1,000 years ago: A young Rebekah is scared of a nighttime thunderstorm. Klaus comforts her, saying he won’t let it hurt her. He gives her a little knight he carved out of wood; it’s brave, and holding it will make her brave, too. She asks him to stay with her until the storm is over, and he promises to always stay with her.
Present: Klaus is fully ready to kill Rebekah, and possibly Elijah if he gets in Klaus’ way. Elijah tells Rebekah to hide and let him deal with their brother. Klaus has the indestructible stake but Elijah has the Tunde blade, which Klaus definitely doesn’t want in him again. Elijah says he’s not going to choose sides here, but he’s also not going to let Klaus hurt Rebekah. Klaus asks how long Elijah plans to protect her while they’re stuck in the cemetery together. Elijah is willing to do anything and everything for Rebekah.
The next morning, Rebekah calls Marcel, who tells her to do whatever it takes to stay alive until he can rescue her. She watched Klaus and Elijah argue all night, and she’s never seen Klaus this full of rage. Marcel promises to find a loophole (well, have Davina find a loophole) to get Rebekah out early. Of course, then they’ll have to spend the rest of their lives running from Klaus, something Rebekah doesn’t want to do after spending all those centuries running from Mikael.
Davina’s back in her old room in the attic of St. Anne’s, shell-shocked after her return from the dead. Marcel tells her that she, Monique, and a third Harvest Girl have all been resurrected, so the witches are happy. Monique and the third girl (Abigail) have said that the ancestors were with them while they were dead, teaching them magic. The girls are stronger than ever now. Davina, however, was in a dark, empty place with no one else around. She doesn’t want to talk about it.
Elijah tries to talk Klaus into giving up on trying to get past him to get to Rebekah – he’s not going to succeed. Klaus is willing to kill him if necessary. After all, Elijah stabbed him with the Tunde blade. Elijah taunts him for his “self-righteous posturing,” which makes him look like Mikael. Klaus thinks his anger is justified, while Mikael was just a jerk. And Elijah shouldn’t talk about him, since he was never the target for Mikael’s cruelty. It was always Klaus. He thinks Elijah has forgotten what Mikael was really like. Elijah says he hasn’t.
1,000 years ago: Elijah takes Klaus to the woods to practice hunting with a bow and arrow. Klaus’ aim is off but Elijah thinks he’s improving. Mikael disagrees, calling Klaus pathetic. He says Klaus isn’t man enough to have a bow and arrow. If he can’t hunt, he’s just a burden. Mikael smacks Klaus, threatening to hit Elijah, too, if Elijah tries to interfere. He thinks Klaus will be strengthened by his beatings.
Present: Klaus tries to zoom to the crypt Rebekah’s hiding in, but Elijah gets between them. He pleads with Klaus to show Rebekah the mercy Mikael never showed him. Klaus says that if Elijah expects him not to get revenge on someone who’s wronged him, Elijah doesn’t know him very well.
Rebekah emerges from the crypt and says her guilt is nothing compared to Klaus’. If he wants revenge, he can have it, but she wants him to know why she and Marcel did what they did. Klaus allows her to talk, ready to punish her when she’s done.
Cami goes to see Davina, who tells her that she was alone at first when she died, but then she heard the ancestors whispering. They’re mad at her for using her magic-detecting radar to help Marcel. They’re going to punish her if she misuses her magic again.
Downstairs, Marcel has filled Kieran in on his and Rebekah’s dilemma. He thinks Davina and Cami are their only hope. Kieran doesn’t seem optimistic that these crazy kids will get out of this situation. Marcel reminds him that he’s dependent on Davina now, too, since there’s no other cure for his hex. Kieran is sure the hex will kill him, but Marcel thinks he, of all people, should have more faith.
Kieran admits that he lost his faith when Sean died. He came back to New Orleans wanting to end the vampire/witch war, which obviously didn’t happen. Now Klaus is running the Quarter. There’s no hope for Marcel, New Orleans, or Klaus. Marcel is confident that Davina will be able to find a way to take down Klaus once Cami uses her psychoanalytical skills to get her past the trauma of her death. Kieran thinks Klaus will win once again, which means Marcel’s life will be in danger. He’s going to reap what he sowed.
Klaus declares the start of the trial of Rebekah Mikaelson. “What a relief – his ego is in check,” Rebekah comments to Elijah. She won’t plead guilty or innocent to the charge of betraying her own blood. She just wants Klaus to listen to her. She fully admits to bringing Mikael to town to chase Klaus away so she and Marcel could be together.
Klaus says that he never let her get too involved with the guys she liked because they were idiots. He was protecting her and doing her a favor. Rebekah asks why she wasn’t allowed to be with Marcel. She remembers how great Klaus was as a child, and how she wanted to be like him. What happened to make him the person he is now? Elijah speaks up that Klaus thinks Rebekah betrayed him, but he seems to have forgotten something.
1,000 years ago: After catching a teenage Klaus whittling chess pieces, Mikael beats him so badly that Elijah fears he might kill Klaus. He tries to get Mikael to stop, but Mikael just shoves him away. Rebekah tries to intervene next, even pointing a sword at her father. Mikael is disgusted that she would turn on her own father, and for someone like Klaus.
Present: Klaus doesn’t care what Rebekah did when they were children; she still betrayed him with Marcel. He wonders if she and Elijah are going to try to argue that Marcel used her to get rid of Klaus and take over New Orleans. Rebekah says that didn’t happen. Klaus brought his ruin on himself.
He asks why Marcel didn’t follow Rebekah when the Mikaelsons left New Orleans. He stayed back instead and took over everything they’d built. Rebekah guesses that Klaus wants her to renounce Marcel and beg for forgiveness. She won’t do that. She’s to blame – she summoned Mikael because Klaus was vicious. She saw Mikael as the lesser evil. If she had the choice, she’d do it again. Klaus attacks her, reading to stake her, but Elijah tackles him and gets the stake from him. He sends Rebekah away again and tells Klaus that his punishment for not listening to Rebekah is facing Elijah, who now has both the indestructible stake and the Tunde blade.
Cami sympathizes with Davina over what her coven put her through, but Davina sees through her attempts at therapy and says Cami can’t help her. Cami tells her that after Sean died, she let herself get lost in grief. Then she just decided not to let it overtake her. Davina can do the same. Her situation is a lot different, however, and she knows the witches have more in store for her. Cami says she can just not let them control her. Okay, Cami, you made a valiant effort here but you have no idea what Davina’s facing.
Davina asks how she can know who to trust now. Can she trust Marcel? He listens in as she tells Cami that as soon as she came back, Marcel asked her to help Rebekah. She thinks Cami’s there because she needs something, too. Cami admits that Kieran needs help, but she came to see Davina because she cares. Davina says the ancestors’ voices told her she can only trust the witches, who hate her for delaying the Harvest. How can she ask for their help now?
Marcel calls Rebekah to tell her they’ll need to turn to a witch other than Davina. Rebekah just needs to not make Klaus madder than he already is. Yeah, that ship has sailed. She wishes they hadn’t put off their escape from New Orleans. No matter how much Klaus loves the two of them, he may kill them. Rebekah’s never thought much about dying, and now she’s scared of being here one minute and gone the next. She tells Marcel to run – once Klaus is free from the City of the Dead, he’ll hunt Marcel down.
Elijah admits to Klaus that he doesn’t intend to kill him. He’s only holding the indestructible stake so Klaus can’t use it. The Tunde blade is insurance. Klaus asks why he’s defending Rebekah, since she put Elijah’s life in danger as well when she summoned Mikael. Elijah doesn’t care – she’s their sister, and he remembers what she was like before they became vampires. Klaus says those memories make Rebekah’s betrayal even more painful.
Elijah thinks he should share some of the blame here, since he was as vicious as Rebekah said he was. Klaus thinks Rebekah’s lying about summoning Mikael to chase him out of town. She secretly wanted Mikael to kill him. She’s always hated Klaus. Elijah says that Klaus has no idea what Rebekah was prepared to do for him. Yes, Rebekah can be impulsive and dangerous, but that’s not always bad. It almost worked in Klaus’ favor once, when she was a teen and tried to kill Mikael.
Klaus doesn’t believe this story, but Elijah says he was there. He stopped her but now wishes he’d done it for her. Rebekah has a lot of flaws, but she loves Klaus. He’s broken her heart by treating her so horribly. Rebekah listens in as Elijah says she made a mistake by summoning Mikael, but she was justified. Klaus tries to get to her again, but Elijah won’t let him. Klaus says that if Elijah really wants to protect Rebekah, he’ll have to get rid of Klaus for good, with the indestructible stake. But he doesn’t think Elijah can do it.
Elijah sees Klaus as a monster, but despite his eloquence and civility and flawless clothes, Elijah is just as much of an abomination. Maybe he’s worse. Klaus baits Elijah to kill him, but instead, Elijah tosses the stake across the cemetery. He’s not cowardly enough to kill Klaus, but he’ll make him suffer if it means protecting Rebekah. Klaus taunts Elijah for continuing to think he can be redeemed because it means Elijah might, too. Klaus rushes his brother, grabs the Tunde blade, and stabs him with it.
Rebekah rejoins Klaus, now holding the indestructible stake. She wants to take the blade out of Elijah, but Klaus says he’ll have to kill her first. She might as well finish what she started 100 years ago. Rebekah insists that she didn’t want Mikael to kill him. She just wanted Klaus to run. He drove her to betray him, and now he wants to make her look worse so he can justify killing her instead of admitting that he made her life miserable. He let his paranoia make him fear losing Rebekah and Marcel when he could have just been happy for them. In the end, he did lose them, but it was his own fault. Klaus asks where Marcel is – if he loves Rebekah, why did he leave her trapped there?
Marcel has found Genevieve at Jardin Gris and asked her to break Celeste’s boundary spell. Genevieve is now leading the coven, and Marcel thinks she can help the witches by brokering peace with the vampires. If she helps him now, he’ll keep the vampires from targeting the witches. Genevieve won’t accept that deal unless he also hands over Davina. She won’t have to worry about the ancestors shunning her. The witches will be happy to have her home, and Genevieve will protect and teach her. This is Marcel’s best chance at saving Rebekah.
Klaus mocks Rebekah for thinking the two of them going head to head would be a fair fight. Maybe she would have a chance if Marcel were there, but he’s probably already moved on with someone younger and prettier. Rebekah’s like, “Do you really not get why I hate you so much?” She says again that she only wanted Klaus to run. He tells her he’ll let her help Elijah if she admits that she wanted him dead. Rebekah says he’s insane, which Klaus agrees with. He’s a monster, and that’s why she wanted Mikael to kill him. He presses her to admit it. Honestly, at this point I might just say it so he’d shut up. Rebekah may be thinking the same when she admits that maybe she did.
Klaus stabs her with the indestructible stake, but not in the heart. He sits in the City of the Dead until night falls, near where Elijah is still lying immobilized by the Tunde blade. He tells Rebekah that maybe he didn’t want to kill her – maybe he just wanted her to feel the way he felt when Mikael came for him. Rebekah asks if he knows what he meant to do. Klaus replies that as evil as she says he is, she’s the one who conspired against her own blood.
Rebekah reminds him that he’s made his siblings’ lives a living Hell. Klaus says he loves all of them (even Finn? Really?) and knows he can be difficult, but he didn’t make himself like this. Mikael ruined him. Rebekah says he ruined her, too, and Klaus never remembers that. All the Mikaelsons are broken – Klaus is angry and paranoid, Rebekah fears abandonment, and Elijah puts everyone ahead of himself. They’re supposed to be the strongest beings in the world, but they’re damaged beyond repair. They have no hope and will live that way for eternity. “We are the definition of cursed,” she says, “always and forever.”
Speaking of damaged, Cami tells Marcel that Davina needs serious psychiatric care, possibly in an institution. Marcel doesn’t think she would ever recover enough to leave. He wants to return her to the witches.
Klaus pulls the Tunde blade out of Elijah and says they’re even. Marcel returns to Jardin Gris and solidifies his deal with Genevieve. He also wants her to undo Kieran’s hex. Genevieve agrees to drop the boundary spell around the City of the Dead, but it’s too late to help Kieran. Marcel warns her not to hurt Davina, but Genevieve tells him it’s over and he lost. He should try to retain some dignity.
Rebekah is done fighting with Klaus and invites him to do whatever he wants to her. He’s been thinking about Mikael and wonders if he was abusive because his own father was. The boundary spell goes down, but instead of running, Rebekah tells Klaus that what’s done is done. He disagrees – what they’ve done stays with them. It’s a story they tell themselves so they know who they are: a cruel father, a bastard son, a traitorous sister. “Perhaps it’s time for a new story,” he says.
He asks Rebekah what she wants. She says she wants the same things she’s always wanted – a home, a family, someone to love her. She wants to live. Klaus tells her she can go. He’ll let her run far away, but she should never come back. “We’re far too damaged to remain together, less a family now than a volatile mix of ingredients,” he says. He’ll keep New Orleans and raise his child there. Elijah will probably stay, too. But Rebekah is free. She leaves without a word.
Later, Rebekah and Elijah meet up at the ruins of Mikaelson Mansion, where she’s come to get anything of hers that didn’t burn up. She invites him to leave town with her, but she knows he probably won’t come. He tells her he hopes she finds everything she’s looking for. Rebekah assures him that she never intended for him to get hurt when she summoned Mikael to town. Elijah knows. Rebekah was sure that Klaus was going to kill her, but since he didn’t, she thinks that maybe, deep down, he’s still the person he used to be. Elijah hopes she’s right. She tells him to help Klaus find his way.
The crew is waiting for Klaus when he gets home, at Marcel’s request. He’s not going to let go of his town, and he’s not going to beg for Klaus’ forgiveness. He’s going to face Klaus and end this, even if Klaus ends up killing him. But Klaus just walks away.
Elijah zooms in and throws Marcel across the Compound. He tells the crew that he’s taking back his family home. Marcel no longer has privileges. He’ll be allowed to live because of Rebekah, but he’s exiled from the Quarter. As the crew leaves, Klaus pops in and praises Elijah for his show of leadership: “You’re beginning to sound like me.”
Rebekah and Marcel meet up at Esther’s grave to discuss their next move. Marcel is upset that Klaus and Elijah took everything from him, and he doesn’t want to just run away and let them have it. Rebekah doesn’t want to make him choose between her and New Orleans, so she’s prepared to leave without him. She tells him she wishes he’d finished building a house for them, even if she’d never gotten to live there: “It would have been nice if there was something beautiful left standing after all of this.” Marcel kisses her goodbye and she tells him to try to stay alive.
Hayley slips into the episode with three minutes left when Rebekah goes to the bayou to say goodbye to her. Hayley’s disappointed to see her go, but after 1,000 years with Klaus, she agrees that Rebekah deserves a break. Rebekah tells her that Klaus is a monster and Hayley should never cross him, but he wants more than just to be feared. There’s hope for him in the baby. She’ll inherit the family’s enemies, though, so Hayley needs to be careful. Hayley offers to help Rebekah sneak back to New Orleans for a visit sometime, but Rebekah is resigned to being apart from her family forever. Hayley will just have to tell the baby stories about her crazy aunt and make sure she knows Rebekah loves her.
Klaus opens a box of mementos at the compound and finds the little knight. Meanwhile, Rebekah drives away from her family, free for the first time in 1,000 years and excited to have thousands more years ahead of her.
Etc.: Why didn’t Celeste’s spell break when she died?
How are we supposed to feel about Klaus being a monster because of the abuse he suffered as a child? Obviously I feel bad that he was abused, and no child should have to experience that, but it’s not an excuse for how he turned out. Do the writers want us to feel like he’s justified? That’s not going to happen. There’s a difference between “I’m the way I am because of my father, but I’m going to use my power to protect people who also suffered” and “I’m the way I am because of my father, and I’m going to use my power to do whatever I want, including to innocent people.” Cami, come psychoanalyze this guy, will you?
(Not to mention that, as we find out in season 3, Klaus isn’t the way he is because of Mikael, or at least not solely because of Mikael. We see him just after he becomes a vampire, and he’s not evil. Something else makes him that way. So not only is this all a bad justification for his nature, it’s not even the right justification for his nature.)
Marcel, why would you go back to Genevieve, the person who got you into this mess in the first place, and ask her to get you out of it when she hates Rebekah? Why would you think you can trust her?
Claire Holt decided to leave the show after this episode, but Rebekah will be back numerous times through the rest of the series (and a couple of times on Legacies).
An Eternity of Misery 