Sunday, May 1, 2016

The Originals, Season Three Episode, Nineteen: No More Heartbreaks


Spoilers Ahead

What an emotional week for The Originals.  When we last saw Cami, she had been bitten by Lucien, and as we know, Lucien's bite has no cure.  Klaus refuses to accept the inevitable and wants some action based role so that he can play the white knight but Freya convinces him to take on the nurturing role.  For Cami's sake, Klaus uses his power to take her on a tour of the quarter as she lies in bed growing more ill by the moment.  The best that Freya, Klaus, and Vincent can do is to reduce her pain.  Cami holds onto her composure until the very end, saying that she is not afraid to die and trying to council Klaus not to lose his bloody mind and do something stupid.

When Cami does finally die, she does so in Klaus's arms, professing her love and encouraging him to let the light side of his person (really? This serial killer has a light side?) shine and grow so that he can be what Hope needs him to be. With tears rolling down his face, Klaus promises to always remember Cami and what she taught him about himself.  I must say that this is the first time in a long time that Joseph Morgan has been given something interesting to portray.  It reminded me that he really can act and pull on your heartstrings with a single look.

Cami has been with The Originals since the beginning and is the first original character to actually die on the show. Yeah, I know that in this universe, death doesn't really mean death but according to Julie Plec, this is the end of the road for Camille O'Connell (Leah Pipes). Apparently, they've run out of story ideas for Cami.  I can accept that but what I cannot accept is Cami's death being all about Klaus's pain.  I cannot accept Cami suggesting that Klaus has changed in some fundamental way when he remains a homicidal, spiteful, navel gazing asshole, who at the end of the continues to put himself above everyone who cares for him.  Cami made light of the fact that Klaus routinely compelled her thus removing her agency because she's now in love with him.  To be clear, by any stretch of the imagination, Klaus was Cami's abuser and if The Originals runs true to form, she will be a source for his manpain for a little while until he develops a new obsession. We all know Klaus has a thing for blondes. Yes, paging, Caroline on TVD since her show is probably ending soon.

Cami is not the only woman to die this week.  For the longest time, I've been calling for an end to Davina.  For the life of me, I cannot understand why it is that she hasn't already become vampire food. She has literally gone to war against the Originals, or more specifically Klaus, time after time and has yet to suffer any real consequences. It makes no sense to me why it is that he hasn't just snapped her neck on numerous occasions, particularly given Klaus's penchant for killing anything or anyone who stands in his way or defies him.

From almost the moment that Davina brought Kol back from the dead, it was clear that something had backfired in her spell.  This week we learn that the reason Kol's hunger has been so uncontrollable is because he was tasked with killing Davina.  The Original family may not have been annoyed enough with this power hungry teenager to bring and end to her but the ancestors it seems play for keeps.  The irony in Davina being killed by her brutal vampire lover is almost too delicious. Let's be honest, there's nothing about Kol and Davina being together that makes even a modicum of sense.  For this relationship to work, Davina has to believe that Kol, the most vicious of the Originals has somehow magically changed because of twu wuv, and Kol, a thousand year old vampire has to see something in an inept, annoying teenage girl.  Having an ancient vampire in love with a teenager is what so many vampire stories are about these days but it makes absolutely no sense.  Have these writers even spent anytime with a teenager?  Teenagers are annoying, angst ridden and at times ridiculous.


Because of his love for her, Kol does the gallant thing and actually allows himself to be daggered by Davina to keep her safe.  The ancestors were not about to be defeated that easily and so they used magic to remove the dagger, freeing Kol to feed on Davina. When Kol comes back to himself, he tries desperately to use his blood to awake Davina but it's already too late.  If I had to pick between Davina and Cami to die, my choice would absolutely have been for Davina to go. Though Davina's death is going to be temporary, I'm quite certain that it will be yet another vehicle for manpain on The Originals. Kol will be absolutely tortured that he was responsible for Davina's death.

So once again, The Originals are down and out but we all know that this too will pass.  Freya and Vincent now have a sample of Lucien's blood and believe that since Mikaelson blood made him, Mikaelson blood can bring an end to him.  We know that no matter what happens, at the end of the day, the Mikaelson's will emerge victorious, it's only a matter of how it happens.  It's only a matter of how many will fall by the wayside in the process. It makes me miss shows like The Game of Thrones where anyone can die.

Unfortunately, because of how The Originals treat their female characters and their characters of colour, any one of them who dies just adds to the problem with the show. In this case, The Originals has a long history of making their female characters weak relative to their male characters. To then have these same characters die simply adds to the problematic gender imbalance.  If Cami had been powerful, rather than routinely controlled and used, her death might not smart the way that it does in the light of day.  If Cami hadn't been abused by Klaus, her confessing her love for him might not have been so ridiculous.  Not only did Cami deserve better but so do female fans of this show.