'The Originals' 2.02 "Alive and Kicking" Review

CW

This week The Originals wastes no time letting the Mikaelson family know about each other’s existence… for the most part anyway.  

The only person who has every piece of the puzzle right now is Kol, who is quite the wildcard.  This episode really showed that Kol isn’t fond of really anyone in his family, even his mother.  You could probably argue that he especially dislikes his mother as it’s implied he was into witchcraft before he was made vampire, an act which would have taken all that away. He and Finn’s true identities will probably remain a secret for a while longer due to their connections with Cami and Davina respectively. Kol also had some nice flashbacks this episode where we got the best of both worlds by getting the original Kol (Nathaniel Buzolic) back for those. They felt a bit shoehorned in however, around what has already been shown in the previous season. Some day I’d like to see someone take all of the Original family-centric flashbacks from here and The Vampire Diaries and try to watch them in chronological order.

CW

Although the flashbacks in this episode appeared at first to be mostly about Kol, the events in the scenes actually showed what shaped Elijah’s and Marcel’s relationship.  In season one they really didn’t like each other and we now know that was for the most part a put-on by Elijah.   Elijah was mentoring Marcel and their bond pushed Klaus away which triggered him to undagger the very unstable Kol.  In the end I really loved how they continue to emphasize that, to Klaus, Marcel is as much a part of the family as any of them. It really is a shame Elijah pushed Marcel away back then for Klaus’ own good, and I hope that this season brings a positive change toward their relationship. Perhaps there’s a glimmer of that influence still in the way that Marcel’s vampire methods are more reasonable and well thought out than Klaus.

CW

Seeing Elijah sacrifice one relationship for the well-being of his brother in the past reinforced his current decision to do his damnedest to push Hayley away. At this point in her hybrid struggle she needs someone like Klaus who doesn’t put her on a pedestal. Also, surprisingly enough Klaus isn’t ordering her around, instead he’s having her make her own decisions for her pack.  So I’m eager to see how their relationship develops over the season, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a romantic way.