In Le Grand Guignol, however, we do at least witness that much-discussed seminal moment in which the family were driven out of New Orleans for the first time. Is the rebooted Mikael any more threatening? Does he warrant the hushed whispers that greet any mention of his past villainy? Not quite but, then again, on a show all about mass murderers and master manipulators, that was always going to be a tall order. His elaborate set up on stage at the opera was very well done and, with the audience compelled to applaud whatever was happening, also slightly disturbing. But we did get her back, and that means Rebekah and Marcel have some extra fire power in their corner. As fun and familiar as it is for the siblings to be at each other’s throats, and as inevitable as this point has been since the pilot, I can’t help but remember how much more fun I was having when they were bonded together and only passive-aggressively battling with each other. The high points of the season have all been about one or all of the siblings triumphing against another faction of New Orleans, whether that be Elijah massacring the witches in the church, Klaus telling Tyler where to go or Rebekah just being her awesome self, and this in-fighting feels frustratingly obvious and, more importantly, temporary. Do we really believe that Klaus is going to stake Rebekah or Elijah with the white oak stake (welcome back, old MacGuffin!), eliminating one of the four leads from the show in episode fifteen of the first season? None of us do, and that made the cliffhanger to Le Grand Guignol all the more underwhelming. Let’s get back to the turf war, when witches weren’t so easy to kill and humans actually had some power in this topsy-turvy world. That was fun and, while there are a lot of shows about heroes triumphing against evil, watching evil people massacre even more evil people in a town as dramatic as New Orleans is what set The Originals apart. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Crescent City, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
