The Originals season 2 episode 12 review: Sanctuary

This review contains spoilers.

2.12 Sanctuary

Secrets are what keeps The Originals ticking – if we didn’t have secrets, we’d really have no where left to go. The thing is, with ancient bloodlines and immortal beings, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to accept that characters we’ve been watching for six years would have new things to reveal, but it’s the relationships between those characters that are the endlessly fascinating part.

Season two has so far made the most out of it’s newly completed Mikaelson family tree, resisting the urge to kill any of the siblings (well done show, I know that must have been difficult for you) and just wallowing in the opportunity to use their centuries-long bitterness and rivalry to aid the story along.

Because really, most of us could care less about what Finn’s actually up to, and it’s his twisted connection with Klaus, Elijah and, this week, Kol that keeps things from veering off into the ridiculous.

Which also applies to everything Klaus does – his paranoia fuelling everything, including the way he deals with the people he loves. Rebekah and Elijah are one thing, and Caroline another on The Vampire Diaries, but his initially uneasy partnership with Hayley has grown into one of the show’s most complex dynamics.

Hope is the only real thing other than himself that Klaus has ever had to take care of, and he’s realising that he can’t just shove Hayley in a box until she does what he says. Her marriage to Jackson is inconvenient for him, but what this episode showed was that he’d rather make sure of Jackson’s intentions than stop the wedding altogether.

Jackson now knows the full story, which makes him more dangerous to have around, but that Klaus would allow it speaks volumes about his rarely unwavering trust in Hayley. I also don’t see Jackson dying at the hands of any of our regulars, since season two has made a huge effort to get us to like him.

And I really, really hope the show doesn’t try to make Klaus and Hayley into something potentially romantic, because it’s been so well done so far, and The Originals‘ willingness to keep them platonic is what separates it from The Vampire Diaries. We already have a love triangle, we don’t need it to become a square.

But Jackson has his own secrets to tell, as he’s been teasing for the last couple of weeks – it turns out his grandfather was the one who killed Hayley’s parents back in the day. As much as I love Hayley and don’t hate this storyline, though, it’s hard to care when The Originals starts dealing with the rivalries of the characters’ ancestors. Regret is a big thematic element of the show, but so is forgiveness, and we’ve forgiven a lot worse.

The prominence of Hayley just highlights how desperately we need Rebekah around, so thankfully she escaped her witchy-prison this week, returning to Klaus in one of those wonderful moments that shows off the Mikaelson family bond. Klaus immediately recognises that it’s his sister, despite the new face, and we’re now gearing up to deal with another returning family member.

Going back to the aforementioned well of secrets, the invention of a brand new sibling this season has gone down surprisingly well. It helps that Freya is as maniacal and off-kilter as the rest of the bunch, and I really hope this is a way for the show to just introduce a new female character into the mix rather than shoehorn in another villain. Cami and Davina are fine but, not being family, they too often feel peripheral.

But, with all but one of the siblings now in New Orleans, it’s time to worry about who’s going to be the first to die (such is The Originals‘ way) and, after this week, Kol’s looking like the favourite. They’ve eradicated the safety net of being able to jump bodies rather than dying for real, and I’ve been worried about Daniel Sharman’s presence on the show ever since Finn was made a regular without him.

Next week we deal with Marcel’s disappearance and, with Kol more defenceless than ever and Finn knowing about Hope, Klaus has got his hands full.

Read Caroline’s review of Gonna Set Your Flag On Fire, here.

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