After fleeing the dungeon, Greta has fled to Manosque and shown up at Elijah and Antoinette’s door. Poor, clueless Elijah thinks he’s just meeting his fiancée’s mother; he has no idea the damage she’s trying to do to his family. The equally clueless Hope is on the road with Roman, making fun of his emo music tastes. She takes a selfie with him and says Hayley would be furious if she knew they weren’t fully obeying driving-safety rules. Though compared to Hope’s desire to suppress her werewolf side, it might not be such a big deal.
Hope’s nervous about doing the binding, since Freya warned that she’d regret it and she’s read Klaus’ journals about what he went through. Roman notes that Hope said she feels like a freak, so this could help. She’s uneasy about removing a part of herself that she doesn’t even know yet. He thinks that means she won’t miss it. Hope says it doesn’t matter, since she’s doing it no matter what. Roman tells her that Hayley will be proud of her.
Hope senses some magic around them and thinks someone’s tracking them. They pull over so she can go off alone and do a spell. Roman takes the opportunity to call Greta and let her know that he has Hope and they’re meeting up with a witch who can do the binding spell. Greta tells him to take them to Shiloh Place. He asks for another location but Greta doesn’t lead democratically. She does praise him for coming through, though.
She goes back to Elijah and Antoinette, the latter of whom notices that Greta has a daylight ring (she found a witch to make her a new one before she left New Orleans). She’s been wearing one for years, despite her beliefs against it, because August used to say that the ends justify the means. The means here are her “movement”‘s belief in the superiority of vampires and their work to protect “the sanctity and purity of the true vampire.”
Antoinette doesn’t get how wearing a daylight ring helps with that. Greta explains that it helped her infiltrate a group who needs “reeducation.” Daywalkers deny their natural state and live like they never died and were “chosen for something better than being merely human.” Elijah guesses that they don’t know the peace of taking off the ring. Greta agrees, but her work is paying off.
Hope returns to the car with the news that someone’s definitely tracking them. She can cloak them, but she needs to do something else first. Greta tells Antoinette that Roman might be in danger. He talked her into letting him go away to school, and now she’s learned that he’s hanging out with Hope. When Klaus finds out, he’ll kill Roman. Greta came to Manosque because she knows that Elijah is the only person who can protect Roman from Klaus.
Caroline shows up in Mystic Falls to tell Klaus that Hope and Roman ran off together. Some honors trackers are looking for them, and though their location hasn’t been narrowed down yet, it looks like they’re heading for New Orleans. The runaways arrive at Shiloh Place, a rundown house in the middle of nowhere. Before they go in, Roman tells Hope he likes her but there are going to be some things happening that he’ll need to explain. Hope just wants to get right to the binding, so she heads for the door. Roman tells her it’s spelled, then kicks over some rocks to break the spell. Hayley’s inside the house, tied to a chair. She recognizes Roman, who slaps anti-magic manacles on Hope before she can react. He says he’s sorry.
Antoinette doesn’t like that Greta has put Roman’s life in Elijah’s hands. Her views are “pretty extreme” but she loves Roman, as does Antoinette. Elijah asks how Greta came to be their mother. Antoinette explains that after she was left for dead by people in her village, Greta turned her. Antoinette considers Greta her mother because Greta gave her life. Elijah decides that’s enough of a reason to help. Antoinette doesn’t want to put him back in his family’s orbit, but he tells her she’s his family. They share both good and bad now. Elijah will go with Greta now, and after the sun sets, Antoinette can follow.
Freya and Vincent meet up at Rousseau’s after she returns to New Orleans from Mystic Falls. Declan shows them a missing poster he wants to distribute with Hayley’s face and information. He remains totally in the dark about the supernatural and what’s been going on with his girlfriend. Klaus and Caroline stop for coffee while they wait for the trackers to tell them where Hope is. She advises him to take this time to figure out what to say (and not say) to his daughter. Klaus would rather blast Caroline for not keeping a better eye on Hope. He complains that parenting her has been difficult.
Caroline notes that Hope isn’t eight anymore, so Klaus has to earn her respect. He confides that he worries about her all the time, and he can’t balance needing to keep his distance from her with wanting to protect her and keep her close. It’s the worst pain he’s ever felt. Ha ha, suck it, Tunde blade! Klaus doesn’t know why Hope is acting the way she is. “Some girls just like the bad boys,” Caroline tells him, especially the sheltered ones. She’s speaking from experience. She even dated a couple of bad boys who were way too old for her. Caroline gets a text letting her know that the trackers failed, but they can fall back on good, old-fashioned technology: They can find Hope with the Find My iPhone app.
Hayley tells Hope that Roman led her kidnappers to the attic. Hope guesses that he got her location by going inside her head. Roman urges her to do the binding spell and end all this. Greta and the movement just want to prevent the creation of more hybrids and stick with the “natural order” of vampires. Hope’s shocked to realize that Greta is Roman’s mother. He insists that everything will be fine if Hope does the spell. Hayley makes it clear that if he doesn’t untie her, nothing will be fine.
Vincent and Freya try to reassure Declan, who doesn’t think they care as much about Hayley as they claim, since they’re seemingly not doing anything to find her. He hasn’t gotten any help from the police, who act like they don’t know about Hayley’s disappearance every time he calls them. (I guess when Marcel compelled them to forget that Klaus made them conduct a search, he went too far. Again. Marcel, stop compelling people.) Declan thinks something’s not right – no one seems as worried about Hayley as he is. Vincent and Freya exchange looks, silently debating whether to fill him in on the supernatural. But as Freya’s about to, Vincent magically starts a fire to distract him.
Hayley tries to convince Roman that his mother is insane. Roman’s indoctrinated, though – werewolves kill to trigger their curse, but they’re naturally occurring. Hybrids, however, are a “perversion.” Henry killed someone less than a day after becoming a hybrid. They’re “unnatural.” Hope snarks that now she knows how Roman really feels. Hayley notes that they have free will and can choose to be good. Klaus does what he does because he’s Klaus, not because he’s a hybrid. Henry’s a kid and will learn self-control. Hope has to break the news that Henry died. Hayley guesses that Greta had something to do with that.
Roman doesn’t seem to know anything about that, and he denies that Greta will do anything to hurt Hope and Hayley. He thinks they’ll be released once they bind their werewolf sides. Hayley tells him that’s not what this is about – Greta wants to kill them.
In the car on the way to get Hope, Klaus asks Caroline if she regrets the time they’ve spent together. She says no. She was really young when they first met, and they were both different people back then. He doesn’t think he’s changed too much, but she does. Klaus terrified her when they met, and she never felt safe or like herself around him. She doesn’t regret meeting him. She thinks she represented something for him back then – the innocence he lost and wished he could get back. Caroline’s not sure Klaus would notice her if they met for the first time now. He tells her it would be impossible not to notice her. Her essence would nag him until he did.
Roman tries to call Greta but she doesn’t answer. Hayley tells him she wouldn’t have sent them to the middle of nowhere just for a binding spell they could do anywhere. Roman says he trusts Greta, which Hayley thinks she’s counting on. He insists that she’s not what Hayley thinks. His family was killed by werewolves and he was left for dead. Greta saved him and treated him like a son. She gave him a new family, at least until Klaus killed them. Klaus is the reason Roman spent 50 years desiccated in a cave. Greta kept looking for him all that time, so Roman sees her as a good mother.
Hayley tells him that Greta expects things from him that no mother should. If she really loved him, she wouldn’t use him as a soldier and a terrorist. Roman argues that she just wants the vampires to live separately. Hayley adds that she wants to get rid of those she doesn’t think are pure enough. He keeps insisting that Greta doesn’t want to kill Hayley and Hope, and Hayley asks if he’s sure enough to risk their lives. He doesn’t appear to be, and Hope asks him to let them go.
Vincent and Freya argue about whether Declan should know what’s going on with Hayley. He doesn’t want to get Declan involved, but Freya thinks it could be worse for him not to know. Maybe they can compel him to calm down. Vincent objects to taking away his free will. He’s sick of people controlling each other with compulsion. They should just let Declan think that Hayley ditched him. He’ll get over it. Oof, it sounds like Vincent doesn’t think Hayley will be coming back alive. Freya asks why it’s so important to Vincent that Declan not know the truth. He doesn’t answer her question.
Hope tries to remove Hayley’s chains while Roman is out of the room. She feels guilty for setting this all in motion, but Hayley wants Greta to take all the blame. Hope admits that she was going to do the binding spell but Klaus stopped her. Hayley asks her not to try it again. She should never deny any part of herself. Hope notes that Freya said Hayley doesn’t want her to trigger her werewolf side. Hayley tells her it’s complicated, and turning is horrible, but there’s so much freedom and peace in actually being a wolf.
Hope beats herself up for believing that Roman liked her. Hayley tells her that if everyone judged themselves based on mistakes they made with men, they’d never get any peace. “Nowhere to go but up, I guess,” Hope quips. She’s not optimistic that anyone will find them – she cloaked herself and Roman, and she can’t do magic while she’s in the shackles. She comes up with a way to call for help, but she gives the disclaimer that it’s a really bad idea.
In the City of the Dead, Vincent rants to Ivy that Freya’s wrong in wanting Declan to know about the supernatural. The more he knows, the bigger the burden he’ll have to carry. Vincent thinks that Cami would still be alive if she’d never known about the supernatural. Ivy says she was free to choose her own path based on what she knew. Vincent admires Ivy’s ability to always stay calm, which she says comes from embracing every part of herself. She’s a witch and a seer and a woman, and she always lets herself find beauty and joy and love in the world. “You can’t ignore part of yourself and be happy,” she says.
She asks Vincent the last time he was truly happy. He thinks it was before Eva died. He wishes he could go back to before then, before it all haunted him. Ivy says that would mean going back to a time before he loved Eva. She wouldn’t choose that if she were in his place.
Roman calls Antoinette, who tells him that Greta is on her way to him. When she says that Greta knows that Roman is dating Klaus’ daughter, he clarifies that Greta told him to follow Hope. Antoinette is surprised that he’s with Hope and Hayley right now. Roman also says that, unlike what Greta told Antoinette and Elijah, it was her idea for him to go to the Salvatore School. Antoinette realizes that Roman doesn’t know Greta’s intentions. She tells him to stall until she can get to New Orleans. He shouldn’t do anything drastic.
Klaus and Caroline find Hope’s phone but not Hope – she ditched it and Roman’s by the side of the road. A look at Roman’s photos clues Klaus in that Greta is Roman’s mother, and that they’re dealing with more than just a couple of runaway teens. Roman goes back to Hope and Hayley, telling them he doesn’t know what’s really going on but he can’t let them go. Hayley announces that they’ll give Greta what she wants and do the binding spell.
As the Quarter witches do a spell in the bell tower, Vincent changes his tune with Freya – they should tell Declan about the supernatural after all. Maybe Vincent is just jealous of people who get to be blissfully ignorant. Freya teases him for letting Ivy change his mind. He says she got him to see that Hayley is an important part of Declan’s life and it’s not fair of them to keep him in the dark, even for his protection. Freya admits that she wanted to spare him grief. She’s been a mess since she and Keelin broke up. She’s just been using her now-mortal life to save immortals. She and Vincent can’t waste their time anymore. When this is over, Vincent needs to ask Ivy out. He advises Freya to get in touch with Keelin.
Hayley undergoes the binding spell, unable to pretend that it’s not horribly painful. In the bell tower, whatever the witches have been doing works and they’re able to pinpoint Hayley’s location. Hayley is now just a vampire, which the witch doing the binding spell demonstrates by holding her arm in the sun so it burns. Hope and Hayley exchange a glance, and Hayley bites the witch. Hope uses her chains to snap Roman’s neck before he can do anything. Once Hayley’s untied, she and Hope head for the door, but the sun is out, so Hayley can’t go outside. Hope will have to leave on her own.
Vincent finds Declan in the City of the Dead and says there’s something he needs to know. First, though, Declan wants to put flowers on his cousin’s grave, since he promised his mother he would. That cousin? Cami. Vincent chickens out.
Hope refuses to leave Shiloh Place without Hayley. She cloaked Hayley as a hybrid, so when Hayley bound her werewolf side, she became findable with a locator spell. They just need to wait for rescue. Hayley has figured out what’s really going on – Greta and her people wanted Hope this whole time. They’re not afraid of her strength or the evil she could cause. They’re afraid of the unity she could bring about in the three factions she shares parts with. They don’t want that, since they “thrive on hatred.” Hope is their worst fear. She needs to go before anyone else gets there.
Hayley hugs Hope and says she loves her, then orders her to leave. But as Hope turns toward the door, Greta appears and blows something in her face to knock her out. She pulls the curtains off the window so Hayley is trapped in the corner by the sun streaming in. Roman revives and tells Greta that Hayley did the binding spell and Hope has agreed to go next. Then they can let Hayley and Hope go. Greta says that won’t be happening.
Klaus and Caroline finally make it to Shiloh Place. Elijah sneaks up behind Caroline and snaps her neck without Klaus noticing. He only realizes someone else is there when he starts hearing whispers from the Hollow. Elijah breaks a rake to arm himself with a stake, which he throws at Klaus. He’s there to protect his family. Klaus tells him that Hope is inside, but Elijah says she’s not his problem. Hayley? Also not his problem. He’s there to save Roman. Klaus replies that there’s no way Elijah can stop him from going in.
Greta tells Roman that binding isn’t enough – Klaus found a way to break through his, since there are always loopholes. They can’t allow any more hybrids to be created. Roman sees that Hope is unconscious and seems genuinely upset. As Hayley puts her fingers into the sunlight coming through the window, as if she’s testing what it does to her now, Greta tells Roman that it’s better if Hope is unconscious. If they want peace, they can’t let an “apex predator” exist. Roman looks over at Hayley, realizing that everything she said about Greta was true.
While Klaus and Elijah fight outside, Greta hands Roman a stake. “Show me you believe,” she whispers. Hayley looks out the window and, realizing that Klaus and Elijah aren’t going to save the day this time, tries to talk Roman out of killing Hope. She’s his friend, not a hybrid or a werewolf. Roman begs Greta not to make him kill Hope. She grabs the stake from him and raises it to do it herself.
Hayley zooms over and grabs Greta, slamming her up against a wall. On the front porch, Klaus has Elijah in the same position. It starts to hail, and when Klaus gets distracted by it, Elijah gets out of his grasp. They fight more as Greta takes on Hayley. Klaus finally makes it into the house but Elijah is right behind him with his stake, which goes through Klaus’ chest.
Hayley says Elijah’s name, hoping he’ll help her, but he shows no signs of caring that she’s at Greta’s mercy. He shoves the stake deeper into Klaus, then checks on Roman. Greta reaches into Hayley’s chest and grabs her heart. Hayley looks around, seeing that with Klaus incapacitated, Elijah unconcerned for her well-being, and Hope unconscious, she’s out of options. There’s nothing she can do for herself…but there’s still something she can do for her daughter.
Hayley looks Greta straight in the eye, then twists the finger that’s wearing her daylight ring until it comes off. She grabs Greta and zooms them through the front door and onto the lawn. They both ignite in the sun and burn to death.
Klaus yells out in horror, unable to do anything. Elijah looks outside, unmoved by what just happened. Any sadness he might have is for Antoinette losing her mother. He has no idea how Hayley’s death would affect him if he hadn’t had his memories erased.
Etc.: Marguerite MacIntyre (Liz) wrote this episode and Charles Michael Davis (Marcel) directed it.
Roman has the song “Creep” on his playlist, and later in the episode, a cover of the song plays. Really driving home the “I’m a weirdo” theme, aren’t you, show?
If Klaus thinks he has it tough parenting Hope, I invite him to spend five minutes observing Caroline’s own situation, which we’ll learn in Legacies is five times harder than his.
Let me put on my English-major-finding-thematic-parallels hat to note that Roman and Antoinette’s loyalty to Greta is kind of like the hybrids’ loyalty to Klaus back in seasons 3 and 4 of The Vampire Diaries. In both cases, they felt an allegiance to someone who saved them in one way or another. When you see someone as a hero, it can be hard to be convinced that they’re not one.
Is there a secret underground tunnel between New Orleans and Manosque, like the one between the Armory and downtown Mystic Falls, that cuts the trip down to seven miles? Because I don’t know how else Greta could get back and forth between the two places so quickly.
I can’t believe they wrote Hayley out of four of the first five episodes of this season, then killed her off. Phoebe Tonkin deserved better.
An Eternity of Misery 