S03.E05: The Axeman's Letter

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As the war among the sire lines continues to grow, Klaus receives an unexpected visit by a figure from his past. When Elijah suspects that Tristan is hiding something, he enlists Marcel's help to find out what he's up to. Elsewhere, Davina struggles with her role as Regent and seeks advice from Hayley. Finally, an ancient secret that is uncovered threatens to tear the Mikaelson brothers apart for good.

 

Promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jKUfg6ePM

[ElectricBoogaloo]

 

[Cattitude]

Overall really liked the episode. I actually kind of like the flashbacks about how they learned different things. The witch stuff was good and I like that Hayley and Davina are friends again.

Love Vincent and Will just wish they weren't saddled with Cami.

As I suspected I loved Crazy Sister and of course she was turned by Rebekah.

Only major annoyances were Cami being wrongly arrested(RME) and the reason Elijah and Klaus are on the outs is the most stupid contrived thing EVER! Come on Klaus has done far worse than that small thing Elijah did(compelling Stefan to forget he loved Rebekah then daggering her in a box comes to mind), could Klaus be any more the dramatic king baby! One think I've always given Klaus when he makes the maddest at his awful behavior the next week he redeems himself in some way. I hope it holds true again b/c he was a class A jerk for sure.

 

added bonus swoon at Elijah sexy as hell fighting in his suit....MEOW!

[Lila82]

Joseph Morgan is crazy attractive with the longer hair.  It only took me six years to see it.

 

I'm still unclear exactly why the sire lines are fighting, and while there are elements of the storyline that I like, I firmly despise that both Klaus and Elijah are falling on their swords because of girl problems.  Boo hoo, Hayley got cursed.  Boo hoo, Aurora dumped Klaus.  They're emotionally stunted, but they're acting like they just found out that One Direction broke up.   Maybe they're closet Zayn fans?

 

I like Hayley and Davina's friendship.  They need someone in their lives who doesn't mansplain.  Freya too.  She needs something to do with her time besides magicking for Klaus.

[rue721]

I'm liking Aurora more and more, but her ~epic romance~ storyline is kind of for shit. Hopefully more interesting stuff will happen with her later on.

 

The thing of Aurora having a mental illness is intriguing, though. (I think they're saying that she has a mental illness, based on stuff like her complaining to Bex about her own mind making her life hell). Since vampirism heals all injuries and illnesses, you'd think that it would cure depression or bipolar or whatever they're hinting at is going on with her, too? But maybe it doesn't work like that? Idk, but it's interesting to think about imo.

 

Also, once she started talking about how unwell/unhappy she felt, it suddenly made so much more sense that she'd be drawn to Klaus. His total lack of stability probably drew her like a moth to the flame.

 

Do you guys think that she and Klaus will get back together? They seem like they have zero romantic chemistry to me, but tbh, I never feel like Klaus has any romantic chemistry with anyone. Except maybe Rebekkah.

 

Elijah and Klaus's fight has become even stupider. Klaus is pissed that when Elijah found out that Klaus had MURDERED THEIR MOTHER, Elijah reacted in a somewhat passive-aggressive (yet pragmatic) way? Honestly, what reaction would Klaus have preferred? For Elijah to not have said anything, and just quietly moved on out of town with Rebekkah, leaving Klaus and Aurora to face Mikael on their own? And I really doubt that Elijah made sure to keep Klaus traveling with the family and safe from their father out of guilt. Considering that he'd JUST found out that Klaus had killed their mother, which is so much worse than compelling Aurora to break up with Klaus that it's laughable. If anyone should feel guilty, it's Klaus.

 

The storyline with Cami is ridiculous. This murder investigation is ridiculous.

 

Davina's storyline is OK overall, but all the brouhaha over the party in this episode seemed kind of silly/contrived/teenager-y to me. Eh, next week will probably be better.

 

Idk, I think this episode was OK, but nothing special, and I was pretty bored for a lot of it. This season isn't really hitting its stride imo, at least not yet. Though I'm happy to find out more about the first couple years after the Mikaelsons turned, because it seems like A LOT of interesting stuff happened during that time.

Edited November 6, 2015 by rue721

[luckyroll3]

Poor wittle Klaus. Every one is always against him and always hates him for absolutely no reason. Nevermind that it's usually after he does some awful stuff, like murdering his mother and lying to his siblings about it!! Why does Klaus always get to be angry for how he is wronged, but no one else is allowed to? He needs to grow the fuck up. You'd think he got turned into a vampire when he was 3.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yay for flashback Rebekah, even if I had to wait until her last scene for her to have any lines.

 

Is it wrong that I laughed at Klaus's handwriting in the letter gave to Aurora? Part of me was laughing that Aurora was the first vampire groupie. Her flashback hair was terrible. I love that this show is so consistent with awful flashback hair.

 

Fucking Klaus. He blames Esther for turning him into a vampire. He blames Mikael for being a shitty father (no argument here). And now he's blaming Elijah for accidentally compelling Aurora, calling him an enemy, the greatest traitor of his life, a betrayer, and the reason why he turned out the way he did. Seriously, dude, give it a fucking rest. Yes, your family is crap, but take some personal responsibility and quit blaming everyone for the way you turned out. Good lord. But hey, I guess at least Elijah has finally surpassed both of his parents as the greatest betrayer in Klaus's life.

 

My two favorite things about tonight's Klaus/Elijah fight: (1) Elijah throwing Klaus and then adjusting his suit (2) Elijah yelling, "All this BLAME!" I am so glad that Elijah is done coddling paranoid Klaus and his persecution complex. I was so happy when Rebekah finally shed her Stockholm syndrome and got away from Klaus. Hopefully Elijah will do the same. Oh, who am I kidding? Klaus and Elijah will kiss and make up within two episodes.

 

Daammmmn, Vincent was looking super hot this week. Please continue to dress him in henleys, show.

 

How did Logan Echolls get into the secret black magic room? He just strolled into the house and wandered around? Rude! I don't know how Cami is going to find a way to keep all that black magic stuff out of the evidence room. If Klaus weren't so busy having another temper tantrum, Cami could ask him to compel Detective Logan but I guess that's not going to happen.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I actually fist pumped when we found out that Rebekah is Aurora's sire. I had suspected that when we found out Klaus is Lucien's sire.

 

Daammmmmn, Vincent was looking super hot this week. Please continue to dress him in henleys, show.

Yes, yes he was. And yes, please, show. I still feel bad that he and Will/Logan Echolls are burdened with Cami.

 

I am so beyond over Klaus and his petulant ways, he's done so much more worse in his lifetime than what he accuses others of. I do still enjoy seeing Elijah fight in a suit. And of course they'll make up, I'm just hoping Elijah won't have to kiss Klaus' ass for whatever reason when they do.

 

Everything else was boooring.

[rue721]

My two favorite things about tonight's Klaus/Elijah fight: (1) Elijah throwing Klaus and then adjusting his suit (2) Elijah yelling, "All this BLAME!" I am so glad that Elijah is done coddling paranoid Klaus and his persecution complex. I was so happy when Rebekah finally shed her Stockholm syndrome and got away from Klaus. Hopefully Elijah will do the same. Oh, who am I kidding? Klaus and Elijah will kiss and make up within two episodes.

 

Klaus's reaction made no sense to me. How could Elijah have "made Klaus what he became" AFTER Klaus had already killed their mother and gone on a killing spree with Lucien, ffs?

 

Anyway, I actually liked the flashbacks. There was a scene when Aurora and Klaus were about to make out and both of their terrible wigs were in frame that I actually laughed. My only complaint about them is that it's too bad that Elijah is basically the exact same in the flashbacks as he is in the present day. And, I want to see how Rebekkah feels about Klaus ~falling in love~, since he was constantly such an asshole to her whenever she did.

Edited November 6, 2015 by rue721

[Impish Dragon]

I seriously dislike the aborted confession trope.  Elijah was going to confess and Klaus told him he didn't need to and that it wouldn't matter, then he goes and throws a temper tantrum when he learns the secret.  Dumbass.

 

I like Haley and Davina as friends.  I think they work fine together and it didn't feel like the writers were trying to prop Haley.  Though I still think Davina comes off as a kid trying to play dress up.

 

So after watching the ep a crazy idea popped in my head.  If Elijah and Marcel's idea that Lucien and Tristan (and possibly Auroa) are indeed working together, I wonder if they have found a way to sever their connection to their sires and/or are trying to establish themselves as the new Originals/heads of the lines.

 

ETA:  It was nice to have someone concerned about Rebekah's safety for a whole five minutes.  Then it became about Klaus. 

Edited November 6, 2015 by Impish Dragon

[mac123x]

Witch story line -- don't care.  Davina's acting is really bad throughout.  And i noticed Jackson's marble mouth really bad tonight.  Is that his natural speaking voice, or is he a British actor affecting a "southern" accent?  (It reminded me of an episode of Frasier when Daphne was practicing her American accent, and Frasier asked if her voice coach was a drag queen.)

 

I was really hoping that CrazyPants would reveal her big deep dark secret, and for once Klaus wouldn't go on a rampage.  "Huh.  So that's how Elijah learned compulsion.  Interesting."  Maybe he and Elijah were play-acting, but I don't know who could have been their audience.

 

I don't believe for a second that the detective would have been able to get a search warrant, let alone arrest Cami, based on the fact that her DNA or whatever was on the victim.  No shit, she left trace evidence on the guy who died in her arms.

 

 

 

Since vampirism heals all injuries and illnesses, you'd think that it would cure depression or bipolar or whatever they're hinting at is going on with her, too? But maybe it doesn't work like that? Idk, but it's interesting to think about imo.

 

Waaaay back on TVD, Stephen explained to Caroline, right after she turned, that becoming a vampire exacerbates any existing personality traits. 

 

ETA -- What an anticlimactic resolution to the woofs being cursed.

Edited November 7, 2015 by mac123x

[ElectricBoogaloo]

i noticed Jackson's marble mouth really bad tonight.  Is that his natural speaking voice, or is he a British actor affecting a "southern" accent?  (It reminded me of an episode of Frasier when Daphne was practicing her American accent, and Frasier asked if her voice coach was a drag queen.)

I've noticed that a lot of actors lower the pitch of their voices when doing accents, which is really noticeable when you hear them speak with their natural accents and their voices are much higher (Ed Westwick is another one who does this). Nathan Parsons (Jackson) is Australian, as is Phoebe Tonkin (Hayley). Both of them pitch their voices lower when using an American accent. Phoebe's American accent slips frequently enough for me to notice (and that's before you take into account the woofs). Interestingly, Claire Holt is Australian too but when she used an American accent on Pretty Little Liars, it wasn't noticeable to me at all. She does pitch her voice a little lower than she does when using a British accent but it's nowhere near as low as Jackson or Hayley's growling. I fear they are frying their vocal cords sometimes.

[immortalfrieza]

Now, if I had found out that I spent 1000 years hating a woman I once loved because someone tricked me into believing that I would be really royally pissed off so I understand Klaus' anger, but he also has absolutely no right to criticize anyone after 1000 years of consistently doing far, far worse. I'm glad Elijah gave him that "All this BLAME!!!" speech because Klaus really needed it. Somebody need to point out to him and have it stick that Klaus is responsible for his OWN choices, not his parents, not his siblings, not Aurora, only Klaus. I might actually enjoy Klaus being an evil dick if he at least owned up to the real reason he's doing it.

[boohiss13]

I agree that Klaus' reaction was extreme, though so was Elijah's.  He knew Klaus was going to be very hurt by this news, so when he is and he reacts, Elijah's reaction to that is to not apologize, but to stoke the argument further? Elijah has lead a life full of several women and relationships, Klaus hasn't.  Klaus' life has essentially been a lonely one, which has made him who he is, and I think THAT is the point he was trying to make when he said Elijah's actions set him on a course.  I don't think for a minute he blames Elijah for everything, but I see his point.  Also, no one ever seems to point out that Elijah constantly lords a moral superiority over Klaus, claims he is his supportive brother, yet, over and over, his words and actions support an opinion that he doesn't think Klaus is worthy of any of the things he claims he wants for him.  And anyone who has lived 1000 years should know: if you, over and over and over, insult and shame someone, telling them they are unworthy, they will eventually BELIEVE THAT and will, however unwittingly, will cause their lives to fufill that.  

 

For someone who is painfully aware of why Klaus is the way he is, I think Elijah is repeatedly cruel and psychologically abusive to Niklaus.  You either actually want him to be redeemed, want him to eventually be happy and WANT to help him to achieve that, or you don't.  And I think Elijah's ACTIONS are opposite to what he's said in the past to Klaus on this matter.

 

All that being said, I think it was lazy of the writer's to plop this down, another conflict between the brothers.  If they wanted conflict, they should've used one of the sisters.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

And anyone who has lived 1000 years should know: if you, over and over and over, insult and shame someone, telling them they are unworthy, they will eventually BELIEVE THAT and will, however unwittingly, will cause their lives to fufill that.

That hasn't stopped Klaus from insulting and shaming Rebekah for a thousand years. Thank goodness she somehow managed to escape his bullying and mind games (at least for now since we know she will be back one of these days!).

[Bessieboots]

Yay! I've finally found an active forum for this show. Hello everyone!

I agree that Klaus' reaction was extreme, though so was Elijah's.  He knew Klaus was going to be very hurt by this news, so when he is and he reacts, Elijah's reaction to that is to not apologize, but to stoke the argument further? Elijah has lead a life full of several women and relationships, Klaus hasn't.  Klaus' life has essentially been a lonely one, which has made him who he is, and I think THAT is the point he was trying to make when he said Elijah's actions set him on a course.  I don't think for a minute he blames Elijah for everything, but I see his point.  Also, no one ever seems to point out that Elijah constantly lords a moral superiority over Klaus, claims he is his supportive brother, yet, over and over, his words and actions support an opinion that he doesn't think Klaus is worthy of any of the things he claims he wants for him.  And anyone who has lived 1000 years should know: if you, over and over and over, insult and shame someone, telling them they are unworthy, they will eventually BELIEVE THAT and will, however unwittingly, will cause their lives to fufill that.  

 

For someone who is painfully aware of why Klaus is the way he is, I think Elijah is repeatedly cruel and psychologically abusive to Niklaus.  You either actually want him to be redeemed, want him to eventually be happy and WANT to help him to achieve that, or you don't.  And I think Elijah's ACTIONS are opposite to what he's said in the past to Klaus on this matter.

 

All that being said, I think it was lazy of the writer's to plop this down, another conflict between the brothers.  If they wanted conflict, they should've used one of the sisters.

I agree with all of this. Elijah is always going be the 'better' brother given klaus's craziness but it doesn't mean he's all that nice himself. There's something pathological on both sides in that relationship and I do get the feeling that Elijah gets something out of klaus being horrible. This isn't the first time he's egged klaus on. In the wedding episode he decided klaus was going to kill Jackson (if only!) and then rubbed his face in the fact that Jackson would make a bette father bringing all of his insecurities to the surface, ensuring he hated Jackson even more. And this after spending a year and a half convincing klaus he should be invested in fatherhood. Freya's way better at handling him even though they've only known each other a year or something.

I do wish that klaus's anger was more justified though. I thought the whole flashback was going to go in a really dark direction and Elijah had genuinely done something terrible but nope he just compelled her by accident. As sins go it's not that bad in the scheme of things. Though I understand why it hit klaus hard.

I actually enjoyed the klaus/aurora stuff. Much more than other klaus ships at any rate. Now we have all the trinity in place I'm here for the duration (which probably won't be long)!

Didn't care about the other stuff. Cami going to jail is vaguely hilarious but otherwise meh. Hayley and davina bonding if cute, i guess, but I don't care for either of them that much.

[boohiss13]

Bessie, I agree with what you said as well.  The comment you made about Elijah throwing Jackson in Klaus' face is just one of the reasons I find Elijah psychologically abusive; I find him to be cruel.  If you recall he also told Klaus that Hope would eventually walk away from him on her own, which is a pitifully sad thing to say to someone you pushed and pushed into taking responsibility as a father, WHICH KLAUS HAS ACTUALLY DONE.  While Klaus does horrible things he doesn't normally do things that are specifically JUST to hurt his siblings.  Elijah's comments, and actions as he has not supported Klaus since Hope has been born but instead has supported Hayley and HER personal agenda, are the kind that cut to the quick as they play on Klaus' worst fears.  I know someone will likely say that Klaus killed Gia, but this was in response to Elijah making the decision that HE, not Klaus.....Hope's FATHER......was more capable of protecting her and then rendered Klaus unable to do so.  ANY response, no matter how deadly, would've been a reasonable answer to this.  Elijah behaves as if he has some right to supplant Niklaus as Hope's protector all because Hayley asked him to; Klaus has never harmed Hope, in fact adores her and has done everything to protect her, so Elijah has no right whatsoever to continue to sidestep Hope's FATHER'S wishes.