The Originals recap: 'Phantomesque'

Faith, love, and hope have rescued the Mikaelson clan from a multitude challenges over the last thousand years. There’s faith that Freya can whip up a spell to fix even the most harrowing of situations. There’s a deep, abiding love for family above all else. And there’s Hope.

As in the small witch living in the creepy New Orleans compound with a bunch of Originals.

When we last left Elijah, he was stuck inside a pendant, suffering in the depths of his own subconsciousness. Brutal, right? On the outside, he’s decaying in a posh coffin. So, he’s mostly dead. But that doesn’t matter in vampire world. How do I know this? Because vampires start dropping right and left at a dance party in the French Riviera. I would feel bad for them if I wasn’t so excited that we get to see Kol and Rebekah again!

The sibling duo immediately recognize this trend and bolt for New Orleans. An Original has died and heads are going to roll. Or Hollows. Perhaps both?

While Kol and Rebekah make their way to the compound, Freya frantically tries to figure out how to get inside the pendant, find Elijah, ensure his mind is stable, and get him back out again. That mind part is the key ingredient. Otherwise, it’s like setting a cast with a broken bone. If Elijah is traipsing around some of the memories he’d like to forget, and Freya pulls him out while he’s technically not himself, we could get an entirely different Elijah on the other side.

Say it ain’t so.

Elijah’s confinement isn’t the only problem. There’s a little issue known as the serial witch murderer who is roaming around New Orleans, killing flowers with her essence. It’s because of her that Sofya is still a hot mess, but according to Josh, there is a cure. The bad news is that they need a bit of the Hollow’s blood so they can extract the magic and reverse the spell. The good news is, they have a better chance succeeding in their goal if they team up with the Mikaelsons. Marcel does not receive the recommendation as good news. He’d rather go solo. Greatest idea in the history of never.

Marcel finds the Hollow dragging a dead witch and placing the body into a pile of more dead witches. You know, the same ones who pledged their loyalty to the cause. Marcel calls her crazy (Does this guy have a death wish?) and vows to never serve the Hollow under any circumstances. The Hollow says Sofya is as good as gone. That’s when Marcel attacks. He bites her neck and his mouth turns black, right before he starts coughing up acid. That’s going to hurt in the morning. She screams at him and his body is pitched into the air and then slammed to the ground.

The Hollow = 1
Marcel = 0

Over at the compound, Freya lays down inside a chalk circle surrounded by candles. Her goal? Magic herself into the pendant and find Elijah in his memories. She’s transported to a long, white hallway lined with doors. Each one has a different marker. Freya hears voices behind one marked with a cross, and inside she finds Elijah killing people in the church. This was before he wore collared shirts and ties. She shutters at the site (me too) and calls his name. He walks right through her and then disappears.

Freya goes through another door and finds Elijah, properly collared, slaughtering people in the courtyard. This time he sort of hears her before he disappears. A door with an “M” monogram is full of happier memories with the entire family wearing horrific wigs. There’s still no recognition of Freya’s presence. This is going to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

Meanwhile, Rebekah and Kol arrive to help Klaus with a little task. There are eight thorny stakes of death and the original rose bush that needs to be destroyed by fire. This trio is on it! Witches perish one after the other as the siblings vamp all over New Orleans eradicating the one weapon that can kill them all. Kol interrogates a witch who mentions that nothing can stop the Hollow, including the ancestors. Klaus stakes the witch and Kol attacks his brother. Why didn’t he tell him the ancestors were back?

Klaus plays the “I was trying to protect you” card as his reasoning for not telling Kol he had a brief tête-à-tête with his dead beloved not too long ago. He slips in that Davina has changed in a dark sort of way, but Kol doesn’t care. Klaus tries to explain that the harvest girls are the only ones who can bring her back. Whoopsie! Elijah killed them all. Kol vamps. Another vampire has gone rogue.

Klaus and Rebekah continue to search for the other stakes. They come across a groggy Marcel and berate him for thinking he can survive in a one-man war against the Hollow. Marcel doesn’t care. When he learns that the Mikaelsons are hunting stakes, it dawns on him that the Hollow’s magic is in those same stakes. He needs one to save Sofya. Klaus all but laughs. Rebekah tries to reason with him, explaining they have to collect the last one to save the family, but she doesn’t finish her sentence before Marcel vamps to find it first.

Everyone is everywhere! Marcel is hunting stakes. Rebekah and Klaus are hunting Marcel. Sofya is unconscious. Kol is trolling the cemetery for witches. The Hollow is probably on Bourbon Street wreaking havoc. And Hayley is watching as Freya pulls herself out of the hallway, frustrated that she’s not strong enough to hold the spell and search for Elijah at the same time.

There is a solution, though. She needs more power. She needs help born from her family’s bloodline. Bonus points if she’s adorable and has red hair. It’s Hope’s time to shine, people! Hayley is ambivalent at first but changes her tune when her very mature daughter vows that she is not afraid. With Hope and Freya on the outside, Hayley steps in the circle to locate Elijah. Here goes nothing.

Hayley sees a red door. That’s never a good sign, so she chooses another one that depicts a sweet memory of a time she wolfed out to save Elijah. Hayley begs him to look at her. He does, then vanishes. Hayley returns to the hallway and slowly approaches the red door. She hears screaming and crashes from the other side, which is exactly what you want to hear when you march into a vicious vampire’s memory.

She finds several dead bodies and spies old-school early Original Elijah feeding on a woman. Well, it was the torso of a woman. Gross. Also, he sees Hayley and is not a happy camper. She runs through a back door, screaming for Freya to get her out, and Elijah follows her. Hayley trips, because that’s what happens in all woodland running scenes, and almost face plants into another pile of bodies by a campfire. Elijah is there. He attacks and she can’t seem to snap him out of his rage.

NEXT: Blast from the past

Things aren’t much better on the outside. Kol tries to trade dark magic items with some witches in exchange for a conversation with Davina. They respond by giving him a witch headache and then break his neck. Classy.

Across town, Marcel locates the last stake. Of course, Rebekah steals it. He asks Klaus to please let him use the stake to save the one he loves. Rebekah perks up, asking for the name of this lucky woman. Marcel shares Sofya’s name. Rebekah softens and gives him the stake since she recognizes that Marcel is fighting for love. He used to look at her that way too. Everyone gets a little teary, except Klaus who manages to refrain from rolling his eyes. Marcel promises to burn the stake once Vincent has siphoned out the magic.

Back at the compound, sweet Hope is freaking out that her mom is seizing in the circle. Freya agrees to let Hope in the pendant (YES!) with the understanding that she is forbidden from opening doors. Hope hops in the circle and Freya magics her in.

While Elijah is beating the crap out of Hayley, she hears Hope call out for her. A maternal instinct to protect her daughter gives Hayley the power to overcome Elijah. She takes off back to the cabin, only to be cornered by Elijah again. This time, he bites her.

Hope starts screaming for her mother. Hayley begs Hope to stay there. Just as I reach the point where I’m convinced Hope is going to throw caution to the wind and bust through the red door, she cries out, “MOMMY!”

Something clicks. Elijah recognizes Hayley. She runs through the door, embraces her daughter, and stares as Elijah, back to normal, waltzes through the door. He swears he is himself before apologizing to Hayley for nearly killing her. Hope returns to the real world, followed by Hayley. They leave Elijah in the hallway to think about what he’s done. Now it’s up to Freya to get him out.

Rebekah asks Freya to drop Elijah in another body. I stand up and threaten for the third time this year to quit this show if that happens. Thankfully, Freya says Elijah has to remain in his body. It’s going to take a big sacrifice to get him out. A sacrifice like the Hollow. And if they have to choose in battle to save a brother or Marcel, Freya wants Rebekah to know there is no choice.

In the courtyard, Klaus applauds Hayley for saving the day. He immediately realizes she is shaken to the core. Klaus knows she saw things and reminds Hayley they are all monsters. He encourages her by reminding Hayley that Elijah may be bad, but it was always to protect his family. He’s the best of the Mikaelsons. He always has been. Amen.

Rebekah celebrates the victory by calling Kol to tell him she is going to stick around New Orleans for a while. She wants him to do the same, but he already has one foot out the door. He places a white rose in Davina’s headstone and it immediately dies. Well hello there, Hollow.

Naturally, she tells Kol she can bring Davina back to life. Then she actually does it! What in the world? With a swipe of a knife through her palm, Kol hears Davina’s scream. He finds her in a crypt looking fresh as a daisy. Her hair is flawless. Kol reaches to embrace Davina in her cute off-the-shoulder sweater dress but is denied by a force field. Darn it. Davina and the Hollow are linked. If Kol wants to keep Davina safe, he has to “belong” to the Hollow.

Much like Marcel, Kol will do anything for love. Including selling his soul to the devil.