'The Originals' Finale Treated Klaus Well

Sorry to all my New York people that couldn't watch The Originals Season 1 finale in real time (those damn Yankees). But if you were lucky enough to catch what was an epic episode of The CW's freshman vampire drama, you were definitely pleasantly surprised. Spoilers abounded for the series' first finale and its star, Joseph Morgan, more or less promised that we'd be shocked — which we were, that cliffhanger was crazy — but we were also really emotional viewing the episode. And I'm not just saying that because the hybrid baby was born and adorable. For the first time, we saw a side of Klaus that we'd never seen before and it was about damn time.

But let's get back to the fact that, finally, that hybrid baby was born. It was an overall disturbing experience, what with Hayley being surrounded by witches and getting her throat slit all while Klaus watched. (God, that Monique was such a bitch.) And, after finding him in Father Kieran's clearly #unblessed church, Elijah had a breakdown over Klaus bringing this upon them because all he's done every day of is life is make enemies out of powerful people. Boom, harsh — but so very true, Elijah.

Which leads us to Klaus' first, big moment of transition of the night — he didn't retaliate. Klaus was so overwhelmed with grief (who knew he was capable of feeling so intensely) that he didn't even have a witty retort to throw back or try to throw the blame at someone else. He just kind of agreed with Elijah and set off to find that baby. So out of character that it's borderline insane, right?

Moving on, Hayley ends up surviving because she is a total boss (god, no one was cooler than Hayley during this episode) and the gruesome threesome ended up saving little Hope Mikaelson. Aw. And then came Klaus' second and third moments that made it clear that we will be seeing a new, more emotional, softer Klaus in Season 2. Klaus healed Marcel's werewolf bite by letting him drink his blood — even though he'd just taken his baby to use as ransom so Klaus would give him blood to heal his friends. WHAT? If this were any other episode, Klaus would've snapped his neck, ripped his heart out, and peaced the eff out of there. But he didn't.

There were a few adorable scenes in which Klaus stood over the baby and just watched her doing baby things. Which was equally telling of the type of man Klaus has become — for someone that had no true emotional connection to anyone or anything all season, he loved that baby from the second he saw it. Again, we didn't know Klaus was capable of loving anyone or anything except for Caroline Forbes. But apparently, Doting Dad Klaus was there all along.

In the final moments of the finale — after making the difficult and emotional decision to fake the baby's death to keep her safe — Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah decide they need to send her away. And who do they choose to keep her safe? None other than the recently departed Rebekah. We actually saw Klaus shed a tear while he handed her over to his sister for safekeeping during an emotional moment during which he promised his daughter that he'd do everything in his power to get her back to him. (Sigh.) AND THEN HE FORGAVE HIS SISTER. Another thing no one saw coming, nor believed Klaus was capable of.

This was a Klaus-centric episode that we'd never seen before — where he demonstrated that he has a shred of humanity. Actually, it might be a lot more than just a shred. Either way, The Originals Season 1 finale hit all of the right marks when it came to deepening Klaus' character and showing a tremendous shift. See, Julie Plec, there are ways to do this without forcing characters into a relationship.

So, is it time for Season 2 yet?

Image: The CW