Emily Watches Too Much Television

I have been so excited to write this recap since "Wheel Inside the Wheel" aired, because OH MY GOD, ESTHER FLASHBACKS! I'm pretty sure the flashbacks to 972 AD are officially the oldest memories of the characters that we've ever seen, and it actually gave us a ton of insight into why Esther and Mikael are the way they are. I'm even starting to sympathize with Esther (although only a tiny bit), but still not so much Mikael, because even losing your beloved daughter doesn't justify being an abusive dick with a burning desire to kill his children in the most brutal ways possible. Also, we know the identity of the Mikaelsons' oldest sibling, Freya! But I need some input from the rest of you readers out there-- are Freya and Finn twins? Because I could have sworn they were twins (with Freya being the oldest, obviously, just like how Liv is the oldest between her and Luke in The Vampire Diaries ), but now that I've gone back to look, there isn't really

Alright kids, since I am so behind that I will literally be drowning in unfinished recaps until the end of my days,  to the point where my descendants will probably end up having to finish for me at this rate, I'm going to have to speed things along a bit. So, this recap is gonna be a sort of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants deal where it will (hopefully) be shorter and less detailed than usual, and probably a handful at least of the TVD recaps are probably going to be this way. Then again, since I can turn anything into a novel without really trying, who knows what's going to happen? Let's just get to it, yeah? Previously, on The Vampire Diaries :   Damon died in the explosion to sacrifice the rest of the Travelers and was unable to come back from the Other Side in the resurrection spell, so he and Bonnie got sucked into a prison dimension, leaving all of their loved ones behind. Elena was so distraught by their loss (and Damon's especially, since she's never had to