The Originals 1.05 "Sinners and Saints": Ritual sacrifices and power plays – it must be Tuesday.

Well, we’ve reached the fifth episode, and now it’s the moment of truth: The Originals has had plenty of time to establish enough of a tone to either pull in and retain viewers or else turn them away for good. By this point in a new series, viewers have had time to become attached to characters and [hopefully] be intrigued by the storylines. So, where do we stand? On the right side: The Originals has managed to get better and better every episode.
Though it can be difficult to keep up with all the subplots and how they connect with each other, every episode has managed to draw me in more than the last. I am absolutely loving the Original siblings interactions – both in real time and through the many flashbacks. That said, the upside of these last two episodes in particular is that I am finally connecting more with the non-Original family characters, namely Cami and Davina. Obviously, last week focused a great deal on Cami, but this week was more central to Davina’s background.

So, this week, a newly-resurrected Elijah spends the day with Davina, casually restoring a violin while he learns about how she came to be under Marcel’s care. Davina (Danielle Campbell) tells a totally horrific, though unsurprising, story about how all the New Orleans witches planned to sacrifice four of their children – Davina included – in a ritual designed to provide power to their ancestors [and thus also themselves]. There was a lot of build-up to that moment, but it was pretty clear early on in the episode where that story was headed.
Obviously, as Davina is still running around, it was unsuccessful. Marcel, Sophie, and Davina all had a hand in why the ritual was never finished. Back then, Marcel and Sophie were sleeping together. Sophie (Daniella Pineda) was sort of the prodigal witch, newly returned home to train to be a chef, when she got caught up in the details of the ritual. Rightly guessing what it entailed, she fought the rest of the witches to try and stop it before they went through with it [and by “it” I mean the ritualistic slaughtering of four of their own children].

It is also revealed that Jane Anne, Sophie’s sister, was a big supporter of this ritual and that her daughter was one of the four girls participating as sacrifices. Sophie went to Father Kieran [who supposedly also happens to be Cami’s uncle], hoping he could help put a stop to it, but the witches attacked his nephew, Cami’s brother [who then went crazy and killed everyone as we saw last week], to convince him to stay out of it. Understandably, Father Kieran (Todd Stashwick) decides to skip town, but before he goes, he tells Marcel about the witches plans, rightly assuming Marcel would try to interfere.
Obviously, not wanting the witches to have more power, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) crashes the ritual ceremony – though not early enough, as several of the girls had already been killed. In the end, he isn’t able to do much, but he does manage to win Davina‘s trust, promising her that he will take her away from the witches and keep her safe from them. An added bonus for him, Davina has all the power of her three dead witch friends, being the sole survivor of the unfinished ritual. Later, Sophie learns that the ritual really was intended to kill the girls – but then they intended to bring them back to life afterwards.

Meanwhile, Klaus had his hands full distracting Marcel. Sophie took off for the bayou to take care of the dead witches Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) and her mysterious wolfy helper left in their wake last week. Hayley, wanting to learn more about the New Orleans werewolves living out there, went along for the ride, and Rebekah (Claire Holt) tagged along to look after Hayley. So, while the three of them were off swamp hopping [through some woods that look eerily like Mystic Falls’ woods with a little Spanish moss tossed here and there], Klaus was in charge of keeping Marcel’s attention drawn elsewhere.
Of course, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and Marcel‘s version of a distraction really just meant that they spent the day hanging out at a bar, getting drunk and swapping stories. During this, Klaus also learns a little about the ritual through Marcel, including how Cami‘s brother connects to it all. Later that evening, however, Marcel and Klaus finally go at it, with Klaus basically telling Marcel he has every intention of taking control of New Orleans, and there’s nothing Marcel can do about it. About this time, Elijah (Daniel Gillies) shows and breaks up the fight, at which point he and Klaus head home.

Back at the Mikaelsons, after a touching moment between Elijah and Bex [and a less touching, but still kind of intense reunion between Elijah and Hayley], the gang gathers for a meeting. Elijah makes the connection between Klaus and Hayley‘s involvment and the witches bid for power. He informs Klaus and Rebekah that the reason Klaus is there is because the witches need him to help them find Davina so they can kill her and complete the ritual. This is also the reason Jane Anne was willing to give her life – as they all believe that killing Davina and completing the ritual will then bring the other girls [including Jane Anne’s daughter] back to life.