1.9 Reigning Pain in New Orleans Because what Klaus wants is power and, while he has succeeded in getting to the top of the New Orleans vampire hierarchy, his position as king of the city is incredibly precarious. Without the loyalty of the other vampires or the love of his family, Klaus comes to realise that he won’t last very long on top and so, in a rare fit of sensible reasoning, he recruits Marcel as his partner and makes amends with Elijah and Rebekah. His biggest problem right now is Hayley, who has also done a good job of turning Davina against Marcel, and, with Cami’s compulsion removed at the end of the episode, that makes three formidable ladies ready for when we return. But, even if it won’t last very long, it feels good that Klaus’ ascent to the top was only the first couple of pages of the story. If it had been dragged on for years, as the original premise suggested last year, then The Originals wouldn’t be half the show it is now. The Vampire Diaries suffers from a flimsy premise that the writers seem reluctant to deviate from but, with just a couple of surprising moves, its spin-off has become something far superior to what anyone thought it could be. By virtue of the least moral character being our protagonist, there’s no clear villain on the show and, while that might turn off the casual viewer, it’s pretty brave. And he’s trying to take control of the werewolves, too, thoroughly alienating Hayley by ordering his new followers to massacre every last one of them. When this included Hayley’s family, the point he was trying to prove to Elijah was more important but, as his siblings discovered that there may actually be werewolves also descended from his biological father in New Orleans, he had a change of heart. It might be too late to win Hayley’s trust back but, probably because he was reminded of Klaus’ traumatic past, Elijah is prompted to apologise for his earlier assumptions. So, when we return in the new year, the Mikaelsons will be back together in their family home, Hayley, Cami and Davina will have had time to figure out a revenge strategy, and Elijah will still be tortured about his feelings for Hayley. We can assume that we’ll be waiting for spring before the baby is born so, until then, we can simply revel in the unexplored territory of Klaus’ paternity. This first half of the season has been a thoroughly pleasant surprise and, while it may not be the show that I was expecting, I’m sure glad it’s the one we got. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
