TV That Bites: The Originals
By: Kendall Haney,
Jr. Infectious Disease Correspondent
Confused and kind of disgusted. Those are the first words that came to mind when I sat down with my tub of butter with a little bit of popcorn, Mountain Dew, and extra sized peanut M&Ms. You might be thinking that the words ‘confused’ and ‘disgusted’ referred to my diet choices of the evening. Sadly, it was the garbage on television I’d decided to write a review on earlier in the day—The Originals on the CW. It set my stomach swishing as the predictable plot failed to captivate, the over-acting Shakespearian wannabes failed to deliver a convincing set of vampire fangs, and sets that did little to grab and hold my attention.
The Originals, created and written by writer and producer Julie Plec, is a spin-off of the formerly quite popular CW series The Vampire Diaries. It is advertised to be the story of Klaus Mikaelson, a vampire/werewolf and his struggle to resettle in his home of New Orleans with his family members. Klaus was a magnetic figure of doom in The Vampire Diaries, possibly more popular to watch than some of the main characters on the show, and therefore the actor who plays him (Joseph Morgan) was awarded a spin-off to take the lead in.
Unfortunately, the writing is just not there to carry him.
Originally, (no pun intended) the entire plotline revolved around an impossi- baby born to a werewolf and a vampire. However, it is far more complicated than that, and not the good, complex storyline complicated. The show has 103 different storylines going on at once, and each one wants their fair share of screen time.
The two main character’s baby is the death nil plot device. It was so bad that the storyline was dropped at the end of season one due to falling ratings and a dwindling fanbase. Now that it’s season two, the characters are focused on getting back to said baby, who was shipped off with her vampire aunt Rebekah (aka Rosalie 2.0 from Twilight). Everyone not in the inner circle thinks the baby is dead. Confused yet? Yes? No? Not yet? Only a little?
There is a sprinkling of other characters that would be worth mentioning if their storyline status was something more than plot device. There is Marcel, failure as a vampire king and adopted son of Klaus the hybrid, Cami the brave (correction: boring) bartender, Davina the teenage witch, and Hayley the Princess Werewolf who is such a tough girl she’s treated like a snowflake by all.
One of the many faults of The Originals is that they run through plotlines that have potential way too fast. For example, the season premiere that I caught was of interest to me because of a werewolf named Francesca. Francesca had a posse of wolves to surround her, and had successfully duped the allegedly unstoppable Klaus out of his strength and power. I figured surely this plot would be drawn out and go somewhere.
Nope. They just killed her off like she had the strength of a puppy with mange.
For this series, plotlines that should be the main storyline are treated like little things that are there simply to create drama. There are little villains that pop out from nowhere, called ‘Big Bads’ for maybe two episodes, and then they die. It happens so frequently, it is difficult for me to invest or care about them. The only thing I really want them to do is kill the heroes so that maybe the story would get better.
That’s not how it is supposed to go.
And if that isn’t bad enough, there are enough plot holes to sink the Titanic four times over. Clever show mythology that was once cool from the mother show are dropped like eggs on a kitchen floor to splatter in the writers faces like goo. The fans are not amused by the mess because a genre show like this one is only fun to watch if the story makes sense.
Maybe I sound like I’m whining. But the fast pace of every scene, the terrible sets, the horrible acting, and the awful plot make it hard to say something nice about this vampire show fail. I don’t even understand why it was picked up for another season early in their season one. In my opinion, the TV world has to suffer for it.
Julie Plec, I’d like a refund on my brain cells, thanks.
I would like to say I’m easy to please. I know for a fact I’m capable of sitting through even the most awful of movies. Bad graphics, cheesy lines, and all. But this is quite possibly the worst show on TV.
Ever.
The sad part is the entire show had potential. Where did the amazing hybrid known as Klaus go? Unless you are interested in weepy werewolves, this show is a no.