The Originals recap: 'A Spirit Here That Won't Be Broken'

When the Mikaelson clan adopted their “family first” mantra thousands of years ago, Kol must have been on some sort of killing spree that day. It’s clear he didn’t get the memo, because when he’s faced with choosing between freeing a brother stuck in a pendant and resurrecting his beloved from the other side, we can bet that he will always go with option two.

Choosing Davina makes things a little sticky since she’s magically connected to the Hollow now. And if Kol wants to keep Davina in the land of the living, he has to do the Hollow’s bidding. No, this does not include laundry or trips to the store to buy eyes of newt. Now that the Hollow is mortal, she can die. And since the Mikaelsons are hell-bent on putting her down, she wants Kol to babysit the totem that connects her body to Davina’s. Kol is eager to participate: If the Hollow dies, Davina dies.

Step 1: Kol must betray his family.
Step 2: Kol must figure out a way to break the spell so he and Davina can skip town and live happily ever after.

Things are just as chaotic over at the compound. Hope is nervous that the Hollow is getting stronger. She’s afraid time is running out. Hayley notices the pendant that holds Elijah’s soul is cracking, and she takes it to Freya, who ominously declares to the family that if they don’t get Elijah out of the pendant that night, they will lose him forever.

Freya has been busy since her last battle with the Hollow; she’s figured out that Hope — or rather, her blood — is the key to the Hollow’s destruction. Remember how Hope used to draw the circular serpent? Freya believes Hope is one end of that snake while the Hollow is the other. They have to close the loop. A dagger with Hope’s blood should do the trick, if Hayley is brave enough to wield it, since the vanquisher must be from the Crescent Moon line. Hayley is totally in. After a quick speech about how “sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do because you are the only one who can do them,” Hope holds out her pointer finger for her mom to prick it.

It’s just like Sleeping Beauty, but darker and with zero good fairies.

Freya builds a tricked-out locator spell to figure out where the Hollow is holed up, and Rebekah recognizes the mark on the map. It’s an abandoned house owned by a dude who killed his family there once upon a time — a perfect summer home for the serial witch-murderer. Suddenly, Freya notices another location, and it becomes clear that the Hollow is using a totem, which must be eliminated before the Hollow can die. She instructs Rebekah to take care of the problem but warns her not to go alone.

No problem. Rebekah phones her favorite sidekick. Kol is happy to help. She vamps over to the house where the totem is located, only to find Marcel there to scold her for taking on the Hollow, or even the Hollow’s cronies, by herself. I’m sensing a theme. Rebekah scolds Marcel for wasting her time. She needs to make sure the Hollow is vulnerable, and the only way she can do it is to eliminate the blue piece of glass currently in that house. Otherwise, Hayley’s suicide mission is going to end before it really begins.

Marcel, ever the gentleman, escorts her inside. That’s when they both get trapped in a protection spell. Rebekah is furious that Kol would do this to her, yet she immediately understands that the Hollow has to be holding something over him. He apologizes and vamps out before Rebekah gets an explanation. Luckily, she has her ex-boyfriend to keep her company! That’s not awkward at all!

Kol makes his way back to the attic where Davina is waiting on him. He reminds her that her life is just as important as Hayley’s. All he needs is time and a tiny little witch with lots of power. Once again, Hope is going to save the day. He gives Davina his car keys and tells her to meet him at midnight. Their life begins in the new day.

Over at the compound, Freya is worried that neither Rebekah nor Kol are answering their cell phones. She has to assume that the totem is still intact. Therefore, Klaus must go on a totem hunt, while Freya prepares to battle against the Hollow with Hayley armed with daggers laced with Hope’s blood. Oh, and if someone could compel a nanny to look after Hope, that would be great.

Hayley and Freya step inside the house and find bodies everywhere. Immediately, Freya is thrown backward, and Hayley’s neck is snapped. Clearly, the whole “we’ve got this with our dagger” business was a huge bust. Hayley wakes up in another realm, and there’s Jackson! With a beer! Looking hot as ever!

I never knew how much I missed him until this moment.

Does this mean Hayley is dead? Passed out? In another life? Well, sort of. She’s having a psychological break. Her mind took her somewhere peaceful. Jackson is flattered that she’s at the bayou on the dock with him instead of in a mansion somewhere with “the suit.”

NEXT: Hayley has a very bad day

Back in the real world, Kol convinces Hope that he needs her help doing a little magic. She balks, spouting that she’s not supposed to do magic with strangers. He laughs, reminding the little darling that they are family and that he’s been away because he’s been sad. But she can help him be happy if she would just untwist this pesky knot. If she can do that, he will be reunited with the love of his life. Just like mommy and Uncle Elijah.

Hope starts analyzing the rope. She clearly buys into the family-first mantra.

Simultaneously, we see the Hollow instructing a man to fill Hayley’s veins with more wolfsbane. She wants to keep her alive for some reason. Freya wakes up, shouting for Hayley, but is distracted when she sees Keelin dead on the floor. Whhhhaaaaattttt?

Okay, Keelin isn’t dead yet, but she could be. She’s a figment of Freya’s imagination. Now both Hayley and Freya have to fight off the “you’re not real” people whispering in their ears. Jackson turns dark, and Hayley realizes she’s fighting the Hollow with his face. She rips Jackson’s heart from his chest and wakes up in the chair. Hayley easily breaks out of her chains, but is still woozy from the wolfsbane. In other unfortunate news, she can’t get out of the room, and Jackson is there again to chop her abdomen with a butcher knife.

I don’t miss him as much as I did about 20 minutes ago.

Back at Heartbreak Hotel, Rebekah is ready to burn the place down so she and Marcel can get the heck out of dodge. Marcel rolls his eyes just as Klaus shows up to make fun of the duo. His mood turns irate when Rebekah tells him that Kol put them in the protection spell because he is doing the Hollow’s bidding. Angry, Klaus shouts for Rebekah to check the map she’s still holding to see where the totem is located. If the color could drain from his face, it would have when Rebekah chokes out that Kol is at the compound.

Klaus vamps out, leaving the former lovebirds alone again. Rebekah ribs Marcel by asking about Sofya but is shut down when she learns that Sofya hasn’t woken up since the Hollow invaded her body. Then Marcel starts punching a hole in the ground so he can find a gas line. It’s time to blow this joint up and join the fight. It’s a good thing Rebekah has her trusty zippo. #kaboom

Meanwhile, Hayley still fights fake Jackson, who keeps shouting unfortunate truths like, “All I ever wanted to do is protect you!” Then he turns into Elijah. Poor Hayley is tripping uncontrollably. She’s had a hard couple of weeks. Freya is handling things a little better. She’s blatantly ignoring Keelin while trying to magic her way through the door to save Hayley.

All of this transpires the same time Klaus arrives at the compound to lay a smackdown on Kol. He admonishes Kol for allowing the Hollow to prey on his weakness. Kol continues to defend himself between punches. Davina is linked to the Hollow. As Kol comes crashing down from a severe beating, the totem rolls out from his grasp. Klaus looks at it and slams his foot into the blue glass.

Suddenly, fake Jackson/Elijah disappears, and Freya busts through the door. Both women correctly assume Klaus destroyed the totem. It’s time to dagger a Hollow.

Poor Kol begs Klaus to show him mercy, knowing his brother wants to do a little daggering of his own. He pleads with Klaus to make an exception. Klaus pauses when Kol brings up his brother’s own Achilles’ heel: What if Klaus could bring back Camille? Would he do it?

While Kol is battling for his life, Davina takes a little time to visit her old buddy Josh. She thanks him for visiting her grave and having one-sided conversations with her. Then she starts to choke and bleed from a wound in her neck.

Allow me to explain.

The Hollow mixes something in a bowl, using Hayley’s discarded dagger (read: with Hope’s blood) and then drinks it at the exact same time as Hope makes the knot rise and unravel before her. Hayley busts through the door and falls to the floor, thanks to the Hollow’s quick reflexes. Not to be outdone, Freya flies in and magics a pointy object into the Hollow’s jugular. Hence, Davina’s neck gusher. Josh vamps out and bites his wrist to give Davina blood, but we don’t see him actually give her blood.

Hope passes out after the rope unravels. WHERE DOES FAMILY FIRST FIT INTO THIS SCENARIO? WHY HAS THIS KID BEEN LEFT ALONE FOR SON LONG? Hayley jumps on top of the Hollow who shouts, “Do it!” and Hayley stabs her no less than a dozen times. Freya pulls Hayley off of the blood-spattered body, comforting her with a soft, “She’s gone.”

Yeah, right.

Now we have to tie up loose ends. Marcel and Rebekah, covered in ash and soot, fight about how they have to resort to blowing themselves up instead of sitting in a circle together like civilized vampires. Rebekah suggests they just forget about each other. They shake on this deal by making out in the middle of the street. Yay! Of course, Sofya is going to wake up next week, I’m sure.

Josh tries to get Davina to leave in Kol’s car like he asked her to do if he wasn’t back at midnight. She refuses. Kol is happy to hear that as he saunters up to his woman. It looks like he found his brother in a charitable mood that night. I guess Klaus understands that true love can come first in his siblings’ lives, but family trumps all in his own. Since the curse is broken and the totem is destroyed, Davina and Kol drive off in his convertible.

Finally, Freya works to release Elijah from his pendant tomb. Hayley chooses not to participate in the reunion. She has a lot to think about. She takes a sixer out to the bayou and apologizes to Jackson. She admits that she should have never chosen Elijah over him, but she never knew what love was supposed to look like. Hayley doesn’t want Hope to go through this pain. She knows what she has to do, but she hopes she’s brave enough to do it.

Elijah wakes up at this moment.

I figure that Hayley wants to be brave enough to either end it with Elijah or move Hope away from her monster family to secure her innocence for as long as she can. Both options will destroy a brother, but we don’t have to worry about that for now. You see, the Hollow has filled in the serpent loop by taking over another body.

That’s right. Hope is styling and profiling in her new Smurf-blue eyes. Things just got interesting.