The Originals "Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire" Review: Great Barrier Beefs
The Originals S02E10: "Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire"
For many teenagers, the lock-in party is a rite of passage. (Or a nightmare, depends on your clique affiliation.) But for the most part they're intended to keep teenagers safe. Lock-in parties are basically just parents admitting, "We know you want to horse off and play grab-butt all night, but at least this way we can keep you separated from alcohol and moving vehicles." And even though this is a behavior-control tactic that can work for human teenagers, who are mostly monsters, things don't go so smoothly when there are literal monsters involved. On this week's long-awaited return of The Originals, the lion's share of French Quarter vampires and werewolves were barricaded inside the Mikaelson compound with nothing to do except drink and possibly eat each other. (There was also at least one hookup, because duh.) In other words, a lock-in party actually worth attending.
"Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire" was the first new episode in what felt like one thousand years, and are you sitting down? Finn was the most important character of the episode. Yup, now that Esther's been turned into a vampire against her will, her deeply unchill oldest child is now the baddest witch in town. He was the one responsible for putting a magic force-field around Casa Mikaelson, and he did it using some surprisingly insane magic: Turning Mikael (and later Esther) into corpses from which he drew power. Even though this latest incarnation of Finn hadn't been my favorite Mikaelson, there was something almost Shakespearean about the way he anguished over Esther's transition into a vampire; he'd followed her anti-vampire teachings with something approaching blind zealotry, yet here she was actively choosing to become a vampire. Maybe he'll actually start behaving as his own person now? It's not clear what exactly he plans to do next, but credit where credit's due: That force-field spell was such a doozy nobody deactivated it by episode's end. He clearly knows his stuff.
Klaus' greatest achievement in this episode—aside from preventing Josh from murdering Aiden—was doling out relationship advice to Hayley. Being alive for a thousand years may turn someone into a vengeance-fueled demon at times, but it also leads to a world of wisdom in matters of the heart. In this case Hayley had been grappling with whether to marry Jackson for diplomatic reasons or continue shirtless-hugging her actual love, Elijah. But guess what? Klaus is kingdom-minded, and to that end he declared that true bonds are founded not on true love, but on "the decency of merciful lies." That is some heartbreaking poetry right there (no seriously, his entire speech was next-level eloquent). Ater a tense conversation in which Hayley admitted that she'd been foolin' around with Elijah, Jackson eventually seemed to understand that his marriage with Hayley would be one of merciful lies. Or at least friendship and a six-pack of beer down at the swamp. Not to sound controversial, but this Hayley-Jackson, impossible marriage situation (which promises to involve rites and tests and other things that should pad the arc out for a long time) is my favorite current plotline. Because, ouch.
Oh, but maybe not even that plotline is as good as the Josh and Aiden tryst. Yes this little clandestine, inter-species, same-love affair only warrants a few minutes every few episodes, but sorry, it's so great. It helps that Josh and Aiden are two of the most likable characters on the show, but the writers clearly love writing for Josh. Like, if YOU were trapped in a force field with your model-hot secret boyfriend, wouldn't YOU try and get fresh with him at any opportunity? Unfortunately Finn cursed all the vampires to want to eat their werewolf allies, so within minutes Josh was struggling to keep himself from literally eating Aiden. Sexual metaphor? Probably. But still, it's amazing how invested we can be in characters with such little screentime. This plotline is that good.
Also still pulling strings was Kol, who's at least temporarily on Klaus' team. He and Davina did their best to deactivate Finn's barrier spell, but only long enough to free those monsters who could withstand sunlight. Unfortunately, by that time Klaus had discovered what Kol had done to Rebekah, so he forced Kol to spend the night with some hungry vampires, of whom only Marcel felt any obligation to keep him alive. Similarly caged in was Elijah, who was tasked with guarding Hope back at the secret headquarters while also trying to work through the side-effects of Esther's magic. Helping him there was Cami, whose booze-and-board games tactics didn't work quite as well as she'd hoped. But as an unlicensed therapist at least she knew how to push his buttons. (Not a sexual metaphor this time.)
The biggest question mark for any returning viewer was what happened to Rebekah? We knew Kol had pulled "a prank" by sending her soul into a random witch's body and trapping her in some kind of witch prison, so it shouldn't have been too surprising when we realized this was probably the writers' way of keeping Rebekah on the show while letting Claire Holt fly back home. As disappointing as that was, at least the new actress had a British accent and Rebekah's trademark 'tude. But I can't claim her plotline was suuuuper interesting. The witch prison is crowded with witches whose brains had been broken by magic (including the pixie-cut witch Esther had been subletting for a while) and the whole gang is lorded over by a coven of scarred occultists called The Kindred. But the most notable angle to all of this was that Rebekah encountered what appeared to be the ghost of Avril Lavigne, who led her to the attic where there was a body in a glass casket. Did you guess whose body that was by episode's end? If not, the final stinger clued you in: FREYA. Yep, the final Mikaelson child has been unveiled! What were the chances she was already in New Orleans? Does that mean Dahlia is close by? Is she The Kindred's leader? Guys, I have no answers for you, sorry. Maybe next time.
"Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire" was a busy, complicated, and heart-achy return for all our favorite New Orleans monsters. They may not like being trapped behind a force-field with each other, but the rest of us want just might want to stay here forever.
QUESTIONS
... How long will Rebekah be trapped in witch prison?
... Will Hayley eventually fall for Jackson for real?
... Is there anything that Kol can do to turn Davina off?
... Did you ever go to a lock-in party?
