The Compound is drying out from the storm that recently passed through. Klaus tells Freya and Hope that the curse the family dealt with for seven years has taken its toll, but now it’s passed, too. The Mikaelsons can be together again, which means they can face all future trials together. For now, it’s just the three of them, as Rebekah ties up loose ends overseas and Elijah…well, they don’t mention Elijah, and when he shows up, no one really wants to talk to him.
Hope keeps her rage inside, only letting it out by bending a fork in half with her mind. She decides to skip breakfast and ignores Elijah on her way out. He regrets approaching her. Klaus turns on Freya, blasting her for helping Hope neutralize the Mikaelsons so she could remove the Hollow from them and put it back in herself. Freya doesn’t think she had a choice. Klaus warns that if Hope is harmed by the power she now holds, he’ll blame Freya.
Marcel and Josh clean up Rousseau’s, where Emmett and his fellow extremists hung out during the storm. Marcel finds an open letter they’ve posted to the citizens of the city addressing the violence in the Quarter. Lisina reads it to Keelin, revealing that the vampires are taking over the city. They’re demanding that the werewolves return to the bayou. Keelin’s glad she’s decided to leave town again. She still loves Freya, but Freya always prioritizes her family, so they’re not going to be together. The two arrive at the spot where the wolves have been building their Mardi Gras float and discover that it’s been destroyed.
Hope calls Klaus out for lurking around while she’s painting. He wants to talk about the fact that she bent a fork in half. She thinks it’s better than stabbing Elijah with it. Klaus defends his refusal to save Hayley, since he wasn’t himself at the time, but Hope isn’t ready to forgive him. Klaus asks if that’s her only problem. She promises that she’s fine having the Hollow back inside her. She thought everyone out and would do it all again. She’s happy to be able to be in the same room with him without risking anyone’s life. Klaus praises her grace and strength, which she must have gotten from Hayley. Hope hears whispers but doesn’t mention them to her father. They both say they wish Hayley were with them.
Freya stops Klaus from rushing out to solve this latest wrinkle with the Hollow so she can explain herself. Every time she looks at Hope, she sees her own child; that’s how much Freya loves and wants to protect her. Hope came to her in pain, and Freya knew she was going to take back the Hollow with or without her aunt’s help. Freya thought that she might let her family help her if she thought Freya was on her side. She tells Klaus that Vincent did a spell on Hope’s old anti-magic bracelet that will lessen the effects of the Hollow until they can come up with something permanent. Klaus appreciates Freya’s love for Hope, but they both wish things were different.
Declan is back from Ireland and he’s understandably ticked that he had to learn about Hayley’s death from a voicemail. Freya lies that she was killed in a car accident and didn’t suffer. He asks to see Hope, but Freya says it’s not a good time. Declan has questions about the accident and feels guilty for not being there to save Hayley. He’s also upset that he missed the funeral and didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. He thinks something isn’t right. Elijah listens in, unseen.
Marcel and Josh go to Marcel’s loft to kick the extremists out of the city. Emmett argues that Marcel doesn’t get to give orders, since he left the city, but Josh notes that he stayed, and he won’t let the extremists drive his friends out of the Quarter. Emmett says they’re just trying to bring peace to the city by keeping everyone where they belong. Marcel did the same thing before. Marcel objects to being compared to Emmett, and he objects even more strongly when Emmett calls the werewolves “dogs and their half-breed cousins.”
He tells Josh to open the curtains, making the extremists flee from the sun. Emmett warns that they’ll be out in the Quarter as soon as the sun goes down, and if they see any werewolves, they’ll take matters into their own hands.
Elijah goes to Rousseau’s for a drink and a chat with Declan, who doesn’t know who he is. He invites Declan to talk about what he’s going through. When Declan says he lost his girlfriend, Elijah says he can relate to the experience of “love denied.” Lisina rallies the werewolves to rebuilt their float and send the message that they can’t be chased out of their city. They’re going to march tonight whether the vampires like it or not. Freya shows up to see Keelin, and when she confirms that Keelin’s still leaving the next day, she announces that she’s spending Keelin’s last day in New Orleans with her.
Vincent’s view on the situation is similar to Lisina’s – the witches should proceed with their plans for Mardi Gras and ignore the extremists. Ivy doesn’t want to just leave the werewolves to fend for themselves, but Vincent thinks that if they stay out of things, refusing to be used as the match that lights the bonfire like they usually are, things will calm down. Ivy says the extremists will just move on from the werewolves to the witches. They need to pick a side.
Emmett pops up as she leaves and tells Vincent she’s right. The extremists want things the way they used to be, minus Marcel in a role of power. So…they want to make New Orleans great again? Vincent obviously cares about the community, and he would be smart to work with the extremists. Vincent hopes Emmett isn’t trying to issue a threat. I think pretty much everything Emmett says is a threat.
He notes that it sounds like Vincent values his own life less than those of the other witches. He’s motivated by his responsibility to them. Vincent warns that if anything happens to any witch, the extremists will pay: “What you really need to do is go on and get the hell on up out of here before I yank your punk a%$ out into the sun, you heard me?” Yes, sir! Emmett tells him the extremists’ offer will only be on the table for a short while.
Josh and Marcel brick up some underground tunnels so the extremists won’t be able to use them to get around. Josh thinks Emmett had a point about Marcel being the one who originally separated the factions. The whispers have grown louder and Hope can’t concentrate on anything else. Klaus tells her to put on her anti-magic bracelet, but she says she’s strong and can handle it. He knows she can’t, since he lived with the darkness for seven years and knows how bad it can get.
Hope agrees to wear the bracelet if he’ll stop worrying. He puts it on her and the whispers immediately stop. But soon after he leaves, the power of the Hollow makes the bracelet smoke, and she has to take it off just before it catches fire. The whispers return and overwhelm her again.
Declan shows Elijah his grandmother’s wedding ring, which he got when he was visiting Ireland so he could propose to Hayley. He thinks she was out of his league and would have turned him down. Plus, he could tell she still had feelings for an ex. But he loved her too much to let her go. Elijah likes that he says Hayley’s “smile could end wars.” He knows that now Declan sees her everywhere he goes and hears her voice in his dreams and feels “the lingering ghost of her touch.” He feels responsible and wishes he could have done something to save her. Declan realizes who Elijah is and is angry with him for breaking Hayley’s heart.
The factions finalize their floats for the parade as Vincent tells Ivy that the extremists aren’t just hateful – they’re psychopaths. She tells him that no matter how dark the night gets, “dawn is always right around the corner” and there’s always beauty to be seen. They need to focus on what’s in front of them. Vincent says he’s focused, looking at her.
Hope raids the Compound’s liquor supply for absinthe, which she swears is for a spell, not to drink. Klaus notices that she’s not wearing her anti-magic bracelet. She tells him it’s not enough. She blows something in his face to knock him out, then says that fixing this is her responsibility, not his.
Declan asks Elijah why he came to see him. Elijah regrets all the time he missed with Hayley and wanted to know about her life without him. Declan thinks he came for absolution by hearing about Declan’s pain. He guesses that Hayley didn’t really die in a car accident, and that Elijah knows what really happened. As he’s demanding answers, Hope arrives to get absinthe.
The werewolves continue their Mardi Gras prep at St. Anne’s, and Lisina reminisces about how fun it always was when she was a kid. When she was six, her mother was the Queen of Mardi Gras, and Lisina loved watching people admire her so much. After the werewolves got banished to the bayou, Lisina often thought about what it meant for the celebration to have a werewolf queen. She sends Keelin to help Freya with something else, wanting to make sure they get as much as they can out of their last day together.
A man approaches Lisina and says he’s sorry but “they” told him he has to do this. He holds up a briefcase, which explodes seconds later. Keelin is knocked out, and when she regains consciousness, Freya explains that the extremists compelled a human to become a suicide bomber. Lisina sadly didn’t survive. Vincent’s relieved that Ivy did.
Hope thinks Elijah’s at Rousseau’s to hurt Declan because it wasn’t enough for him to kill Hayley. Elijah argues that that’s not what happened, but she says Hayley would still be alive if he hadn’t been there. The whispers get louder as Declan asks what Elijah did to Hayley. Elijah shoves him aside and Hope snaps at him not to hurt Declan. He tells her they can’t have this conversation in front of Declan, so she hits Declan with a sleep spell.
Josh and Marcel go to St. Anne’s to help clean up the damage from the bomb. Marcel says he used to believe the werewolves were dangerous, the witches were unpredictable, and the vampires were his people. When he separated them and the city didn’t fall apart, he figured he was right. But the extremists “want violence for the sake of it,” and he’s not going to let them use his name for it.
Elijah reminds Hope that he didn’t know who Hayley was when she died. Now that he does, he’s in the worst pain he’s ever experienced. She tells him she hates him, and he replies that he hates himself, too. She slashes him across the shoulder with magic, making him bleed. She pauses, shocked by what she’s done, then slashes him some more. Declan wakes up but she doesn’t notice. Klaus shows up and Hope turns her magic on him, almost hurting him before she realizes who he is. The whispers have stopped, and she walks out of the bar in silence. Declan gets up, asking what just happened.
Marcel gathers the factions and announces that they’re going to march with the werewolves to honor Lisina. Whatever happens, they won’t back down. Vincent wants to join the march, which he tells Ivy is his way of choosing a side. She warns that the extremists will attack, but he says they’ll be ready. Ivy decides to go pray for the injured in the City of the Dead. She tells Vincent he’s a good person and kisses him. “I’m gonna see you on the other side of this, okay?” he says. Everyone who’s ever seen a TV show before goes, “Oh, no, you’re not.”
Keelin wants to march as well, but she’s injured from the bomb and Freya’s already feeling protective. Plus, she has something to discuss first. “Marry me,” she blurts out. It’s not just because Keelin could have died today. Freya started planning a proposal two years ago. She was waiting for the right time, but it never came. Today she realized that there will never be a perfect time. There’s just right now, and right now she doesn’t want to be apart from Keelin for another second.
Freya offers Keelin a ring and the vow that they won’t ever have to reunite at a funeral or visit via astral projection again. Freya will no longer choose between Keelin and her family because Keelin is her family. Keelin says yes, and even though she’s in some pain from the bomb, she thinks the proposal was perfect.
Elijah tells Declan that the Mikaelsons and their pals are “vampires, witches, other things.” Hayley was one of those other things, too, and Declan should have another drink before they get into what Hope is. Declan feels foolish for not knowing anything about the supernatural. He’s upset that Hayley kept it from him, but Elijah says she really cared for him. That’s how he knows she would want him to do what he’s about to do. He compels Declan to forget meeting him and let go of his questions about Hayley’s life and death. He’ll only remember that she loved him and he made her happy. He’ll believe that she’s at peace, which will give him peace, too.
As they return to the Compound, Klaus asks Hope why she won’t accept his help and why she attacked Elijah. She tells him that when she hurt Elijah, the whispers stopped. She worries that she’ll spend the rest of her life experiencing “a rage that can only be quieted by violence.” Klaus notes that if that’s what it takes for her to feel better, he’s the perfect father for her.
Before their march, Vincent tells the factions that the Quarter belongs to all of them, and they’re all welcome. The extremists arrive for a face-off, which Vincent is fully prepared for. “So this is where it ends,” Emmett says. The factions are armed, and it doesn’t look like Emmett saw that coming.
Klaus promises Hope that he’ll help her continue to deal with the Hollow. In the City of the Dead, Ivy and some other witches pray. Downtown, Emmett asks Vincent why the extremists are seen as hateful for offering up the same plan for peace that Marcel did. Josh says it was just as hateful when Marcel used it. Marcel acknowledges that.
Emmett notes that Marcel can’t die but Vincent can. Are the werewolves worth dying for? “You’re damn right,” Vincent says before magically lighting up a wall of fire between Emmett and the rest of the extremists. The extremists disappear, and Vincent realizes they were only there via astral projection. That means they’re working with a witch. Emmett says that when Vincent picked a side, he betrayed the witches and Ivy. He should have accepted Emmett’s offer.
Emmett disappears as well, and Marcel wonders if he just came there to bluff. Vincent says he wanted to know which side Vincent would pick so he could punish Vincent for choosing wrong. He takes off for the City of the Dead, where the witches are pouring wine to toast to peace. They drink, realizing moments later that the wine has been poisoned. Vincent arrives too late to do anything, and Ivy dies in his arms.
Etc.: Other than Elijah, Hayley really has a type – unobjectionable but boring. If Declan and Jackson ever met, I imagine their conversations would put me to sleep.
I’m sorry, Ivy, but focusing on the good in the world doesn’t just make the bad completely disappear. As much as we would all love to believe that the bad will go away if we ignore it, sometimes that just angers it.
A suicide bomber in a church? The extremists are lucky that Hell doesn’t exist anymore, because they’d been in for…well, an eternity of misery.
I like how so many people on these series express their love by calling other people their family. Even the ones who struggle with their families and don’t always like them very much acknowledge that you can’t find a bond stronger than family ties.
An Eternity of Misery 