Klaus and Elijah ended the previous episode fighting, and though the mess they made remains in the courtyard, it’s otherwise empty. Klaus is in his room, listening to his phone, with Aurora in his bed. When she wakes up, she tells him to come closer, but he says she should stay out of his reach. Aurora guesses that he’s heard about everyone’s “busy day.” She’ll tell him everything she knows.
24 hours earlier, Freya’s in the bell tower, doing a spell that allows her to astral-project to where Rebekah is. They share a drink in a bar in Morocco and discuss the latest goings-on in New Orleans. Rebekah (who’s still using Eva’s body) shares the news that she has a meeting set with a witch who might be able to help her bring back Kol. Freya is optimistic that they might be able to finally reunite the family. Rebekah asks how the others are doing. Freya says that their brothers are on “intermittent speaking terms,” which is kind of a success in her book. Rebekah warns that that probably won’t last.
After doing a final shot together, Freya leaves her astral projection. Rebekah’s on her way out of the bar when a guy blocks her path. Aya comes up behind her and slits her throat. She notes that the problem with having a witch’s body is that it’s hard to fight back when the “real monsters” come after you.
Freya finds the aftermath of Klaus and Elijah’s fight in the courtyard and gets glimpses of what happened. Basically, they threw each other around a bunch and Klaus bit Elijah. But now the brothers are sitting peacefully in the dining room, and Klaus is in the process of giving Elijah some blood. They tell their sister that they talked about the past, then decided that Tristan and Lucien are the real problem here. Now that they’ve gotten all their anger out of their system, they’ve called a truce so they can focus on getting rid of Tristan and Lucien.
Will takes Cami to the police station, which she handles very calmly and politely. Ha, no, of course she doesn’t. She tells him he’s wasting time by bringing her in; the real killer is still out there. Will challenges her to prove that she’s innocent. If she is, he’ll protect her. Suddenly Lucien zooms up, knocks out Will, and chokes Cami until she’s unconscious. He tells her to rest because they have a big day ahead of them.
The next morning, Hayley’s on her way to meet up with Davina when she spots a vampire following her through the Quarter. She ducks into an alley and waits for him to follow. When he does, she attacks him, but he doesn’t make it easy for her. Still, she has werewolf venom, and biting is always a great way to get the upper hand in a fight.
At the Compound, Elijah and Freya discuss Aurora, whom Klaus thinks they can sway to their side. Elijah disagrees, since Klaus doesn’t get what family loyalty means to other people. Freya wonders why Lucien and Tristan would work together, since their sirelines hate each other. Elijah admits that they might have good reason to hate the Originals.
Freya notes that Lucien and Tristan don’t seem to have a problem with being sired. What could the Mikaelsons have done to tick them off? Elijah reluctantly confesses that he compelled Lucien to believe he was Klaus, Aurora to believe she was Rebekah, and Tristan to believe he was Elijah. He told them to run so they would serve as bait for Mikael. Elijah isn’t exactly proud of himself, but hey, he and his siblings got to hang out peacefully in Italy for a while.
The problem is that when the Mikaelsons were all daggered by the Brotherhood of the Five, Elijah’s compulsion broke. Now Lucien, Tristan, and Aurora (colloquially called the Trinity) are a little upset. Elijah tells Freya that if the Trinity is working against the Mikaelsons, the Trinity won’t last long. Freya starts shaking and tells Elijah that something’s wrong. They need to call Rebekah.
Aurora compels someone in the Quarter to give her a necklace she likes. Klaus catches her and puts the necklace on her, then asks her to go somewhere with him. She thinks she’s going to get a lecture for acting out. Klaus says he just wants to give her a personal tour of New Orleans. Aurora guesses that he’s trying to figure out whose side she’s on. He pretends he doesn’t want to be rude and ask straight-out, at least not without buying her lunch first.
Cami regains consciousness at Lucien’s Castle, where he’s brought in all of Kieran’s dark objects. He offers her a drink but she says she only drinks with friends, and Lucien definitely isn’t one of those. He tells her that later, he hopes she remembers that this could have gone much more smoothly. He calls in a compelled Will to start preparing a meal. Lucien tells Cami that he contacted Vincent so he won’t worry about her (and I assume so he won’t think she’s still in police custody, since he was with her when she got arrested).
When Cami asks what Lucien’s up to, he tells Will to throw a knife at her face. Will does, but Lucien zooms over and grabs it before it hits her. He tells Cami she’s there to find something he’s looking for, a bronze medallion with runic markings. He can’t compel her, since she’s on vervain, so he’s using Will to motivate her. Cami starts looking.
Back at the Compound, Freya uses the spell she did to send Rebekah a letter, since Elijah can’t get her on the phone. But the spell doesn’t work because, as Freya says, there’s nothing to connect to. Rebekah’s gone. Well, more specifically, Eva’s body is gone. Rebekah herself is fine, just back in her original body. She finds Eva’s body and complains that Aya stole her phone. Aya joins her and Rebekah guesses that Aya killed Eva’s body to lure her out. Aya says she was sent to “claim the unattended Mikaelson” and only had one set of chains, so Eva had to go.
She continues that she met Rebekah’s “special friend,” Marcel, and has liked getting to know him. Maybe she’ll sent him one of Rebekah’s heads. Rebekah’s like, “Are we going to chat or are we going to fight?” Aya lets her make the first move, since she’s older.
While Lucien enjoys his home-cooked lunch, Will vows to stab him as soon as he can. Cami tells him he won’t be able to, since Lucien compelled him to do everything he says. Once she’s explained that it’s the vampire version of hypnosis, Will is like, “Oh, vampires are involved? Sure, why not?” He asks what else Lucien will force them to do. Lucien says he can’t force Cami to do anything, but he’d really appreciate it if she would find him the medallion. She tells him it’s not among the dark objects but he insists it is. It must be hidden or built into something else.
Cami asks what it’s for – revenge? Is Lucien mad because Klaus stole Aurora from him? Lucien tells her that Klaus actually stole 100 years of his life. That gives him the idea to motivate Cami with the threat of loss. He compels Will to cut his arcuate artery in his ankle, which will make him bleed out if he doesn’t get medical attention or vampire blood.
Klaus and Aurora have lunch at Rousseau’s, going off-menu with human blood. Aurora’s open to answering questions, so she invites Klaus to ask whatever he wants. He wants to know if she feels the way he does about being back with her. She tells him she doesn’t have anything against him or Rebekah, but she hates Elijah for breaking up her and Klaus. Klaus notes that she’s siding with Tristan, who had her locked up, and Lucien, who was once a servant multiple stations beneath her.
Aurora tells him that the Trinity spend 100 years working and running together. She knows Klaus is aware of how much effort it takes to stay ahead of Mikael. They survived, and when their compulsion ended, they lost everything, including their identities. Even worse, Mikael didn’t know they were an “elaborate red herring,” so they couldn’t just stop running. They swore revenge and spent centuries searching the world for weapons against the Originals. Lucien and Tristan never quite got over their rivalry, though. Klaus reminds Aurora that if he, Elijah, and Rebekah die, so do their sirelines. She says it’s a “beautiful mystery.” Uh, what? It’s not a mystery. It’s what will definitely happen.
Hayley takes Marcel to St. Anne’s, where she’s tied up her vampire stalker. Marcel recognizes him as Shen Min, an 800-year-old Strix member. He doesn’t know why Shen Min was following Hayley, but Hayley isn’t sure if he’s just saying that because he’s been sworn to secrecy. Marcel promises that they’re on the same side. She tells him to prove it.
Freya and Elijah go to the bell tower so she can do a locator spell to find Rebekah. Elijah guesses that Tristan and Lucien came to New Orleans to distract him and Klaus while they had Rebekah tracked down. Freya tries to reassure herself that they won’t be able to kill her, but Elijah reminds her of the prophecy foreseeing the deaths of all three remaining Originals.
Freya starts the spell as Rebekah and Aya fight each other. A bunch of Strix members come in to back Aya up, but moments later, Freya astral-projects in and does a spell that breaks all their necks. There’s nothing she can do for Rebekah beyond that, though, so she tells her sister to run.
Cami continues searching for the medallion while Will bleeds into a bucket (Lucien didn’t want him to stain the floor). Cami feels horrible for getting Will into this, so she figures the least she can do is try to stop his bleeding. He tells her he has a feeling he would have been dragged into this no matter what. When she gets near him, he threatens her with a knife. He guesses he’s been compelled to hurt her if she gets too close: “More tricks from Mr. Transylvania.”
Will asks if Cami’s brother died because he got mixed up in something supernatural and was forced to do something he wouldn’t normally do. Wow, Will is a good detective. He’s sympathetic, possibly because he has a sister. He starts to ask Cami to contact her if he doesn’t make it, but Cami won’t listen. They’ll both make it out of this. They still have leverage since she’s the only one who can find the medallion for Lucien.
Klaus takes Aurora to the City of the Dead, telling her that the witches “overcome fear of mortality by celebrating death.” It’s morbid but pure. “Like your intentions?” she asks. He says no and asks about her intentions. Aurora tells him she dreamed about him a lot over the centuries. He was her “bright light in an ocean of darkness.” They shared similar despair and he made her happier than she’s ever felt. But this isn’t real – Klaus is just trying to interrogate her. He thinks his line of questioning is fair, since the sirelines are verging on war, but his feelings for Aurora are real. If she still doubts that, he has one last place to take her.
I guess something got cut because Freya says Rebekah told her she won’t come home yet. Freya thinks Elijah should try to change her mind. Marcel calls to tell him that Hayley caught Shen Min following her. Now Elijah has two things to worry about. Shen Min was once known as the Red Sorrow…before he was a vampire. Marcel needs to kill him ASAP. He’s asleep right now, so it’s the perfect time for Marcel to tear out his heart.
Freya astral-projects herself and Elijah back to Morocco so he can try to convince Rebekah to leave. She refuses, since she still wants to meet the witch who might have a spell that can resurrect Kol. Freya and Elijah tell her that Kol needs to wait since the Strix are closing in. Rebekah’s familiar with Shen Min, and she tells Elijah to go save Hayley from him before he can escape. Elijah won’t go until Rebekah promises to come straight home. She reluctantly agrees, but Hayley and “that handsome fool” had better be alive when she gets there. Somewhere, Marcel’s like, “She thinks I’m handsome?”
Shen Min wakes up, so Hayley approaches him for a conversation. He clearly has other things in mind. She offers to heal him if he talks, starting by asking why he was following her. He won’t answer, saying it doesn’t matter anyway – he’s going to get free and kill her. Marcel tells him to calm down, like, he just threatened to gut Hayley. “Calm down” doesn’t quite cover it.
Shen Min tells Marcel that while the other Strix were happy to have him join, Shen Min knew Marcel was “filth.” He’s proven that by siding against them. Shen Min will kill Marcel, but first he’ll make him watch Hayley die. Marcel decides to take him out first, but Shen Min is hundreds of years older, as well as a combat pro, so even with Marcel and Hayley tag-teaming him, they don’t stand a chance. He ends up with a hand in each of their chests, holding their hearts. Fortunately, Elijah has arrived and he stakes Shen Min from behind before anyone’s heart can be ripped out. Maybe next time Marcel will move a little quicker when Elijah tells him to “take out the trash.”
Rebekah admits to Freya that she lied to Elijah and doesn’t plan to return home yet. She has to keep her promise to Kol. If she stops trying to help him now, she’ll go home with nothing, since she’s already lost Eva’s body. Freya knows better than to try to argue with Rebekah.
Klaus takes Aurora to the Compound, telling her the broken furniture is from a fight he had with Elijah over her. He wants to show her what’s been in his heart for the past few centuries. He pushes aside a screen to show her a brick wall behind which he’s hidden a painting of her. He used this room as an art studio 200 years ago, then made it a tomb for Aurora. He thought if he could paint what haunted him, he could free himself from her. He was wrong. Finally believing that Klaus still loves her, Aurora kisses him.
Shen Min is still alive, but with his blood loss and the werewolf venom in his blood, his time is running out. Elijah pulls out the stake to give him some more time. Shen Min attacks but Elijah holds him off. He compels Shen Min to reveal that he was instructed to “remove [Hayley] from the playing field” because she’s an obstacle to something the Strix really want: Davina. Tristan needs her to activate a weapon he can use against the Mikaelsons. Shen Min says he’d rather die than reveal what the weapon is. He throws Elijah off, removes his daylight ring, and lets himself burn up in the sunlight.
Lucien checks in on Cami, who tells him he’s made his point and can let Will go. She’ll only show him the medallion if he heals Will. Lucien does, so Cami gives him a little skull she thinks must contain the medallion. But when Lucien picks it up, it causes him pain and distracts him long enough for Cami to grab a knife. Lucien gets it from her and guesses that she knows where the medallion really is. He tells Will to put a knife to his own throat. Cami begs Lucien not to hurt Will, but Will tells her not to give Lucien what he wants. Just as Lucien is starting to give Will the order to kill himself, Cami hands over the medallion.
Back in Morocco, Freya accompanies Rebekah to her meeting. The spell is there but the witch Rebekah was supposed to meet isn’t. Rebekah thinks the spell is easily doable; they just need Kol’s ashes and the blood of two of his siblings. Freya suddenly tells Rebekah that they need to go. The witch enters and starts a spell. Aya follows, and Rebekah realizes she’s been trapped by a boundary spell. The witch has also neutralized Freya’s magic, leaving her helpless to defend Rebekah.
Aya advises the sisters to say goodbye before she stakes Rebekah. She can’t decide if she should have Freya stay and watch or send her away and make her wonder how much Rebekah suffered. When Freya threatens Aya, the witch sends her out of her astral projection. Rebekah thinks she was lured all the way to Morocco for a lie, but Aya says the resurrection spell is real. She just wanted to see Rebekah’s face when Aya took it from her.
The stake won’t kill Rebekah; it’ll act like the Original daggers and put her to sleep. Rebekah vows to kill Aya as soon as she wakes up. Aya isn’t worried, and she puts Rebekah down without a second thought. Next she’ll send Rebekah’s body back to New Orleans.
Lucien compels Will to tell his superiors that Cami isn’t the killer. Will vows to find him, even if Lucien compels him more. Lucien says he’ll fail, then compels Will to continue the investigation and never make any progress. Over time, he’ll hate himself for not being a good detective. He’ll know there are supernatural creatures lurking around, and he’ll believe he’s nothing compared to them. Lucien plans to compel Cami to forget things once the vervain is out of her system, but he’ll let her remember one thing: “Against vampires, humans always lose.”
Aurora’s asleep in Klaus’ bed, but Klaus is still awake. Freya starts a new locator spell as Hayley tells Elijah that she used to want to find her family more than anything. Once she did that, she started wanting a home. New Orleans became that for her, and she knows the Strix are trying to take that. Elijah promises that they won’t let them. Marcel and Freya arrive with the announcement that they need to call Klaus.
We’re back at the scene from the beginning of the episode, and now we know what Klaus’ phone call was about. Aurora tells Klaus that the medallion Lucien got his hands on is called the serratura. It’s the weapon the Trinity has been looking for to bring down their sires. It creates an unbreakable boundary, and Tristan and Lucien are going to use it to lock the Originals away forever. That way they’ll be alive, allowing the sirelines to stay alive, but out of the Trinity’s hair.
To use the serratura, Lucien and Tristan need all three sires in one place. That’s why they sent Aya to get Rebekah. Aurora assures Klaus that she put her own plan in motion without Tristan or Lucien knowing, to ensure that they aren’t able to keep their hands on Rebekah. Two of the people sent to get her are from her sireline, not Elijah’s, and they’re loyal to Aurora. Rebekah’s safe, though Aurora won’t say where she is. She just tells Klaus to come back to bed.
Etc.: Cami needs to work on her ha-ha-take-that-villain dialogue. It’s not snappy like Bonnie’s.
I never realized until now how often Rebekah says, “Bloody hell.”
How does Will know what an arcuate artery is?
A great exchange re: Shen Min:
Marcel: “According to Tristan, he was a torture consultant for Genghis Khan.”
Hayley: “I don’t care if he’s a Gemini who likes long walks on the beach, Marcel.”
Red Sorrow is an awesome nickname. Forget Black Widow and Iron Man – I want a movie about a guy named Red Sorrow. (Also, Red Sorrow would be an appropriate nickname for Aurora.)
When Elijah kills Shen Min, he asks Hayley if she’s okay but doesn’t say anything to Marcel. Charles Michael Davis perfectly delivers Marcel’s pointed, “Oh, I’m fine, thank you for asking.”
An Eternity of Misery 