What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?

I thought the first episode of this final season was better than first episode of Season 4 at least. Apparently seven years had passed...though Klaus was still the same, talking a guy at a club to death and then causing his literal death by ripping out his heart (the guy was probably relieved, as at least it meant no longer having to listen to Klaus yammering on at him). I guess he was on Klaus' 'To Kill' list (taking out enemies that the Mikaelson family had because Elijah had his memory erased at the end of last season and wouldn't be prepared for any enemies of the family with a vendetta against him). And apparently now Klaus thinks he's Hannibal Lecter. Not content with merely ripping a heart out, he now feels the need to eat it as well.



I noticed the actress playing the now teenage Hope and the actor who plays Josh were added as 'regulars' in the list of names at the beginning of the episode. Speaking of, we got to meet teenager Hope (the actress, Danielle Rose Russell, looked like blend of Joseph Morgan and Phoebe Tonkin who played her parents in the show...so good job, casting people!).



Instead of killing people like her father, Hope was helping the hopeless - in this case a werewolf kid named Henry - to become a hybrid (of course, then he pulled a Tommen from Game of Thrones).

Meanwhile, Hayley, Freya, Vincent and Josh were just hanging out (Freya’s hair was longer, while Hayley’s was browner than it was last season, I noticed) and Hayley had a boyfriend (I guess?) named Declan played by Torrance Coombs who played Bash in the TV series Reign...only he was sounding much more Irish here. I was glad to see Freya and Vincent getting along again after last season (well, I guess enough time passed for them to make up) and Freya was having mystical FaceTime with Keelin.

Naturally, Klaus was breaking all the rules set up at the end of last season about staying away from his family by going to see and chat with Elijah, who now sounded different (more like the actor who plays him, Daniel Gillies, rather than the character of Elijah) and had no memory (he seemingly didn’t remember Klaus. Did he even remember he was a vampire? Probably not. Does he just play piano every day?).

Marcel proposing to Rebekah and her saying 'no' because she’s always about her family, despite the fact that this should’ve finally been her chance for happiness, didn't make much sense and just felt like manufactured drama for the sake of it. Though to be fair to Rebekah, I don't blame her for turning down Marcel's proposal if secretly her reason for doing so was because she thought he was too full of himself when he was acting like he'd just made the BEST proposal in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD and then gave her an ultimatum - either accept or they were through. Ultimatums aren't attractive, Marcel.

Hayley was actually doing quite a good job at keeping the peace and raising/teaching Hope without Klaus around to interfere, while Hope chatted with Kol who was now married to Davina (who was 'gorging on papaya' according to him). I was glad when Caroline showed up to tell Klaus to quit using his crappy dad as an excuse for being one himself. When they were discussing the rumours of him having gone 'completely bonkers', I thought, "What do you mean? He's ALWAYS been completely bonkers!". 

There was so much blood in this first episode. Not so much from the killing of people (though there was that), but more from the consequences of the Mikaelsons breaking the rules about them not being close to one another (what do bar owners/bar patrons think about all their drinks turning to blood?). Not just drinks, but the the fountain, then raining blood at the end. Also, apparently all flowers die when the Mikaelsons are close to each other.

I wondered what had happened to Hayley when she was mystically knocked out whilst on the phone to Declan and thought maybe he wasn't what he first appeared to be/may have had something to do with it.

In episode 2, they managed to work in the actress who'd played Hope as a kid for one more episode as we flashed back to her. Then teenage Hope interrupted Klaus’ murder orgy via astral projection.

When Klaus made the comment to Freya about how the years had been kind to her (obviously referring to how she didn't look any different, despite the fact that she wasn't a vampire), I liked her excuse/way of explaining it being, "Well, you know, just sun block, the love of a good woman and literal witchcraft." (it makes sense. After all,why wouldn't someone who has magic use it to keep themselves from looking older as they aged?). 

I certainly wouldn’t want to play a drinking game for every time dying flowers or snakes were shown this season. I thought they should've gotten someone to chase all the snakes out of New Orleans (get Declan to do it. He's Irish), while flower sellers must have been making a fortune selling new flowers to people over and over (since the old ones kept dying thanks to the inconsiderate Mikaelsons' close proximity to each other). 

I felt a bit sorry for Hope when she was hearing Klaus doing his usual shouty thing and she ran down to see him, but he'd run off. 

Klaus immediately threatening Declan (who was amusing/had some witty retorts even when under compulsion) and preparing to bite him simply because he said Hope’s name made me glad when he called Klaus out on his crappy parenting. It was good that Hope saved him by magically getting Klaus away from him. Father and daughter finally having a face-to-face meeting after so long was also good (as was the actress playing Hope, I thought). 

Hope's potential love interest, Roman, commenting about a redhead covered with a sheet (obviously referring to Aurora) and Hope saying that was Klaus’ crazy ex who they didn’t really know what to do with since she was under a sleeping spell kind of amused me (I wondered what had happened with her character), as did Hope telling Roman that Klaus would literally rip out his spine and wear it as a necklace if he caught him with her. 

Another amusing part was Marcel saying he didn’t care if Henry was a werewolf or mermaid (H2O: Just Add Water shout-out?). 

When Hope and Klaus were arguing and Hope was saying how sometimes she felt like screaming, then Klaus retorted "Welcome to the bloody party!", I thought "Yeah, Klaus knows all about that...since he does it ALL THE TIME!". They kept getting close, flowers kept dying, snakes kept appearing (this time from Hope’s mouth).

Apparently I was way off in thinking Dcelan had anything to do with Hayley's disappearance, as it turned out Hope had her mother taken and stuck in coffin to bring Klaus back.

I liked the witch/seer character of Ivy who Vincent was hanging out with (I only just discovered she was in Gotham, which I finished a while ago. I didn't even recognsie her. She looked much better on this show). 




Though I wasn't so fond of her telling Vincent that Hope would destroy them all (isn't that always the way with some special miracle child in supernatural shows?). 

Freya reckoned she couldn’t love Keelin and her family at same time - what?? That made about as much sense as Rebekah's excuse for why she couldn't say 'yes' to Marcel's proposal. I was annoyed to find on my DVDs that they'd deleted a scene showing Vincent comforting Freya after her breaking up with Keelin. 

When Marcel was bricking up Hybrid Henry, Hope told him to close his eyes and sing just like Marcel said that time last season when he protected her from seeing violence after she freed him (though I would've thought she'd have had to sing pretty damn loud to block out the sound of all that slaughter).

At the end of this episode Klaus found Hayley's coffin wrecked and bloody while Hope saw that Hybrid Henry had been removed from the wall and strung up with his heart ripped out. So long, Hybrid Henry! We hardy knew ye (probably for the best).

Episode 3 was Elijah-focused. It got me thinking that Elijah, Vincent & Marcel really hadn’t thought this whole amnesia thing through - sending an amnesiac Elijah out into the world not knowing who he was/what he was or anything. It also made me wonder, "So...losing his memory also makes him lose his accent/the way he talks?". Does this mean Elijah's just been putting on that voice he normally talks with this whole time and he never used to talk like that when he was still human? 

Seeing Elijah wearing non-suit clothing was weird. On the plus side, he met Antoinette (played by Jaime Murray - who I also only just recently saw guest-starring in Gotham). Though the fact that she was played by Jaime Murray immediately made me suspicious of her (since she'll always be Lila from Dexter to me). It was nice that Elijah actually got to be happy and smiled when he was going on a date with her. Of course, then Marcel had to rudely interrupt (but at least we learned that he had left a note in Elijah's pocket - which I'm guessing explained the stuff he needed to know, so he *wasn't* going out into the world completely clueless...but Elijah mustn't have read it). 

Elijah tore apart people trying to find Marcel (having no memory certainly didn’t reduce the body count that he left in his wake. Tough luck, victims!), while Klaus was his usual dickish self, compelling Antoinette to turn down Elijah's proposal and leave (I imagine part of that was him still being sore over Elijah compelling Aurora to not want to be with him anymore back in the Season 3). I couldn’t figure out how Antoinette wasn’t compelled by Klaus and was only playing along at first. I enjoyed her staking Klaus and Elijah snapping his neck, and before that when he was telling Klaus to eff off/eff ‘Always and Forever’. Klaus just plain sucks. One minute he whines that he 'needs' Elijah, but the rest of the time acts like he doesn’t (plus, he knows that all of them together will screw things up - hello? Snakes! - but just doesn't care). Joseph Morgan directed the episode well, though. 

I was surprised Klaus didn’t kill Antoinette straight away in return for her staking him, but I guessed (correctly) that she knew who Elijah was from the start (even though she didn’t let on) because of her reaction to seeing him. I was confused about the ending, when it seemed like Elijah was going to go away with her, then he took off his ring and set himself on fire. I wondered how that was possible, as I thought Originals were immune to sun/didn't need rings. After doing some research, it turns out that they won't actually die from it, but it still causes harm (I'd forgotten that fact). 



vampirediaries.fandom.com/wiki/Sunlight

Episode 4 just seemed to mostly be Klaus threatening and killing people - witches, vamps, werewolves, etc (so, just the usual for Klaus). I was glad to hear Vincent tell Klaus earlier that the witches respected Hayley and were out looking for her when Klaus started threatening each group.

I liked seeing Freya spending time with Hope and there were some good aunt/niece moments between them. 

Klaus doesn't seem like such a ‘master planner’, despite the show's attempts to make us think he is by having other characters describe him as such. He doesn’t cope well without Elijah? No kidding. Not that Elijah could prevent him from doing much, of course. Klaus seemed to become even more unhinged this season, like he was 'backsliding'. 

Meanwhile, Roman was clearly a creeper (going by the fact that he kept sneaking up on Hope/surprising her). 

Marcel had the right idea chaining Klaus up in a coffin - why’d he let him out?? 

The bit at the end with an old enemy of Klaus’ being revealed with the Nazi coin made me go "Huh? Klaus was against Nazis? But he'd have so much in common with them! Discussing how to mass slaughter, being a dictator, forcing everyone to bend to his will, killing any he didn't like, etc." 

I kept wondering why Phoebe Tonkin's name was removed from the list of regulars at the start of each episode after the season premiere. Sure, she wasn't actually *in* the episodes after that first one, but the Vincent, Freya, Hope and Josh actors/actresses were missing from an episode or two, yet their names were still present. What gives?

Episode 5 = BORING!

I was NOT liking the fact that Phoebe Tonkin/Hayley was missing from so many episodes of the final season of the show. The only things of note this episode were...

Freya was going to help Hope bind her werewolf side (no, Hope, don’t do it! Don’t stop being the supernatural turducken! You were just getting into werewolfy jumps/wall-climbing...though you didn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of taking a human life to trigger your werewolf curse). 

Klaus the hypocrite ragged on everyone else for betrayal despite the fact that he does it constantly.

Annoying Greta messed up Josh’s face good so she could escape (I was glad they didn’t show it in close-up/detail, but he was dumb for getting so close to her).

Greta was 'mother' to Antoinette and Hope’s creeper b/f, Roman, who breaks into her room and lies in her bed with her stuffed toy (HOW does she not see his creeper tendencies??).  

Suddenly Klaus cares about wolves and his werewolf side/feels persecuted by werewolf-hating vampire Nazis?? Didn’t he kill heaps of wolves himself?

August was a ponce (him and his pornstache). And of course Klaus hated another artist.

Episode 6, however, was an improvement (though still frustrating). It was appropriate that Phoebe Tonkin got to do the 'Previously on...' voice-over for this episode, considering what happened with her character. 

It was revealed that Declan was Cami’s cousin (I should’ve guessed from the Irish accent). 

I was glad Vincent and Freya were still friends even though he was a jerk to her about wanting to fill Declan in on the supernatural (seriously, how many unsuspecting humans have died as a result of being left in the dark?). 

Good job directing, Charles Michael Davis/Marcel - I guess that’s why you weren’t in this episode. 

Klaus and Caroline continued to have chemistry in their scene talking about 'haranguing'. She’s a ray of sunshine/makes him tolerable. When he said to her “I don’t think I’ve changed that much.”, I immediately thought, "You HAVEN’T!". 

Stupid Roman for not realising what his mum was really up to. Was super hearing not part of Hope's witch/vampire/werewolf arsenal of powers? She didn't hear Roman making secret phone calls.

When Hayley was being tortured, Phoebe Tonkin's screaming really got to me. I knew Hayley’s death would happen this episode (I'd been spoiled for it long before watching), but I wasn’t prepared for how frustrating it would be. They bound/stripped her wolf side (which sucks, since that’s what she originally was) and made her just a vampire (she did it to stall/save Hope from having it done to her. Also, it allowed her to be found, I think). Then Elijah messed things up by snapping Caroline’s neck and fighting Klaus/preventing him from coming to Hayley's aid. The one time Klaus’ releasing his ruthlessness was needed and he wasn’t able to (because of his brother). 

What I really hated was that Klaus was on the floor in pain, not even looking at Hayley as Greta had her fist in Hayley’s chest, and I thought Greta was going to rip her heart out and Klaus wouldn’t even exchange a look with Hayley one last time before she died. I guess it was a small mercy that that wasn't how it went down. Still, her seeing Elijah go to check on stupid Roman and not even care what was happening to her was upsetting. I thought Hayley closing her eyes was just her way of saying goodbye, but she summoned the strength to rip off Greta’s finger with her daylight ring and whoosh them both out into the sun.






But WHY both of them? Why couldn’t she have just pushed Greta out there? I guess because Greta was holding her heart and it would’ve been like when Enzo committed suicide in TVD (Stefan had his hand around Enzo's heart and Enzo pushed himself away from Stefan so forcefully that it pulled his heart out). When Hayley briefly had the chance to escape with Hope earlier, but couldn’t because of the sun, I knew that vampires couldn't use other vampires' daylight rings, so stealing Roman's wasn't an option, but she should’ve taken Roman’s jacket or pulled down the curtains and covered herself, ANYTHING but not even trying to escape. 

It was very annoying that Hayley was in so little of this season and shared so little screentime with her daughter. We waited 5 episodes for her to return just to see her get killed off - BAH! At least Phoebe Tonkin made the most of her screentime/acted the hell out of it.

Hayley dying as a vampire instead of what she was originally - a wolf - really didn't sit well with me. It was very emotional, watching her confusion when she saw Elijah bust in, thinking he was there to save her, but instead he was stopping Klaus from saving her and didn’t seem to care that she had some bitch's fist stuck in her chest (I wonder if Klaus was also confused when he saw Hayley burn to death like a regular vampire). Elijah didn't lift a finger to help her, while Hope was unconscious on the floor and didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to her mum and Klaus wasn’t looking at Hayley as she was about to die, and it just seemed like NO ONE cared. Hayley and Klaus didn’t even get any dialogue together/get to share scenes, being co-parents (I liked when she was telling Hope earlier on that Klaus didn’t do evil things because he was a hybrid, but because he was Klaus - Hayley totally had his number, and losing her meant losing one of the few who called him out on all the crap he pulled). 

After this episode, I wanted Hope to go on a killing spree, offing all those who had a hand in her mother's death. I know that this being the final season meant there'd be some significant character deaths, but they really could have written Hayley's demise in a way that didn't so royally screw over her character. I guess the one 'good' thing to come out of it was she took annoying Greta with her. Still, that was of little consolation. I know some people didn't like the character of Hayley (and acted like her part in the sacrificing of 12 hybrids back during her TVD days was the WORST SIN EVER COMMITTED - despite the fact that Klaus did much worse during every season of this show) and gave Phoebe Tonkin crap for her somewhat shaky American accent, but I thought she brought a lot to the show and the series definitely felt like it was missing an important element when she was absent for umpteen episodes in a row. I'm peeved that the show's female lead was the first significant character death this season, but I'm glad the other actors in the show mourned her like I did. Here are their reactions regarding Hayley's death (though, sadly, no Phoebe Tonkin):



Episode 7 was a ho-hum episode, I thought, as we didn't get to see anyone’s reactions to the news of Hayley’s death. They should've milked those reactions for all they were worth, damn it! Only Hope seemed to act appropriately upset. Marcel and Vincent should’ve given Elijah back his memories ages ago - Hayley's death could've been avoided if they'd done so. Ivy was nice to Klaus despite his threatening her and paranoia/blame (he thinks she’ll double-cross him and is impatient with how long the magic takes to work - what a jerk). After she astral projected him to Hayley’s funeral (New Orleans funeral processions/parades always feel a bit strange to me, as it looks like they’re celebrating the fact that the person is dead) and then Hope sent him packing, Ivy even asked if he was okay. Hope should’ve blown up that van with those lame-arse vamps in it (one looks like a jock/meathead version of Elijah).

Of course Klaus lashed out and gave Antoinette a fatal bite, and Marcel wasn't much better (not handing over the cure like he'd promised) after giving Elijah back his memories didn’t go so well (but no wonder Elijah was fighting it - who’d want to remember all that Mikaelson family drama?). Klaus talking to the tree with the names of Jackson, Mary (who apparently died in the seven years that had passed) and Hayley on it at least allowed Klaus to say a decent goodbye to Hayley (since he never got to at the time of her death). He even called her ‘Little Wolf’ one last time (*sniff*). It's too bad we never got to see them continue being dysfunctional co-parents together. It was a bit obvious, but nice nod to Hayley's pack when we saw the crescent moon.

I totally understood Hope's feelings, thinking it was all wrong that none of Hayley’s friends were present at her funeral. Danielle Rose Russell did a good job throughout the episode, I thought. Klaus was decent a father (albeit briefly), though he was really pushing things by being close to Hope for so long at her nighttime funeral. Nice of Keelin to show up to support/comfort Freya. Kissing at a funeral, though?

After Klaus learned that all firstborns would die because of Hope, he and Elijah got trapped somewhere together at the end.

Episode 8 was basically a 'bottle episode' The Originals-style. 

Chambre de chasse - apparently that was the name for the place they were trapped. 

My thoughts when watching were basically, "Oh great, representational magic again." and "Watching them finding keys = boring.", but least we got all the Originals together (the only way we could). Still, I would like to have seen Hope interact with Rebekah and Kol. When Elijah finally got his memories back, I thought Daniel Gillies did an alright job of playing that, but Rebekah’s and Kol’s reactions to his pain/anguish were more effective/emotional to me. I’m glad he remembered what happened to Hayley and felt that. I never thought I’d miss the old Elijah voice, but I did. And he got back to wearing suits again. 

Episode 9 was another boring episode for me. Klaus threatening Freya, holding her to blame if any harm were to come to Hope, pissed me off (when he chatted with her again later on, he was at least somewhat decent). I could understand Hope's anger causing her to bend a fork when she saw Elijah (who at least sounded/dressed like Elijah again). She was also experiencing painful whispering. 

Declan was mad at Freya for telling him Hayley died via voicemail and she was covering for what really happened by telling him it was a car crash. After Elijah went to chat with Declan at the bar, Hope mystically cut up/sliced Elijah - which I didn't mind. Declan found out about the supernatural world, put two and two together, figuring out Hayley didn't die in a car crash and Elijah compelled him to forget/be at peace (which was a decent thing to do, I guess). However, Declan had read up on all the supernatural stuff and took Vervain, thus rendering the compulsion moot. 

Meanwhile, Klaus and Hope had some father/daughter time together. I found it amusing when he said to her something about how if violence was what she needed to make herself feel better, then she had the perfect father (if you're after violence, Klaus is your man!). I found myself wondering when did Keelin and that werewolf chick become such close friends? A kamikaze bomber killed werewolf chick and two others (Vincent only mentioned her in the eulogy, though). Elijah's meathead doppelganger (who was played by a rather bad actor, I thought) astral projected to Vincent to find out what side he chose, then disappeared on him and killed Ivy/the witches with poison. Boooo! I liked Ivy. 

I thought it was mildly amusing in episode 10 when Klaus let Hope take her anger out on him, beating him up a bit. If only she had done the same to Roman (don’t just kick furniture, Hope, throw it at him!). It turned out that Ivy had vampire blood and was going to turn, but she didn't want to and died. I couldn't figure out what Vincent was doing with the Ancestors, as I thought they were the enemy after what they did to Davina in Season 3. Thankfully, Hope took care of Elijah's meathead doppelganger and his vamps. Unfortunately, Josh got injected with Marcel’s venom in a fight and died (but, hey, at least he reunited with Aiden in the vampire afterlife). When Hope killed vamps, Declan got caught in blast and it looked like he’d die, triggering her werewolf curse...but, no, it was Bill who died – who the hell is Bill?! Some unknown. Would've been more effective if it was a human character we actually *knew*. Naturally, Hope developed yellow eyes as her werewolf curse was triggered. 

In episode 11, Klaus was a decent father when he was trying to comfort Hope...and that was about it. 

I was pissed at everyone not being there for Freya on her wedding day after everything she had done for all of them. Elijah refused to walk her down the aisle, Vincent wasn't willing to be best man (some friend!), and Hope was going to skip too (though Freya didn't know about that one). What a bunch of jerks! The only one truly there for her was Rebekah (good ol' Bex!). 

Yay, Davina! Of course Klaus had to interrupt her mourning Josh. When he greeted bearded Kol with "Hello, brother." (very Damon/Stefan-like) and Kol replied, "Well, that's a suspiciously warm greeting.", I had to laugh at Klaus' snarky, "Paranoid as usual, I see." comment, because YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, KLAUS. You're more paranoid than anyone!

I had no clue what was going on with Elijah remembering meeting Hayley in a different way to how we *know* they actually met. I thought it might’ve been a ‘what if’ scenario of him meeting her and being with her the way he wished it had happened. But no, apparently he randomly met her in a bar 5 years prior (the lack of his usual voice/accent should’ve been a giveaway that it was a flashback). I don't know what the point of Declan still being around was, other than the fact that he wanted to lead the human faction (speaking of pointless, Roman and Antoinette just seemed to disappear off the grid). 

Klaus’ way of helping out Freya’s wedding was by threatening/compelling the person into giving them the wedding venue - heh. Thankfully, both Klaus and Elijah were there for Freya at the wedding (boo to Vincent, though! So you lost Ivy - well, the others have stuff going on too and they made it). Of course Kol had to get one more dig in at Klaus about daggering, but at least he shaved when doing the ceremony: "By the power of a vested in my by a Franciscan monk in the 13th century and the internet few hours ago just to be on the safe side".

I liked seeing Elijah spending time with Hope. They had an amusingly uncomfortable (mostly for Elijah) conversation about Klaus and Hayley and how they got together for a one-night stand.



The guy Hope had a thing for looked like a brunette version of Roman to me. That, and he looked even paler than Hope (and kind of sickly). It was good seeing her get back at the jerks for bullying him, though, by freezing their car and shattering the windows (is Hope now Elsa?). 

There were some nice nods to TVD characters - Elena, Matt, someone Klaus killed in a moonstone ritual (Jenna?), a photo of Katherine, Stefan’s journal in a display case, etc.

I lol'd at Caroline calling Klaus 'this very lost new janitor' and her naming him Bob as she excused herself from showing new students around Alaric's Hogwarts. Heh, Klaus thought Stefan had a ‘bias’ view of him and his family. I was amused at the Siphoner witch twins negotiating skirt length, going to a dance and getting new phones with Caroline for doing her this favour by helping Klaus out (I was also amused that Caroline made sure Klaus would keep his anger in check and be nice to them/patient when telling them exactly what he needed them to do - ie. get them to siphon the dark magic out of Hope and put it into him). The funniest moment, though, was when Alaric shot Klaus in the back with a crossbow just as Klaus was thanking Caroline and Alaric's twin daughters for helping him. It was like, "First of all, thank you -- AAARGH!!".  Alaric calling Klaus 'Voldemort' was also amusing.



I've been calling it 'Alaric's Hogwarts' this whole time, but apparently its official name is 'The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted' (how very X-Men). 

Hope passing out and seeing Hayley in werewolf Heaven allowed for some nice interaction between the two that we sadly didn't get much of earlier in the season. The actor playing werewolf Jackson got his easiest paycheck ever - he was just required to play guitar, stand up and look confused at Hope. Seriously, he didn't know what to do. Funny that that's the last image we'll have of him. 

Klaroline shippers must've been pissed that they almost kissed but were interrupted.

That was a decent fight between Klaus and Elijah.

This episode was the first time I could recall seeing the face of a werewolf character mid-transformation.



And then we were treated to cute CGI wolf Hope. 



When Klaus was about to stake himself, all I could think was "Where’d he get this big-arse white oak stake when supposedly Aurora had the last of it in that one tiny bullet back in Season 3? And why could Klaus take all the dark magic into him when they had to split it four ways previously?".

Neither of these^ questions were answered (as far as I could tell) in episode 13/the final episode of the series. 

I was mildly amused by Hope snapping Klaus’ neck (it never gets old seeing people do it to him, considering all the people he's done it to). There was actually a lot of neck-snapping in this final episode. I always wondered why, whenever Klaus’ neck was snapped by those who wanted him dead, no one took advantage of his being unconscious and attempted to chop his head off or something. Seriously, I know he was supposed to be virtually 'unkillable', but no one even TRIED to remove his head. 

Cami as an 'angel' and Mikael as a 'devil' on Klaus’ shoulder (telling him to kill Hope) was an interesting way to get those two characters back for the final, but I was disappointed we didn't get Davina back (though if she had appeared, it probably would've just been to go "HA!" at the prospect of Klaus dying for realsies). Speaking of Davina, her hubby was bearded again for some reason. He was bearded, shaved for the Freelin wedding, then grew his beard again? Kol commenting to Rebekah (who stood her ground as he drove straight at her and only just stopped before he hit her) that she was lucky he didn't turn her into 'the world's blondest roadkill' amused me (though, technically, it would've destroyed his car more than her - which she pointed out to him).

The Klaroline shippers were thrown a bone (when Klaus/Caroline finally got to have an uninterrupted smooch)...and then that bone was ripped away again (the show writers are SUCH a tease).

Freya wanting Vincent to be hers and Keelin's guy to give them a kid and him refusing didn't really make me dislike him any less after he didn't show for their wedding (luckily, he changed his mind at the end). 

It was nice seeing everyone happy/smiling/laughing as they had their final meal together (it was the most 'human' Klaus ever acted). 

I liked all the goodbyes between the characters and Klaus, the Hope and Klaus interaction, the photos on the wall of characters (some of who couldn't be present), etc.



When Klaus apologised to Rebekah for screwing up her love life (with all the daggering and whatnot), she said he didn't have to apologise, I thought, "LIAR! He does have to apologise for all the crap he's pulled throughout his long life (even if it's long overdue), so LET HIM!". It seemed everyone was letting him off the hook simply because he was FINALLY going to do the right thing and sacrifice himself.

Rebekah finally decided she was ready to marry Marcel (honestly, her not wanting to in the first episode just felt like the writers putting it off until this final episode, so they came up with a half-arsed excuse for her saying 'no', but now it was like "Alright, you can marry him now!"). So...she's going to take the cure and live a human life with Marcel? Won’t she age quickly like Katherine was doing after Elena force-fed it to her in TVD? 

I'm glad we got to see Hayley one last time (appearing behind Hope as she painted a a picture of the whole family, easily putting Klaus’ pony paintings to shame).

All I could think when Klaus and Elijah staked each other out in public was, "That'll be a weird discovery for any passersby.", but then they started floating away as ashes (what, were they victims of Thanos' Snap?) and that solved that problem (no flamey violent deaths for them like when Mikael was staked with white oak). I guess they wanted a more 'romantic' demise (or 'bromantic' might be more accurate) rather than them bursting into flame. 

I was spoiled for both characters' deaths, so it didn't really come as a surprise, but I think it was really the only way their characters' journey could come to an end. Klaus saved his daughter and Elijah followed his brother into death. There was always a 'codependency' between them, so I don't think one would've managed without the other (despite the fact they often seemed to not get along). Kudos to the show for not letting either character off easily and finally putting down psychopathic mass murderer Klaus like he *should've* been many moons ago (thanks, Elijah, for being the reason he WASN'T. Everyone Klaus killed after Season 2's final were, in part, on you for not ripping out his heart when you had your fist around it). Having said that, as exhausting as putting up with Klaus onscreen was, I will give credit to Joseph Morgan for playing the role. He did a good job with one of the least 'likeable' lead characters in a show I watch (meanwhile, there are other shows with unlikeable lead characters played by actors who aren't able to make them watchable/tolerable). Joseph Morgan's certainly come a long way since the early days when I first saw him in Season 1 of the TV series Hex, where he was sporting unfortunate hair that made him look like he was wearing a sheep on his head.



It's probably good that the show ended at this point, as I thought it had started to go down hill after Season 3 and I would've hated for it to become unbearable to watch before it finally finished. Despite its flaws, this was one of the best 'spin-off' shows I've watched and ranks right up there alongside Angel and Xena: Warrior Princess for me.

Thank you, show, for employing so many Aussies.

Goodbye Klaus, you crazy, short-tempered, petulant, hypocritical bastard. The thought of your pony drawings will forever amuse me. 

Goodbye, Elijah, who made killing people into an 'art form' and could whip out a handkerchief like nobody else (to think, he annoyed me when he first turned up on TVD in Season 2. I think I even insulted his hair in one of my episode reviews on IMDB).

Goodbye, Hayley, you deserved better, but at least you went out like a bad-arse (and Phoebe Tonkin, bless you, your wavering American accent never really bothered me that much).

Goodbye, Marcel. You were decent some of the time, not so much other times and it often felt like the show didn't know what to do with you (Charles Michael Davis had a good voice to listen to, at least). 

Goodbye, Vincent (the actor who played you did such a good job in Season 2 when playing the character of Finn stuck in a new body that they decided to keep him). You were somewhat sanctimonious/holier-than-thou at times, which got annoying, but at least you called out Klaus on all his crap that he pulled.

Goodbye, Freya. You came into the show in Season 2 (I think in part it was just to have another 'Original' family members to help justify the plural in the show's title, as early in Season 1 when Rebekah was gone and Elijah was daggered, there weren't so many 'Originals' around). You were fiercely loyal to your family (even though at times they didn't really deserve it), putting them before your own happiness, and were a good addition to the cast (Riley Voelkel was another cast member who had a nice voice). 

Goodbye, teenage Hope...well...at least until I start watching Season 1 of Legacies on DVD, anyway. You fit right in with the rest of the Mikaelson family (though were far less homicidal) and Danielle Rose Russell was another good addition to the cast. Keep being the supernatural turducken (werewitchpire) that you are!

Lastly, goodbye to all the neck-snapping, heart-ripping, handkerchief-whipping and 'Papa Tunde's mystical knife of ludicrous torment'.