I think we can all collectively agree that The Originals Season 4 is shaping up to be the best season yet.

The Originals Season 4 Episode 3 had it all: Action, family drama, hot vampire sex and some much-needed insight on the new villain. It was a wild ride, and I loved every minute of it.

Let's start with Hope meeting Klaus. From the first scene, it was evident she had heard all of these stories about her father while growing up and probably found it surreal to finally be meeting him in the flesh.

Her reaction was perfectly natural. All of these people the young girl had heard so much about were standing on the porch in front of her. All of her scenes with Klaus were great. We got to see another side to Klaus through these scenes. Yes, he's done a lot of shady things over the years, but he's changed his ways ... at least, for now.

Hope is likely going to be one of the most powerful witches. She's already reviving insects from the dead, so how long will it be until she's able to do that to deceased characters? Only a matter of time, I assume.

I'm not entirely on board with bringing characters back from the dead, but it would be kind of fun to watch a seven-year-old do that. Already, she's keeping secrets with Klaus, and something tells me Hayley is not going to be happy about that.

Hayley finally opened up about her struggles during the five years, and like most of us on The Originals Round Table anticipated, she's been on the move in the hopes of keeping Hope out of danger.

It must have been tough, but all of her hard work paid off in the end. That's not to say everyone was entirely thankful for her efforts. Freya was horrible to her. I understand Freya is putting her family first, but she was horrid to Hayley.

Hayley wants to try and stay as good as she can be and part of that was honoring her word to Keelin. I mean, poor Keelin is being held captive in a barn with a mask taking all of the werewolf venom out of her system.

That's no way to live, and I doubt Elijah is going to be impressed that his sister defied his word. It's natural for families to have some conflict at some point, but it is quite the change of days when Freya is the one causing the drama.

Did anyone else love the scene with Elijah pretending he had arranged the candlelit dinner for someone else? Yes, the subsequent scenes that showed the pair getting hot and heavy were also pretty great, too!

Rebekah, Kol, Klaus, and Elijah want to embrace their new leases on life, while Freya just seems concerned with making sure she has enough venom in the event that Marcel strikes.

Did she not get the memo that Hope is powerful as hell and could probably send Marcel flying across an ocean? Maybe she should focus on being an aunt and give herself a break.

We need to put an ocean between us and Marcel Gerard as soon as possible.
Freya

Permalink: We need to put an ocean between us and Marcel Gerard as soon as possible.

Rebekah turning to Klaus to let him know she wanted to find happiness was something I knew was coming. How so? Because Claire Holt never seems to stick around these days.

Klaus: My daughter is not prodigy.
Rebekah: Well, she's much better than you ever were. Granted, the bar was very low.

Permalink: Well, she's much better than you ever were. Granted, the bar was very low.

She leaves just as quickly as she returns, and that's okay. A limited amount of the legend that is Rebekah Mikaelson is better than her being gone completely.

She has had such a testing relationship with Klaus over the years. He stabbed her in the back about a gazillion times, but they actually seem ready to move on from being so close to each other.

This is great character development for Klaus, but Rebekah has been trying to find her place in the world ever since she first appeared on The Vampire Diaries Season 3.

I would love to see her find happiness and attempt to have as much of a normal (to her) life as she possibly can. For now, she's going to struggle to find that happiness looking after Kol.

With Vincent and Marcel on a mission to find out the truth, we got to see some flashbacks of how things went wrong for Eva Sinclair when she became consumed by the darkness.

I had no idea Maisie Richardson-Sellers was returning, so it was a pleasant surprise. Somehow, I don't think we've seen the last of her. With her being tied to the villain in some way, it would not surprise me if the darkness used some magic to appear as Eva.

Vincent: You remember my wife, Eva. Right?
Marcel: Yeah, Eva, the child stealing psycho.

Permalink: Yeah, Eva, the child stealing psycho.

This would surely rattle Vincent, who would struggle to take the darkness down. Like I've said on many occasions, I'm really digging Vincent, but I hope he does not go over to the dark side.

I like him as the person who tries to keep the darkness and power struggles at bay.

"Haunter of the Ruins" was an awesome hour of this CW hit. I'm loving the direction the series is going, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Missed an episode? You watch The Originals online right here on TV Fanatic!

Over to you, The Originals Fanatics! What did you think of the developments? Do you think Freya is going too far? Is Hope as strong as we're being led to believe she is? Is the family silly returning to the Quarter?

Hit the comments below!