Happy Monday! It’s premiere week and I couldn’t start this final season of The Originals without hosting another roundtable discussion about the upcoming season and our long awaited Klaroline reunion! This season is going to be a blast because we all get to enjoy it together, don’t forget to check out our Video Project for the premiere episode on Wednesday!
Jenn, Hillary, and Stephanie are back to tackle a bunch of questions from me and from the lovelies who sent in submissions. Let’s see what they had to say!
KM: Welcome back, ladies! The entire Fandom has been in a tizzy since The Originals got renewed and we all died when Candice was officially announced to be a part of Season 5. What’s this past year waiting for ANY scrap of news been like for you?Stephanie: Agonizing, to say the least.
Jenn: Pretty chill, actually. Just kidding, I’ve been nervous as heck.
Hillary: Pretty chill, and not just kidding. Not to always be the weirdo, but it was always my expectation that this would happen so nothing about it really threw me.
Stephanie: I feel like that’s why I’ve been so antsy! We’ve spent so much time saying it’d happen, and sure I actually believed it, but good lord, we’re actually at that point, and I’m overwhelmed.
Jenn: I’m glad I didn’t do my semi-annual ritual of freaking out in your DMs, then.
Stephanie: Truth be told, I kinda missed seeing you. Everyone came around like once, except Hillary, with a ‘but what if it doesn’t’ during TVD’s last season, looking back now it was great, haha.
Hillary: LMFAO except me. It’s like what you said earlier though, they were never going to bring Candice to TO if it wasn’t for Klaroline, so as soon as they introduced the whole school situation I knew were were golden.
Jenn: I do not miss some of the “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RING THO” discussions.
Hillary: LORD do not remind me.
KM: Season 4 ended with the Mikaelsons going their separate ways and Hope headed to Hogwarts the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted, which felt very similar to previous seasons, how do you think Season 5 will be different from 1-4? And take into account that Michael “Don’t-Like-Don’t-Watch” Narducci is out of the picture as well.
Jenn: I honestly don’t know how it will be different, but I’d venture to guess that it will be much lighter than previous seasons. TO’s big problem has always been that it has struggled under the weight of its own perception of itself as this modern-day Hamlet with kissing and death. A lot of that (plus the hammy, over the top dialogue) can be credited to Sir Mitch. I’m optimistic that having shed that structure, this final season will be a lot easier to digest.
Stephanie: 100% agreed. I think that without his presence, the show might actually have stopped taking itself so seriously. A lot of their decisions were a miss, both narratively, and character-wise because of that mentality, and like half the characters never recovered because of their need to go about it that way.
Hillary: I obviously agree on the Narducci front, but my first indication that things might be different is that we actually heard things that made me excited, which as y’all know is something that hasn’t happened with Thirstday in literal years.
Jenn: There can be miracles, when you believe.
KM: Is there anything you think these writers will subtly try to erase from previous seasons? Any suggestions for them?
Hillary: BURN IT ALL DOWN.
Jenn: And Hillary the Optimist has left the building.
Jenn: I don’t think they will erase anything, but I think they are going to add shit that annoys me. Like…I’m fully anticipating that I’m going to have to complain whenever Steven Salvaflop is mentioned. And Bluebell Muffin will come up, I’m sure.
Stephanie: I want it on the record, that I second Hillary’s motion. That being said, I don’t know how likely it is. However, they might not erase much, but in a way it’s almost like they are? Especially if Hayley’s to remain dead for the entirety of the season. Because it’s like the element they were adamant was gonna stay forever is out, and Caroline, an element they outright refused for years, is in? Even erasing stuff from their narrative they do weird.
Hillary: Haha, and I would say that the optimist has not left the building, however if I were seriously giving the writers advice on what to erase from previous seasons I would legitimately tell them to ditch everything and start over with the actual Originals and nothing else.
KM: This season Hope is a teenager and into boys, Kol is married to Davina, Rebekah and Marcel are having issues, Freya’s relationship with Keelin is going strong, and Elijah is still a pianist and taking requests…thoughts? Any of those storylines peak your interest?
Jenn: There is very little about this season that I am dreading more than Hope’s coming of age story. I do not CARE. I’ll take the Freya/Keelin story because it was one of the few interesting threads from last season that I’m still intrigued by. Kolvina is cute af, don’t @ me. Elijah only knows Chopsticks, you can’t prove otherwise.
Hillary: LOL yeah, so no. None of these storylines pique my interest. I do want to know how exactly Elijah has been living life without knowing that he’s a vampire, but other than that I really don’t care.
Jenn: Wait, how does he eat though? Does he just drink blood and think it’s the juice from IKEA?
Stephanie: See, and this is my problem with him just not knowing what he is, because how is he feeding, doesn’t he like ya know, need to? As for all the other plots, because this is the home-stretch, I’m interested in seeing how those relationships close, because it’s likely to be part of the ending for those characters. But I have about zero interest in Hope’s teenage ventures, and Elijah’s escapades with no memory.
Jenn: Ladies, I think we’ve fallen into our first plot crater and the season hasn’t even started.
Stephanie: I honestly expected nothing less.
KM: Let’s talk Klaus Mikaelson. What has he been doing all these years? From a recent Entertainment Weekly Article, we learned that the Original Hybrid has been calling himself ‘Klaus the Mad’?? How dorky.
Jenn: I honestly think my soul tried to flee my body when I read ‘Klaus the Mad’ for the first time. No. Keep it.
Stephanie: I mean, he is a giant dork, so I wish I could say I was surprised. Are we sure Caroline’s the only one who was a drama major?
Hillary: Haha exactly. I thought it was cringe, but I also know that Klaus is a drama queen, so it’s not a complete shock.
KM: There has always been discussion about Klaus’s redemption and Hope being the key to it. Do you think this is still the same? What do you think of him as a father?
Jenn: I think that’s what the show wants me to believe, yes. As irritating as I find the concept of redemption vis a vis Hope, they are not going to climb off that hill. Also he is a terrible father. Do we all recall how often that child was left unsupervised? Unacceptable.
Stephanie: Yes, let us never forget that she just walked out of her house and showed up at the church to save everyone?? Like they really left her with no one at the house? As for if I think it’s still the same, honestly it better be. If they built this entire spin-off on a plot that far too many people disagreed with, don’t tell me I sat through it for nothing. It’s too late now.
Hillary: I would honestly love it if they ditched this garbage pile of a plot line, but I have been saying that Klaus being redeemed by Hope was the obvious end game for the show for years, and I think I’m still right on that. He’s the worst father of all time though. Literal wolves would have done a better job of child rearing than Klaus and Hayley did.
KM: Now onto one of the biggest OOPS! moments for a writer and one fans had a strong reaction to…Hayley’s death. Personally, I was surprised they would really kill her and leave Hope without a mother, but then I remember TO isn’t always kind to their female characters. It’s unfortunate Hayley’s death will be a plot device for Hope and Elijah’s angst. What did you think when it got leaked and how do you feel about it overall?
Hillary: Let’s be real, we all know that I lost my mind with joy, no other reaction would have been believable from me.
Stephanie: It’s true, we have the receipts to prove it.
Hillary: Y’all didn’t even have to tell me Hayley died, you literally just said my dreams were coming true and I already knew.
Stephanie: It was your princess moment!
Hillary: But with that said, it’s insane that they’re killing off their female lead just to give Elijah and Hope the sads, and it’s a perfect representation of how horribly TO has treated female characters for the entirety of the show.
Stephanie: I was in shock when I read it, just because Hayley was this oh so great hill they wanted to die on. But Hillary’s right, it just goes to show how little this show’s ever valued women. And in retrospect, I’m not surprised at all. TO has been treating their female characters with arcs such as these since the beginning, and back then their audience made excuses for it. You reap what you sow.
Jenn: I’m going to reserve judgment until the end of the season, but I smell a fridging and I’m not here for that shit. They did it with Cami and they’re doing it with Hayley. These were not great characters, but killing off female characters for the sake of man pain is incredibly disturbing and if this is handled the way I suspect it will be, it’s going to drive me insane.
Hillary: And they fridged Davina. Meaning that by the end of the series they will have fridged all of their lead female characters. I am definitely not sad to see Hayley go, but it is just classic TO that they manage to kill off my least favorite character of all time and still make me mad about it.
Stephanie: That was quite literally me when they killed Camille. I couldn’t stand her more than any other character on TO, and yet the way they went about killing her, just had me so sad.
KM: The villains of S5 will be…vampires from the Mikaelsons’ past? Sounds familiar. Have you read anything about who they might be and what impact they’ll really have on this season? Do they work for the Hollow?
Jenn: I’m already planning to take a nap during the episode that this is revealed. I cannot think of a more stale plot than this one. Also, the Hollow is among the WORST villains in either TVD or TO and anything related to it can go.
Stephanie: Agreed. The Hollow is right up there with Markos from TVD, like what do they even want, it just feels like we’re going in circles.
Hillary: Oh my god, so much same. I honestly can’t even remember what the Hollow is and what it’s supposed to be doing.
Jenn: The Hollow is basically the after effects of doing acid at Coachella. It makes zero sense and you question whether or not you imagined the nonsense you just witnessed with your own two eyes.
Stephanie: I watched all of last season and I legitimately can’t remember if she ever clarified what the hell it is she wants.
Hillary: Wait is the Hollow a she? Why the hell is she called the Hollow then?
Jenn: That name is just someone showing off a word they saw on the verbal section of the SAT.
Hillary: Dude, I legitimately just thought it was one of those things they came up with while on acid and then just stuck with it even when the high wore off and it no longer made any sense. I thought the Hollow was just some entity called the Hollow, I didn’t know it was supposed to be a person. Or at least something with a gender.
Jenn: It has something to do with a Native American girl, and it was super problematic and weird, that’s all I remember.
Hillary: Well sure.
KM: Do you see any potential similarities between TVD’s final season and TO’s?
Jenn: God, I hope not.
Stephanie: Ugh, sadly I do. Especially after they released the Season 5 poster and it’s Klaus and Elijah.
Hillary: Yeah I am totally expecting it to be a similar quality level, unfortunately. It might surprise me and do a little better than expected, but I have always felt like if the writers were capable of writing better material, they’d have done it by now. I know they have changed up some of the behind the scenes crew, but I don’t know how much difference that will make at this stage of the game.
Jenn: Steven isn’t in this season, so it’s already an upgrade in my book.
Stephanie: AMEN
KM: There has been speculation that someone will die besides Hayley, some think it will be Klaus others think Elijah. Where do you stand? Will this be the typical die then becausemagic!resurrection storyline? Or will someone stay dead like Stefan Salvatore?
Jenn: I have a lot of thoughts on this, so bear with me. First of all, and most importantly, I think that killing Klaus is the most obvious and expected way they could take this story. And that’s why I don’t think they will. More than likely, Elijah will ultimately be the one to kick the bucket. Additionally, if they make the Caroline storyline romantic, it would be redundant to kill Klaus since we’ve already killed off Steven. Plus, Hope would have zero parents. AND Klaus’ redemption arc would be totally pointless. So while I can’t rule out that they kill him off, I am not inclined to think this is the route they will go.
Stephanie: To be honest I’ve had Elijah pegged as the one to die since the second we found out that Hayley does. But I agree with Jenn. This entire show’s been built on Klaus’s redemption for this child, and because of this child. But for him to live on having achieved that, not having achieved it through dying. That’s imo very clearly not the angle they’ve ever been leaning towards when it came to this. Klaus isn’t someone who like can’t live with everything he’s done, he couldn’t care less, so it’s not about him dying to find that peace, or redemption. It’s the exact opposite, so I think he’ll most definitely make it out of this series alive.
Hillary: I agree with both of you, I think Elijah is going to die and Klaus will live. Also considering how much drama they’ve inserted into the show with Klaus not being able to handle dealing with life without Elijah (even though we know he’s gone for decades without him before and been fine) that seems like an obvious catalyst for Klaus somehow showing growth over the season.
KM: Julie is already busy working on ruining one of my favorite early 2000’s show a Roswell reboot, but she’s also persistently hinted at a spin-off centered around the school. On a Scale of Fuck OFF to FUUUUUCK OFF, how likely are you to watch this potential spin-off with Hope and featuring Crusty Saltzman?
Jenn: I want nothing to do with this abomination.
Hillary: Yeah obviously I feel the same.
Stephanie: I wouldn’t even watch the trailer for it, man.
Ok that’s it, catch the new season on Wednesday, bye!
Kidding! Put down the pitchforks! I know what you’re thinking: Where the F**K are the questions about why we are all here?? Where are the Caroline and Klaroline questions?
Well, we had so much to cover, I split it up. Catch part 2 on Wednesday which will focus on our favorite star-crossed lovers (thanks, Jules! *wink*) of this season!