The Originals season 2 episode 15 review: They All Asked For You

This review contains spoilers.

2.15 They All Asked For You

The introduction of body-switching on The Originals always had to be more than a mere convenience for the audience to buy into it. Yes, it’s handy to be able to keep characters like Rebekah around even when Claire Holt is perusing other projects, or to have the option of recasting previously dull characters like Finn, but it would have been a complete waste if the show hadn’t also woven its ramifications into the narrative.

This week we saw that happen with the revelation that Rebekah’s new body is actually that of Eva St. Claire – child murderer and general bad guy. This leaves her with several dilemmas, not least of which is the apparent night-time excursions she’s apparently been unaware of since she body-jumped.

If I understood that final scene correctly, Eva St. Claire has been resurfacing while Rebekah sleeps, absorbing young witches’ powers while also inconveniently leaving dead bodies in her wake.

None of this is making Rebekah very popular with those unaware of the new arrangement and, as Elijah reminds her in the episode, she’s not as invincible as she once was. For some reason, the increased chance of Rebekah actually being killed or maimed puts me on edge, even if I’m pretty sure the show will always keep her around in some form.

Despite trying to keep it from him for the sake of awkwardness, Marcel has worked out the situation for himself, and so the stalled romance between him and Rebekah has seemingly resumed. I had to laugh at the show’s apparent awareness that sex in someone else’s body would be icky and wrong and raise consent issues, when it’s part of a franchise that frequently has its heroes magically compel teenage girls into bed.

In order to get the witches off of Rebekah’s back, then, Elijah takes Gia to see Josephine, an “eccentric old bat with no love for vampires” played by Meg Foster (Mrs Grunwald from Pretty Little Liars). She has a few choice words for Elijah about the chaos and bloodshed the original family has brought to New Orleans over the past two years, and she’s not wrong, but Gia’s musical prowess and “candour” eventually win her over.

She asks for Vincent’s body, which means that Finn has to be expelled in some way. Freya does the honours, absorbing his essence into a mysterious necklace that’s given no immediate explanation. I wonder who Vincent is, now that we know Eva wasn’t the nicest person before being inhabited? Could we possibly see him become a character separate from Finn, with Finn presumably put into another witch at some point down the line?

Really, I just want Daniel Sharman back, but we can’t have everything in life.

We’ve certainly hit the pause button on Hayley and Elijah’s fraught romance, with the latter enjoying some quality time with Gia and the former apparently giving her arranged marriage with Jackson a real shot. They’d already become good friends and allies, but this week saw him finally win her over romantically with some top-notch parenting skills. It’s something Klaus lacks, and Hayley may be starting to realise she’s in exactly the right place.

One thing everyone agrees on is that Hope is the priority, but the ways Jackson and Klaus approach this couldn’t be more different. Jackson’s loyalties are with Hayley and the rest of his werewolf family, while Klaus simply wants Hope safe, regardless of what happens to those around her. This leads him to approach Aiden, planting seeds of doubt into his mind about who would make the best leader.

Aiden isn’t an idiot, as we’ve known since his introduction, so it’s great to see him consider what Klaus is saying while also acknowledging that it’s all a tactic to overthrown Jackson and bring Hayley back to the fold. What Klaus isn’t considering, obviously, is that Hayley probably has the most power in this situation, and she isn’t going to be manipulated so easily.

It could all change when Dahlia comes to town, and Freya’s request that they all work together in order to go up against her gives us an idea of the stakes. We’re drowning in villains on The Originals right now, but this might just be the start of season two’s big bad arc.

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, I Love You, Goodbye, here.

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