Lucien has made himself at home in Cami’s apartment after biting her and leaving her unconscious on the floor overnight. When she wakes up, he tells her she’s in for a big day. She realizes that because he bit her, she’s going to die. Lucien notes that her days have been numbered ever since she met Klaus. The same goes for everyone Klaus has ever met, except Lucien. Cami grabs the Devil’s Star and throws it at him. It gives him a bunch of cuts, but he’s way too powerful for that to hold him back. Still, it’s enough of a distraction for her to escape.
She goes to the Compound and warns Klaus that something happened that will make him angry. That’s what Lucien wants, so Klaus can’t fall into his trap or do anything crazy. He sees the bite mark on her arm and figures out what happened before she has to tell him. She says she loves him and won’t let him get himself killed. Klaus refuses to tell her that he loves her, too – he can do that tomorrow, since she’s not going to die today.
He summons Freya, who provides a salve to heal Cami’s bite and help with her symptoms. It won’t keep her alive, though. Hayley promises that they’ll do everything they can. Elijah and Vincent come in, and Klaus blames Vincent for what’s happened, since he turned Lucien into an upgraded vampire. Cami and Hayley call him off, wanting unity while they figure this out. Klaus already has, though – Lucien’s blood is probably the cure for his bite. Cami notes that he bled all over her apartment, thanks to the Devil’s Star. Vincent volunteers to go collect the possible cure, since Lucien probably isn’t keeping an eye out for him. Hayley thinks Hope’s blood could also do the trick, so she heads to Mary’s to get her.
Kol has returned to St. James Infirmary, where Davina finds him and blasts him for leaving town without saying goodbye. He tells her to go away, then explains that the ancestors are messing with him. He’s cursed and can’t leave town without dying. Davina’s sure that there’s a solution. Marcel calls to tell her that Lucien bit Cami and everyone’s gathering at the Compound. Davina says she’ll come, too.
Klaus looks in on Aurora’s body (she’s still out from Freya’s sleeping spell), then tells Cami that he shouldn’t have kept her from the satisfaction of revenge. Cami’s kind of moved on from that. The anger and fear she felt toward Aurora made her someone different. The real Cami helps people like Aurora, and she won’t let Aurora take that away from her.
Davina wants to go after Lucien, but Kol reminds her that he’s the ancestors’ puppet and she won’t be able to take him on alone. Davina doesn’t plan to fight him, though – she just wants him to tell her the truth. She also hopes to get information out of him about what the ancestors did to Kol. She leaves him at the bar, against his wishes.
Freya gives Klaus something to slow the spread of the werewolf venom. Klaus wants to do something more productive than take care of Cami, but Freya thinks this is the best thing he can do. Cami doesn’t want Freya’s potion to be her last drink if death really is near, so she pours drinks for herself and Klaus. She tells him she loved being a bartender. She got to meet all sorts of people and hear great stories. She used to think she could get people to tell her anything if she gave them alcohol. Then she realized they opened up because someone was listening.
Klaus thinks she’s great at that; he knows from experience, since he spent so much time telling her about his life. Cami wishes she’d published his memoir. She asks him to help her write a will, but Klaus isn’t ready to accept that she might really die. Cami says she’s already made peace with that and doesn’t want to leave any loose ends. Also, he owes her.
Marcel and Vincent both go to Cami’s apartment, trying to focus on saving Cami instead of the possibility that they’ll lose her. Vincent gathers a bunch of Lucien’s blood, but the ancestors cut him off after a bit, upset that he’s using magic to help vampires.
Lucien’s hosting an impromptu party at Rousseau’s, celebrating “the liberation of New Orleans.” He thinks Klaus’ reign is almost over. He expects Klaus to show up before long to get revenge, and that’s when the real party will start. Davina arrives and uses salt to make a barrier, then magically knocks out everyone in the bar except Lucien. She pulls out a figure veritas, a kind of doll designed to make someone speak the truth.
Cami works on her will, leaving everything in her closet to Davina and all her records to Josh. She wants Vincent to have her books and all of Kieran’s files. She’s getting emotional, but she powers through to leave a copy of Trivial Pursuit to Elijah and her dark objects to Hayley, so Hope can have them when she’s older. Before she can state what she wants to leave to Klaus, he tells her this is pointless. They’re going to find a way to save her.
Lucien starts spilling his truths to Davina: He’s a Scorpio, he likes wine, and he loves hearing his victims scream. She orders him to tell her how to save Cami. He calls Davina consistent and says he’s not surprised that the ancestors hate her. He’s glad they have a plan to shut her up permanently. The ancestors allow him to step over the barrier and break the doll, which he says is unnecessary anyway since he’s wiling to answer all of Davina’s questions.
Marcel and Vincent take Lucien’s blood to the Compound as Lucien tells Davina about his arrangement with the ancestors. Their help will allow him to kill the Mikaelsons. Cami’s starting to get worse, but everyone’s hopeful when she drinks Lucien’s blood. “You silly fools with your unbridled optimism!” Lucien exclaims. They keep hoping there’s a loophole to save them. Lucien doesn’t believe in loopholes. There’s no cure for his bite, so Cami’s going to die.
Elijah goes to the bayou with Hayley, but she tells him Mary won’t let him into her home, so he might as well wait outside. Elijah reminds Hayley that she and Hope are under his protection. Hayley points out that Jackson wasn’t, so Mary’s not going to suddenly change her stance on vampires. Not that Hayley blames Elijah for Jackson’s death, but they’re stuck in this pattern of someone’s life being in danger and Hayley bringing her daughter into a war zone to try to help.
Elijah asks what Hayley wants him to do, but she doesn’t know. She just wants to stop losing people. Next could be her or Klaus or Elijah. He says he’s not afraid to die and he knows Hayley isn’t, either. They’ll keep fighting for the people they love.
Klaus sits with Cami and holds her hand while she sleeps. He goes into her head to make her think they’re at an outdoor café, just having a normal day. Once she’s cured, they can go to a café in another country. She wants to go to Venice, so he says they’ll start there. Cami wishes she’d known that he was romantic – she wouldn’t have played hard to get. Klaus tells her not to talk about regrets. This is a perfect moment in a perfect day, and they should just enjoy it.
Freya looks in on Cami and Klaus, then tells Marcel and Vincent that Cami’s getting worse. Vincent suggests talking to the Strix, but Marcel knows they won’t have a cure for something that’s never existed until now. Hayley and Elijah arrive with Hope, who might be the group’s last shot at saving Cami.
Lucien wants Davina to wake the other patrons at Rousseau’s so he can go back to his party. She asks why he went after Cami and is letting her die. “Because I can,” Lucien shoots back. Davina tells him that if he and Klaus hate each other, they can “compete to see who’s most miserable” without hurting other people. But Lucien thinks his actions are justified, since Klaus stole the love of his life.
Not that Lucien really wants love – it just makes people weak. He predicts that when Cami dies, Klaus will be so heartbroken that he’ll lash out at Lucien. Since Lucien doesn’t have the weakness Klaus does of feeling love for people, Lucien will be able to end him. He tells Davina to go, which surprises her. “You are not mine to kill,” he explains. The ancestors have plans for her. Kol can tell her all about them.
Back in Cami’s head, she and Klaus are walking through the Quarter. He laments not removing all the other people from this fantasy. She tells him he can’t leave out the details that annoy him: “If you love something, you have to accept the good with the bad.” He’d rather shape reality to his will. Cami admonishes that he doesn’t get to micromanage everything. It’s an “unhealthy impulse.” Klaus replies that it is for people who defy him.
She tells him that most people are able to move on when they don’t get their way. Klaus’ obsession with power and revenge stems from fear. He asks what he has to fear, since he’s been around 1,000 years and has committed more horrible acts than he’s endured. Cami knows he’s afraid of what will happen after she dies. Klaus doesn’t want to talk about that, but she needs to get this out so she can enjoy this perfect day.
She reminds him of their first meeting, back when he was damaged and manipulated everyone to get what he wanted. (Yeah, he definitely doesn’t do that anymore.) He tried to show her that he was more than that so she would understand him. That’s a human impulse, which means Klaus is capable of everything else that comes with being human, like happiness and hope and love. “You are loved,” she promises him. That will make him strong. That will make him the man she knows he wants to be. But he’ll have to remind himself of that because she won’t be there to do it. The people in the Quarter start to disappear. Cami assures Klaus that everything will be okay, and the people return.
Davina goes back to St. James Infirmary to confront Kol for not telling her how the ancestors messed with the spell she used to resurrect him. She’s figured out that they want him to kill her. She’s upset that he didn’t tell her, but he doesn’t think that would have done any good. Davina insists that she can protect herself from him, but he knows that eventually he won’t be able to hold himself back from hurting her. Their best option right now is for her to dagger him. He hates being daggered, but they’re out of options.
Davina is sure that she can figure something out, but Kol wants this measure of protection until she does. He’ll be able to endure the daggering as long as he knows she’ll be there when he wakes up. She says this isn’t fair – she waited a long time to have him back. He tells her she can wait a little longer. She can’t trust him right now, which means she can’t love him the way he loves her. She kisses him, then reluctantly daggers him.
Hope’s blood didn’t do anything for Cami, and Freya has run out of ideas. She tells Elijah that Klaus can ease Cami’s pain, but she doesn’t have much time left. Vincent won’t give up on brainstorming, though, so he first suggests that Freya channel him to do a healing spell to buy Cami more time. Then he proposes putting Cami’s soul in the pendant Freya put Finn in. Freya says that Dahlia made the pendant and it only works for Mikaelsons. They could put Cami in another body, though.
Vincent says Cami would have to agree for that to work, and there’s no way she would take over the body of an innocent person. Freya thinks they should act now and ask forgiveness later. Elijah speaks up that they can’t take away Cami’s “dignity of choice.” Ooooh, look at Stefan over here! He says that Cami lived with grace and deserves it in death.
In her head, she and Klaus are back in the Quarter the night they met, watching the painter together. She remembers that they talked about the painter controlling his demons. She wonders if he was ever able to. “Some demons will not be tamed,” Klaus says. “Maybe we just do the best we can and never give up,” Cami replies. She’s suddenly tired.
She notes that even though she and Klaus are different, she feels like she’s always known him. Maybe it’s because she’s been in his mind. Maybe it’s because she loves him. He finally tells her that he loves her, too. He can’t keep waiting until tomorrow. Cami realizes that she’s running out of time and asks him to make all the people and noise go away. He does, and the lights around them start flickering. He tells her that her heart is slowing but is still beating because she’s fighting to live. Cami cries and says she wanted to be brave and die with dignity, but it’s too much. She’s scared and doesn’t want to die.
Klaus comforts her, and she laughs at herself for trying to put up a brave front. She wishes she’d done more than just serve drinks and fail as Klaus’ therapist. He tells her firmly that she never failed him. She helped calm him and inspired goodness in him. Over 1,000 years, he’s forgotten countless people, but he won’t forget Cami: “I will carry you with me.” She replies that in that case, she’s kind of immortal.
As she desiccates, Klaus stays in her mind, begging her to hold on a little longer. She asks if he remembers the Bible verse on Sean’s headstone. He does: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Cami never let herself think she was Klaus’ light, but he does have light inside him. He can end the cycle of abuse that Mikael started and be a light for Hope. She weakens and collapses against him.
He tells her not to be afraid. She can go on to the afterlife, a place where many others have gone, and where even he will go one day. “There will be no more pain,” he promises. “No more heartbreak. You will find peace.” A streetlight above them goes out. Cami fully desiccates with Klaus by her side, still holding her hand.
Davina comes to the Compound and finds everyone in the courtyard, mourning Cami. Marcel hugs her and they cry together. Vincent goes to say goodbye to Cami, telling her that he and the Quarter still need her. He won’t forget what they set out to do, and he won’t back away from what needs to be done. “If I stand against all that darkness, even if I do get chopped down, I know you’re right there ahead of me, keeping the fire warm and the beers cold,” he says. He knows he’ll see her again.
Elijah tells Freya that this isn’t over – they still have work to do, namely killing Lucien. “No rest for the wicked,” she agrees. She wonders if Klaus will be okay. Elijah just repeats that this isn’t over. Hayley takes her turn with Cami, lamenting that Hope will never get to know her after everything Cami did for Klaus. Hayley always thought that Klaus couldn’t be that bad if he liked Cami. The family owes her a lot, and she deserved better.
Elijah finds Klaus and offers him a small comfort, just a hand on his shoulder. Vincent blames himself for Cami’s death, since he made Lucien what he is, but Freya takes some responsibility, too. Now she wants to use his blood to “unmake him.”
Davina goes back to St. James Infirmary, tempted to remove Kol’s dagger so she can talk to him. A wind stirs through the City of the Dead, making the Quarter shake. Lucien’s pleased. Davina leaves Kol’s side to check things out, and when she turns back, his body’s gone. His dagger’s out and he’s waiting for her. He attacks and bites her, draining her until she’s dead. It’s only then that he realizes who he’s bitten. He tries to revive her with his blood but nothing happens.
Etc.: The first time I watched this episode, I was completely unspoiled, so I spent the whole thing wondering what last-minute cure would pop up to save Cami. Silly me!
How nice of the Mikaelsons to completely ditch Kol so they can focus on Cami. No wonder he resents his siblings so much.
I like that Cami left her dark objects to Hope. Even Kol can’t complain about that.
Imagine spending hundreds of years working on a revenge plan because of Aurora. Imagine Aurora being the reason you want to commit mass murder.
I can’t believe Lucien didn’t have a snarky comeback to Davina telling him to go to Hell. If you’re on a supernatural show, you should always have a funny response to that. I’m a fan of “I’ll save you a seat.”
If the show just had to take out both Cami and Davina, couldn’t they have given us a little time between? It’s like getting hit by two buses in a row.
An Eternity of Misery 