THE SHOW: The Originals

THE PAIRING: Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies) and Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin)

THE EPISODE: “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree” – (aired November 5, 2013)

THE MOMENT: Elijah does whatever it takes to protect his “family” which now includes Hayley – in an obvious romantic way.

Don’t get me wrong, I like The Vampire Diaries I really do. It’s entertaining, fun to watch and it has lots of amusing vampires running around. But as much as I like The Vampire Diaries, I LOVE The Originals. Overall, I just find it more dynamic as a series. Not to mention the brotherly friction between Klaus and Elijah make Damon and Stefan’s issues almost juvenile in comparison. The Originals is the more grown up version of The Vampire Diaries and part of that has everything to do with the character of Elijah Mikaelson.

When Elijah walks into a room you feel his presence, his confidence. He oozes masculinity from every finger and hair on his head. Where Klaus throws tantrums (which are entertaining to watch, no doubt) and attacks from a place of emotion, Elijah calmly announces his objective in a tactic even more frightening and chilly.

I don’t think I’ve seen this much masculine charm from a vampire since Mick St. John on Moonlight. Both of these characters are gentlemen with manners and even morals. They open doors for women yet at the same time treat them as equals. But as much as they are gentlemen they are without a doubt also devils. They can turn into a murderous monster if threatened, especially when someone they love is on the other end of that threat.

From episode one Elijah connected with Hayley, the werewolf mother of Klaus’s baby. From an objective standpoint, they actually have a lot in common. Both of them believe there is nothing more important than family. Where Elijah comes from a place of having an immortal family he will do anything for, Hayley comes from a place of never having a family but always wanting one. Together, they make the perfect pair.

And since there is no stronger bond than that of family to Elijah and because Hayley carries his future niece inside of her, by default she has literally become family to him. And because Klaus and Hayley are not actually romantically involved, Hayley is available to him as a romantic possibility. Elijah has fallen in love a couple of times, but he’s never seemed to have found his one true love. Something tells me that’s about to change with Hayley.

On the show, the original vampires (Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah) have been working to protect Hayley from those who would have her or her baby killed (or both). In a way to get the originals to help defeat Marcel (the vampire leader of New Orleans who has banned the use of magic amongst the witches), Sophie Deveraux, one of the witches, creates a binding spell tying her fate to Hayley’s. If one dies, the other dies too.

But not all of the witches want this baby to be born. When one of the witches receives a premonition that the baby will destroy all of the other witches, a group decides to kill the baby. Which leads me directly to my choice for romantic moment of the week: Elijah in his masculine protectiveness does whatever it takes to defend Hayley.

When a priestess of the witches kidnap Sophie and injects her with a potion, Hayley immediately feels it miles away; if Sophie is hurt, then so is Hayley and vice versa.

This potion if injected into a pregnant woman eventually triggers a miscarriage. Since Sophie isn’t pregnant, it just raises her temperature. But with Hayley it brings about dangerous consequences.

This event brings out an impassioned response in Elijah. No one will hurt his family…especially not the woman he’s obviously falling in love with.

First up on Elijah’s agenda? Find the all powerful teenage witch Davina and have her attempt to undo the binding spell, therefore separating the link between Hayley and Sophie for good. If the spell is undone, the injection will leave Hayley’s blood and the baby will be safe. Davina who already has taken a liking to Elijah (who doesn’t?) seems up for the task.

Second, and of course the most romantic part of the whole episode, try and physically bring down Hayley’s temperature by holding her in the pool.

Elijah carries her into the pool with the guidance of Sophie and then Rebekah as witness. If they can bring down her temperature, then perhaps they can undo the damage and save the baby. Elijah personally has faith that Davina will be able to undo the spell.

He holds Hayley in his arms and in true Elijah style attempts to calm her down with his composed, masculine strength as she screams in pain. At any moment, she will miscarry. He tells her to look at him, to focus on the sound of his voice, that everything will be okay, etc…The self-control and self-possession he presents works to alleviate some of Hayley’s fear.

Eventually, Davina succeeds with the undoing of the binding spell and the baby is safe.

Sophie feels the spell lift and pricks her hand in an attempt to find out if the link is broken. No speck of blood is found on Hayley (which of course Elijah makes sure to be the one to test as he holds Hayley’s hand).

The baby and Hayley are safe. The chemistry between the two here is palpable. There is so much tension, even Rebekah can’t help but notice.

But Elijah is not finished yet. He has one more item on his agenda to protect Hayley. In pure gentleman fashion, he makes a promise to Sophie that Klaus, who is holding Agnes the witch who tried to kill the baby, will not kill her.

Elijah’s last step? To go to the church where Klaus holds Agnes. But what is his plan?

There he finds Klaus ready to kill Agnes. But Elijah pleads for him not to do it, so as to allow him to keep his word to Sophie. He then uses all his cards: If Klaus wants to be forgiven by him (for having him staked and temporarily held captive by Marcel and Davina), he will let Agnes live so everyone will know he keeps his promises. Klaus backs away, reluctantly agreeing.

BUT Elijah isn’t finished. In total badass style, Elijah kills everyone at the church (ripping out their hearts) besides the priest, and then kills the witch. He only promised that Klaus wouldn’t kill her. He never made the promise for himself.

“No one hurts my family…No one!” Elijah declares much to the amusement of Klaus as he makes his way back out of the church. All I can say is Daniel Gillies owned this scene!

The witches messed with Hayley, his family, the woman he obviously loves and that is unacceptable. It’s clear the tension and love between Hayley and Elijah is growing and will only continue to grow from here on out.

At the end of the episode, Marcel kidnaps Hayley so who knows what will be on Elijah’s agenda this next week. Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

HONORABLE MENTION:

I have to give a shout out to Witches of East End this week! The epic supernatural goodbye between Adam and Ingrid was very romantic and touching. Not only that, it really made me upset that Adam won’t be around anymore! Sigh…but it was a great scene.

Has anyone else suddenly found themselves a fan of the Hayley/Elijah romance? What did you think of their scene in the pool? Was there any other fantastic romantic moments on film or TV this week you want to mention? Let me know in the comments below!

RELATED:

Check out our other Romantic Moments. We put up a new one every Saturday.

Don’t miss our Classic Romantic Moment about Mick and Beth from the vampire show Moonlight [new music video included]

Check out our TV Review: The Originals

Don’t miss our choices for the Top 35 Vampires in Film and Television with a new music video for The Originals and The Vampire Diaries included. 

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