Hot Damn!   There were a lot of twists in this one!  Let’s jump right in!

Who the Heck is Greta?  

Did she come out of left field for anybody else?  I’d seen before how upset she got and knew she was going to be important.  However, I thought she was just going to get killed off, mostly likely by Klaus.  However, that doesn’t seem to be the case despite him bloodletting her a little.

Greta reveals to Klaus that she is the one who kidnapped Hayley.  Well, not just Greta, but also the group that she represents.  She follows a man named August.  August is a man from Klaus’ past, but that’s another deal altogether.  Greta is angry with Klaus and gives him an ultimatum.

If Klaus wants Hayley back, Hope’s werewolf side must be bound the same way that Klaus’ was for a long time.  Obviously, this doesn’t go over well with him.

The Brothers Are Back . . . Kind Of 

I admit, it was nice seeing Elijah and Klaus on good terms again, even if only during their flashback scenes.  The two actors obviously have a chemistry.  The show, while still delicious, feels different without that chemistry front and center.  Even just seeing Klaus be held back by Elijah as Klaus tried to kill August was nice.

But as things are with the Mikaelson family, things couldn’t stay nice.

Elijah has caught up with Klaus in these flashbacks because their father is nearby and hunting for Klaus.  Elijah wants to help him stay hidden.  This doesn’t go well.  Werewolves are dying and Klaus takes this personally.  What he takes more personally is when August calls Klaus a “mongrel,” and Elijah said nothing.  Klaus wants so badly to be defended by those who say they love him.  (Of course, Klaus says this just as he admits that the letters Elijah had thought he was receiving from Rebecca, were actually written by Klaus).  Klaus storms away, telling Elijah to let their father come.

August is the Father of Antoinette?  

Okay, okay, so I need to say this first!  I totally called this!  Not that August is the father of Antoinette, but that this is not the first time that the Mikaelson family has met her.  I just got this feeling in the way that Antoinette looked at Klaus in the last episode that there was something there, something terribly close to a common history.

I admit to being a little disappointed in Elijah’s response to finding out he has met Antoinette before.  He accused her of lying the past seven years?  His whole past is a mystery to her!  He comes from a very important, very powerful family of vampires.  I would think he’d be a bit more forgiving.  He was SO loyal the last time.  Instead, he sends Antoinette out into the world by herself, leaving her behind.  She says “I hear Shanghai is a good place to hide out.”  Elijah has no memory that it was him who told her that, back when they first met.

In the flashbacks, we see the two bond over abusive fathers.  Elijah offers to get her away from August, give her a safe escape towards Shanghai.  She supposedly accepts and they exchange names as they shake hands.  In the current day, Antoinette tells Elijah that she loved him for the first time back then.  She tells him she still wants to marry him and that when she leaves for Shanghai, he will come with her.  This is the first time since they began dating that she calls him Elijah instead of E.

Saving Hayley 

Marcel is smart.  Once he hears of Greta’s ultimatum, he calls Freya.  This initiates a conversation between Freya and Hope about binding her werewolf side away.  Hope is all too quick to say yes.  After all, she’s heard about how painful the first change can be.  She knows Hayley did not want that for her daughter.  Hope also just wants her mother back.  Freya vies to make her understand that it isn’t that simple.  Hope would be sacrificing a part of herself.  This does not stop Hope from saying yes.

The only thing Hope wants to do first is cross a goal off her list: her first kiss with Roman.

Hope tries to do the ceremony with Freya to bind her werewolf side.  Predictably, it is almost done, she is almost branded, when Klaus bursts in and forbids it.

Oh No!  Josh!!!!

Remember a few posts ago where I said that Josh was originally not supposed to stick around?  He was supposed to be killed off, but he was kept around.  Well, now I’m worried again.

Josh spends most of the episode trying to get Greta to come clean.  Josh doesn’t want her to die and feels she is a victim here.  Josh is just trying to keep the balance.  He tries so hard that he gets too close and Greta goes nuts on him!  She rips out a piece of his throat and then starts striking him.

Brutal.

But Josh looks like he’ll survive, although in the words of Marcel, “he’s lucky to have his face!”

One More Spoiler for the Road

The reason there is a group of people hunting down Klaus isn’t just rage.  It isn’t just revenge for his killing August. It’s out of shame. Klaus slaughtered innocents after he killed August.  He then watched as Greta, August’s wife, begged for her life. She went on to beg for her daughter, Antoinette and finally, for her son, Roman.  

Yes, that Roman.  

And in present day, Roman takes Hope Mikaelson into his car.  He’s driving her somewhere where a witch could help seal away her werewolf side.  That’s the same thing his mother has been manipulating Klaus into doing.

And just who was it a few episodes who said Roman was going to be evil?  

Oh yeah.  That was me.  

Questions for Next Time:

Where the HELL is Hayley?  (On another show, probably)

Will Elijah forgive Antoinette and go with her to Shanghai?  Or are we almost to the part where they join the main cast in New Orleans?  

Will Josh be permanently scarred?  Will his position in the city change?  

What are Roman’s intentions?  Does he actually like Hope at all or was it all a ruse? Would he protect her against his mother if he had to?

Who is Antoinette most loyal to if tested, Elijah or her family?