REVIEW - The Vampire Diaries - S04E20

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This is a strange one because it wasn’t just your average episode of The Vampire Diaries but actually the backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off series titled The Originals, which was, as of this morning, officially picked up. Because of the episodes extra significance as an introduction to the new series I am probably going to be a little harsher than I normally would be, but then again if it wasn’t so easy to judge maybe I wouldn’t have to be so harsh.

The episode follows original vampire Klaus as he travels to New Orleans, a city he once ruled, in search of some witches with a vendetta against him. He soon discovers that the city is controlled by his former protégé Marcel. All is not right though, Marcel is controlling the cities abundant witch population somehow and they are not happy about it.

The witches enlist the help of the ever-charismatic Elijah to convince Klaus to join their cause which goes about as well as you’d expect considering the amount of time they spend trying to kill each other. Turns out the witches have an ace up their sleeve; the werewolf Hayley is somehow miraculously pregnant with Klaus baby (for heavens sake don’t touch the magic vampire-werewolf-hybrid-baby phlebotinum). Klaus remains unconvinced until Marcel tries to exert power over him causing Klaus to end up firmly on team witch (the baby’s just a bonus).

There’s also a blonde waitress, called Camille, who is brave with hidden depths and also happens to be interested in art (I smell love interest). Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan and Damon are trying to torture the humanity back into Elena, Elijah dumped Katherine and Rebekah decided to stay in town rather than following her brothers to New Orleans. The episode ends with Klaus and Elijah leaving Mystic Falls behind to begin their new adventure – which is apparently a sitcom titled “Two Original Vampires and a Baby”.


I have spent years berating people into watching this show, betting my honour on the fact that despite it’s name and origins The Vampire Diaries is actually one of the most gripping programs on television at the moment so I desperately wanted The Originals to be great. Although not everyone agrees with me, I think the original vampire family is charismatic enough to warrant their own series and I was excited to see what the amazing team behind The Vampire Diaries came up with for these fantastic characters. Maybe my hopes were a little too high but this episode really didn’t live up to my expectations.

Look it wasn’t that bad: it’s important to remember that even though this episode was shoved into The Vampire Diaries it is still a pilot and you should never judge a show by it’s pilot. New Orleans is always a fantastic location for supernatural drama and I am interested to see how The Vampire Diaries law fits into this city’s rich history. Marcel is an intriguing, and let’s face it incredibly sexy, villain and the mystery surround how he controls the witches of New Orleans is hooking enough.

The supernatural-baby storyline is far too fan fiction but I’m willing to give The Originals the benefit of the doubt at least for a couple of episodes. To be honest I would probably watch Klaus and Elijah do just about anything but I’m hoping that once it moves away from it’s parent program, The Originals will prove to be just as enticing as The Vampire Diaries.

Next time we’re back in Mystic Falls as the Salvatore brothers continue their quest to get the old Elena back.

Review by Yvonne Popplewell

More of Yvonne’s works can be found at her blog.

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