The Vampire Diaries: The Originals (4x20)

It's hard for me to review this episode because it's actually a backdoor pilot for a new show about the Original vampires. If I were reviewing it as a normal episode of The Vampire Diaries, I probably wouldn't give it very good marks, because it barely touched on the plot threads that I care about this season. If I look at it as a pilot for another show, then I think it holds up pretty good.

I'll start by very briefly touching on the stuff that happened in Mystic Falls. Stefan, Damon, and Elena were hardly in the episode at all. They just made a brief appearance at the beginning and end. It almost felt unnecessary to have them in there at all, although I understand why they wouldn't want to do an episode of this show without our three leads. However, for what they were I did like those brief scenes. Damon and Stefan are really upping the ante on the torture in order to bring the real Elena back. It's sort of sick, but then again everyone on this show is pretty sick.

But most of the episode focused on Klaus and his adventures in New Orleans. Here's the first awesome thing about this episode: New Orleans. What a great setting! Certainly more interesting than Mystic Falls could ever hope to be.

And then there's the fact that this episode focuses on Klaus. Klaus is awesome. The plot is this: Katherine tipped off Klaus that there's a witch in New Orleans plotting against him. He goes and runs into his old buddy Marcel, who basically runs New Orleans now. The humans are ignorant, the witches are compliant to his wishes, and the vampires basically have free run of the place. That's a great concept, because it basically shows Klaus what he could have had if he hadn't left New Orleans. Marcel is a pretty interesting character, too. He's probably the most compelling out of the new people we've met.

Then, we get the twist of all this: Hayley is there, and she's somehow pregnant with Klaus' baby. Uh... okay, I really wanted to like this. I really wanted to think it was a cool concept. But, seriously. Klaus is having a baby? He's a vampire! I know he's also a werewolf, but doesn't becoming a vampire make you undead? I'm so disturbed right now! And Hayley has just never interested me. It's not the actress' fault, but her character just never seemed to have much a drive to it. And now she's having Klaus' kid? Okay, I guess I'm a bit excited to see Daddy!Klaus at work, but beyond that I don't really like this twist.

I did, however, love Elijah's reaction to it. It felt very in character for him to be excited about the baby, because now they can be a family again! Every time Elijah has a heart-to-heart with Klaus and Klaus rejects him, I just feel like he's wishing he had a relationship like Stefan and Damon do. Head Canon accepted.

But anyways, I don't like the idea of the baby, but I do like Elijah's reaction to it. I hope that something interesting will be done with it in the future, and I'm sure I'll end up watching a few episodes of the spin-off at least. If it's good enough, I'll add it to the outrageously long list of shows I watch.

Katherine was pretty cool this episode, but I'm still slightly confused about her motivations for things. Is she really in love with Elijah or is it just part of the act? Regardless, I liked seeing her in this episode. I always appreciate it when she's around.

I also loved Klaus' badass moments, where he's just like: Marcel, it's cute that you think you're in charge, but I'm going to go ahead and bite your friend here and see what you think of me now! Don't mess with Klaus, guys. He's unbeatable.

Okay, so at one point in the episode Klaus calls Caroline and leaves a message saying that one day he'd like to show her New Orleans. That's sweet. Except for that I will never ever ever be okay with canonical Klaroline. He is a monster who killed Tyler's mother in cold blood and forced him away from his girlfriend. This is not conducive to a good relationship. Yeesh. 

I'm happy with this episode basically because of Klaus' bad-assery and how much I look forward to seeing more of it in the future. I'm also looking forward to the rest of this season. I want Elena's humanity back, please!

7/10