The Originals - Recap: Compelling, and Compelling, and Compelling Cami
Episode 4 of The Originals shed some light on the ladies of New Orleans. What’s Cami’s big bloody secret? Can Klaus win Davina’s trust?
The CW "The Originals"
The CW "The Originals"
Episode 4 opened on kind of a strange note. Klaus had already begun prepping Cami to begin work as his own personal secretariat, yet seemed to be speaking quite openly regarding the “WAR!!” of the French Quarter. I was thinking he’d just assumed Cami would appreciate his grandiose way of speaking for a moment. The next moment had me wondering if I’d mistakenly missed an episode and gotten away with it without getting fired in the process. In truth, it was time for Cami to learn of the realm of witches, werewolves, and vampires. Of course, she’d be compelled to only remember this information when in the presence of Klaus. Much of this week’s episode focused on the budding romance between Cami and the Original hybrid. Cami oscillates between being his pawn and acting as a potential new love interest.
Davina, meanwhile, focused her powers on microwaving Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) for a brief moment if only to prove that she’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself while out on the strip. Just once in a while a girl wants to ditch her dank attic home for a night on the town complete with fiddles and, well, that’s all that actually mattered. Davina had her heart set on a run-in with an old school flame, one of the many relationships she’d lost in her absence. Once Klaus would catch wind of an opportunity to seize the girl, he’d enlist Cami’s help through a bit more compulsion. Cami had previously turned down the opportunity to chaperone Marcel’s prized possession because, I mean, was she even getting paid? Something to note about Cami is that, by this point, we’d been clued more so into the fact that she has this incredibly cerebral and psychological way of assessing these bizarre supernatural situations that tends to make even the most devious of schemes sound all sorts of lame. One moment, Klaus is the impending reign of terror swooping down on Marcel’s entire legacy, the next, he’s merely clinically paranoid and in need of therapy. Why pay for therapy when he has a bartender to mentally abuse?
Marcel set up the situation between Cami and Davina easily enough, enlisting the help of some covert vampire friends of his to keep a watchful eye. Cami, whose brain is matched only by her empathy, was quick to pick out Tim, the fiddle player with whom Davina seemed to be infatuated. Davina’s long lost crush really worked that fiddle like a pro! While the girl was distracted, though, Klaus managed to slip Cami a note from “Tim” to Davina offering up the opportunity to meet one-on-one(-with-chaperone-Cami).
The CW "The Originals"
A local church would end up providing the perfect setting for the reunion, but first, let’s check in with Rebekah, who’d spent the early half of Episode 4 literally attempting to find the attic prison of Elijah (Daniel Gillies) via vague memories of window shutters. Fascinating window shutters turned out to be just the right lead, and Rebekah was led straight to Davina’s holding cell… the attic of the church. With a simple bit of compulsion (Later we’d learn that the priest had been using vervain in a private conversation with Marcel.), Rebakah found her way upstairs to Elijah’s slumbering corpse. Unfortunately, the room was, needless to say, protected by a spell. Luckily for Rebekah, Davina had been carelessly fiddling with Elijah’s dagger in her search for a means to kill an Original, somehow weakening its hold on her brother. Elijah reached out to Rebekah from his dream world, channeling a memory only the two knew of to convince his sister that the message did, indeed, come from his mind. Elijah would promise to weasel his way out of his coma in time to convince Davina to trust him. Rebekah, in the meantime, would be required to keep Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) safe from harm.
Speaking of Hayley, the pregnant she-wolf was strong-armed by Agnes, a leader of the witches, into a doctor’s appointment out deep within the swamps of the bayou. That screams "sanitary," does it not? This doctor was, apparently, aware of the supernatural realm, and while Hayley did eventually give in to the witches’ demands to check up on the baby’s health, perhaps she should have trusted her instincts. The witches had set her up, and before she knew it, she was the victim of a full-on onslaught of magical attackers. Male witches… ugh. My favorite moment this week was probably when the doctor attempted to lethally inject Hayley with a random syringe, only to find the she-wolf turning the tables and eliminating the crooked doc in her own defense. Hayley fought off attacker after attacker in vintage Buffy the Vampire Slayer fashion. She’s a werewolf, so she does have super strength, but the prowess! The badassery! Even Rebekah, who would eventually join in on the fun, was impressed by the battle capabilities of a pregnant woman. Unfortunately, the two would eventually end up taken down by a few measly wooden arrows.
The CW "The Originals"
I’m not quite sure how Davina and Tim were so quick to reconnect from within the church pews with Cami watching over their shoulders like a hawk from the back of the room. Well, I guess Klaus had compelled Tim sufficiently, and Davina takes what she can get at this point. Man, being the most powerful witch on the block is so boring. She's probably forced to *gulp* read books for entertainment. Eventually, Klaus would secretly join Cami, who seemed to be deeply troubled by the history of the building, unbeknownst to Davina and her date. The tale told revealed that a young priest-in-training, Sean, had snapped and slaughtered his peers in cold blood before killing himself at the altar. The visuals were certainly gnarly to relive. The boy had no history of mental illness, drug abuse, etc. To top it off, he was Cami’s brother. Klaus, visibly emotionally disturbed and upset for his friend(?), compelled Cami to leave the building and to take her mind off of things.
Klaus would subsequently make his move, eventually seizing Tim by the throat and threatening to kill the boy if it meant not gaining an alliance with Davina. Davina had previously turned down Klaus’ polite requests for her to abandon Marcel, her friend and protector. Davina, funny enough, doesn’t seem to trust her own abilities as well as we’d thought. She’d come to the point of mustering up her strength in a whirlwind of power to end Klaus’ demand for respect, but she does seem to rely more so on Marcel for safety than we’d originally been led to believe. Davina, in a panic following her blind explosion of magic, began to search the premises for Tim, giving Klaus just enough time to throw the boy from the rafters of the church, leaving him on the brink of death. Davina, having doubled back as well, made the hasty decision to allow Klaus to heal her puppy-lover, even if it meant owing him a favor. Marcel would arrive post-deal to find a scorned Davina storming away in silence.
That evening, a slowly healing Elijah would arise from his coffin, quickly quieting Davina before assuring her of his good nature. This could be an unlikely new dynamic duo!
Rebekah would come to in the woods following the unfortunate arrow-in-the-chest debacle, yet Hayley seemed to be nowhere in sight. Instead, Rebekah found herself surrounded by dismembered limbs and torn apart faces. Back at the doctor’s office, Rebekah, now joined by Klaus, was shocked to find Hayley limping towards their car, bruised and battered a bit but healed of all true wounds by the baby inside of her. Who’d killed their countless assailants? A wolf howl would lead us to believe that a “cousin” of Hayley’s has a particular interest in their current predicament. Maybe the child inside of her already knows what it's doing! I'm still fairly certain whatever it is isn't expected to be something good and pure judging by the rash reaction of the witches this week.
By the end of Episode 4, there's no way Marcel is going to continue buying into Klaus' nonsense. Davina has been compromised, and even Rebekah went as far as to pay him one final visit in which she attempted to, yet again, lay the moves on him to no avail. I'm sure glad Elijah is back in the game considering that Rebekah is about to snap following all of Klaus' selfish antics.
The CW "The Originals"
My favorite scene this week was also the most heartbreaking scene of The Originals thus far. A misty-eyed Klaus would visit Cami at her home. Upon being invited in to talk, Klaus would come to the realization that Cami would attribute her brother’s slaughtering of those men to an act of witchcraft of a vampire's compulsion. Plagued by nightmares and depression, the "Girl in New Orleans" would stop at nothing to find the people responsible for her brother’s crime and tarnished legacy. She begged Klaus not to compel the pain away, but he adamantly refused to respect her wish. Instead, he drove within her a sense of peace and the understanding the he would, instead, be the one to find and punish those behind her suffering. See, I was disappointed that Klaus would do this, even out of pure kindness, until he made her that promise. Now this just seems gallant with an edge of despair. Also, to reiterate what I stated at the start of this review, I love that Cami is a woman rather than a high school cheerleader.
What did you think of The Originals Season 1 Episode 4, “Girl in New Orleans”? Will Cami ever learn the truth? What’s inside Hayley? Does Marcel still have feelings for Rebekah, or was this week’s snub a reflection of his true feelings? Is Marcel now privy to Klaus’ entire game plan? What will Sophie think once she realizes what the witches were trying to do to Hayley or her baby?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of The Originals Season 1 Episode 4, “Girl in New Orleans”!