The Vampire Diaries “The Originals” 

I don’t read spoilers but I do read the trades, so I knew going in that somehow Hayley would fit into The Originals backdoor pilot (which is what last night’s episode of The Vampire Diaries was, in case you weren’t looped on that—in the simplest terms that means TPTB used their existing series to set up a possible spinoff and it counted as an episode of their show) but the how of it was a surprise.

So, we bookend visits to Mystic Falls where the Salvatores are drying out Elena but the rest of the episode is set in a vampire Disneyland version of New Orleans. Klaus is there to track down Jane-Anne, the witch Katherine suggested he visit, but he doesn’t get a chance to speak with her because his protégé, Marcel, who’s now large and in charge in New Orleans, kills her in front of him.

Klaus goes to see her sister, Sophie, and doesn’t get many answers there but Elijah (who’s been clued in on Klaus’s trip and goes with Rebekah’s hope that maybe the witches will kill Klaus for them) does, and he soon summons Klaus to come hear for himself why he’s there. Turns out his one night stand with Hayley has resulted in an impossible (but apparently not) pregnancy, which the witch’s radar detected as a wholly new creature. They have Hayley in their custody and she confirms that they’re right and then we don’t see her again. Klaus is incredulous but Elijah is downright giddy at the prospect of a Mikaelson heir. So Klaus does what Klaus does and says he wants none of it and the witches can kill her if they want and then he runs away.

He snits out and goes to see Marcel, and tries to be the bigger dog by biting one of his minions but then he thinks better of it when Sophie tells him that if he wants New Orleans to go back to what it was when he left it 100 years prior, he’s going to have to get on the inside of Marcel’s current crew. So Klaus slinks back and opens a vein to save the minion and everyone is happy.

And then, to appease the Caroline/Klaus fans, he leaves Caroline a voicemail and tells her he wishes she was there with him.

Back in Mystic Falls, Elijah goes home and breaks up with Katherine, who’s unhappy that he’s chosen his family over a future with her and the Salvatores sneak vervain into the blood bag they offer Elena and she essentially tells them “game on, bitches” if they still think they’re going to break her. And that’s it.

So, what of the players who’d jump to a spinoff?

First up, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) is a vampire Klaus sired who ascended to power when Klaus left New Orleans in 1913. There’s an initial tense fakeout when they first meet up again but then it’s all hugs and smiles until Klaus realizes that Marcel’s gone power-mad in a way not all that unfamiliar to him, and he likely can’t be trusted. Marcel never mentions the white oak stake so we have to assume he believes he can’t kill Klaus but he seems to relish the opportunity to mess with him nonetheless.

Sophie (Daniella Pineda, and casting tripped me up here because I really couldn’t tell her apart from Malaya River Drew, who played Jane-Anne, at first) is stepping into her sister’s position of power in the coven and going straight after Marcel, with Klaus as an ally. So she has a definite arc set up by the episode.

Camille (Leah Pipes) is the new bartender at the bar after Jane-Anne is killed and Marcel surprises her in the street and she mouths off at him so he lets her live, and then she later meets Klaus and drops some psych student analysis on him before he disappears, so I think she’s the setup for a human element to the show but I’d bet there’s more to her than grad student/bartender.

Aside from them, we’d have Klaus, Elijah, and Hayley. For now, Rebekah says she’s not interested and is staying in Mystic Falls so we’ll have to see whether that would hold later.

As for the whole pregnancy arc—well, I’m surprised it took them four seasons to knock someone up. I can’t see everybody taking turns babysitting come next season if the spinoff goes, so I’d say expect the rapid aging common to soaps (and Twilight and Angel) and the growing pains that go with that. It’s certainly the last thing Klaus expected and when Elijah throws it up at him that it’s family—all he ever wanted—he’s not wrong, but daddy Klaus is a terrifying prospect. It would certainly give Joseph Morgan something to actually do (even if this episode itself didn’t really showcase how badass Klaus really is).

We’re back to regularly scheduled programming next week with the last three episodes of the season. We should find out next month if The Originals gets picked up as a series of its own. The ratings bode well for it to happen.

UPDATE: The CW greenlit The Originals this afternoon.