Even in the wooziest throes of a new romance sometimes absolute dealbreakers can arise. Maybe it turns out the guy or gal you like is a litterbug. Or rude to waiters. Perhaps they don't like CW dramas. Or worst of all, he's just bragged about placing his sister's soul into a stranger's body trapped inside a prison mansion as retribution for once ratting him out one hundred years prior for trying to steal a gigantic diamond. Personally, that would be a major dealbreaker for me, even if he was a dreamboat who resembled a statue of David come to life. Yet there we were in "The Map of Moments" watching Davina only slightly disapprove of Kol's actions before leaning in for that kiss. His reveal was made even uglier by the fact that up until then he'd been borderline heroic in his willingness to help Klaus defeat Esther. But then Kol went and pulled a Kol. Didn't we almost have it all?
The first eight episodes of this season were basically flaw-free, so I hate to be the one to tell you this, but "The Map of Moments" stumbled a bit and maybe fell into a mud puddle by the end. It had some fantastic moments—definite midseason finale fireworks—but man, it got kind of messy, right? We'll get into the good stuff in a second, but let's start with what maybe didn't work. (I say "maybe" because I fully admit my brain is not the best and my lack of comprehension could just be a personal problem that I live with on a day to day basis in all situations.)
First, the episode set up a couple of last-minute elements and ret-cons that were supposed to pay off harder than they did. Gigantic diamonds, prison mansions, Kol's heretofore unknown grudge against Rebekah. Any episode that concludes with Rebekah being victimized is not going to be my favorite episode, but especially now that she's been canonized into a sort of visiting angel it was especially tough to see Claire Holt lying in that coffin again. I don't know, it just felt cheap. I understand that this may just become a workaround for keeping the character in the mix while the actress bows out, but the hows and whys felt inorganic and therefore uncompelling. I guess Rebekah once sided with Klaus when Kol was actively trying to forge a dagger that could comatize him, so that's why, when Rebekah heroically stepped up to volunteer as bait for Esther, Kol took the opportunity to ensure things didn't end well for her. His spite felt random, umotivated, and misplaced, so this was a twist that not only disrespected the Rebekah character, it brought Kol's much-needed redemption arc to a screeching halt. Which, again, may have been intentional on the show's part. But that means I'm going to spend the next five weeks kind of bummed and annoyed at The Originals, which would be a really weird thing to want your viewers to be.
Second, that spell. I admire the sheer ambition of "The Map of Moments" and how it got almost everyone involved for that endgame showdown, but I rewatched the explanatory scene thrice and still couldn't understand it. Esther was doing a spell to body-jump Rebekah into Cami, but Kol was behind Esther doing a spell of his own into an hourglass while Davina was across town doing a spell into her hourglass, and then when both hourglasses expired something was supposed to happen, which may or may not involve an alleged second body that Kol had prepped, except Esther's spell had a no takebacks, blackout-forever aspect that nobody anticipated? I'm sure there's a writer's room flowchart that explains what exactly was going on here, but as a viewer I found the unnecessary complexity a real problem. Setup, stakes, and payoff were all dampened and/or destroyed by how inelegant it all was. Add to that a couple of interpersonal betrayals and it was just this big tangled mess, and not in a fun way.
Okay, now that I've fully emanated my vaguely bummed spirit out into the world, let's talk about the great parts! Starting at the end and working backward: Esther's defeat. FINALLY. I like Esther as a villain, and I love the actress Sonja Sohn so much, but I'd kind of had enough of Esther's machinations for the time being. Klaus and Rebekah's secret plan to strip Esther of her powers by turning her into a vampire was exactly the sort of elegant, exciting twist that I've come to expect of this show. Not only has Esther's threat been neutralized, she can't body jump on her own, so she's now just as much a prisoner as Rebekah is. If I were a betting fella I'd say that this paves the way for the eventual arrival of Dahlia, at which point Klaus may need to call upon his mother for help. But then again it's foolish to predict anything this show does.
Best of all, obviously, was Elijah and Hayley moment. After Rebekah and Klaus left the secret Arkansas safe house where they'd all been chilling with Hope, Hayley finally broke the news to Elijah that she was set to marry Jackson for political reasons and that she would not be having any side pieces at that point. Which was Elijah's cue to both heroically convince her that she was doing the right thing while also mouth-attacking her sexily. Next thing we knew they were tearing each others' clothes off and knocking over carefully stacked Danielle Steele novels. Again, we've spent eight episodes in rather angsty territory between these two, so this was a nice, pathos-packed turn of events. I'm guessing it'll only make her promise to Jackson that much harder to keep. And it would probably be crazy to imagine that Hope might be getting a new sibling-cousin out of this, right? Yeah that would be weird, nevermind.
Ultimately the strengths of "The Map of Moments" are the strengths of The Originals as a whole: Just put these actors in period finery and let them go to town on each other. The early 20th century flashbacks afforded us not only the requisite Christmas feels (a clever workaround for a show that can't ever really commit its modern timeline to a real world one), we also got to see them all gathered together on the stairs for a family portrait, including Rebekah and original Kol, Nathaniel Buzolic. Seriously, just small moments like that pack a punch. Or even smaller moments, like when Finn insinuated that Cami was "half in love" with Klaus even while she was hooking up with Marcel (and she didn't disagree). And, of course, most heart-exploding of all, that incredible wordless sequence where Hayley and Klaus were reunited with Hope again. Phoebe Tonkin and Joseph Morgan have never been better and the show exercised some truly wonderful restraint in simply letting the two parents hold their child. That moment was peak Originals, something that took 30 episodes to build to, and it eclipsed anything else that maybe didn't work quite as well in this episode.
"The Map of Moments" may not have been quite the capper to 2014 that it should've been, but there's no denying this show is at its creative height. Amazing characters portrayed by amazing actors—please stay forever, Daniel Sharman—and an increasingly intimate, lived-in kingdom have made this a must-watch series. No deals have been broken. Let the romance continue.