Thursday, October 3, 2013

'The Originals' 1.01 "Always and Forever" Review


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I’ll admit that, inspite of the magical baby wank last season, I was still excited for the proper premiere of The Originals.  The backdoor pilot was almost entirely flawless so that only makes me all the more disappointed in the recut version with new scenes that they aired tonight.



I get it that they want new viewers to tune in for this.  For those who either checked out of The Vampire Diaries when for many it started to sink, or people who don’t watch the mothership show at all you need to set the gameboard up for them.  However, this cut really doesn’t endear you to many characters the way the backdoor pilot on TVD did.  Alright, maybe a new viewer would be endeared to Elijah, but for those of us that already know Elijah this impression of him only makes me remember how badass he used to be... until they decided to make him obsessed with honor.  Remember season two of The Vampire Diaries?  Elijah was all on board with ending Klaus when he would have been at his weakest, but then he just couldn’t do it.  From then on Gillies’ schedule and the whims of the producers gave Elijah a good old woobify. Let’s be real everyone suffered similar characterization fates after that but this won’t turn into a TVD rant, I promise.

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Back to their attempt to endear new viewers to this wacky family. It would be far more helpful if oh…they actually had screen time!  Klaus, Rebekah, and Marcel are all rarely seen in this new cut, as it’s firmly The Elijah Show.  There is very little sympathy for the devil given to Klaus in this cut.  As a result, he comes off as the whiny little baby that he is at his worst and considering that it’s Klaus who’s meant to be the anti-hero of this series I can’t see new viewers liking him at all right now.  Also the lack of Marcel was upsetting. Yeah I get that we’re in the same time frame as the backdoor pilot but he really was one of the elements that made it truly awesome.  New viewers get the basic idea that he’s the bad guy for the piece but little else and I feel that’s a mistake when Charles Michael Davis is filled to the brim with suave charm.


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We also got to see a bunch more of the witches in this cut, and right now Sophie comes off as quite the stone cold bitch.  But let’s face it, you’d have to be when in this situation dealing with hybrids, vampires, and magic babies. I could also see several fans rooting for her death considering it’s revealed that the spell that led to her sister’s death also connected her and Hayley.  She’s like a human voodoo doll in her own way now and we all know how strongly people feel about harming Hayley since the pregnancy story broke. We’re also introduced to Marcel’s secret weapon who was only briefly teased in the backdoor pilot.  It’s a young witch named Devina who can sense when the other witches do magic. She also seems to genuinely care about Marcel so I’m eager to see how their relationship formed in the coming episodes.

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The highlight for the episode was obviously the end and hopefully, if there were new viewers tuning in, that is what will keep them coming back.  Klaus being the big ol’ bastard that he is and daggering Elijah because he’s a weakness that Marcel can exploit made me cheer after a long drab episode.  I can’t help but wonder just how long Elijah is going to stay daggered considering he’s all over the promotional art.  It’ll be a bit disappointing if he’s only down until the next episode.  I also can’t wait for Rebekah to show up as she said goodbye to Matt and Mystic Falls earlier tonight on The Vampire Diaries.  Klaus and Rebekah’s relationship has always been a favorite of mine, ever since she came into the mix in season three, so they’re the pair I’m really excited for.



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I really feel like the returning viewer was neglected tonight in this rehash of information featuring Elijah.  Other than the extreme Elijah fangirls that is so I can’t help but wonder if I wasn’t the only one feeling extremely bored tonight.  Maybe that dagger will knock some of that honor out of his system and leave us with someone a bit more fun, fun equaling a thirst for vengeance in this world of course, as the show moves forward.

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