The Originals season 5 episode 5 review: Don’t It Just Break Your Heart

Klaus takes a stand against prejudice and criticizes Elijah for his lack of action, while a torrent of daddy issues unveil a mommy’s boy.

Last week on The Originals, it appeared Greta, Roman and Antoinette were linked to the purists. This week delivered answers. In “Don’t It Just Break Your Heart,” Greta willingly hands herself over to Klaus for a brutal interrogation. She could have just sent Klaus a note demanding Hope unmagic her wolfness in exchange for Hayley’s release. However, Greta wants to jump on her eugenic soapbox, platforming her delusions of power and her personal grudge against Klaus. In an odd choice of words, Greta says how the anti-hybrid cause has “infected” the vampires. Shouldn’t she talk of her cause to rid the world of the tainted in terms of purity rather than disease?

Speaking of infections, at the Salvatore school for two students, creepy teen Roman is finally set to take action as a bad boy rather than just talk about being a bad boy. Roman admits to Hope that he desiccated in a cave for a century, so he must have miffed off someone of power (so we await a 1928 flashback — maybe Roman was entombed in the catacombs beneath the bar in Manosque). Hope snags a first kiss from Roman, then she and her aunt Freya attempt a spell to remove Hope’s wolf side. Freya just happens to have the moonstone on her person. Was it in a soap dish in the Salvatore House?

Big bad wolf Klaus puts an end to that shenanigans and absconds with a bowl of his daughter’s blood. Klaus returns to New Orleans with super speed and feeds Hope’s blood to a couple of vampires we could not care less about. They will become wolfish, which will really make Greta cranky. That, we do care about.

Antoinette is forced to speak to Elijah of her past. A flashback to a 1930s bar in Germany unites cross-continental story lines and introduces August Weller. August is full of self-importance, lacks artistic merit and has a loathing for wolves. The mass slaughtering of wolves reminds Klaus of the biggest zealot in his world, his late father Mikael, who abused Klaus for being an illegitimate half-breed wolf. It has been just over ten years since Klaus fled Chicago in The Vampire Diaries as Mikael was hot on his trail. Klaus staked his sister Rebekah as she refused to leave ripper-mode Stefan behind. The episode’s a mini trip down TVD memory lane, and Elijah and Klaus were together at their dapper best. Here’s CW’s inside view:

Elijah tracks Klaus down in bar and meets August’s daughter, Antoinette, who claims not to share her father’s twisted ideology. Klaus’ wolf temper flares and he kills August and a few in his community. August’s swastika coin is passed on to his remaining family — Greta, Antoinette and Roman.

Many mysteries were unraveled and dots connected in this satisfying episode of The Originals, even if only one Original vampire does all the heavy lifting. Back to the present day, Josh tries to push Marcel from the Mikaelson bandwagon. Marcel does betray Klaus by telling Hope of the deal to sacrifice her wolfness, yet his actions also prove him loyal to his sort-of-half-sister Hope.

Roman breaks Hope out of school to supposedly meet a witch. The naughty boy then secretly tells his mama on the phone that he has Hope. Assuming that Greta is Roman’s mother, not Antoinette, this is not great for Hope.

Ultimately, the idea of complicity reigns supreme, both in the past and present. Through his idleness, Elijah is also complicit in Hayley’s torture. It’s time to take action. Elijah needs to hop off his piano stool and hop over to New Orleans.

Antoinette also confesses her past and present love for Elijah, and said she left her fanatical family and became a nightwalker. In an earlier episode, Antoinette said she took her daylight ring off and “returned to what I had been taught by my family. Now, their rules ground me.”

Who is Antoinette’s other family? More importantly, what’s the Roman link?

More importantly … next week … Caroline and Elijah are back!

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