The Originals episode 14 review: Long Way Back From Hell

This review contains spoilers.

1.14 Long Way Back From Hell

The return of The Originals was a strange one if, like me, you are prone to forgetting exact circumstances of complicated cliffhangers. As if the Winter Olympics never happened, Long Way Back From Hell continued from exactly where we had left off – with Klaus and Rebekah kidnapped by Celeste’s cronies and Elijah feeling a tad guilty about saving Hayley over his own flesh and blood. Guilty and angry Mikaelsons have become the status quo at this point and, while Elijah took care of the former, Klaus definitely fits into the latter category now that Rebekah’s deepest, darkest secret has been unveiled.

Yet the news that she and Marcel had conspired to bring Michael to New Orleans back in the day didn’t have the impact that I’m sure the writers had hoped, and the big problem with this episode were the reactions of the characters to this newest betrayal. Sure, Klaus didn’t like his dad much and would have been peeved to learn that his sister had intentionally brought his to town in the hopes of getting rid of him, but we know that it’s pretty standard for this family to commit such treachery on a weekly basis. We also met Michael back on The Vampire Diaries and, contrary to what we’re told, he wasn’t so bad.

Unfortunately, that’s going to be a problem for a few weeks yet, with Klaus on the warpath, Rebekah on Marcel on the run and Elijah tasked with explaining his actions to Hayley and her unborn Mikaelson offspring. The episode itself was another great example of flashbacks being made interesting and relevant to the present-day action, with Rebekah running around an abandoned hospital from her past and running into everything from influenza-riddled living corpses and creepy hallway twins, but it didn’t fill in as many blanks as I had hoped going in. These guys have been alive for a long time, and I’m certain – heck I’ve seen – that they’ve committed worse crimes against each other.

But, ignoring this niggle, what we’re left with is a fractured family of ruthless originals intent on destroying one or both of their siblings. Before Klaus had the chance to plunge the torture dagger (is anyone clear on exactly what that does?) into Rebekah, Elijah swept in like a hero, intervened and instead stabbed Klaus in the heart. Now we know that there would be no Originals without Klaus running around so, assuming it’s not too long before said dagger is removed, should Elijah also be running for the hills? He doesn’t seem like the type, of course, and it’s not knowing how the three of them will now exist that made the episode’s cliffhanger feel as big as it did.

I’m still not sure about Celeste as our big bad this year, given than her minions have so far been much more entertaining and effective than she herself has been, but her involvement with the werewolves and, by extension, Hayley means that it’s not just the Mikaelsons she has to worry about. Despite looking increasingly pregnant (I’m not entirely sure of the timeline here, so we’re going off belly-size), Hayley held her own this week and went after Celeste solo, obviously hoping she can do something to lift the curse from her werewolf family. I’d quite like to see that guy from last week back, if I’m honest, and I suspect we’ll be seeing more of them before the season wraps up.

Next week is more of the same, with Elijah enlisting the help of the witches to find Celeste, Klaus confiding to Cami about how mean his brother and sister are to him, and Rebekah and Marcel plotting to take down the witches with a few friends roped in to help. Welcome back The Originals! We missed your crazy antics.  

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Crescent City, here.

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