Esther is cooking – something diabolical I imagine – I mean, it’s Esther, she’s a witch, and she’s less than fond of her offspring so I can’t imagine this going well.
At the compound Hayley, Klaus and Elijah wonder who is responsible for the feast that’s been left in their midst. A rattling cloche is removed, two birds fly out and Klaus reads the invitation underneath.
Looks like Mommy Dearest is coming for dinner.
Flashback and YAY – the fabulous Alice Evans is back! We see Esther feeding her brood, all but Klaus who is absent. Finn tells her that he is hiding in the woods and she goes to find him. He is scared to go hunting with Mikael (and frankly, who wouldn’t be?).
Esther tells him that when she was scared as a child she would listen to the starlings sing, her mother had taught one a song and the others had picked it up (anyone else getting major Hunger Games feels here? No? Just me? Ok). When they moved to their new home, Esther took the birds with her, so if Klaus is ever scared all he has to do is listen to the song of the starlings and she will be with him. Always and Forever.
Klaus ponders his mother’s invitation and he and Hayley discuss killing Esther but Elijah stops them. Since Esther is even better at body hopping than Celeste was they need to find out what she is up to before she body hops again and they lose her. Klaus reminds his brother that the last time she invited them all to a party it was so she could link them all together and then off them all by killing Finn. Elijah says they need to prepare and leaves with barely a glance at Hayley. “Bloom’s off the rose I see.” Klaus quips with a smirk as he leaves.
Elijah goes to Marcel, he needs a witch to help him with a spell and knows Marcel must have another in his pocket besides Davina since Gia is now sporting a handy dandy daylight ring. Marcel sends the newbie vamp herself to guide Elijah to a witch named Lenore.
Across town at Rousseau’s, Ollie is waiting to meet with Cassie but he gets Finn instead, and with a moonlight ring as proof of his allegiance to Cassie.
Ollie asks what happens if he doesn’t deal with Finn and gets a nasty magical headache for his enquiry. Ollie agrees, Finn leaves and Ollie gets straight on the phone to Hayley.
Klaus is prepping for dinner when Hayley arrives to tell him about Esther’s other witch friend. Hayley then asks why Elijah hates her children so much and Klaus tells her a bit more about his family. About the child who died before he was born, about Henrik and how he and his siblings were turned after his death, and how becoming a vampire triggered Klaus’ werewolf curse and revealed the secret of his true parentage and Esther’s affair. Mikael killed his real father and the loss of two children and her lover sent Esther over the edge. Klaus says that his siblings always believed that she hated herself, not them, whereas Klaus just wanted her dead. There is almost a “moment” between the two hybrids before Klaus pulls away.
“Every good story needs a wicked witch,” says Hayley, “It’ll be all the more satisfying when we melt her.”
At Algier’s Point (across the river from the Quarter) Elijah and Gia are en route to the witch. Elijah in his stubbornness is leading instead of following and doing it in stoic silence. Gia says it’s fine if he doesn’t want to talk but he is going the wrong way and then cuts off across the street leaving him to follow.
They arrive at Lenore’s store and meet the lady herself
played by the wonderful Sonja Sohn (Kima Greggs in The Wire, not seen it? GO. NOW). She knows Elijah is an Originals and wants to know why he is there, since the Quarter is full of witches. He needs to track a witch who can body jump, and since the witches in the Quarter aren’t his biggest fans he bargains with Lenore, saying he has the political pull to get things done to benefit her community. She agrees to soul brand the witch and will need an item spelled by the witch in question and a python. Elijah orders Gia to compel herself a python but neglects to tell her how to do so. They leave and Finn arrives. Creepy SOB.
Marcel gets a visit from Klaus, he asks if Marcel is still in possession of a necklace that Klaus gave him when he was a boy.
Marcel hands it over (and it’s so pretty, I want one. Seriously, if anyone can find me one of these there would be eternal gratitude from me!) and we see where it came from. Esther gave it to Klaus when he was a child to protect him, if he was ever lost, scared or needed her she said to clasp the necklace and she would come. He asks if his brothers and sister get one too but Esther tells him that while she loves all her children he is the most special and he must never take it off. Later, at a festival in their village Esther is dancing with her son and tells him that while Mikael may teach him to hunt, she will teach him to win the heart of the prettiest girl in the village (oh! Tatia reference?) before noticing the necklace is missing. Never fear, Mummy’s boy extraordinaire Finn has it and returns it to Klaus.
At the cemetery Finn tells mummy dearest that Kol is still searching for Davina and will miss dinner. Esther is okay with that as she thinks it best Kol’s current identity stay a secret for now. They have Lenore and Esther tells Finn to let Oliver deal with the witch, she needs Finn at dinner. Finn mentions that Klaus and Elijah have been on the move all afternoon and Esther warns him to be ready. Finn instructs Oliver to “persuade” some information out of Lenore, specifically what Elijah and Gia wanted, and then he sets a timer and leaves.
Hayley tells Klaus and Elijah that Oliver has Lenore, she will take the necklace and get her to do the spell.
Elijah objects but Hayley shuts him down “You don’t get to ignore me for days and then suddenly act like your concerned.” Ooooh! Klaus gives her the necklace and she leaves, Elijah chooses then to tell her about Gia and the snake. Gia is across town bitching at Marcel about the snake. Marcel finds it hilarious that she compelled herself a snake – she says she didn’t, she stole it instead since Elijah never showed her how to compel. Gia asks what Marcel wants from Elijah and he says he wants something for Elijah, he wants community, family. He wants a Mikaelson in their corner. She asks how she is supposed to get Elijah to like her when even her own family didn’t. Marcel tells her that Elijah can’t help fixing what is broken – and Gia needs his help.
Klaus bitches to his brother about being made to wear a suit for dinner and says that if Cassie tries anything he will kill her, just as Finn arrives. Elijah doesn’t know who he is but Klaus figures out that it’s Finn.
The 3 Mikaelson boys share a drink, Klaus asks what wine goes well with treachery and Finn retorts by asking his brothers what they have achieved over the 900 years he was in a box, taunting them with their lack of contribution to society. A servant begins setting an extra place and both Klaus and Elijah cannot believe it is for Kol but Finn says it is (uh, why? he’s not coming and Finn knows that.) Klaus is astonished that Finn would dare encounter them as a mortal and attacks, but Finn is kinda uber-witchy and deflects the blade.
Lenore agrees to do the spell for Hayley after finding out she was the werewolf baby momma and considering the beating she got from Finn and Cassie.
Back at dinner Klaus is getting bored. Finn asks why he was kept in a box for so long and Klaus says it was because he was a dull sycophant and then asks “did mother bring you back from the dead to wash her knickers?” Oh boy, both Elijah and Klaus seem to have found their sassy pants this week huh? Finn says he can understand why Klaus kept him daggered for so long but not Elijah, unless it was jealousy, that Elijah wanted to be the eldest – in which case he failed.
“You may reside, somewhat parasitically I might add, in another body, but let me assure you in 900 years your tedious sentiments remain quite the same.”
Elijah replies. Heaven help me, the sass at this dinner table is off the scale! Things are getting extremely tense when Esther arrives.
At Lenore’s store she preps the spell and apologises for Hayley’s loss. She explains that once she does the spell whichever body Esther jumps into next will have a certain mark on the back of it’s hand so they will know it’s her. Lenore says that Esther is doing all this for love, after all what else inspires such cruelty.
Back at dinner Klaus asks Esther to get to the point so that their ordeal can be over. Esther reminds them all of a time she helped Klaus after he challenged Mikael to a duel and Mikael left him pinned to a tree by a sword through his shoulder. Mikael had taken his necklace and Klaus got angry and hit his father and cut him to get it back, after which Mikael struck him.
Esther removes the sword and stops the bleeding and heals her son as she tells him that he did the right thing. Klaus suddenly realises the truth about the necklace, it wasn’t to protect him, it made him weak. Esther says she did it to stop him ever activating his werewolf curse but Klaus won’t hear it.
“You lied to me to hide your own transgression, because of your own fear. My whole life I sought the approval I was denied by the man I thought was my father. You turned me into the weakling he hated. LOOK AT ME. You rant, and you rage about the monster I have become but you, mother, you are the author of everything I am.”
(don’t mind me, or the pompoms GO KLAUS GO! GO KLAUS GO). But Esther has no response, other than suddenly blacking out.
Across town Lenore is almost done with her spell. Does that have something to do with Esther passing out? Klaus and Elijah both attack Finn but he fights them off with magic just as the timer he set earlier runs out. Lenore falters in her spell and then recovers, Hayley asks if she is okay and then sees a mark on the back of her hand.
Wait…Esther is now in Sonja Sohn? OH HELL YES! Poor Cassie has woken up and hasn’t got a freaking clue where she is or what is going on. Klaus asks Elijah why Esther would torment them so only to vanish. Elijah suggests maybe they weren’t the only ones she wanted to talk to and he calls Hayley. Lenore lets her answer but cuts her off as soon as Hayley has told Elijah where she is.
Wait, let me get this straight here. Okay, so Esther knew that Oliver was playing both sides and got her next body left alone with him, knowing he would let Hayley and the Mikaelsons let her go, all in order to be alone with Hayley when she body jumped. Anyone else seeing where Klaus and Elijah get their diabolical knack for scheming?
Esther has a proposition for Hayley, she offers her the chance to start over. A new body, no longer a hybrid, the chance to have a family, more children. Klaus and Elijah arrive and Esther lets Hayley go, she offers her boys the same deal, a vamp free life, and tells them to talk to Hayley before she makes a dramatic exit in a shower of glass and a flock of starlings.
Klaus is astonished that Hayley is considering Esther’s offer, she says it is very tempting and then storms off. Elijah looks like he is going to go after her but Klaus asks him to stay, says he needs him.
(Yes, please stay together boys. Esther will not win if you two stay united but I am so worried that is not where this season is going). Klaus is ashamed that Esther made him so weak but Elijah says that Klaus was never weak, that he has always been the fiercest of them all, especially in defence of his home as he is now.
Elijah leaves and goes to a bar, an open mic night apparently, and meets Gia. She’s not playing, says she can’t since she became a vampire. Elijah explains that her senses are different now, her emotions too.
She can learn to find the joy in playing again if she wants to, and he can help (*opens a window* god that was the sexiest offer of help ever). After he leaves Gia goes back to Marcel and says he was right, Elijah found something he wanted to fix.
Finn and Esther talk, Esther says her plan is to destroy everything that Klaus and Elijah hold dear, to take everything from them. She’s already got the werewolves away from Klaus, now it’s time to target the vampires, Klaus’ prodigal son across the river and his new community. Once she has destroyed everything her sons will beg her to release them from their suffering and because she loves them so very much, she will.
I want to give some major love to the three women playing Esther. Alice Evans, Natalie Dreyfuss and Sonja Sohn are doing the most amazing work, there is not enough love for these three and I cannot wait to see what Esther has in store for our brothers in her new form.
