As the penultimate episode of the season, The Originals Season 1 Episode 21 was a game changer full of revelations and weighty decisions. 

And werewolves. Lots and lots of werewolves.

If the victors of a war get dibs on the spoils, then Francesca Correa just gained an entire city.

The Originals Photos: "The Battle of New Orleans"

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Tonight's episode was sort of a mixed bag for me. There were parts I loved and parts I didn't and then there were parts that are clearly setting us up for The Originals season 2. It's nice in some ways that we're already looking ahead to the fall, but then it sort of feels like The Originals season 1 is getting a little shortchanged by the introduction of all of these new werewolves.

Marcel was right when he pointed Hayley in Francesca's direction after the bayou bombing, but the final scenes tonight make it clear he didn't know her motives for supplying Oliver with the bombs. And Hayley still doesn't know that Oliver was behind the bombing in the bayou. 

Francesca Correa, gangster, casino owner, and representative of the human faction in Elijah's failed attempt at a treaty, is actually a werewolf, descended from a long line of once-powerful werewolves who ran the city. In order to survive, they changed their name and stopped activating the curse so they wouldn't turn, employing a team of thugs to do their dirty work for them.

Dirty work like blow up other werewolf packs in an attempt to form one big, hairy werewolf alliance and come to agreements with witches to hijack the moonlight rings so she and her family can take over New Orleans. Cami makes this discovery just as it's too late to stop them from gaining power, which will probably mean that Cami will be the one to stop Francesca using whatever magic she found in her uncle's secret room.

That's where my beef with all these werewolves comes into play. (And where has Klaus' werewolf line gone? What happened to that storyline? Are we saving them for next season?)

Was another werewolf line really necessary? In my opinion, not at all, and they've diluted what should've been the struggle of the first season:

Elijah and Klaus finding their footing and attempting to wrestle control of the city away from Marcel. At this point in the season what should have happened is that Marcel, Klaus, and Elijah have to work together to maintain control in the face of a rising werewolf army.

MAYBE that's what the writers are getting at. Maybe. But it feels a wee bit convoluted by the fact that everyone is fighting everyone else. 

But then maybe that's the point. Everyone is busy fighting everyone else and that's why no one is able to get anywhere or accomplish anything. Except the witches. The witches, so far, are the most victorious of the bunch. And by victorious, I mean meddlesome and infuriating and double-crossing. 

They're only looking out for themselves and now they have Hayley and the baby. Thanks to Genevieve's spell, Hayley is in labor in the sanctuary at St. Ann's and Monique is freaking psychotic and in need of a de-witching. Holy moly, she's creepy.

We can't exactly blame the witches for looking out for their own best interests, but it gets sort of annoying that we're continuously learning that they've made all of these back room deals just as it appears our guys might get ahead for a change. 

I mean, there's something pretty magical (pun not necessarily intended) about Genevieve's being able to link the moonlight rings to Klaus' power so that THAT becomes the one night a month he's powerless because it lets us see a different, even more angsty than usual side of him, but at the same time, did I miss the foreshadowing that something like that was taking place?

The "Hahaha! Just kidding!" that keeps happening with Genevieve that we're getting no hints at are getting sort of old. There's as good a chance as any that she won't be around after the finale next week when Klaus regains his power or when Elijah gets to her, so maybe I should just keep my fingers crossed for that.

(Okay, so there WAS some foreshadowing from Marcel's line about wiping out a line of Guerrera werewolves in '25...)

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that 1) Josh doesn't die and 2) Davina does not bring Mikael back.

We've been there done that with the Big Bad Dad and while I do love Sebastian Roche's interactions with Joseph Morgan, there's only so much of his evil, son-hating ways I can stand before I want to climb into my television and drive a white oak stake through Mikael's heart myself. 

Let's keep Mikael in the flashbacks instead of the flesh. Let Davina turn her attentions toward a way to freeze Josh until Klaus can heal him because Davina won't let the other witches kill the baby or something.

If it seems like I've done a lot of complaining about this episode, well, it's because I have. But all of the things that might have irritated me were made infinitely better by Elijah Mikaelson.

His standing in the midst of a compound full of vampires and daring them to attack? Bad. Ass.

His kissing Hayley after she tells him, essentially, to fight for her? BEST!

The only thing missing from tonight was seeing his vamp face. Gah. Elijah. Swoon!

What did you think of The Originals Season 1 Episode 21? Do you want Mikael to come back from the dead? Do you love or hate all the werewolves?

Here is your first look at The Originals Season 1 Episode 22, "From a Cradle to a Grave."

Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.