Klaus puts everyone in their place and there’s a lot of gore involved”

The look in Klaus’ eyes initially, as he’s dragged in and put before Alastair, is partially fabricated. He’s not as weak as he lets on. But in my opinion, a bit of that despair is very genuine. He’s the very image of weakness, from his perspective, and even if it’s not entirely as pathetic as he lets on, he still hates himself for the display.

“Do you suffer, Niklaus? As my wife suffered? As my CHILD suffered?”

Again, Morgan’s eyes blow me away. He is literally face to face with the man whose child died a violent, pointless death for Klaus’ gain. This is by far not the first time he’s stared down a man furious at having lost his family, his children, because of Klaus. But this is the first time Klaus looks into a father’s eyes and see’s a father’s pain as a father himself. This rage, this protective impulse, this near-mad expression of loss... Klaus felt something like this when the witches tried to kill Hope, when Esther tried to kill Hope, when Dahlia tried to take her. But he sees in Alastair a sorrow and a madness that he knows is deeper than anything he’s ever felt as a father. And he’s floored by it.

He knows he’s responsible for it. And I think he knows that if someone forced him to kill his daughter, he would burn nations to the ground, not just get his revenge from the guilty party. This is true, shocked guilt in his eyes. Klaus is intimidated by the force of his own sympathy - terrified, even. Connecting his experience as a father with the universal fatherhood experience hasn’t really been applicable to him lately, not with an example like Mikael and so little time with Ansel. But here Alastair is. And their faces are inches away from each other. And Klaus can see the horror in his crimes, he can see the agony in his collateral damage. He can glimpse the death and the rage and the sorrow as something that is real, and not just tools for manipulation.

“I want the last words you ever hear to be my solemn vow -”

Klaus’ gaze settles a bit, back to the superior glare that he knows will provoke Alastair into striking (he needs him to swing so that he can use the momentum catch him off balance) with just a bit of that guilt residing at the edges.

“I will find your daughter-”

His eyes widen. These worlds are not supposed to collide, his evils are not ever supposed to reach Hope...

And they never fucking will.

You can see it. You can see it. Klaus kills a lot of people, it’s kind of just what he does. But sometimes you can see the decision in his eyes, clear as if he’d shouted it from the rooftops. We saw it when he decided to kill Ansel, but it was softer, pained, mournful. This time it’s worlds different, and much more apparent. This entire display was always supposed to end in Alastair’s death. Klaus’ motivation in helping Marcel with the killing was always motivated by a desire to protect Hope. But a threat had not been made at that point, only inferred. When it actually happens... When Alastair has the gall to say it...

It’s like a switch is flipped in Klaus’ eyes, they narrow to a vicious, predatory gleam that honestly shakes me to my bones. As Alastair continues, “- and when I do, I will eradicate your malignant bloodline from this earth.” the look deepens. Klaus is seeing the kill. He’s relishing it. He’s craving it. It’s not a display anymore. It’s as personal as personal can be.

No one threatens the Alpha’s cub.

It goes quickly after that.

He smiles as his eyes gleam black and yellow, vampire and werewolf, speaking that language he speaks so fluently. One last look at the Scot before he bites a lethal chunk into the vampire’s neck. A few more bodies for show. One or two for Marcel to heal, to make his argument concrete.

“WELL WHO’S NEXT?”

Power. Klaus has it, they don’t. “Aw, come on. Meet. Your. Maker.”

I love this character more than air.

Marcel’s speech is fantastic, of course, he hits all the right beats and makes all the right points, but it’s so hard to focus on it after that powerhouse display by Joseph Morgan. I can’t even express how perfectly it was executed (ha, puns) and framed and filmed. The guest actor for Alastair, bless him, was such a good foil and such a good way to showcase Klaus in the first episode this season. I wish we’d seen more of him, but I’d trade a hundred of him for the sake of this scene at the drop of a hat.

THE LADIES KICK ALL KINDS OF ASS:

Freya melting a vampire brain mid-incantation was such a nice touch, even if it does kind of invalidate her ‘this ritual will take all my strength’ claim from earlier. I don’t even care. It’s such a good throwback to her intro, and she gets to show off in front of the hot Texan werewolf, so I have 0% nitpick because I am totally and blissfully biased.

I cannot express how excited I was when the promo of Hayley’s wolf form dropped. I was on the floor, yelping, for maybe fifteen minutes. Evidence from my twitter:

WOLF.

I kind of really like wolves.

I know a lot of people think that we won’t see Klaus’ wolf form, that this was just for Hayley for this episode, but I will die on this hill, and I will hear no argument. I will never let this go.

The CGI is so gorgeous. The fur looked a bit thin and clean for realism’s sake, but that is such a tiny factor considering how often wolf CGI gets basic things slightly off, like body type, tail length, fur length & volume, and facial structure. Hayley was built perfectly from that standpoint, it’s easy to see even in the shadow. (The lighting was also a factor on what made the fur so difficult to get spot-on, because it had to have some glow and translucency - it would be damn hard to even attempt that kind of effect, and they pulled it off really well with minimal reduction in realism in my opinion)

Just gorgeous. Gorgeous.

This also supports a headcanon, now turned justified-theory, that Klaus hasn’t used his full strength since breaking the Hybrid curse. Hayley chooses to transform because she is stronger in her transformed state - that’s kind of obvious given the context, it’s not just for intimidation. She needs to kill and kill quickly, not put on a show. She chooses to do this as a wolf.

So when Klaus has been tested physically since season 3 of TVD, he has never chosen to use this form. Ever. It speaks, I think, to a lingering shame learned since childhood - werewolves are the vicious monsters. The beasts. And he cannot be “strong” as a beast, not in the way his inferiority complex desperately needs. Even though he is literally at his strongest when he embraces who he really is, it is that identity itself that haunts him and reinforces the idea that he is Other in the worst of ways, he is unworthy of family and love, he is nothing but a brutal animal.

I pray that we get to see him use this form to protect Hope. He’s used Hybrid power before to overcome enemies, for sure, he knows the effect his yellow eyes has on his prey - it’s the threat of venom and death, and he loves it. But actually transforming must feel way too real, way too expressive of ‘beastliness’. I want him to be put in a situation where he isn’t strong enough unless he goes full Wolf, because Hope is in danger. I want a full fuckin’ Bigby scene, for those who have played The Wolf Among Us. I want it so bad. And I won’t listen to anyone who tells me it ain’t gonna happen. I don’t care. Doesn’t change how much I want it and no amount of logic is going to make me give up hope.

Enter Elijah Mikaelson:

I know I’ve said I don’t ship H/E, but the performance from Phoebe as the bodies hit the floor around her, as she felt a presence behind her, smelled his scent in the air - it was incredible. Like I said, she just keeps getting better and in season one all I could say I hoped for was that she could improve enough to hold her own. My standards were way too low, in retrospect. I can’t wait to see more of her.

I am obsessed with the look on Elijah’s face. Unlike the last time he did this in 2x09, this time the stoicism really works for me. (While I definitely have come to terms with and agree with a very good interpretation of the scene from Map of Moments, I can’t help but still wish we had gotten a single freaking flash of a smile) I can’t say I really know what’s going on with him yet, but it isn’t that he doesn’t love Hayley (as much of a weight of my back as that would be, I just don’t see it. Doesn’t make sense)

It’s gotta be guilt.

Elijah has never been guilty for something like this, ever, in his long life. He nearly killed them all. He took Klaus from his baby for five. years. This man puts everything on his shoulders, and he’s recently opened his eyes to repressed acts of horror he’s committed. But every single one of them pales in comparison to nearly destroying everything he’s ever wanted for his brother, and causing the deaths of all of them in one fell swoop.

Every time Elijah gets an emotional arc, it’s brushed away with the excuse of his repressive tendencies, because the story needed to focus on other things. His repression should not and never should have been used as a story crutch to leave loose ends because there wasn’t time to finish the development - repression is a challenge that has to be respected in moments of development like the ones Elijah has been through. While I doubt this time will be any different, I’m choosing to give it a chance before I say anything more.

Waking the Sleeping Giant:

This really could have been one of my top scenes for this episode. The dynamic between Vincent and Klaus is killer. Better than its ever been. I want more of it. I need more of it.

But this is another case where Camille was inserted in such a lazy way. It puts such a bad taste in my mouth.

If they wanted Vincent to remind Klaus about Camille’s hope in him, they could have set it up with an actually appropriate topic of conversation.

When someone literally chains you up and tortures you for five years in a dungeon, threatening vengeance isn’t a particularly evil thing to do, no matter how evil you actually are. Talk about the cycle of violence, yeah, started by Klaus, yeah, but Marcel is the one who is literally torturing him. No one’s innocent in this situation. And I really fucking doubt Camille would have wanted Klaus to let this go. Reconcile with Marcel? Hell yes. Try to understand Marcel’s side? Absolutely. But Klaus can’t make that happen without Marcel’s cooperation. This is not his responsibility alone to be a better person in this scenario. Would she want Klaus to threaten new violence? I mean, yeah, probably not, but again, that’s not exactly an evil impulse in Klaus. It’s a pretty standard human one. Vincent is holding Klaus to a higher standard and it’s just off. It just is. “Be grateful we gave you a chance to live in a life or death situation, then put you back in a dungeon.”

I know my argument here isn’t super strong, but I’m just too pissed to really get into it and make it clearer and better. I’m so done. I’m so done. Camille doesn’t deserve any of this bullshit, and she hasn’t since season three. Nothing Vincent said about her is wrong or bad, it just does. not. fit. here. And it wouldn’t have been hard to make it fit.

“You had a deal with Hayley, not me.”

ho. ly. hot. damn.

(freylin seems too close to freyinn. What’s the consensus? Keelya? Keela?

I am not prepared for how good this is gonna be. I am. already. shook.)

“Let’s go get ‘im”

Scenes like this are really frustrating for me. They work in every sense except for the fact that I feel these characters should never have been placed in a serious relationship with each other.

I’ll put it this way - every line from Hayley in this situation is perfect, every line from Elijah in this situation is perfect - I just don’t like that they’re in this situation. So, basically, this is one of the very very rare times where I think the ship has actually been written very very well with respect to the characters.

“How is my niece” and Hayley answer just warm my heart so much. The glow in Hayley’s face and voice when she describes her. The tenderness and neediness with which Elijah asks the question. “A girl after my own heart”

I melt.

And ‘let’s go get him?’

Klelijah is a potent drug, even in small condensed doses it can easily render one Amy totally speechless and send her into an alternate state of euphoria and fanaticism.

Pair that with Elijah running to Klaus’ cell in the promo for tonight’s episode... my heart can’t take it.

“All the time down here is rotting your brain.”

Seeing Klaus tugging at his chain does things to my soul. Yeah, he’s awful, he’s a villain, but he’s my villain, dammit. He had a power kick, he heard someone threaten to kill his daughter to his face, and now he’s back down here. Helpless. Alone.

When Marcel comes, probably also seeking a little superiority high, the two desperations clash inevitably. Klaus saw the power that Marcel was able to wield after his brutal display, and he’s jealous of it. He knows he’s the one who handed it to Marcel, and he can’t stand it. So he has to make it all about him - he has to tell himself and Marcel that he’s the center of Marcel’s world.

“You NEED me, Marcellus, because deep down inside, YOU ARE WEAK.”

This is Klaus using two things Mikael gave him - pain and abuse. It’s a refraction of every speech we’ve ever heard from Mikael, with a few key differences - Klaus knows what it’s like to break under the weight of these words, he knows exactly how much they hurt, and he knows how alike Marcel is to him. It has that edge of mutual need because of this shared pain. Mikael comforted himself by pushing Klaus away with his abuse, but Klaus needs to pull Marcel in for him to get what he needs out of the inflicted pain. It’s what Klaus saw in Marcel from the very first moment, the reason he took him in - he saw himself in the boy. An opportunity to feel less lonely, first in his need for family, but now in his need to feel less alone in his monstrousness.

I love the little flashes of love in their eyes as Klaus is stabbed, and as Marcel sees his body hit the floor. Another difference between this abuse and Mikael’s - these two love each other despite it all. The language of power and hate can only disguise that so much.

Ouroboros:

I honestly have no expectations when it comes to this season’s plot, since last season the plot seemed to steamroll lots of development for terrible reasons. I don’t really care if it’s good or if it’s bad, I can’t let myself care. I just can’t invest that, I have to focus on my Mikaelsons, really, unless I get a really really good reason to trust again.

When it comes to analysis, though, I can definitely do that. Just bear in mind that I don’t have much motivation to go too deep at the moment.

Exploring the ramifications of the severed link with the ancestors, and possibly the origin of ancestral magic in New Orleans, looks to be the focus of the witch/Hope plot for the first arc of season four. What’s intriguing about the Ouroboros in particular is probably unintentional - the Ouroboros is the symbol for Mikael in the season two portrait promos (let’s all take a moment to remember how good the season two promotional art was. It was a gift the likes of which I’ll never get again.)

The Ouroboros is showing up everywhere in TV dramas, not just supernatural ones. It’s kind of like a fad, if you will, of the metaphor cycle in the industry. So I kind of have the feeling they used it for Mikael, then got an idea they were really excited about this season and wanted to use it again.

I say this mostly because Mikael had nothing to do with New Orleans until his children settled there. Basically all he did was burn it down and then come back later to trash some witches.

But was always partial to his parallel to Chronos, and I know it’s mixing mythologies but the focus on NOLA’s children also has that kind of vibe to me. Nice how they’re both framed with the Ouroboros.

And especially nice how Hope is going to be central to the plot again, or even just freaking mentioned in relation to the plot at all *stares at s3 judgingly*

We’ll see how all of this develops tonight.

@klausmikelsons @drbobbimorse and I forget who else was interested in this... here y’are

#anamysis #to 4x01 #amy reviews #DISCLAIMER: THIS IS 100% UNEDITED

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