Is the "Red Door" Just A Tactic?

I really don't know how I feel about this — which is probably because I'm in a state of shock over seeing everyone's favorite Mikaelson and feminist, Elijah, being tortured by Lenore aka Esther. Monday night's The Vampire Diaries and The Originals crossover episode, "Red Door," was less about Nina Dobrev's guest-starring role as Tatia and more about making us question everything we've known about Elijah. Could he actually be the monster Esther made him out to be by revealing his true memories? I find it hard to believe Elijah "pulls the wings off of every pretty butterfly" he meets, but Esther's officially planted that seed of doubt not just with me, but also with Elijah.

The Originals truly took a sadistic turn on Monday night with Esther's psychological torture. I really don't think I've ever felt so pained as I did watching Elijah being forced to remember a version of his past that might not even be true. At least, I was choosing to believe that the memories Esther was forcing Elijah to remember about Tatia were of her design to convince him to agree to her terms of "family." But, at one point, there was a flicker of doubt in Elijah's eyes that seemed like he'd actually started to question whether or not he actually is the man TVD and The Originals have made him out to be. And so, here we are.

According to Esther's version of Elijah's memory, Elijah killed Tatia and she showed him mercy from his eventual guilt at killing his true love by bringing her "behind the red door" and telling Elijah to forget. Which, if Esther's version of events is true, that's exactly what he did. Apparently Tatia chose Elijah over Klaus, but when she discovered Klaus' werewolf affliction, she turned on Elijah as well. And, even though he vowed not to hurt her, his vampirism took over when he smelled the blood on her hands and he killed her. Mind you, this was all extremely painful to watch because I love Elijah.

But is Esther really telling the truth here? It's entirely possible that she might be, but it's also entirely possible that she's constructing these memories to convince Elijah to conform. At the end of Monday's episode, Esther revealed to Finn that she'd planted a dream in Elijah's head about what the world could be when this all ends (it starred him and Hayley reuniting, duh). If Esther can construct that, am I really supposed to believe that she's not constructing all of Elijah's bad memories about Tatia's death also?

I might be being naive, but Esther vowed to torment her children until they conceded to become witches and live happily ever after with her. That doesn't sound like a woman who's showing her son the truth about his nature, it sounds like a woman that's desperate enough to create memories to torment her child until he breaks. Either way, can someone please rescue Elijah? Because I can't take this anymore.

Image: Richard Ducree/The CW