Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Originals 1.01 Review: Family Makes You Weak


If you haven’t watched the series premiere of The Originals, entitled ‘Always and Forever’, then now would be the time to do so. This review, like most of my other reviews, has a chance of containing spoilers pertaining to the episode. If you don’t want to spoiled, then please go watch the episode, and it’d probably be a good idea to get caught up in The Vampire Diaries too, just to be safe. To reiterate, THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! Proceed with caution.
I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet, being that I have to get up in five hours to get ready for a funeral, so I’m going to be hitting the points fast. If that’s not something you like, well then that’s just too bad for you.
Going into this episode, I wasn’t all that excited to hear that it was going to be a retelling of the back door pilot, just in Elijah’s point of view. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed it, particularly more than The Vampire Diaries fifth season premiere, which was mostly terrible. I do hope Elijah will play as big a role in the series as he does in the pilot, because he’s quite enjoyable to watch. But then again, the actor is a new father, so I don’t know how much time he’ll be able to spend on the series, likely it’s just going to revolve around Klaus and Marcel, with the witches hanging around.
Did anyone else get chemistry vibes between Elijah and Hayley? I know it likely had to do with the fact that the guy’s so excited for a new generation of family, after they were all basically cheated out of having their own children when their mother turned them into vampires – and no, that’s not as sexual as it sounds, she was a witch, get your head out of the gutter. I kind of hope they go this way, because I’m still strongly under the impression Klaus is hung up on Caroline, and it would honestly be terrible writing if they just had him fall for another woman, when he’s not the type to do so easily. So, basically I really hope that it’s Klaus’s kid (which it is), but if Hayley is to stick around after the birth, I’d want her to have some kind of relationship with Elijah, romantically speaking.
This episode may have been interesting partly because I haven’t watched the planted pilot since it first aired. I don’t know how much that might have helped my liking, but it has to have something to do with it. Otherwise, I think I like it because it’s not the same tired stuff as it’s parents show, and there’s no romantic triangle it’s basing itself around. But it could also have to do with my love affair with New Orleans. I just love the idea of having a show based there on my TV screen, and the fact that I get a two-hitter this year with this show, and American Horror Story: Coven both being based there, it’s simply marvelous.
While the CW is known for casting based on beauty rather than acting talent, I do think some of the acting was surprisingly good in this episode. Marcel was wonderful as he was in the backdoor pilot, as were Klaus and Elijah. It was nice to get a hint to who this Davina character is, and the actress is astoundingly good compared to her foray into Disney Channel made-for-TV movie. The actress that plays Sophie is also intriguingly good, though a bit exaggerated in her facial movements. But I was most surprised by Phoebe Tonkin as Hayley. Perhaps it’s that she’s finally gotten an American accent down better, or that she was less annoying playing against Elijah, either way I think I may actually start to like her, despite the fact Caroline should really be the one, if anyone, to carry Klaus’s child… aside from the fact she’s a vampire and unable to.
To keep it quick, I’ll just mention that the music is good, though there wasn’t much to comment on. The lighting was mostly fabulously done, though hopefully will become devoid of classic TVD lighting. And the cinematography was shockingly not too close up on a lot of the shots, although that could have something to do with the fact I watched this episode online because my DVR was conflicted with Grey’s Anatomy and The Crazy Ones both claiming top priority (my DVR can only record two shows at once, or one show and watch one show). I’m honestly more excited for this series than The Vampire Diaries, maybe it’s time to put that show to bed and let Caroline come over to this one and give Ian Somerhaulder a role that’s worth his acting chops.
There, that only took about twenty minutes, that’s what I call quick.
My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Line:
“Your dad was a dick.” – Hayley, referring to the Originals’ father, who constantly came after Klaus to try and kill him, but was eventually defeated by him. Spot on interpretation, I might add.


So, that’s all for tonight. I know I still have the Best Performances of the Week to do, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow night, despite how tired I’ll probably be. I work until two am-ish, so expect it around three. As long as it comes up before I watch Haven’s fifth episode (it is fifth, right?), it doesn’t really matter. I’ll also most likely be reviewing that right after. But I make no promises, I have to work the day after that at four, that gives me about four hours to do anything before sleep.

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