Sadly , that ’s what last night ’s “ back entrance pilot ” episode of Vampire Diaries felt like . I love TVD , and I ’m a huge fan of Julie Plec ’s writing , since the Kyle XY days . But would I watch “ The master copy ” every week ? No , I would not . Spoilers ahead …
I ’ve been a skeptic about The Originals ever since it was announce — a spinoff about Klaus , Elijah and Rebekah , the three “ original ” vampires who start off as epic villains and have slow just become more grist for TVD ’s endless gender - and - perfidy pulverisation . And last dark ’s backdoor fender episode was basically a utter encapsulation of why this concept just wo n’t exploit , without some major retooling .
Chiefly , Klaus is highly pretty , and actor Joseph Morgan has charisma get out of his ears . But he ’s not a character we really care about , even after a few yr of seeing him prance around MysticFalls . The only time we ’ve amount closely to rooting for Klaus was in his nowhere - rebound romance with Caroline , which exposed a sweet , playful side . His bromance with Stefan also had a few instant . But angry , brooding Klaus is boring Klaus .
Meanwhile , Elijah remains a bit of a cipher , and Rebekah ( who was scarce in last night ’s instalment but is manifestly set to be in the spinoff ) has not quite come along beyond “ bratty and vulnerable . ”
Of of course , it must be said that the pilot program for Vampire Diaries was also dreadful , and it necessitate that show a half - dozen episodes before it rise out of the muddle and started finding its own identity . But last night ’s instalment was not a good signboard , nonetheless .
Part of the problem is that Klaus has been thoroughly defanged , by this point . He ’s had near reason to kill the Salvatore brothers , a few dozen times over , and yet he ’s rent them survive . He chased Tyler out of MysticFalls , but made no serious attack to kill Tyler . He did n’t shoot down Bonnie , even after it was obvious that Bonnie ’s death would make him safe and his spirit easier . He ’s lease Silas , who ’s basically just a jumped - up original with some mind - frak powers , completely push him around . He did n’t avenge Kol ’s decease . And so on .
So last night , we ’re treated to the spectacle of Klaus going up against a wholly unworthy adversary , and not just turning him into a greasy smear on the rampart of New Orleans . Marcel , who is supposed to be able-bodied to curb his own against Klaus , is an average lamia , whom Klaus twist back in the daylight . And then , after Klaus was chase after off from New Orleans by his father Mikael , Marcel took over . And now New Orleans is Marcel ’s town , part thanks to some fetich that allows him to control the beldam .
For all of this to work , Marcel would have to be a magnetic flesh , who exudes top executive and charisma to match Klaus ’s … and he ’s emphatically fun to see . But alas , Charles Michael Davis kind of ham it up the theatricality of Marcel , essay to milk so much oomph out of every line of business of dialog , he come across like a carnival doggy . I get it , New Orleans is a position where theatricality and over - the - top performances are part of the mystique . It still does n’t quite bring , though .
And you never really forget that Klaus could just rive out Marcel ’s heart , along with the nitty-gritty of all of his minions , in a second . ( Or , if Klaus was smart , he could just chain them all up , wait until there was no vervaine in their system , and then oblige them to become perfectly devoted to his well - being . Klaus really ought to be doing that with every vampire he forgather and does n’t kill . )
Anyway , the introductory plot of the episode is jolly round-eyed : Klaus gets a top from Katherine that there ’s witches conspire against him in the Big Easy , so he goes down there and finds that his one-time protégé Marcel has typeset himself up as King . Meanwhile , Elijah happen upon that Hailey , the loup-garou Klaus slept with a while back , is pregnant with Klaus ’ baby . With Klaus Jr. as a hostage , the witches make Klaus conspire against Marcel , who has something over them .
We also meet some other the great unwashed who would no doubt be flesh out as supporting characters in The Originals , when it airs this descent . ( I almost wrote “ this fail . ” Freudian slip . ) There ’s Sophie , the beldame who ’s keeping Klaus Jr. hostage and masterminding the patch against Marcel . There ’s Camille aka Cammy , the bartender / psych major who has a blackbelt in whoop - ass and loves paintings , with all of her interesting character jammed into about 40 second base of screen sentence . There are various henchwitches and henchvampires , who will no doubt flower into fascinating personalities of their own .
All in all , it was n’t an entirely ho-hum hour of television system — the music was big , thanks to the New Orleans location , and Joseph Morgan and Daniel Gillies always make do to be fun to watch , at least . But still , a show about all the character you do n’t care about from Vampire Diaries , feuding with a brand raw witch and a “ fresh ” vampire who yells , “ I ’m the KING , babe ! ” ? Umm … maybe not .
Plus this show is launch , right on out of the gate , with the game twist that almost sunk Angel in its third season : the vampire having a miracle baby . ( Although Angel wound up puddle it sour surprisingly well , all tell apart , but it was touch and go for a while there . ) lease ’s hope they keep Hayley pregnant for a long , foresighted clock time .
TelevisionVampire Diaries
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