As a horse-drawn carriage transports its passengers to Louisiana in 1751, Rebekah voices over that people come to New Orleans for a fresh start. Once upon a time, women were brought over from France to marry “proper” gentlemen. Among them were women known as Casket Girls. Three of them are in the carriage, unaware that their intended grooms aren’t proper or gentle.
The carriage is met by a mob of men demanding to see the women inside. But the men’s shouts turn to cries for help as something attacks them. When they fall silent, a man riding with the three women peeks outside and finds all the men dead. Their killer pulls him out of the carriage and gives him the same treatment as the other men. It’s Rebekah, and she assures the women that they’re safe now. “Us girls have got to stick together,” she tells them. After they gather their things (leaving behind actual caskets), Rebekah leads them to their new home.
In the present, New Orleans residents are having their annual Casket Girls celebration, basically a costume party in the streets. Rebekah says it’s a reminder of how women can be oppressed by selfish men. Oh, and here’s another example of that: Davina’s undoing Cami’s compulsion so she’ll remember everything Klaus made her forget. It’s painful, but Josh says Cami’s doing great (and he would know, since he went through this himself). He praises her for writing herself notes and not trusting Klaus.
The process has taken all night, and Cami’s very confused about what’s going on. Davina promises to undo every piece of mind control vampires have used on her until she does understand. She’ll be free. She offers to stop, but Cami wants to remember everything.
Hayley’s getting in the spirit of things for the Casket Girls celebration, and Elijah finds her putting on a costume. He helps her with the back, which is a good excuse for them to get close to each other. The dress doesn’t cover her Crescent birthmark, though, and she’s hesitant to go out in public. Elijah offers to accompany her, but Hayley doesn’t want to cause more conflict between him and Klaus. She asks him to unzip the dress, which is his second chance to do a mundane task with an almost aggressive amount of sexual tension.
In the Quarter, Marcel runs into Rebekah while she’s looking for a costume. He wants to talk, but she doesn’t – he made his choice, and it’s Klaus, not her, so she’s done with him. When his phone rings, she guesses Klaus is calling. She’s right. He’s discovered that Davina isn’t at the Compound.
Davina’s making progress with Cami, and Josh gives Cami all her notes so she’ll be able to understand them. He accidentally singes himself in a sunbeam and Davina promises to make him a daylight ring as soon as she has a chance to find the spell. Cami starts remembering things, but Davina has more work to do, since the compulsion as been happening for a while. As Cami recalls Klaus telling her to leave town and lying about Sean’s mental state, her nose starts bleeding.
At the Compound, Klaus and Elijah think Davina left the house willingly (she took Tim’s violin with her), but Marcel doubts that she would leave when the witches are looking for her. He asks what Elijah said to Davina that made her decide to stay in the attic. Maybe Elijah took her. Elijah brushes that off, assuring Marcel that he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Davina. She’s suffered enough because of the Harvest. Klaus points out that Davina is super-powerful, and she could destroy them and all they’ve worked for. “If she’s not a friend to this family, then she’s our enemy,” he says. Marcel insists that she’s a friend.
Klaus claims to know how to get Davina back, and he tells Marcel and Elijah to come with him. Instead, they stay back so Elijah can remind Marcel that Klaus will become ruthless if he thinks there’s a threat. Both of them promise to protect Davina.
Klaus gathers Marcel’s his crew as Hayley and Rebekah discuss Davina’s disappearance, which they both say they had nothing to do with. Hayley acknowledges that she told Davina that Agnes was dead and that Marcel kept it from her. She just wanted Davina to know the truth. Davina’s the one who realized Klaus and Marcel were using her. Rebekah hates their “boys’ club” and predicts that Elijah will join them. She says she’s like a modern-day Casket Girl, what with the manipulation and lies she’s dealt with. Hayley asks if she’s talking about Davina or herself. “Either way, us girls have got to stick together,” Rebekah replies.
Sophie has clearly moved on from Marcel and is making out with some guy at Rousseau’s when Sabine comes to see her. Sophie’s been drinking lots of alcohol and having lots of sex since Agnes died. Sabine, meanwhile, has been keeping a low profile and gathering intel. She knows that the daywalkers are looking for a girl who matches Davina’s description.
Sophie notes that without Davina’s witch radar, Marcel won’t know when the witches use magic. Plus, if they can get Davina back, they can complete the Harvest and fix everything. They need to move fast, though – when the sun goes down, the nightwalkers will be able to join the search for Davina. Sabine has nabbed Davina’s hairbrush so they can do a locator spell.
Davina makes Cami drink vervain so she can’t be compelled again. Josh is hungry, so Davina offers to let him drink from her. Just then, her witch radar goes off and she can see that someone’s doing a spell to find her. Cami tells her they need to run. She wants to go to Kieran, thinking he’ll know a way to get Davina out of the Quarter. Davina reveals that Kieran knows everything about the supernatural and is aligned with Marcel. Cami thinks Kieran would have told her if he knew the witches hexed Sean. But the looks on Davina and Josh’s faces confirm for her that Kieran is just another lying man in her life.
Josh offers to let Cami and Davina take his car and leave town. They’ll have to walk to get to it, though, since the Quarter is mostly shut down for the Casket Girls celebration. Davina’s worried, since the sun is still setting, but Josh wants her to stay strong. He’ll meet her and Cami once the sun’s down and he can go out.
At the Compound, Hayley is trying to get a moment away from the vampires who have been assigned to guard her. Sophie calls and Hayley lies that it’s her gynecologist so the vampires will give her some privacy. Sophie tells Hayley that the witches want to find Davina and complete the Harvest. They need something from Hayley. Without the Harvest being completed, the witches’ magic will fade for good, and Hayley’s family will be out of luck. If Hayley helps Sophie, Sophie will undo the curse that keeps her family in wolf form unless there’s a full moon.
Sophie needs to consecrate the remains of a powerful witch and absorb their magic. She’s thinking of Celeste, whose body was never found. Legend has it that Elijah buried Celeste in a secret spot she requested. Hayley just needs to find out where that spot is.
The sun’s down and the celebration is underway in the Quarter. Davina puts on a veil to move through the crowd without being recognized. She and Cami spot Klaus and run to an alley to hide. Klaus meets up with Marcel and Elijah, who have Kieran keeping an eye out for Davina. Rebekah joins the group and Klaus says he’s close to getting his secret weapon back. He’s spotted Tim.
Josh leaves Cami a message asking where to meet her and Davina. Klaus uses Tim’s phone to call Josh, his “most disappointing minion,” who lies that he just moved to Turkey. Klaus knows he’s lying and guesses he’s been hanging out with Davina. He reveals that he’s with Tim, and they’ll be at the Compound in case Davina wants to see him.
Cami and Davina go to St. Anne’s to hide out until the coast is clear. Cami finally takes one of Josh’s calls and learns that Klaus has Tim and will hurt him if Davina doesn’t go to the Compound. Cami tells Josh to hide until they come up with a plan. Davina immediately wants to go to the Compound, but her witch radar pings again. Four witches, including Sabine, have arrived to get her. They use magic to knock out Cami, but Davina uses magic to levitate them, then kill them.
Hayley (still under the watchful eye of her vamp bodyguards) goes to Mikaelson Mansion to supposedly get some things she left behind. She reads through Elijah’s old journals, but he doesn’t mention the exact spot where he buried Celeste. Hayley feels horrible for his loss, and maybe for looking through his personal things. Back in the Quarter, Josh spots Davina and asks if she’s really sure she wants to mess with Klaus. She does, and she feels powerful enough to kill him. Josh’s first instinct is to talk her out of it, but he stops himself and tells her not to hold back.
As Davina continues her trek to the Compound, Rebekah approaches Josh and says Davina will get herself killed if she faces off with Klaus: “A very unnecessary end to an already tragic story.” But she has an idea to help Davina, and she thinks Josh would like to assist.
Elijah isn’t convinced that Davina will take Klaus’ bait and show up, but Klaus is sure she will. He’s perched Tim up high on a beam and is making him play his violin. Marcel returns after meeting with his nightwalkers and tells Klaus to let him talk to Davina first. She arrives and tells Klaus to let Tim down. Klaus wants her loyalty first. Marcel shuts him up and asks Davina why she left the Compound. He’s sure he can make things right. She asks if he’s going to threaten one of her friends like Klaus did. Klaus is like, “Sorry for the dramatics, but why try something else when this always works?”
Davina says Klaus pretends to be confident, but she knows he’s afraid that people will see what he really is: an animal. She uses magic to force him to transform into a werewolf, the beast hiding inside him. Next she turns on Elijah, mad that he lied about wanting to help her. He’s supposed to be noble, but he’s a killer just like Klaus. He’s fed on innocent blood, and now he’ll choke on it.
As he does, Davina moves on to Marcel. She trusted and loved him, but he used her to stay in power and doesn’t really care about her. When he lost to Klaus, he handed Davina over like a trophy. Maybe she should turn him into a literal trophy and boil him in bronze. Marcel says he does care – he took Davina in like family. Before Davina can respond, Rebekah comes up behind Marcel and stabs him.
She’s impressed with Davina’s treatment of the guys and hopes she doesn’t do anything similar to Rebekah. She calls Josh in, then grabs him by the throat. If she were Klaus, she would kill him. But she doesn’t want to do something “boyish” like her brother does. Rebekah tells Tim he can come down, exploiting a loophole Klaus created by saying Tim couldn’t climb down. She tells him to jump, and she catches him. Tim is confused about everything, but he’s happy to see Davina.
She asks why Rebekah’s interfering with the guys’ plans. Rebekah says Davina is holding all the cards but doesn’t know who to trust. Rebekah’s proven that Davina can trust her. Now she needs something from Davina.
Sophie calls Hayley from a field, annoyed that Hayley’s information about Celeste’s burial location isn’t more specific. Hayley tells her to have some faith – she can do this. Sophie asks her ancestors for help, saying she’s trying to do the right thing. The wind starts blowing around her but only rustles one tree, the one Celeste must be buried under.
Rebekah takes Davina, Josh, and Tim to the Garden so Davina can see how Marcel treats traitors. She doesn’t think what Thierry did was any worse than what Josh did. Plus, Marcel knows the truth about what Thierry did, but he keeps him locked up. Rebekah wants Davina to know who she’s dealing with and who she can trust. Tim tries to comfort Davina, giving her a bottle of water. Rebekah says they’ve both been lied to and betrayed. Maybe they can work together to get payback.
Tim suddenly doubles over, coughing and choking. He says Klaus made him do it; Tim didn’t know what he was doing until he made Davina drink. Rebekah realizes that Klaus poisoned the water. Davina starts feeling the effects as well.
Cami regains consciousness as Kieran finds her at St. Anne’s. She tells him she knows everything, including what happened to Sean. She’s upset that Kieran hid the truth and let her think Sean was crazy. Kieran argues that he was protecting her from the same fate as Sean. Cami tells him he’s just as bad as the monsters in the city.
Marcel, Klaus, and Elijah have all recovered from Davina’s attack on them. “Well, isn’t this monumentally awkward,” Elijah comments as he helps Marcel up. Klaus is on the phone with Rebekah, totally casual about punishing Davina for not being on Team Mikaelson. Rebekah asks for the antidote, since vampire blood isn’t working. Klaus specifically chose a poison that blood wouldn’t affect. Rebekah blasts him for poisoning children. They could have found a fair way to deal with Davina. “There is no dealing with those who threaten us,” Klaus replies. Davina sealed her fate when she turned on Klaus. She made this choice, not him.
Elijah agrees with Rebekah that this was an unnecessary move. Klaus says he did what needed to be done. He’s still redeemable. Elijah seems less upset about Klaus poisoning Tim and Davina than he is about the fact that he wasn’t consulted first.
Marcel reveals that he made an alliance with Elijah, whom he doesn’t even like, because he knew Klaus would go rogue. When Marcel was supposedly meeting with the nightwalkers, he was actually at St. Anne’s with a very-much-alive Sabine. She did a protection spell that brought her back after Davina killed her. Marcel asked Sabine to use the same spell on Davina.
Klaus isn’t happy that Marcel went behind his back and worked with a witch. Marcel just wanted a fail-safe in case Klaus did what Elijah predicted and went all…well, Klaus. Klaus reminds Marcel that the witches are a threat to his family. Elijah points out that Davina is Marcel’s family. He orders Klaus to call Rebekah and tell her Davina will recover. As for Tim…well, at least Klaus won’t be able to use him as a pawn anymore.
Rebekah and Josh are relieved when Davina revives, but she can’t feel the same because Tim wasn’t so lucky. She cries and begs him not to leave her alone.
Later, Rebekah carries Davina to the Compound like the child she still is and puts her back in Marcel’s care. Klaus and Rebekah just glare at each other until she leaves. She voices over that sometimes the saying that it’s a man’s world is true. For every Casket Girl who was saved, many others weren’t.
Marcel worries that Davina will never trust him again. Elijah urges him not to give up on earning that trust back. Rebekah voices over that women are more resilient than they get credit for. Elijah sees some of Davina’s drawings from St. Anne’s; they’re all dark and ominous.
Rebekah continues that some women are able to make people regret messing with them. Klaus runs into Cami in the Quarter and she reveals that she’s been decompelled. She wants to stay in town to fight him. If he hurts Josh or Davina, Cami will expose who he is and he’ll be forced out of the Quarter forever.
Rebekah considers herself resilient, and she’s tired of being oppressed. She doesn’t want Klaus to be able to keep taking what he wants, or Marcel and Elijah to keep helping and enabling him. She’s talking to Thierry while giving him a bag of blood. “So men suck,” he comments. What does she want from him? Rebekah says Marcel can’t keep himself from teaming up with Klaus. She wants Thierry to help her take New Orleans away from them. She has someone on the inside, someone they’ll never suspect: Davina.
Hayley finds Elijah studying Davina’s drawings, wondering if they’re some kind of premonition. They seem to suggest that something’s coming. Elijah puts the drawings together and sees that they make up one big drawing…of Celeste’s face. Hayley ducks out of the room and calls Sophie, who doesn’t answer her phone, since she’s busy preparing to consecrate the remains of a witch she apparently should stay far away from.
Etc.: More on the Casket Girls here.
I’m surprised Klaus doesn’t have a search party out looking for Josh.
I like that Davina and Josh’s friendship has already progressed as much as it has. It makes sense that two people in a scary, unfamiliar situation would bond that quickly and try to team up.
This episode has great twists, with Klaus compelling Tim to poison Davina and Marcel working with Sabine. I like when they show us something and then reveal that there’s something we didn’t know.
Rebekah really has Klaus and Marcel snowed. They think they know her so well, and she’s scheming behind their backs without them having a single clue. It’s awesome.
An Eternity of Misery 