The Originals: My Thoughts On Episode 1

         

       The estimated views on The Originals was a total of 2.21 million and received an 0.9 rating. To me that's pretty decent, but you know how it goes with most shows, the first episode is never flawless or perfect and doesn't get as many views despite advertisements. The new official pilot of The Vampire Diaries spin off was the same as the back door pilot however it was filmed from Elijah's point of view.

I liked how they wrote it from Elijah's point of view because it gave us more insight into his character and we see Klaus through his eyes. We also get some insight into his strong commitment to his siblings and the over all idea of family bonds. When it comes down to it, Elijah will always be the first to come to the defense of his twisted brother, Klaus when he takes a stop down in New Orleans, the once happy home of the Originals. He founds out that Hayley (Klaus's one night stand) is pregnant with Klaus's child. For Elijah, this is his chance to make his family whole again, which shows us just how much he loves humanity believing that a child could bring a warring family together. Yet Klaus is not so thrilled at the thought of becoming a father (given his horrible childhood). Even though Elijah swears that when Klaus heard the baby's heart beat, he saw Klaus have fleeting moment of happiness. We saw it too. That look of awe and fascination, but then it disappeared into a flash and Klaus stormed off not caring whether Hayley and the baby lived or died. Sounds like most guys who have a one night stand and get that "you're a daddy" call.

             Through out the episode, Elijah is Hayley's only defender, which leads me to suspect a romantic interest is to form between them. Also the chemistry between the actors is fantastic. As history has shown, Elijah and Klaus often share the same taste in women (ex: Tatia, Katherine, Celeste (a character yet to be shown)). And Elijah isn't one to turn up his nose at Klaus's conquests. Also Elijah's talks with Rebekah were a further insight to Elijah's struggle in keeping his family together. We see him kind of stuck in the middle of Klaus and Rebekah who have the most friction.

           The episode took a real turn when the Mikaelson brothers had a face-off. As brothers always do, the Original brothers prefer physical violence to having peaceful talks about their feelings (actually that's most men). Elijah tries to beat some sense into his lost soul of a brother. We see that deep down, Elijah still sees his little brother, that decent soul who is a victim of their father's rage and their mother's coldness. Yet Klaus refuses to let down his walls and walks off refusing to take responsibility for the life he created. So Elijah decides to take matters into his own hands and make a deal with Marcel. Then Elijah and Klaus have a sit down and Elijah comes in again with his narration about his thoughts on the strength of family. Elijah is happy to hear Klaus decide to stay and have the Mikaelson baby. Yet Klaus doesn't see it so much as accepting as he put it "the joys of fatherhood" but more of a play for power. Elijah is still hopeful that Klaus will change his tune as time goes on.

           The ending was the most shocking and unexpected. After agreeing to stay in New Orleans and fight to take it back (with Hayley carrying his child), Klaus believes that the only way he can win is to do it alone. It gave the show a different tone than The Vampire Diaries. This was an act of ruthlessness that denotes a chess game or a Game of Thrones-esque quality of who is going to be king. Klaus sees love as a weakness, which tells us that he does love his siblings and would do anything to keep them alive. Without his family, Klaus would feel more alone than ever and that's his greatest fear. So for now he wants to put them on ice until he feels secure enough to let them back out.

        Overall I thought the episode was great. A great start for a great group of characters who needed room to spread their rich, complex back stories. Yet like I said, shows that first start out never have an outstanding premiere. The show needs time to find it's voice and most would claim the opposite given the cast's appearance on it's partner show, but The Originals is not about romantic entanglements (although I'm sure we're in for some interesting pairings) or high school drama. This show is going to be about the love of family and building a home and that will cover navigating the New Orleans underworld of the supernatural with calculating moves, ruthlessness, and a lot of blood. I can't wait to see further episodes and see how dark this show gets.