Series Season 1 Review: Excellent
Spoilers for the first few episodes follow:
The Originals does an excellent job in its first season. Following the titular characters as they attempt to build a home for the coming Mikaelson baby in New Orleans, it maintains a fast pace, good writing, interesting characters, and thematic focus. The cast of the show is large, but each character gets time in the spotlight to develop them. The setting of New Orleans is well-used, from the historical and cultural references to even the witches' spells being chanted in French. The fact that each group of creatures, including the witches, vampires, humans, and werewolves has their own motivations and scheme for control of the city makes the setting rich and detailed. The main characters are developed well, building on what was shown in The Vampire Diaries. Klaus is humanized without mitigating his role as someone who is perfectly willing to killing people. Marcel, who I initially disliked because he seemed to come out of nowhere when he was introduced, was integrated into the cast well with his backstory as an adopted member of the Mikaelson family as well as his own values and motivations. The show's thematic focus on the importance of family is used well here. The Mikaelsons are as dysfunctional as they come but they are forced to work together for the baby. Marcel's role as Klaus's adopted son plays into this as well. The plot is complex and fast-paced, but it never loses its focus on the characters. The season finale was well-executed too. Hopefully the show will keep this up in the next seasons as well.
Series First season review: bad may outweight the good
At first glance, this show has everything it needs. There is intrigue, many warring supernatural factions with believable motivations, and characters that already come with their own fanbases. Should be awesome, right? Well, not exactly. When compared to Elena from Vampire Diaries, Klaus seems like a more interesting lead, and personality-wise he is (at least his version from VD). Other aspects, not so much. One of the things that made him such a great antagonist was that he is practically the most powerful character in his universe. As a protagonist, it turns him into a boring Invincible Hero. Dealing with opposition is laughably easy for him, and when he does face any credible threat, it's taken down within a few episodes. It's a wonderful opportunity to force his enemies into intricate plots and fighting him with their cunning rather than raw power, but it's frustratingly rare for that to happen. It doesn't help that the two characters that could stand against him as equals – his siblings Elijah and Rebekah – are blindly loyal to him no matter how much abuse he puts them through. It's a far cry from their personalities in VD, where they could be loyal, yes, but they also could stand up for themselves when needed. Even when Rebekah actually starts conspiring against him, it goes nowhere and is soon forgotten. Season two improves a little by introducing more powerful antagonists, but it's still overly reluctant to put it's protagonist in any real peril for more than five minutes.
The characters, new and old, are a mixed bunch. Marcel has a good backstory and a complex relationship with Mikaelsons, but his schemes to take down Klaus are limited to sending mooks at him and being surprised when they inevitably lose. Davina is a powerful witch and one of a few formidable opponents for Klaus, but only in season two she becomes more of a character and less of a Living MacGuffin. Rebekah is demoted to damsel too often and takes on a role of the weakest original, presumably because she has a vagina. Cami's sole contribution to the plot is being a Morality Pet. Hayley could use more personality, and a better actress to play her. Klaus and his siblings indulge in too much wangst and endless exposition, constantly reminding us verbally what kind of flaws and issues they have, when the show doesn't really need it, being very good at showing those things.
To be fair, the show does a lot of things right, like focusing on the supernatural plot rather than romance. Sadly, the plot isn't all that captivating when the stakes are so low.