The Originals season 2 episode 2 review: Alive And Kicking

This review contains spoilers.

2.2 Alive And Kicking

I always hated Kol. On a show (The Vampire Diaries that is) full of characters I either absolutely adore or violently dislike, Kol was definitely in the latter category. But that was then. Now? Call me fickle but Kol might be one of favourite characters on The Originals.

That’s good, too, since the littlest Original looks set to play a huge part in season two. This episode was basically all about re-introducing him to new viewers and, despite some little anomalies I’m sure existing Kol fans will be able to point out, it did a good job of pitching him to sceptical people like me.

Of course, I was already much more on board with the character after discovering he’s now wearing Daniel Sharman’s face, and that’s even truer after Alive And Kicking.

Everything points to him becoming a regular Mikaelson on the show, including the complete lack of effort (as always) to make Finn an equivalently important presence. Then you have the secrecy surrounding Sharman’s casting, an entire episode dedicated to discussing where his allegiances might lie and the lengthy flashbacks detailing exactly what level of beef lies between him, Klaus and Elijah.

His decision to keep Mikael a secret from Esther and Finn just solidifies that thought, and it probably won’t be long before he develops real feelings for Davina and switches sides.

That’s if Davina stays where she is, and doesn’t allow herself to be converted by Mikael. He’s under her control right now but, as his mini-rampage in this episode demonstrated, a lot of people are going to die when he gets out. If she really willing to risk that when she finds out how to unlink Marcel and Josh?

We know Klaus isn’t going to die – not just for The Originals’ sake but also because then Stefan, Damon, Elena, Caroline and Tyler would also snuff it on Vampire Diaries – but we can be sure there’ll be bloodshed. He’s still less of a threat than Esther, though, what with her werewolf army and magical upper hand. We just need Kol to rebel in order to even up the playing field, and then the war can begin anew.

Something else the flashbacks decided was a thing this week was the Elijah/Marcel relationship, which had been left very ill-defined up until now. We know that Marcel spent most of his childhood and adolescence with the family, viewing Klaus as a father-figure and Rebekah as a future love interest, but now we see that Elijah was basically the cool uncle, educating him with art and culture while Klaus and Kol were out mass-murdering and daggering each other.

That was until he realised that Klaus needed a plaything in order to keep his worse instincts in check (see also: Tyler and the hybrids), and so palmed Marcel off to become the monster he eventually turned into. This would have been sadder if we had seen more of their dynamic previously, but it did serve to add a believable obstacle between Elijah and Hayley. He has been unable to help her with her grief thus far, but she and Klaus have understandably formed a connection. Klaus’ help with the werewolves was genuine, as is his growing (platonic) affection for the mother of his lost child, and that forced Elijah to take a step back. And because these guys don’t do half-measures, that translates into him cutting ties entirely.

I worried last week that the show would burn through too much of its story in the first few episodes, but my fears have now been somewhat allayed. Now that the brothers know about the return of both of their parents – but, besides Kol, they don’t know about each other – this can only conceivably take us through to the mid-season break, but it just feels like the aftermath of this has more legs than anything introduced and discarded last season. Who knew that what The Originals needed was more original vampires?

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

Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.