When The Originals showrunners and writers promise a holiday episode to remember, they deliver!

The Originals Season 2 Episode 9 saw a powerful storyline developing for Rebekah, the emergence of a new big bad, and Esther being bested by her children once and for all.

And let's not forget that freaking hot Haylijah scene. Or the sweet moment shared between Koleb and Davina (Kolvina!).

The Originals Photo from "The Map of the Moments"

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Julie Plec teased this episode would feature some light moments with the Mikaelson family enjoying one another's company, and she wasn't lying.

Elijah and Hayley definitely enjoyed one another's company and it's about bloody time!

After telling him she didn't love Jackson but marrying him could save her people and save the city, Elijah gave Hayley his wish – do what needs to be done to protect her daughter. So of course that means finally sleeping with Elijah because IT WILL PROTECT HER DAUGHTER! It will! Promise!

(No, really. Go ahead and protect Hope again! I swear, I don't mind!)

Ultimately, their tryst will lead to serious complications for her marriage to Jackson. There's no way she can go through with it now, right? And if she does, will it take if she has to have a "real" marriage to Jackson and she doesn't love him?

I hated the idea of Hayley and Jackson getting married when it cropped up on The Originals Season 2 Episode 8, but now I'm all sorts of intrigued with how this triangle will play out.

Having Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah back on camera together again was a much-needed reunion for what was once the show's core three. Not to mention how adorable it was to see Klaus and Hayley interacting with Hope. It couldn't last, of course; but, hey, we'll always have Arkansas, right?

After talking to Elijah, Rebekah volunteered as tribute to take part in Lesther's body swap. Elijah believed that if only one of them gave in, she would be satisfied. It looked as though he was preparing to offer himself up in order to make the terrible visions stop, but Rebekah beat him to it.

I called this in our most recent installment of The Originals Round Table. Well, I called that they were going to put her in someone's body and hoped it wouldn't be Cami's. And it wasn't. Not that it seemed like that would actually happen since Cami's the Matt Donovan of New Orleans.

The series has felt off kilter since Claire Holt's departure. Rebekah was integral to the story, and without her, everything had a tendency to feel weird. Now that problem has been "solved" but not in a way that is going to make very many people happy. At least not long term.

Koleb agreed to help his siblings defeat their mother (and oh, what a defeat that was!) but he also threw in his own contingency plan. Instead of halting the spell altogether, he prepped for Rebekah to be sent into the body of a witch being held captive inside a mystical witch prison with some pals of his from 1914.

(Here we go again with another prison world. Maybe The Vampire Diaries' Kai can do a crossover and show all these witches how to get out!)

What will happen when Klaus and Elijah discover the spell was completed and Rebekah is trapped remains to be seen, but Koleb now has the power to make a dagger which he can use on Klaus, so all he has for them is a good ol' "come at me, bro!" How it'll play out and for how long Rebekah will be in another body will come to pass when the series returns in January.

Of all the parts of tonight which I loved dearly, and there were several, Klaus casually tossing a blood bag in Lesther's direction and gloating that they had finally bested her might be in the Top Two. All season long we've been asking what her weakness could possibly be and how she could be defeated when she seems all-knowing and all-powerful.

Turn her into a vampire! PERFECT!

Seriously, this was genius. She didn't see it coming and they successfully prevented themselves from ever having to deal with her again. Unless, of course, she agrees to transition and then teams up with Finn in order to continue trying to destroy them. There is Kemiya to be practiced, after all, so Lesther doesn't have to be a witch to wreak havoc on the family.

Besides, they'll probably need her when Dahlia returns, but here's hoping spending some time living as the thing she turned her children into in order to save them from Dahlia in the first place gives her some perspective.

Klaus and Elijah will need all the help they can get when it comes to taking down Finncent when the series returns in January. He's on a mission to destroy them and, I suspect, will be teaming up with Mikael to do it. Mikael plus Finncent's penchant for angry magic means Klaus and Elijah better be making amends with Davina really quickly, or bringing Koleb into the Mikaelson fold so he can convince his girlfriend to work with his brothers instead of against them.

We have 41 days to watch The Originals online over and over until the new episodes return with what promises to be the most epic family feud we've ever seen. I can't wait.

What did you think of "The Map of Moments?" Are you excited that we'll have Rebekah back but in someone else's body? Rate that Haylijah scene for hotness!