The Originals Review: Voodoo Child (Season 4 Episode 12)

Looks like you can’t keep an evil and power-hungry spirit down!

The Originals Season 4 Episode 12, “A Voodoo Child,” sees Hope being overtaken by The Hollow, Haylijah problems because of Elijah’s return to the compound, and Freya trying to protect Keelin via an overused trope that should die a quick death.

I’d like to start by saying that Summer Fontana kills it as The Hollow! She somehow embodies the innocence of Hope and the terror of The Hollow in one body. Even the smirk left me reeling and wondering where this actress has been and how could I overlook such a talent.

Maybe I’m off my game, but I didn’t expect The Originals to take this step with Hope Mikaelson. I thought she was going to be shuffled around, kept to the side, and out-of-the-way for most of the season. Maybe once or twice, or in the grand finale, she would be kidnapped, but nothing else.

Her possession serves as the test for the Mikaelsons and everything that they’ve achieved in her name over four seasons. Now they must choose between protecting her vessel and the safety of the rest of the city or quite possibly the world.

It’s honestly an impossible situation, and I have no idea how it’s going to end. Separating them at this junction seems like cruel punishment especially after they just found each other again after five years of separation.

Looking back, The Originals spends most of the season steering us away from the fact that Hope is powerful and has been since birth. Sure, they spend some time showing her power here and there, but never to an extent where we would believe that she would be a vessel for The Hollow or that this would be the linchpin that determines how we end Season 4 and enter Season 5.

Another really important and quickly shifting aspect of this episode is Haylijah.

Right now Hayley feels like she’s unearthing harsh truths about herself and the family that she aligned herself and fell in love with. She’s full of doubts and feels like getting back Elijah and the rest of the Mikaelsons wasn’t worth what she got in exchange aka her daughter being possessed.

And every viewer watching this realization must remember that like Hayley, we’re not perfect and having a child in danger makes everything else secondary or shakes up our world. Yes, uniting and working together would make it easier to find Hope. But she doesn’t feel that safety with Elijah like she did before.

The fact that next week they might be separated for even longer makes every single Haylijah scene that much sadder. They need to dig deep and set aside the pain and uncertainty they feel when around each other to be able to save Hope.

For their family. For New Orleans.

The other couple of The Originals, Freya and Keelin, made me squeal in joy before quickly following with a groan of exasperation. Freya lays it, and Keelin, all out and they make love. Beautiful, jaw dropping love, that makes you wish The CW would invest more in LGBT couples.

But that’s an issue for another day. The real problem is what happens after with Freya confining Keelin.

While it’s nice to see that this trope of ‘protecting your loved one because everything’s too dangerous’ isn’t just restricted to heterosexual couples, it’s still basic and overused. Keelin is a formidable woman who will help Freya in the fight against The Hollow.

Every single person on this show is an asset, including Keelin. She’s not a trinket that can be shut away in a room while the real fighting goes down. They have to work together to defeat The Hollow. No one does this alone. Not even 1,000 year old witches.

I want to believe that next week’s finale will have them all coming together before a last-minute solution saves them all but…I think they’re going to be separated again. Being a Mikaelson is to be cursed, in pain, and fighting harder to keep your loved ones safe.

Always and forever.

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 season finale airs next Friday at 9/8c on The CW.

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