Sofadu has moved Elijah to an abandoned cabin, and he’s struggling to remove the thorn-covered stake from his back. She urges him to stop fighting to live and just let go. Part of him must want the peace of death. If being quippy indicates a desire to live, Elijah still has it, because he suggests that she come closer so they can experience death together. Sofadu tells him he’ll have plenty of company when he goes, since his whole sireline will die, too. That will be a big enough sacrifice to restore her to her human form. She just needs the last of her bones, and she expects the Mikaelsons to find them, since they’ve already gotten three of them (and actually, they already have the fourth, the jawbone; she just doesn’t know that).
Elijah tells her that if she tortures the Mikaelsons, she’ll lose. Sofadu replies that she’s survived a lot worse than them. If they try to come save him, they’ll still give her what she wants. As a reward, she’ll let them watch him die.
Sofadu goes outside to meet some Hollowers, who tell her that more witches are joining them every day. The line between allies and enemies has been clearly drawn. Sofadu promises that when she’s reborn, all who have sworn allegiance to her will be rewarded. There are just a few final details to take care of.
Hayley wakes up at the Compound and realizes that Elijah never joined her in bed. Downstairs, Klaus and Hope are eating beignets – it looks like he’s gathered every pastry in the Quarter. He tells her about the first time he had a beignet. Some nuns came to the Compound one day, looking for a place to stay, and after Klaus and Elijah sampled their beignets, they set the nuns up in style. Hope asks why the nuns came there. Klaus explains that the Mikaelsons used to be considered royalty. Klaus was a king, in a way. That makes Hope a princess. Hayley comes down and, after deciding to let Hope indulge in the pastry buffet, pulls Klaus aside to report that Elijah seems to have disappeared.
Vincent is at St. Anne’s, which Maxine discovered trashed that morning. He thinks someone did it as a warning. Nah, it’s just that cleaning up after Hayley and Klaus’ trip to the ancestral plane wasn’t on the Harvest Girls’ to-do list. Maxine tells Vincent that more and more witches are considering becoming Hollowers. They may join the enemy before the enemy comes for them. Some say the Hollow’s power is just what the witches need to take back control of New Orleans. They’d rather have control than the peace Vincent has tried to give them.
Sofadu comes in and notes that Maxine may be loyal to Vincent right now, but Vincent was once loyal to the Hollow, and now he’s her enemy. Vincent sends Maxine away, and Sofadu says it’s time for her and Vincent to catch up.
Keelin joins Freya in the bell tower, where she’s working on another protection spell for the Compound, once that won’t be broken if she dies. Not that she’s going to die! At least not until after breakfast! The two are fully together now, and when Freya gets summoned for family stuff, Keelin insists on tagging along.
Sofadu knows that Vincent has been fearing this day. He stopped using magic because he didn’t want to bring her back. He thinks the Hollow is hiding in a vampire’s body because she’s not as strong as she wants him to think. She’s strong enough to levitate him, though. Sofadu offers him back the power he gave up when he stopped using dark magic – he just has to declare his loyalty to her. “The only thing I want is for you to slither back into the rot that you came from,” he replies. She throws him aside and he welcomes her to try to fight him. She threatens to send him to be with Eva, then says she has an offer for him and the Mikaelsons. He can either hear her out or die.
Marcel has his people searching the city for Sofya. Klaus comes by his penthouse and accuses him of breaking their truce by kidnapping Elijah. After all, the last time Hayley saw Elijah, he was heading over to see Marcel. Klaus quickly realizes that Marcel didn’t do anything, though. At the Compound, Freya does a locator spell but finds that Elijah is cloaked by magic. The jawbone starts rotating by itself, and a just-arriving Vincent says that’s the Hollow’s doing – she wants it back. Hayley guesses she intends to trade Elijah for it, but Vincent says she’s going to kill Elijah so she can channel energy. If someone doesn’t give Sofadu the jawbone by sundown, she’ll come to the Compound to get it herself, then burn the city to the ground.
Klaus hears from Freya that Vincent has a plan, but Klaus doesn’t trust him. Marcel does, and he figures Vincent’s plan is better than Klaus’, which is simply to kill the Hollow and the Hollowers, then stack their bodies to let any other Mikaelson enemies know they shouldn’t try anything funny. Marcel doesn’t want Sofya to be collateral damage. Klaus blames Marcel for Elijah’s disappearance, since he was out and about to make peace with Marcel. Okay, that’s reaching. Marcel tells Klaus he’s only in New Orleans because Marcel allows him to be. Does Klaus want to fight him or end this? I’m guessing both.
Klaus, Hayley, Marcel, Vincent, and Freya gather at the Compound to hear Vincent’s idea. Marcel will give Sofadu the jawbone, then stab her with a weapon covered in Hayley’s blood. Vincent will cast the spell to kill her. Hayley notes that the ancestors’ spell requires a sacrifice – the death of an Original. Vincent knows, but when the Hollow uses Elijah’s death to be reborn, Vincent can use it to send her back to her gave. Klaus is like, “I think you skipped the part where Elijah comes back to life.” Vincent doesn’t have that in his plan. All they can do now is use Elijah’s death for something good.
Hayley argues that they don’t get to make that call, especially not Vincent. They need to try to save Elijah. Freya still has the antidote she used to cure Elijah and Kol when Marcel bit them, but she doesn’t know if it’ll work on the poison from the thorns. Vincent notes that even if they cure Elijah, the Hollow will keep coming until it resurrects. Then they’ll all be wiped out by an ancient, primal power. If they do Vincent’s plan, Elijah will die, but they’ll take out the Hollow, so it’ll mean something.
Klaus wants to put an end to the discussion. Vincent reminds him that Hope is at risk – the Hollow wiped out all the other Labonairs and has already gotten to Hope once. This could be their only chance to stop the Hollow. Klaus needs to choose between maybe saving Elijah and definitely saving Hope. Klaus quietly warns Vincent not to use Hope to justify his insane plan. Marcel says it’s the only plan they have, so they need to stop fighting and start thinking. Freya comes up with one of Legacies‘ mottoes before the series even begins: “There’s always a loophole.” She invites Vincent to look through Esther’s grimoires with her and find a win-win solution.
Sofadu watches Elijah as he continues succumbing to the poison in his body. He warns that even if she kills him, his family will go after her. She thinks she can take them on. Once the ritual is done, her spirit will return to New Orleans soil and she’ll be reborn even stronger than she was before. Elijah tells her she’s just another enemy Klaus will defeat.
Sofadu says she’s been in Klaus’ mind and knows how much the brothers care about each other. She doesn’t get their dedication to each other just because they’re blood relations. “Family is a curse,” she says. “We inherit the sins of those who come before us, and those sins are passed to the ones who come next.” Ooh, sucks to be Hope! Sofadu taunts that the Mikaelsons can’t even save each other, so there’s no way any of them can protect Hope. She knows that Hope is from her bloodline and has the power to destroy her. Sofadu isn’t going to let that happen.
Hope finds Hayley as she’s trying to pull herself together. Hope knows that Elijah is sick and asks if they can help him. Hayley promises that they’re doing everything they can. Hope offers to help Freya with a spell to make him better. Hayley tells her she’s brave.
Vincent returns from a trip to the O’Connor records and tells Freya that even channeling all of their dark objects won’t give them enough power to defeat the Hollow. She can’t find anything in the grimoires about trapping ancient spirits. He notes that five years ago, they were trying to figure out how to take out a different threat to the Mikaelsons. That ended with Davina’s death. Freya thought the ends justified the means then, so why not now? Well, Elijah’s her brother, so obviously she doesn’t want to lose him.
Freya says she regrets what happened to Davina, but that’s not Vincent’s point right now: “We are wasting our time here trying to loophole ourselves out of the inevitable.” Freya won’t give up, but he doesn’t think that’s what they would be doing. Elijah is literally 1,000 years old. He doesn’t need any more lifetimes to feed off of innocent people. Freya replies that Vincent’s hatred of Elijah shouldn’t sentence him to death.
Vincent yells that sacrificing Elijah is their only choice. The Mikaelsons are the oldest family in the world and have seen countless generations and empires rise and fall, but they can’t see the obvious: Everything dies. “Not Elijah. Not today, okay?” Freya replies. She already lost Finn. Eh, no one cares about Finn. But that does give her an idea: She can put Elijah in the pendant where she once kept Finn’s spirit.
She explains to Klaus and Hayley that she can harness Elijah’s death and put his soul in the pendant. It won’t be easy, and it’ll take all of Freya’s magic, and also, it might not work. Klaus says he would survive if he took Elijah’s place. Then the Mikaelsons can save Elijah and defeat the Hollow. Hayley and Freya don’t like the idea but they reluctantly agree to give it a try.
Freya gets to work, telling Keelin that the remaining anti-venom she used on Elijah and Kol before should slow the poison in Elijah’s system long enough to let her find a cure. She can also use Marcel’s venom in a locator spell and find the magic killing Elijah, since that magic was born out of Marcel’s blood. Freya’s getting anxious about how much is depending on her here, so Keelin gives her some encouragement. She’s been fighting her werewolf curse her entire life, and she wishes she could help fight the Hollow, who created werewolves. She tells Freya not to hesitate if she gets the chance to take the Hollow down for good.
Vincent readies a knife with Hayley’s blood so Marcel can stab Sofadu. Sofya will be fine, and the Hollow’s spirit will be drawn out of her. Vincent warns Marcel to be careful – not only is their enemy currently wearing his girlfriend’s face, but she has the knife that can kill him. Marcel promises he’s ready for any fight he might be walking into.
Klaus watches Keelin playing jacks with Hope and tells Freya that her girlfriend seems nice. He leaves before Hope can see him, even though she might never see him again if something goes wrong with the group’s plan. He and Vincent go to the City of the Dead, Klaus thinking that Vincent is looking forward to his death: “The man who killed Klaus Mikaelson – that’ll make a lovely epitaph on your tombstone,” he says. “May be engraved sooner than you think if things don’t go our way.”
Vincent says he never thought he’d live to see the day Klaus died. Growing up in New Orleans, he heard stories about how evil Klaus was. But now Klaus is living up to the potential Cami saw in him. Vincent thinks she would be proud.
Marcel goes to the woods outside the abandoned cabin and tells Sofadu that he, not Vincent, makes the deals in New Orleans. His first demand is Sofya’s return. Sofadu’s fine with that, since she won’t have a need for Sofya’s body once she’s reborn. Next Marcel wants to trade the jawbone for Elijah. Sofadu quickly agrees to that, too. She tells him he’s a wise king, and when this is over, she might let him live.
Klaus waits for his part in the plan, which will start with Vincent scratching him with thorns. Then Vincent will stake him to make his death quick and painless. The ancestors will help Vincent with everything else. But there’s a hitch: Some Hollowers have taken Maxine hostage to manipulate Vincent. Klaus tells him to go ahead and kill him now.
Sofadu wraps up all four of the bones, telling Marcel that though they’re small, they’ll be “the seeds for everything that is to come.” He notes that she seems to have big plans. She replies that she was in New Orleans long ago, and she spent centuries wanting to return. When she makes her sacrifice, she’ll be able to.
In the City of the Dead, Vincent tries to talk down the Hollowers, reminding them that they’re New Orleans witches like he is. Inadu isn’t going to save them – she’ll just damn them to Hell. Back in the woods, Marcel stabs Sofadu. Klaus attacks the Hollowers as Marcel urges Sofya to fight the Hollow. Instead, she reaches for the Marcel-killing knife. He snaps her neck before she can grab it. With a combination of magic and teeth, Vincent and Klaus take out the Hollowers. But one of them is able to burn the thorns before Vincent can stop him, which means he can’t complete the sacrifice.
Freya shows up at the cabin and gets to work freeing her brother from the boundary spell around him. Hayley joins her (apparently having taken out some Hollowers outside while in her wolf form; at least I assume that’s why she’s putting her clothes back on) as Elijah tells Freya not to save him. She refuses to leave him. Marcel cradles Sofya, waiting for her to revive, as Elijah asks where Klaus is. Hayley just says he’s nearby.
Wind blows through the woods and blue light appears. I guess Marcel didn’t learn his lesson last time because he looks right at it. Inadu forms out of the blue light and tells Marcel that since he wasn’t loyal, she’ll build her kingdom on his ashes. She knocks him out and he falls to the ground next to Sofya. In the cabin, Freya senses that something’s wrong. Wind and blue light fill the building, and the wind knocks over the jar containing Elijah’s cure, breaking it.
Inadu enters, followed by Klaus, who says that she knew they were coming. He tells Freya to get Elijah into the pendant. Freya says he’s too weak, but if she doesn’t do it, Inadu will kill him. Freya does her best but Inadu is taking physical form now as her power grows. Elijah reaches for Hayley’s hand but can’t take it before he begins to desiccate.
All at once the wind stops and the blue light disappears. Klaus rushes to Elijah and pulls out the thorn-covered stake, but it’s too late. Freya sadly reveals that the pendant has broken in her hand.
Vincent addresses some witches at St. Anne’s, telling them that the Hollow has been reborn. The witches have stayed strong and loyal, but they’re not ready for the battle coming their way. It’s time for them to run. They should stay out of New Orleans until Vincent tells them it’s safe to return. Maxine doesn’t want him to stay back and fight on his own, but his main priority is protecting his people. She gives him the protection charm she gave him before, thinking it might be useful again.
Klaus takes Elijah’s body home and puts him in his coffin. Freya has pieced the pendant back together but isn’t sure if Elijah made it in. Klaus tells her and Hayley that they need to find him and bring him back. They’ve already failed him enough. Hayley insists that they give Freya some time to breathe first. But Freya’s attempts to reach out to any spirit in the pendant have been unsuccessful, and she says he’s gone.
Klaus orders her to try again – he’s sure Elijah is in there. Freya does, but the result is the same. She says she needs more time. Klaus refuses to believe that after all these centuries and all the brother’s brushes with death, Elijah is actually gone. Hope comes in as Freya tries again to sense his spirit. She puts her hand on Freya’s shoulder, and suddenly Freya gets a series of visions: Hope in a white hallway, Elijah as a Viking, and a red door. Hope sees the same things and can hear him yelling. Freya says he’s somewhere in the pendant but his voice sounds distorted. All she could hear was screaming.
Marcel takes Sofya to his penthouse, continuing to wait for her to wake up. Vincent implies that since her mind was taken over by such a powerful being, things might not turn out well for her. He asks Marcel to return his book – the same book he said Marcel should never give back to him. The Hollow has them at a huge disadvantage, and they need to get stronger in any way they can.
Marcel asks if Vincent is sure he can resist the same power that tempted him the last time he used it. Vincent isn’t, but Marcel agrees that they don’t have any other choice here, so he gives Vincent the book. Vincent already knows before Marcel says it that if he loses himself again, Marcel will kill him.
In the woods, Inadu is reborn from a tree, powerful enough to make the earth shake.
Etc.: When Marcel asks to trade the jawbone for Elijah, he calls Elijah his friend. I just picture Elijah laughing for five minutes straight at that.
What was Keelin doing while everyone else at the Compound was working to help Elijah? It seems weird that she insisted on going over there with Freya, then didn’t contribute anything.
Kids still play jacks? Really? Though I guess there isn’t much at the Compound for Hope to do other than stuff that’s kind of old-fashioned. Like, I doubt there’s a TV there.
I can’t decide if no one comments on the fact that Freya’s dating a woman because they already knew she was into women or because they don’t want to make a big deal out of it (because to them, it isn’t a big deal). Either way, I love it. And any excuse that someone’s a bigot because they’re old and traditional and set in their ways goes out the window with Klaus, one of the oldest beings alive, being totally okay with his sister being in a same-sex relationship.
An Eternity of Misery 