The Originals season 2 episode 8 review: The Brothers That Care Forgot

This review contains spoilers.

2.8 The Brothers That Care Forgot

Hey Rebekah, we missed you! Please stick around, The Originals is a better show with you in it.

Yes, this episode contained the long-awaited return of the blondest Mikaelson with baby Hope in tow, and it was a reminder of just how much The Originals lost when she drove away from town last season. There were plenty of great characters to pick up the slack, and Hayley’s personality certainly benefitted from the requirement to be a new female lead, but there’s something Claire Holt gives to that character that just can’t be replaced.

But despite the fanfare, Rebekah was actually a very small part of a great episode – one that kind of had the entire generation of originals working on the same team for the first time. Yes, rather than torture Kol and Finn for information after they were snagged by Marcel and Hayley last week, Elijah and Klaus decided that they would need their brothers if they were to stand a chance of defeating Esther.

Finn, as always, was reluctant to turn against his mother, but Kol was keen to jump ship onto a team with the upper hand. I’m so impressed by how The Originals has fleshed out these two characters to an extent where we understand their actions and motives implicitly. Finn was basically a cardboard cut-out before this season, but now he’s one of the best things about the show. I also never much cared for Kol before he started wearing Daniel Sharman’s face.

Klaus is going to need all the family he can get on his side, as something tells me Elijah isn’t going to be much help when it comes to crunch time. Esther’s dreams have done more damage than he’s admitting, and he’s basically now a paranoid sociopath with OCD. That’s not a good combination, as the diner kitchen full of dead bodies proved.

Speaking of Esther, we also learn that her kidnapping of Cami last week was actually just so she could prep her body for hijacking. Building her new family of subservient witches, Cami has been marked for Rebekah, which is all kinds of creepy given Klaus’ already twisted obsession with his sister and physical attraction to Cami. It would add a whole new uncomfortable level to things, but it must be tempting for the writers to get Rebekah back on the show full-time even without Claire Holt around as a regular cast member. I hope this is just a tease.

I’ve really warmed to Cami this season, but Davina has taken her place as the annoying extra with no place in the narrative. She exists just to get revenge on Klaus – a mission that has been chugging along for so long that I can’t even remember the reasons behind it anymore – but that quest basically makes her an antagonist at this point. The love story between her and Kol is mildly compelling, but not enough to compensate for everything else.

Thank god for Aiden and Josh, who are the one shining example of hope and romance that this show has left. Their “Romeo and Romeo” situation is so sweet and innocent, yet somehow works perfectly alongside the death, torture and betrayal that’s all around them. Maybe it works because of the show’s eternal misery – they’re finding a way to be together despite the odds stacked against them, a tale as old as time.

Less romantic is Hayley’s arranged union with Jackson, which they’re going through with so as to imbue the pack with her hybrid powers. It sounds like a good idea, but went a little too far when Jackson read the small print stating that they would have to honour the marriage “in every way” for it to work. That’s a lot of pressure, but I guess it fits in with the generally-backwards thinking the werewolves on this show subscribe to.

The next episode will include more Rebekah (yay!), and it looks like my initial wish for the show to keep Esther and Mikael around as villains for longer than the mid-season break is coming true. We have to wait until after Thanksgiving though, with the series returning on the 8th of December.

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Chasing The Devil’s Tail, here.

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