Now that Hope has discovered that hurting Elijah quiets the whispers from the Hollow, Klaus is letting her throw him around the courtyard at the Compound. It’s his way of letting her give him her anger. The whispers have returned, though, and taking out her feelings on him isn’t making her feel any better – he’s not the one she wants to hurt. He invites her to tell him whose pain would make her happy. The answer is Roman, who went MIA after Hayley’s death. Klaus grabs him from the motel room where he’s being guarded on Antoinette’s orders.
Vincent is consecrating the bodies of the witches killed by the extremists when one of them wakes up. Ivy revives next and he tells her that Emmett poisoned her. He realizes that she’s come back because she’s in transition.
Marcel has tracked the extremists to an abandoned plant, and he leaves a message for Josh to be on standby to serve as backup. At Rousseau’s, Josh gets an alert about his voicemail as Declan tells him that he keeps thinking of snatches of conversations that he doesn’t remember having. He’s worried that he’s losing grip on his sanity like his relatives Sean and Kieran did. Josh covers for what he knows about them, just saying that Cami must have mentioned them at some point.
Declan believes that Kieran and Sean killed themselves, and he asked the archdiocese of St. Anne’s if they left behind journals that could give him insight into what they were going through. Josh cautions Declan not to dig into that sort of thing; he already has enough going on. He gets distracted when he spots a cute guy across the bar. The guy offers to buy Josh a drink in exchange for Josh pretending to find him interesting. Heh.
Klaus locks Roman up in the dungeon so Hope can kill him. She wants to do it alone, and though Klaus had hoped to watch, he agrees to go. He advises her to start small, like with Roman’s fingertips or tongue, to build suspense. Hope already has a dagger ready to go.
In the City of the Dead, Vincent tells Elijah that it’s too late to do anything to save Hope from the Hollow. Sooner or later, it’ll overtake her. He warns that if Hope kills a human and triggers her werewolf curse, her anger will put people in danger. Elijah wants Vincent to fix this, but Vincent doesn’t know what to do. Also, he has bigger problems, like the witches who have just woken up in transition and will have to decide whether they want to feed or die. They’re Vincent’s only priority right now. Just then, Antoinette texts Elijah, asking to see him.
Marcel goes into the extremists’ new hideout and fights a few of them before a witch gives him a mystical migraine and snaps his neck. Elijah meets with Antoinette, who tells him that Roman was kidnapped. They both guess that Klaus took him and is going to kill him. Antoinette doesn’t want Greta’s sins to be placed on her brother. Elijah agrees, and she asks him to talk to Klaus.
Marcel wakes up as the extremists are hooking him up to a venom-extraction mask like the ones Kingmaker used on the werewolves and Freya used on Keelin. Emmett taunts that he no longer has a crew to come save him – no one cares about Marcel anymore. Back at the Rousseau’s, Josh is too busy flirting to go help Marcel. However, he doesn’t really want to flirt, since the guy reminds him of Aiden. When Josh finally gets around to checking his phone, an hour has passed since Marcel left his message, and he hasn’t been in touch since.
Emmett tells Marcel that he’s the reason Emmett came to New Orleans. He admired that Marcel was the king and had a code of loyalty for the vampires. He’s disappointed that Marcel upgraded himself and became an abomination. Now the extremists are going to use his venom to accomplish what he failed to do. Emmett knows that the venom can take down any being – hybrids, Originals, and whatever Hope is.
Ivy has decided that she doesn’t want to complete her transition. She was born a witch and that’s how she wants to die. She’ll say goodbye to the people she cares about and move on. Vincent’s much more upset about the situation than she is, since Ivy’s had visions of the afterlife and knows she’s going somewhere beautiful. It’ll be like her childhood home. Vincent has some rough news for her.
Roman tells Hope that he’s been wanting to see her. He knows he was wrong for his role in taking Hayley and leading Hope to what Greta planned to be her death. Roman was taught to fear Hope, Klaus, and their kind, but he wound up liking her. He just didn’t know whether he should listen to the voice in his head that said she was good or his mother’s voice, which said the Mikaelsons were evil. The whispers return as Roman tells Hope that he knows that what he did was wrong. If she needs to kill him, she’s welcome to.
Klaus drinks in the courtyard as he waits for Hope to do whatever she’s planning to do to Roman. Elijah questions that parenting decision, but Klaus would love for his daughter to kill her enemies the way he and Elijah do. “She was supposed to be better than us,” Elijah reminds him. Klaus just wants her to have relief. Elijah notes that the darkness of the Hollow will still come back. Klaus doubts that Elijah has Hope’s best interests at heart when he might still care for Antoinette. The family is still Klaus’ priority, and he’s going to let Hope make Roman “collateral damage.”
Elijah warns that if Klaus takes Hope down this path, she’ll lose her humanity. The consequences of that will be devastating for everyone. Klaus doesn’t want to listen to this new verse in the song Elijah has been singing to him for a thousand years. He can’t trust Elijah anymore. They may be immortal but their allegiance isn’t.
Vincent tells Ivy that since she’s not dead or alive right now, she can pass between the two worlds (and take him with her). He wants to show her what the ancestral plane really looks like. It’s not the happy, sunny place she expected – it’s dark and creepy and basically full of ghosts. Vincent says that while witches can tap the power there and grow stronger, the dead “languish.” That’s where Ivy will end up when she dies. She insists that she’ll go somewhere peaceful and demands that he get her out of there.
Elijah calls Antoinette to tell her that Klaus isn’t going to budge on letting Hope hurt Roman. He asks if the extremists will listen to her, since she’s Greta’s daughter. She’s skeptical that he really wants her to take over Greta’s leadership role in a war against his brother. Elijah tips over the queen on a chess set and says he just needs Antoinette to gather the extremists and have faith in him.
Hope rants at Roman for taking her mother from her. Roman has the audacity to say that he lost his mom, too. Hope grabs the dagger and raises it to stab him but she can’t bring herself to do it. She’s getting overwhelmed by the whispers, and Roman notices that her veins are darkening. Well, that can’t be good!
She goes to Klaus, who says she needs to get rid of the darkness inside her. Hope doesn’t want to do that by hurting Roman, though – she’s realized that he’s no more responsible for what happened to Hayley than she is. Klaus is impressed that Hope can still show mercy while she holds so much power: “You clearly didn’t get that from my side of the family.” She knows the side effects of the Hollow are going to get worse.
Elijah pops up and Klaus takes him away from Hope, chastising him for saying he wants to help when he’s involved with the enemy. Elijah swears that he’s there on Hope’s behalf, not Roman’s or Antoinette’s. He knows Hope is being consumed by her rage, and he may have a solution.
Ivy has all sorts of expectations for the afterlife, like seeing her father again, and doesn’t want to accept that they’re not real. Vincent reminds her that she has a choice, but she refuses to become a vampire. She asks what will happen to her after she dies. Josh finally goes to the extremists’ hideout, sneaking in after they leave. Marcel tries to warn him not to come closer but Josh ignores him. He hits a magical barrier, alerting the witch who’s been working with the extremists that he’s there. Josh kills him, dropping the barrier and allowing Marcel to free himself.
Some extremists come out of the shadows and Marcel and Josh fight them. Once they’re all down, Marcel destroys their supply of his venom. But Josh took a syringe to the chest and has inadvertently been injected with venom. Marcel tries to stay calm, saying he’ll get Freya, but Josh tells him the venom is already in his heart. There’s nothing Marcel can do.
Marcel teases that after a few years on his own in leadership, Josh knows everything. Josh replies that he always knew everything; he just played dumb so Marcel would keep him around. He reminds Marcel of the first day they met, when Josh wouldn’t pick up Klaus’ coin since it would mean betraying Tina. Josh admires Marcel’s loyalty, which he thinks is the only reason Marcel spared him that day. Now Marcel is Josh’s family. Marcel says the same about Josh. As the venom moves through his system, Josh starts to desiccate. He kisses Marcel’s cheek, then dies. Marcel cries over the loss of someone he never expected to become his friend.
While a man named Bill finds records for Declan in the attic of St. Anne’s, Antoinette gathers the extremists in the sanctuary to rally them to help her save Roman from Klaus. Emmett vows to go a step further and “end the Mikaelson rule” using Marcel’s venom. In the City of the Dead, Vincent talks to the witches about the ancestral plane. New Orleans has known violence a lot longer than it’s known their magic, and the ancestors created a place for them to draw their power so they could survive in the Quarter.
Antoinette tells the extremists that they need to embrace a vision of their species that they’re willing to die for. Elijah arrives and says he’s recently had a change of heart about that. Vincent tells the witches that their ancestors don’t have peace. Tonight, the witches are going to release them and free all the dead. “Tonight we go to war,” Elijah announces. If anyone there doesn’t believe that vampires are the only true species, they should leave. No one does.
Vincent warns the witches that once the ancestors have been freed, their magic will change; it’ll come from nature instead. There’s no turning back. All the witches are on board, and they start chanting. Elijah acknowledges how the extremists have continued Greta’s work and tells them that they’re going to share her fate. Hope and Klaus burst in, confusing everyone. “The road to redemption is long and winding, but worthy,” Elijah tells Emmett.
Emmett starts to run to grab Marcel’s venom but Hope uses magic to shatter the container it’s in. He accuses Antoinette and Elijah of betrayal. They point out that they only repeated what Greta believed; they never said they agreed with her. Klaus sends Elijah and Antoinette away, leaving Hope to take on the extremists. Marcel arrives in time to see what she has in store. The witches’ spell kicks in as Klaus encourages Hope, “Let it all out.” Her eyes glow blue from the Hollow and she releases a huge burst of power, taking all the extremists down at once.
Once she’s done, Hope asks if the extremists are all dead. “Immortality isn’t for everyone,” Klaus replies. This was “an act of public service.” She’s numb from her actions and the realization that she just killed a few dozen vampires. Klaus tells Marcel to get Josh and clean up all the bodies. Marcel decides to hold off on telling him about Josh’s death until tomorrow. The whispers are gone and Hope’s veins are normal again, but she’s not sure how long that’ll last. She and Klaus hear a noise upstairs and go up to the attic, finding Declan unconscious. Hope is horrified at the thought that she killed him. Klaus sends her away and starts to feed Declan his blood.
Antoinette thanks Elijah for his help and asks if he’ll ever be able to forgive her for the chaos her family caused. He notes that his family caused a bunch of chaos for hers, too. She still wants to go to Shanghai, but she isn’t naïve enough to think he’s ready to join her or ever will be. “Till we meet again,” she says as she kisses him goodbye. “If we meet again,” he replies. She hopes they will.
Vincent sits with Ivy as she nears death. She tells him her father is there and it’s beautiful. She closes her eyes and dies in Vincent’s arms for the second time. Marcel has taken Josh’s body to his loft, and he tells Josh that he was always more loyal than Marcel was. He always stuck by his friends, the city, and his beliefs. Marcel drinks a toast to him, hoping he’ll rest in peace.
Josh’s spirit leaves his body and goes to the afterlife. A Jeep pulls up next to him in a beautiful wooded area full of fall leaves. The driver is Aiden. He opens the door and tells Josh to get in, saying he missed him. They kiss, then drive off to eternity together.
Roman finds Hope on the balcony of St. Anne’s, waiting for news about Declan. He says his apology didn’t mean much when he was fearing for his life. He realizes she’s better, but she’s now worried that she killed someone she loves. He assures her that no matter what she did, she’ll never be like him. She’s a good person and doesn’t deserve what she’s going through. He wishes he could fix it. Hope notes that if she killed Declan, she won’t just lose him – she’ll trigger her werewolf curse. Maybe it was inevitable. Roman promises that everything will be okay.
Up in the attic, Klaus has saved Declan. “You picked the wrong day to find religion,” he comments. But Declan wasn’t the only human in the church – Bill is still there. Klaus finds him crushed under a filing cabinet.
Downstairs, Hope doubles over in pain and her eyes glow yellow.
Etc.: Daniel Gillies (Elijah) directed this episode.
Declan is basically the April of The Originals, yeah?
Booooooo to Josh’s death. Booooooooooooo.
Once again, St. Anne’s is being used for purposes that Jesus wouldn’t approve of.
When Hope and Klaus arrive at the church, the song playing in the background is “Burn It Down” by Daughter. Right when Hope smashes the container holding the venom, it says, “Always said I was a good kid.” Perfect.
An Eternity of Misery 