The Originals: “The River In Reverse”

There was always a certain inevitability to the events of “The River In Reverse.” At its core, The Originals is about supernaturally powered creatures who, generally speaking, have never been bested in physical combat. So this season’s political subterfuge, characters playing both sides, etc., was all well and good, but eventually, it was going to break down into direct violence. Klaus thinks his powers make him physically invincible; Marcel thinks his army of vampires makes him invincible. Why would either back down from a fight? Thus, the first part of this episode, in continuing from the last, is setting the stage for that fight. Marcel has the confidence to launch his plan once he gets Rebekah, Tyler, and Joshua on his side to lure Klaus in.
Thus, “The River In Reverse” only has to get one scene right to be an effective episode: It has to make the Klaus confrontation work. Klaus, Rebekah, Marcel, and several dozen angry vampires in a room—that’s how to start. Badass music, check. Dramatic swings in fortune, yes. Sped-up vampire fighting is also one of the few times where music video-style quick cuts illustrate the brutality of the combat instead of distracting from what’s going on. And Joseph Morgan is enough of a badass that I find myself rooting for him as an actor, even as I dislike Klaus as a character. So yes, the fight scene succeeds, which means the episode succeeds.
It’s also a good scene because it reveals what the characters are thinking, most notably, how poor in retrospect Rebekah and Marcel's plan is. Rebekah, the strongest character in the room after Klaus, can’t bring herself to join the fray—what is she there for, then, moral support? In fact, by her actions, she proves to be the best ally Klaus could have. She causes Marcel to overextend in a way that triggers a weakness of loyalty, she doesn’t join a fight only she could have tipped the balance of, and she convinces the wavering Marcel to surrender to Klaus, thus giving her bastard brother everything he wants. Actually, it’s even better than that: She takes Tyler out beforehand for having a plan that might actually work (even if it is ruthless), also removing another ally with the supernatural abilities to go toe-to-toe with Klaus.
The Originals may well come up with a convoluted explanation next week for why Rebekah was doing Klaus’ bidding, but I’d actually prefer it not. There’s another explanation, indicated at the end of the episode, when Klaus orders Haley into his truck as he leaves the plantation to reclaim his kingdom: Klaus is the abuser. Klaus has beaten his siblings into submission to the point where they can only see things from his perspective first. They can’t directly confront him with any kind of confidence. They’ve spent too long surrendering to his whims that surrender is the only thing they can think of. Elijah’s monologue to Haley about how he killed Celeste, instead of Klaus or the people who actually did, just reinforces this.