The Originals 1.02 “House of the Rising Son” Review

This episode was really the test for many people who had already seen two versions of the pilot.  I think it’s safe to say it passed with flying colors!  We’re off to a great start for only being two episodes into the series.

Rebekah finally did come to New Orleans, but only because she hadn’t heard from her loving brother Elijah, who was keeping her updated on the drama with Klaus.  Last week, in what was supposed to be a “shocking” ending, Klaus daggered their brother Elijah.  That really wasn’t all that shocking to me, as we’ve seen Klaus do this to his siblings many times through the course of flashbacks in The Vampire Diaries as we learned more about him.  It’s what Klaus is known for; it’s his selfish way of dealing with his family that has only ever wanted him to be happy.

Hayley is even starting to develop more as a character.  She got herself into a sticky situation with Marcel’s vampires after leaving the mansion that Klaus told her never to leave, because werewolves aren’t “allowed” in Marcel’s town.  Lucky for her, Rebekah has just as good a heart as Elijah and was there to protect her.  All of this happened after Rebekah had warned her about what kind of a person Klaus is, and Hayley was considering taking a potion that would end her pregnancy.  Hayley and Klaus end up bonding over her decision to keep the baby, in what was possibly my favorite scene of this episode.  These two characters are a lot alike, and it is nice to see them on the same page for once.

There were a lot of flashbacks to when Klaus and his siblings first met Marcel.  It was interesting to learn that Klaus essentially raised Marcel as his own son, since he met him when he was still a child and rescued him from an abusive father.  Marcel grew into an adult, with the full knowledge that Klaus and Rebekah were vampires, but that didn’t stop the attraction between Marcel and Rebekah.  Once Klaus saw what was going on, he daggered Rebekah for a hundred more years rather than punishing Marcel.  If you ask me, Klaus could really benefit from some therapy to help him stop relying so heavily on staking his family members when they disagree with him.

Rebekah learns from Klaus that he gave Elijah to Marcel, as a way to relieve some of his nerves about the Original vampires coming back to town.  At first Rebekah is reluctant to do anything to attempt to save Elijah, because as she told Hayley, Klaus literally has her coffin waiting for her if she does anything to upset him.  Hayley helps her out, by finding the daggers Klaus had hidden in the basement so that this way Rebekah can still approach Marcel about getting Elijah back.

Rebekah threatens the life of Cami, the bartender that Marcel is apparently interested in (or as I like to think of her, the token human in a supernatural show), and Marcel agrees to take her to Elijah.  It turns out that Davina, the super powerful teenage witch he has hiding in his attic, is also guarding Elijah in his coffin.  She only lets Rebekah see Elijah briefly before using her powers to throw her out of the room, and as we learn later, she erases her memory of the location of that room.

It is nice to see Klaus and Rebekah vowing to fight on the same team and get Elijah back, but only after Rebekah is terrified after her encounter with Davina.  She’s right to be scared, because Davina appears to be the most powerful threat the Mikaelsons have ever seen.  That being said, I don’t doubt that they can win back their brother Elijah and then work together to take Marcel off his power pedestal.

So much was happening in this episode, and it is really shaping up to be an awesome show.  It finally feels complete now that Rebekah is in New Orleans, and she is as fierce as always.  I would give it an A.  I can’t wait for next Tuesday!