The Originals episode 6 review: Fruit Of The Poisoned Tree

This review contains spoilers.

1.6 Fruit of the Poisoned Tree

I may have sounded positive about The Originals last week, but this week I’ve gone from tentative hope for future episodes to openly declaring this as my favourite hour of the week. Fruit of the Poisoned Tree wasn’t just an improvement on the past five weeks’ mixed results – it was exactly what I’ve wanted from the show. And, though I might be leaning heavily on this point, it’s almost definitely because Elijah was back. In just one hour, he showed off all of the reasons he’d be a better protagonist for The Originals than Klaus, and I’m more confident than ever that this show can work.

I was worried Elijah would be stuck as the perpetual Jiminy Cricket of the show, forever whispering in Klaus’ ear about restraint and honour, but here we finally got to see him lose his composure – and it was glorious. I guess all it takes is a genuine threat to his family and, with Sophie now magically unlinked from Hayley, I really do fear for her wellbeing. Before we get there, however, we get to spend some quality time with the Mikaelsons as a trio, just chilling at vampire book club. Elijah has decided not to take his brother’s betrayal to heart, and there’s a temporary truce between them.

On Vampire Diaries, the pairings tended to be Klaus/Rebekah and Rebekah/Elijah, so we never really did get to see much of the bond between Elijah and Klaus. Now, however, we’re informed by their little sister that these two have actually been close throughout while she’s commonly acted as the outsider. This might be a bit of hasty rewriting so that the dynamics are fit for purpose (there’s no mention of their other two siblings, for example), but that suits me just fine. I’m looking forward to seeing how these two cope with being together for an extended period of time.

The main threat of the episode was a magical miscarriage curse injected into Sophie by the elder witch, which in turn cursed Hayley. I’m consistently impressed that, despite simply being the thing everyone needs to protect, Hayley has become a character that can hold her own against other, much more loved crossover characters from Vampire Diaries. I can’t have been the only one who rolled their eyes at the prospect of more Hayley on The Originals, but I now I couldn’t imagine the series without her. She’s also providing the show’s primary love connection, which wasn’t well hidden while she and Elijah were hugging in that pool.

The curse was lifted by Davina after Elijah left her a magical knot to unravel and, unbeknownst to her, this also severed the link between Hayley and Sophie. How Sophie now fits into things, I’m not sure, but I don’t think many people would have a problem if she were the first main cast member to die. Elijah’s massacre in the church proved that The Originals isn’t afraid of killing seemingly important characters, as his promise to Sophie that Klaus wouldn’t kill the elder witch manifested in him doing the deed himself. I may have already said it, but I really do love Elijah.

Marcel might have had a quiet week, but he provided our cliffhanger when, upon discovering through Rebekah (post-sexy times) where Klaus is actually living, came and kidnapped Hayley. This new threat to Hayley demonstrated how much each of the Mikaelson’s has invested in their new friend, and it’s not just because she’s carrying their future daughter/niece. Klaus feel they are kindred spirits, Elijah has romantic intentions and Rebekah may actually have found a female friend at last. It’s nice, and means that keeping Hayley around might still make sense once the baby is born.

I’m still not sure where the storyline with Cami and her brother is going, but her threat to reverse Klaus’ compulsion at any cost probably means that she’ll voluntarily become a vampire. Her outburst seemed to quell any hopes of a romance between either her and Klaus or her and Marcel, and that’s good news as far as I’m concerned. I don’t mind her as a character, and the storyline with her twin and her uncle is relatively compelling, but I’m just not on board for any romantic interest for Klaus right now. With Tyler set to visit New Orleans, it’s safe to say he’ll be a little preoccupied. See you next week!

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Sinners and Saints, here.

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