Jen is hard at work at Torch ‘N Toke, making Ken a weapon that will kill Hope. He’s impatient, so she reminds him that she’s creating something that’s never been created before. He threatens to put her back in the spiked sarcophagus, or possibly find a worse place to stuff her. She finishes and presents him with the long spear she made out of red oak dust. He tells her that he’s looking forward to never seeing her again, but he’s going to keep her around until he’s sure the weapon works. Jen is sure that the red oak plus god magic plus a stab in the heart will do the trick.
Ken advises her to start praying to another god if she’s betrayed him again. Hope suddenly appears in the shop and announces that all the gods suck, at least going by what she’s experienced. She’s there to challenge Ken to combat. Ben told her that in the gods’ customs, Ken can’t turn down her challenge. They’ll have their showdown in two hours. Ken doesn’t want to wait, so he throws the god spear at her like it’s a javelin. This is exactly why Hope used astral projection to pay her visit. When she comes out of the projection, she tells Alaric that Ken took the bait. It’s war time.
The students have set up a memorial for Kaleb with candles and pictures. M.G. can’t bear to stay there long. Cleo hasn’t gone by at all, as she thinks her time would be better spent finding a way to make Ken pay. Alaric doesn’t want to let her go, but she’s determined to ensure that no other gods can hurt humans. He warns that revenge will only feel good for a moment. It won’t bring Kaleb back or make Cleo miss him less. She thanks him for the advice, saying she’ll be sure to enjoy the moment she gets her revenge.
Hope has Ben pick out a weapon for her to use against Ken. He doesn’t see anything worthy in the school’s armory, but he knows warriors are more important than their weapons. Hope laments that they just lost one of their best warriors. Ben asks if she doubts her plan. No, but she’s being realistic – you can’t depend on everything going exactly as you expect. He thinks that as long as the squad believes in what they’re doing and in Hope, they’ll be okay. The others have faith in her, so she should have it in herself. When things get chaotic and bloody, she needs to trust her instincts.
In the gym, Lizzie has been practicing siphoning Ken and triggering the explosion that will weaken (and possibly kill) him. M.G. gives her encouragement, sure that she can throw up a shield spell in time to save herself. He’s struggling to keep going after Kaleb’s death, and he doesn’t think he can handle any more. “Ken is the only one dying today,” Lizzie promises.
As battle time nears, Hope and Alaric go out to the meadow. Hope’s job is basically to keep Ken busy until Lizzie can do her thing. If he survives the explosion, Jed and Ben will bring in the werewolves and vampires to take him out. Alaric will provide supporting fire as long as his injured leg will let him. He thinks they’re ready, or as ready as they can be. As he hugs Hope, the sky turns dark and they hear thunder. It’s showtime.
Jed and Finch are supposed to be getting into position, but Jed is concerned because Ben hasn’t shown up yet. Finch thinks he should be more worried about the mortals fighting in the battle. Jed notes that he usually thinks about his pack first. He’s not sure what he’ll do when Ken goes after Ben. Finch urges him to stick to the plan, but Jed wants a backup option, just in case. If things get bad, he wants Finch to forget about him and lead the pack. She agrees, but only if it’s a temporary arrangement.
With a flash of lightning, someone drops out of the sky. Hope’s expecting Ken, but it’s Aurora. Hope taunts that Aurora hasn’t changed as much as Lizzie thought she had. Aurora replies that no one really changes: “You can’t stop being a Mikaelson, and I can’t stop hating everything that you stand for.” Hope would like to skip her villain monologue and get to her explanation for why she’s there instead of Ken. Aurora tells her that he sent her in his place. Hope says he has no honor.
Aurora reminds her that she was going to “cheat” by laying a trap. That’s not cheating; it’s just good strategy. Anyway, Aurora knows that Hope has backup. Hope pulls out a weapon, and Aurora says that’s the Klaus in her: “Strike first, feel later, ignoring your own hypocrisy. Whatever it takes to win, I suppose.” Hope isn’t the only one who can cheat. Hope’s vamp hearing picks up some sort of violence in the woods, and Aurora urges to go help her friends. Hope says they can handle themselves. Her fight is with Aurora.
In the woods, the werewolves are turning. Ben guesses that his father, who can control curses, triggered theirs to sabotage them. Finch tells him to run. Elsewhere in the woods, Lizzie thinks she and M.G. should get somewhere safe while Alaric works on containing the werewolves. M.G. suggests luring the wolves into the tunnels under the school, where Lizzie can trap them with a barrier spell. They’ll need bait, and M.G. wants to volunteer.
Lizzie protests, but he notes that she’s putting herself in danger today, too. Alaric approves the plan, since it’ll save the greatest number of students. A werewolf approaches them and Alaric sends Lizzie and M.G. off to get the others. He points a crossbow at the wolf, hoping he won’t have to use it.
Landon wants to move away from Lynn’s coin system, so he’s asking monsters to hand over something from their past that they need to let go of to move on. One gives him a pocket watch with someone’s picture in it, and Landon declares it good enough to earn a trip to peace. As he’s heading to the dock, he comes across Kaleb, who asks if he can hitch a ride back to life. He needs to get back to the school ASAP.
Cleo’s at Jen’s workshop, where she’s about to destroy all the remaining gods’ sarcophagi. Jen is there, chained up (“my dad’s having trust issues again – shocker”), and at first she thinks Cleo’s there to save her. Nope, sorry, she’s here to massacre your family.
Hope and Aurora duel, Hope with a sword and Aurora with the god spear. Hope also has magic, but since the god spear contains god magic, Hope’s is nullified. Aurora thinks that leaves them evenly matched, but Hope disagrees. Aurora slices her side and the red oak starts to enter her bloodstream, weakening her. Aurora tells her that it’s nature’s way of saying that Hope has overstayed her welcome.
In Savannah, Ethan watches a news report about a sudden electrical storm over Mystic Falls. He knows what it means, but Maya reminds him that it’s not his problem anymore. She reminds him that using his powers again could kill him. No matter how much he wants to help the squad, he won’t be able to do anything for them if he’s dead.
Ken’s on his way to join Aurora, so she’d like to finish off Hope. Hope echoes what Alaric said to Cleo about revenge not fixing the past or taking away the pain she’s felt. Aurora says that she spent centuries wanting Klaus’ love but only experienced his cruelty. She’s been caught in a cycle she couldn’t escape. Now she can. She raises the god spear above Hope, declaring, “His line ends with you. The last vestige of Klaus Mikaelson wiped from the world forever.”
She thrusts the spear at Hope, who grabs it just millimeters from her face. “He was pretty hard to get rid of,” she says. “So am I.” She kicks Aurora so hard that she flies backwards across the meadow. Hope gets up, telling Aurora that she pulled what “you old-timey people” would call a ruse. She immobilizes Aurora with magic and says it’s time to end this.
Ben finds Alaric as he’s covering the body of the werewolf he wound up having to kill. Ben’s wounded but isn’t healing. He says that Ken altered his curse, too – he made Ben mortal. Alaric wants to take him to the witches to get healed, but Ben guesses that Alaric’s trying to keep him from seeing who he killed. It’s Jed. Ben cries over his body, howling with grief.
Jen calls Cleo “frosty” for trying to kill her family. Cleo says she wanted to hurt Ken the way he hurt her. She didn’t think about the people she would be killing until she saw Jen. Jen acknowledges that Ken brings out the worst in everyone, including her. Cleo admits that she doesn’t know what to do with all her anger. What’s the point of being a Fury if it’s going to lead her down a path she doesn’t want to take?
Once Jen learns that Ken told Cleo she’s a Fury, she announces that this changes everything. Before Malivore, Furies were the only thing Ken feared. They have a connection to the minds of all gods. Cleo can take a peek inside Jen’s and see for herself.
Lizzie goes to a tunnel exit near where M.G. is hiding and lets him know that his plan worked. She tells him to follow the sound of her voice to get out so they can seal the exit. He says she should go ahead and seal it; he’ll find another way out. She can tell that something’s wrong, but he insists that he’s fine. She goes into the tunnel and sees that he’s not. He was bitten, and he’s in bad shape. There’s too much venom in his system for her to siphon, and he doesn’t think there’s enough time to get him to safety.
He wants her to leave so she doesn’t get trapped in there with the werewolves. He made a promise to protect her. She replies that that’s all he’s ever done. She wanted to protect him for once. He tells her she can be mad later, but she needs to go beat Ken right now. He’s sure she will, since she’s awesome. He’s always known that. The wolves are approaching, but Lizzie holds them off with some magic. When she turns back to M.G., he’s dead.
Hope approaches Aurora with the god spear, saying that the cycle of revenge just leads to more violence. That’s how Klaus lived, and she’s her father’s daughter. She raises the spear…then sticks it in the ground next to Aurora’s head. Hope says that violence isn’t all Klaus was capable of. She’s trusting her instincts that Aurora isn’t too far gone. People can change. Klaus had a side that Aurora never saw. He couldn’t make up for his past sins, but he still tried, so he wouldn’t only leave behind pain. Hope doesn’t want to leave that legacy, either. She offers Aurora her hand, telling her to break the cycle.
Ken arrives and is displeased to see that Hope is still alive. He asks if Aurora is having some doubts. She gives him the spear and says she, too, was pulling a ruse. The weapon works. Hope can’t believe that Ken sent Aurora into battle without knowing whether the spear would work on her. She asks Aurora not to do this. She knows Aurora has doubts.
Ken hushes her and tells her that she wasted her chance by showing Aurora mercy. Hope says it wasn’t a waste, even if Tristan or Klaus or Ken never saw that the cycle can be broken. Ken’s ready to kill the tribrid, so he and Hope grab their weapons and fly at each other.
Kaleb clears out the limbo bar so he and Landon can be alone when Landon sends him back. Landon says he can only resurrect someone once. His emotions will start changing and he’ll lose his empathy. Kaleb doesn’t want to ask that of him, but Landon’s willing to do it. The squad needs their dragon. They only get this one shot, so Kaleb needs to make it count. Just then, Jed and M.G. come in. Maybe they can get a three-for-one deal?
All the training Alaric has done with Hope is paying off in the meadow, where she’s putting up quite a fight. Ken tells her he got rid of her backups and no one’s coming to help her. He thinks he’s doing her a favor. She could have been worshiped as a god, but she chose to tie herself to “lesser creatures.” Her attachments made her weak. Hope protests that they made her stronger.
Ken shoots lightning at Hope, ready to end “the legend of the tribrid and the legacy of Klaus Mikaelson.” He’s bout to stab her with the god spear when Aurora zooms over and stands in front of her, taking the hit from the blade. Hope zooms her into the old mill to give her blood to heal her, but Aurora says it won’t work, since there’s god magic involved.
She confirms that she loved Klaus as much as she hated him. She wanted him to change for her, but she doesn’t think she was enough. Hope, however, was. Aurora saw in Hope what she couldn’t have. She’s sorry for their rivalry. Hope’s also sorry, both for what was done to Aurora and for not seeing this side of her sooner. “We’re all complicated, aren’t we?” Aurora says. She thinks Hope has the best parts of Klaus. Aurora did too little too late, but Hope can do more. She tells Hope to go finish the battle with Ken and never forget who she is. Then she desiccates in Hope’s arms.
Ken is impatient to get back to fighting Hope, but it’s Alaric and Ben who come after him next. Alaric can’t really think his crossbow will be effective against a god, but at least firing arrows at Ken will keep him occupied. Ben vows to make his father regret everything he’s done today and all the lives that have been lost. Ken replies that his only regret is not killing Ben sooner. He throws one of Alaric’s arrows at Ben, but Alaric jumps in front of him and gets hit instead.
Ken’s even more impatient now, wondering if “an old man and a former half-god” are the best the squad has. Lizzie arrives to show him that it’s not. He’s not scared of her, since she couldn’t contain his power the last time she tried to siphon it. She tells him she’s been practicing. She grabs his hand and yells for Ben to get Alaric to safety. She’s lured Ken into phosphorus and sulfur, the things the squad set up for the explosion.
Alaric stumbles as he and Ben are leaving, and he falls to the ground. “This is for M.G.,” Lizzie says as she prepares to detonate the explosion. Just then, Ethan phases in next to her. He’s going to keep the promise he made to protect her: “I’m Rescue Guy.” On the count of 3, he phases out with Lizzie, who detonates the explosion. She phases back in next to Alaric, but Ethan’s heroic act has left just his clothes behind.
What’s worse, Ken is still alive, though he’s been badly burned and would definitely be dead if he were human. Hope returns and tells the others to go someplace safe while she handles him. Ben and Alaric leave, but Lizzie won’t let Hope try to take on a god by herself. She gives Hope a power boost, saying that even though their sire bond is gone, the two of them are bonded for life.
Hope approaches Ken, who acknowledges that he underestimated her. It won’t happen again, though. No matter how weak he is now, she can’t kill him by herself. She’s going to try anyway, so he tells her she’ll die alone. Lizzie says she’s not alone and walks up to stand next to her. “Neither are you,” M.G. announces as he, Kaleb, and Jed suddenly appear. He repeats what Lizzie said earlier about Ken being the only one to die today.
Hope tells Ken that it’s his move. He’s not exactly worried about five teenagers taking him down, but that’s only because he doesn’t know what they’re capable of. Kaleb breathes fire at him, and though Ken’s magic is strong enough for him to easily deflect it, it’s a good distraction. Lizzie zooms over to siphon him again, yelling for someone to get the god spear. The guys run over and grab it, but Ken blasts everyone back with his power. “You are children!” he yells. “You cannot kill a god!” He raises the spear and javelins it at Hope.
It freezes before it hits her. “What treachery is this?” Ken asks. Cleo appears and takes the spear. “It is not treachery,” she tells him. “It is judgment – my judgment as a Fury.” He asks what she finds him guilty of. “You are a dick,” she replies. His punishment is…”her.” Hope zooms around so she’s behind Ken, noting that it takes god magic to kill a god. She kicks him backwards and he flies through the air until he’s impaled on his own spear. “I hope you rot in Hell,” she tells him. Actually, Hell was destroyed back in…okay, we’ll let her have this one. He turns to ash and explodes in light, leaving nothing behind.
The sky clears and the sun comes back out. Everyone hugs to celebrate their victory. In her workshop, Jen’s chains suddenly fall off and she realizes Ken is dead. “High five, Super Squad,” she says. Speaking of high, that’s what Jen’s going to get right now.
Everyone who was hurt in battle is gathered in the Great Hall for treatment. Ben sees that Alaric survived. He tells him that Ken is dead, and all the curses he’s ever placed are gone, too. Ben would be happier to be alive if Jed had also survived. Alaric is sorry about him, but Jed arrives just then and says he’s the one who should apologize. Alaric did what he needed to do to protect Lizzie and M.G. Alaric can’t hug Jed, since he’s out of commission with his arrow wound, but Ben happily does the honors.
Jed tells him that Landon sent him back from limbo. Knowing a god used to be in charge, Ben guesses that there was a price for that. Jed says that Landon paid it for them. Now Jed wants to pay it forward with the best life he can live. Judging from the kisses he shares with Ben next, that life will be with him.
M.G. is pleased to see a memorial for Ethan just like the one the students made for Kaleb. Ethan was never the most powerful person there, but he made the ultimate hero move. M.G. just wishes he could be with the squad to enjoy the world he helped save. He puts part of Ethan’s superhero disguise on the memorial and promises to never forget Rescue Guy or what he stood for. M.G. will stand for it, too.
Hope and Lizzie give Aurora a Viking/werewolf funeral at the dock. Hope thinks she deserves it because she loved Klaus (who was kind of a Viking) and made a big sacrifice. Lizzie says that Aurora was “a bad%$# b&^$%” who taught her that “complicated doesn’t mean broken.” Both girls hope she finds peace.
Landon had to put off sending the monster with the pocket watch to peace so he could help his friends, but now he’s ready to go. Unfortunately for the monster, Landon has one more friend to deal with. Ethan is in limbo, and he realizes pretty quickly that he’s dead.
Etc.: I know Kaylee Bryant had left the show by this point and they couldn’t just bring her back, but shouldn’t one of the characters have at least suggested that they get Josie to come help with the big battle? Freya and Vincent would have been pretty helpful, too.
Hope catching the god spear between her hands before it stabs her is just like Buffy catching Angel’s sword.
Why would the news in Savannah report a sudden storm in Virginia?
We don’t see Alaric while Jed and Ben are reuniting and making out, but I imagine him going, “Awww.”
An Eternity of Misery 