Breaking It All Down, The Originals “Girl in New Orleans” 

You have to hand it to the teams behind The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. They don’t let the mysteries linger — they prefer their storylines move fast. Last night’s episode of The Originals, “Girl in New Orleans,” took some huge werewolf leaps ahead in the story. As a recap, let’s just take a look at where we are now with everyone, four episodes into the pilot season.

War in the Quarter

The witches, werewolves and vampires have been at war for, apparently, a long time. Ever since the Originals left New Orleans over a hundred years ago.  Marcel has set up a little dictatorship for himself, run the werewolves out of the Quarter and kept the witches under his thumb with the help of a secret weapon: Davina.

Davina is 16 years old, cute, sweet and, oh yeah, a witch with unspeakable power. Things like fortifying Marcel’s strength, making blood boil within the veins and causing a hurricane inside a church. This little button of a girl is hunted by her own kind and has a protector in Marcel. Hiding her away in the attic of St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Marcel uses Davina when he needs her and keeps her hidden away the rest of the time. In “Girl in New Orleans,” we learned Davina was once a normal girl in high school with crushes and friends and the whole teen dream. Like any teen with too much time and power on her hands, she’s getting antsy as Marcel’s lockaway. Whose side she’s really on and what she wants remains to be seen.

War with the Originals

Klaus, never one to sit back when someone is playing with his toys, is in full on domination mode. Set on ruling New Orleans again, he’s pulling strings behind Marcel’s back to regain the title of king. He’s infiltrated Marcel’s army with his own compelled vampires and controlling Cami, Marcel’s very human date. Now that Klaus has learned of Davina, he wants her too.

Last night, he managed to get in Davina’s ear with some good old fashioned mayhem. Using her cute violinist friend Tim (Pretty Little Liars star Shane Coffey) as leverage, Klaus threw Tim over a balcony after Davina had her witch-y temper tantrum, making it look like Davina had nearly killed him. Convincing Davina to let him heal Tim in exchange for a favor, Klaus has now planted the seed that maybe she should switch alliances. Oh, that tricky Klaus!

It’s worth noting here that Klaus also needs Davina’s help to get his daggered brother Elijah back. But more on that after we get to Cami….

 

Cami’s secret revealed

I am sorry we didn’t get to see more of Cami just as a regular old oblivious human before Klaus figured out her usefulness. The psychologist/bartender has caught both Marcel and Klaus’s eye and has some of her own secrets. I did appreciate her calling it like it is with Klaus as he is spilling his guts to her.

Klaus: I want to help both of these women, protect one and free the other. So tell me, Cami. Does that sound evil to you?

Cami: I don’t believe in evil as a diagnosis. I think you have unstable personal relationships, stress-related paranoia, chronic anger issues, fear of abandonment. I think you could benefit from talking to someone. Professionally.

Well said, sister. The episode cracks Cami wide open when we learn why Cami doesn’t believe in evil as a diagnosis. Cami’s whole reason for being in New Orleans is to solve the mystery behind why her twin brother, a seminary student, would suddenly massacre nine other seminary students. In the same church Davina is hiding out in. Coincidence?

Klaus is enjoying using Cami as his compelled puppet against Marcel because, as he says, he likes her and the way her mind works. Cami now knows everything, but can only remember it when she’s looking at Klaus and no one else is around. When Cami starts to put together that a vampire could have been behind her brother’s rampage, Klaus takes away the memory to get her to focus. But not before Cami pleads wtih him to keep her memories and bringing them both to tears.

Elijah is out of the box and Rebekah just wants out.

Rebekah has made it pretty clear she’s not interested in the war, helping Klaus or sticking around the Quarter. Sparks are flying between her and her ex, Marcel. But family ties have their drawbacks and when she learns that Marcel and Davina are holding Elijah captive, so she stays in town to plot his rescue. She’s not afraid to use her relationship with Marcel as a tool and with some snooping and the Internet, she figures out where Elijah is held captive. Elijah, daggered no more, telepathically lets Rebekah in on his own plan and would rather stay in the attic to study Davina. The question is will Elijah’s plan interfere with Klaus’? Elijah makes Rebekah swear to protect Hayley and her unborn child.

Which leads us to…

Hayley and the vampire/werewolf hybrid spawn

After a seemingly innocent one night stand (are they ever?), Klaus impregnates Hayley the werewolf with his child. Since then, Hayley’s life has been a bit tense. First captured by the New Orleans witches as leverage over Klaus, she’s used as a pawn for her child. Now residing with the Originals, Hayley is playing the waiting game to figure out exactly what she’s got cooking in her oven. Elijah, always the family man, is sure this child is the rebirth of their family and their road to salvation and peace. Rebekah, loyal to Elijah, is willing to protect Hayley and the child. Klaus hasn’t quite picked up the fatherly instinct yet. Little by little, he’s warming to the idea of fatherhood, but it takes a backseat to his plan to divide and conquer over Marcel. He definitely doesn’t share Elijah’s vision of family picnics and toddler birthday parties with the whole family around the table.

Hayley, on the other hand, is dealing with some of her own issues. While the witches have sworn to protect her, a faction within their ranks have different ideas. Their belief that the child is evil leads to a midnight attack on Hayley while she’s out in the bayou for a check-up with the witch doctor. Hayley and Rebekah both end up with arrows through them, but a mystery champion tears the attack party literally to shreds while they are unconscious. Hayley has a wolf on her tail (pun intended) and it seems to be a protective one.

Whew. Got all that? Werewolf babies, angsty teen witches, and Klaus all the while pulling on some heavy strings. With Elijah back in the mix next week, things are sure to go up a notch.

Watch The Originals Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.