While The CW has been getting a lot of attention for their superhero shows they continue to deliver on the supernatural front as well. With Supernatural still going strong and the Vampire Diaries, which is heading into its final season they have crafted pretty strong non-superhero world as well. After the success of Vampire Diaries they decided to expand that universe with the hit series The Originals now heading its fourth season now is the time to revisit the previous season with The Originals: The Complete Third Season.

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The series follows the Original vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus Mikaelson and his brother Elijah who have spent 1,000 years fighting to protect their dysfunctional family. And now that Klaus and the hybrid Hayley share an infant daughter, Hope, the stakes are higher than ever. This season finds Klaus and Elijah estranged from each other, while adjusting to life with their long-lost sister, Freya. Hayley suffers mightily at the hands of Klaus’ petty vengeance, while Marcel and Davina rule the city. Cami and Vincent are tangled in a surprising mystery involving the newest resident of New Orleans – the first vampire ever sired by the Mikaelsons. Last season seemed to shake things up quite a bit so heading into this one you never really know how that will fully impact the rest of the show and characters. It’s kind of hard to review shows like this because they are all essentially just soaps with supernatural aspects thrown into mix it up. They have done a good job at creating a standalone series that while is a part of the Vampire Diaries universe it is still very much its own show. Throughout these kinds of shows there are always twists and turns that they hope to catch the viewer off guard with and while they are often predictable they still craft together a story worth staying with.

 

Much like all of these shows they start to fall in a generic pattern after a while and this show is no different. While it works it starts to get more predictable and they end up having to start killing off main characters to really throw you. I’m am not confirming or denying that mind you, just making a point about the show. Hopefully going into season 4 they will use the events from these past seasons to propel it into new directions. One thing that does continue to help this series stand out is the dark tone which allows it to rise a bit above the expected directions at times. While the CW has kind of gotten a bad rap over the years for their watered down teen shows, they have really embraced the grittier tones as of late and in turn is making for much better programing with this series capitalizing on it to the fullest without becoming too dreary.

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In the end this is a genre show that is geared towards the fans already invested in both shows and will not likely grab new viewers with it, but that is kind of the point. To enjoy this series you have to have been with it since the beginning to really care, but if you decided you want to get in on the phone you can always check out the previous two seasons on Blu-ray and DVD available now as well. In addition to all 22 episodes of the series this collection also includes various special features to take you further behind the first family of the night. Grab your copy of The Originals: The Complete Third Season available now on Digital HD and DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.