The Originals Review: Phantomesque (Season 4 Episode 10)

When you spot a big red door in a seemingly pristine hallway while trapped in the mind of an immortal…never enter it.

This is the resounding message that all viewers and loved ones who might be entering into an event such as the one that happens on The Originals Season 4 Episode 10, “Phantomesque,” should take heed of and remember.

Then again, love is a tricky thing, and Hayley will do anything to save the man she loves. That’s why what she found behind the door hurt her so much.

Hayley knows the Mikaelsons are killers. She’s known it from the start. But Elijah has always been the different one. The gentleman who goes to extreme measures in the name of protecting his family, century after century.

Unfortunately, the gentleman is gone when Hayley enters Elijah’s mind, the monster in control, on the prowl, and ready to hurt her if he gets the chance.

It breaks Hayley to see Elijah like that. She realizes that he isn’t as perfect as he makes himself out to be, and that there are demons beneath the surface. And it breaks us, the viewers, to see her take a step back from him when he was himself, because she has always been drawn to him.

Hayley and Elijah will make it through this. They’ve beat crazier odds over the years. It’s just going to take some adjusting, understanding, and forgiveness (let’s avoid the blaming of the self if we can avoid it Elijah.)

Elijah is no longer that monster and he never will be again, no matter what lurks behind that red door. Hopefully, Hayley will be by his side and understand that he would never hurt her or Hope in such a manner.

While we’re on the topic of adjusting to things, let’s talk about Rebekah and Marcel. The immortal vampire no longer holds the hybrids heart and it feels like the end of something epic.

Personally, I’ve always rooted for Rebekah and Marcel. They were my OTP before Haylijah and Freelin came around. And while part of me is devastated that Rebekah hands over the thorns to Marcel so he can save Sofya…another part of me is proud.

Rebekah knows he is fighting for the love she could never give him and that he’s found with someone else. And of course it hurts. How could it not? But she cares for him enough that she’s willing to set her pain aside to help him.

It’s in moments like this that I realize that the Mikaelsons have grown so much. The CW could’ve gone for the cliché. They could have recycled the man/woman pain and gone for the soft reboot like they’ve done with other shows, systematically annihilating their characters development.

Instead, The CW decided to make these key shifts in their journeys stick throughout this season. Sure they wobble a bit, teetering between their new selves and that of the past, but they manage to pull themselves back, time and time again.

Season 4 isn’t like Seasons 1-3 where they were alone even when they were surrounded by family and where their bickering led to nothing but hurt feelings and dead people. The Mikaelsons actually talk now. They negotiate, calm each other, and listen to what others have to say because they’re family.

Being a Mikaelson has changed for them.

It’s no longer staking and putting each other in a box for their greater good. Now it’s fighting side by side, listening, and loving for the greater good of them all and the happy future they want to give the youngest Mikaelson.

What did you think of this episode of The Originals? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Originals airs Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.

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