The Originals: The Bloodletting (S1: E7)

Marcel likes to have down and dirty UFC vampire brawls, partially for entertainment and partially to suss out who might be qualified to be in his inner circle and score a daylight ring. Bitty lady vampire has just finished whooping the ass of steroid vampire when Klaus makes his presence known by breaking her neck. Elijah joins him, demanding to know what Marcel has done with Hayley.

Marcel denies having anything to do with Hayley’s disappearance. He even offers Sabine, one of his prize witches, to do a tracking spell. She does as she’s told and finds out Hayley is waaaay out in the bayou, in the middle of nowhere.

Hayley wakes up in the back of a moving vehicle and kicks at the window until Tyler Lockwood pulls over and drags her out. (I don’t know about all of you, but I was sure Marcel was hiding her. She IS a wolf, after all.) It quickly becomes obvious that Tyler is a LONG way from the quarterback who fell for Caroline. He carries her fireman-style to a cabin in the woods and ties her to a stove.

Klaus and Elijah argue about Hayley. Klaus accuses Elijah of having feelings for her. Elijah accuses Klaus of being heartless and self-serving. Klaus catches Tyler’s scent, finds his vehicle, and starts sniffing everything in a way that makes me wonder if Klaus has the ability to be cute. He takes off to punish Tyler, leaving Elijah looking unhappy.

Werewolf Dwayne joins Hayley and Tyler in the cabin. Tyler wants to test his theory that Hayley’s baby can create hybrids. He jabs her with a needle and then jabs Dwayne in the neck and kills him.

Rebekah attacks Marcel in the church, demanding to know what he did with Hayley. He says it’s already been cleared up and asks her why she came back. He wants to have a life with her. She doubts his sincerity. He takes her to “The Garden” which is his creepy torture chamber and shows her a drawing of a house he had started to build for the two of them before she fled New Orleans. The foundation became The Garden when she left, and he uses it to punish betrayers. Um, yikes. Rebekah, being a hopeless fool for love, wants to believe him even though HE LET HER STAY DAGGERED FOR YEARS AND YEARS but hey, Rebekah is gullible and soft-hearted and that’s why I love her. He says Klaus will never let her be happy or stop controlling her, and suggests she betray Klaus and help him and together they can live happily ever after…OH BOY, this isn’t going to end well for Bex.

Dwayne wakes up a hybrid, and Tyler instructs him to feed on Hayley. He does, and then starts freaking out and staggers outside. Tyler follows him and Hayley tries to free herself and escape, unsuccessfully. Having proven that her miracle baby CAN create hybrids, Tyler goes back inside and tells Hayley that’s exactly why Klaus wants her around. He says Klaus wants to build his hybrid army, and will use the baby to do it. He grabs a knife and says he can’t let Klaus do that, and it’s evident he intends to kill her. Hayley starts screaming and Dwayne shows up inside. She tells Dwayne Tyler wants to kill her and Dwayne attacks Tyler, causing him to drop the knife. Hayley seizes the opportunity to cut her restraints and get the hell out of there. Tyler rips Dwayne’s heart out. (I immediately bought Tyler’s story and believed that Klaus had an ulterior motive, because HELLO it’s Klaus.)

Hayley makes a run for it. Elijah finds her, and they do a lot of hugging. She tells him what she discovered about the baby, but she doesn’t want to go back to the plantation house because of Klaus. She also comments that it seemed as though Dwayne was sired to her. Oh, Hayley, something tells me Klaus will not appreciate that.

Klaus finds Tyler outside the cabin. They fight. Klaus is in a position to rip out Tyler’s heart when he realizes that Tyler wants to die. Klaus, being who he is, decides a worse fate is for Tyler to live in misery. He tells him to live the rest of his days knowing that he was a failure, and that his life means nothing.

Elijah and Hayley meet Klaus outside of the cabin. They accuse Klaus of everything Tyler suggested, and Klaus looks devastated but not surprised. He says Elijah considers him the lesser man, a man who couldn’t possibly care for his own flesh and blood, and then bites Elijah because he’s feeling pissed and put upon and honestly, I was team Klaus on this one. I mean, it DOES seem as though his family consistently thinks the worst of him when they aren’t trying to kill him.

Hayley and Elijah are snooping through the cabin for secrets to Hayley’s family history (Tyler explained that her birthmark makes her part of a rare werewolf pack, and that she’s basically royalty). Elijah explains that Klaus’s bite can’t kill him, it will just make him miserable. Elijah wonders if he was too quick to condemn Klaus (YES), because he and Rebekah have also committed their share of atrocities. Hayley argues that everyone has done terrible things, but most people die before the list gets embarrassing. She tells him never to compare himself to Klaus. Then, unable to handle the “heat” (sexual tension) she goes outside and finds a Bible with a bunch of names and birthdates. Elijah follows her, and after reading over her shoulder asks who Andrea is. Hayley thinks she might be Andrea.

Rebekah returns to Klaus and instantly condemns him for biting Elijah. Klaus is drinking and looking pretty melancholy, but that doesn’t interfere with his thirst for power. He tells Rebekah he wants her to cozy up to Marcel and spy for him. He knows they’ve been deliberately bumping into each other, and he wants to use it to his advantage. He asks Rebekah what Marcel is plotting. She shames him and lies, saying that Marcel only wants to make up with his old friend. Oh, Bex, this is NOT going to end well for you. I mean, even if she and Marcel could manage to trap Klaus in The Garden and build their fantasy life, I don’t think she could live with herself. She loves her family too much.

Still hell-bent on revenge, Tyler chats with Marcel in his club about Hayley. Marcel isn’t impressed; he already knows there’s a wolf in his city. Tyler also tells him that Hayley is pregnant with a hybrid baby that will wipe out all the vampires forever.

I loved this episode from start to finish. Klaus’s baby was a very clever way to reintroduce the hybrid storyline without the doppelganger. Hayley is getting more interesting as time goes on, and I always love seeing the mostly-hidden side of Klaus that’s still capable of emotion. The characters are developing brilliantly. Bravo, Plec and company.