Creator: Julie Plec
Cast: Joseph Morgan, Daniel Gillies, Phoebe Tonkin, Claire Holt
Certificate: 15
Total Run Time: 968 minutes.
Special Features: Visit Georgia p.s.a, deleted scenes, San Diego Comic Con panel 2014, Always and Forever featurette, The Awakening web series, gag reel.
For the uninitiated The Originals follows the trials and tribulations of the Mikaelson family, who just so happen to be the first vampires to walk the Earth. The family first appeared on CW show The Vampire Diaries where the popularity of villainous hybrid (half vampire, half werewolf) Klaus (Morgan) encouraged the show’s creators to explore his back story within the confines of his own show. The first season saw Klaus, together with his siblings Rebekah and Elijah, relocate to their old stomping ground of New Orleans where they discovered that their old, and long thought dead friend Marcel had taken over the city. What followed was a season of cat and mouse as Marcel and Klaus fought for control, and then there was an unexpected pregnancy between Klaus and Hayley (a werewolf, again originally from The Vampire Diaries).
The second season starts with the baby having been born and hidden from Klaus and Hayley’s enemies, the threat this time coming from the less popular, but just as devious, members of the Mikaelson clan. Fans of The Vampire Diaries will already know most of the names – Finn, Michael and Cole – but won’t necessarily recognise the faces. This being a supernatural show which includes witchcraft etc. there is a plausible loophole as to why the actors have been recast.
For a television series that started life as a back-door pilot (a standalone episode within The Vampire Diaries season 4) The Originals seems to go from strength to strength. This is of course a result of strong writing and an ambitious team who aren’t afraid to take risks when it comes to beloved characters. Holding it all together is the wonderful Joseph Morgan who makes Klaus so darn likeable you almost forget that he’s meant to be the bad guy. An example of a ‘baddie’ not afraid to embrace his dark side and have a little fun, he’s a welcome change to the likes of Angel and Spike, both of whom did a fair amount of brooding in their time.
At the core of the show is the theme of family, the show highlighting all manner of groupings all vastly different to the traditional nuclear family. The strong if not rather strange message of family values makes it a show with much more universal appeal than just those still mourning the end of the Twilight films.
The Originals season two builds on plot strands teased in the first season leading to a great deal more action, double-crosses and double double-crosses, so much so that at times the viewer is left reeling, desperately trying to keep up.
The special features are relatively interesting – there’s the usual round-up of deleted scenes that don’t really add much to proceedings, it clearly obvious why they were cut. In addition to the deleted scenes there is also an edited-down version of last year’s Comic Con Panel, an advert imploring the viewer to visit Georgia (where the show is filmed) and a documentary which takes a deeper look at those family values. Of all of these it is the Comic Con panel that is the most interesting, though it’s recommended to maybe give it a watch prior to starting the season as viewing afterwards feels a little anti-climactic as you would have already seen everything that they tease.
The Originals Season 2 is available to buy on Blu-Ray and DVD box-set from 19th October.
