The Originals episode 17 review: Moon Over Bourbon Street

This review contains spoilers.

1.17 Moon Over Bourbon Street

So, Rebecca’s gone, and she left a sizeable space to fill. This episode of The Originals, weirdly placed ahead of a four-week hiatus but set a massive two months after Rebekah’s departure, attempted to fill that space with more scheming, new factions and a concerted effort by Elijah to put a stopper in the chaos and reach an understanding. After what happened to his family a couple of weeks ago, this is just as much to save his own skin as it is to bring peace to the city for everyone else, but that doesn’t mean the treaty seen at the end of the episode is going to last for very long.

There’s just too much bad blood between everyone, pointed out quite succinctly by Hayley and Elijah’s party, and if the werewolves are seeking revenge on the vampires then the witches and humans also have to eradicate their rivals. That sort of inevitability makes great TV, of course, and Moon Over Bourbon Street was a very effective reboot for a show that, barely out of its infancy, has lost a strong character and a driving force. The main casualty of this has been Marcel, who is completely lost now that his love interest has skipped town, but, though I hate to admit it, Klaus and Elijah are working well as a duo even without their voice of reason.

The bookending voiceover recaps made everything feel a little more ‘epic’ than it may have done otherwise, and the focus on originals vs. vampires vs. werewolves vs. witches vs. humans is finally coming to the forefront without the distraction of the Mikaelsons’ own familial issues. The two month time jump, though odd and initially alienating, also made the statement that, even though the show is acknowledging what a huge loss they’ve suffered, there’s plenty of good stuff to come. With Rebekah gone, if anything, there’s much more room for supporting players to get involved.

And that’s largely what the episode was about, with Davina, Cami, Hayley and Marcel all getting their own storylines. It was an hour stuffed to the gills with set-up, without a lot of the usual exposition that has plagued the series up until now, and there are multiple things to get excited about. Davina, back from the dead and training with her fellow Harvest returnees, regains her power after some kind words from Josh and sticks it to Monique in a way that feels more than a little high school, while Cami and Marcel come together in their loneliness and Hayley reconnects with her lost family. It’s all great, and demonstrates what a great collection of characters this is.

The werewolves are the newest addition to the show and, with Hayley as their de facto leader, they promise to be big players in the upcoming war. Slightly peeved at the witches for cursing them, and indulging in that age-old mythical rivalry with the vampires, they have more beef than anyone else and, with the problem of Hayley’s hybrid baby laying in wait to cause a ruckus down the line, I can see them becoming the new main villains of the show. We also get a love triangle with Elijah, Hayley and Jackson, even if it’s pretty clear where the audience’s loyalties should lie. Klaus, though appearing to be doing nothing to help Elijah control New Orleans, has even recognised this and offered Jackson a deal.

So, with the politics of The Originals being brought to the fore and the other, less interesting, business with Klaus’ daddy issues pushed back to a later date, it’s clear we have nothing to worry about. It’s been slowly proven since the beginning of the show that Hayley is good enough and likeable enough to become the show’s female lead and, without all of our main characters (discounting Cami, who has never really taken off, and Davina, who has been missing for a while) in one creature category, the debate over who gets control over New Orleans is suddenly a lot more interesting with a lot more at stake. Hopefully, that’s enough to tide us over until the show returns on April 15^th – see you in four weeks!

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Farewell To Storyville, here.

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