I liked this show most of the time and was mildly irritated with it at other times; but mostly I liked it. I enjoy these fantasy type shows. It's fun to imagine how it would be to stay young and full of life for centuries as the 'vampires' in this show do. Why is that?

It's more than just feeling nostalgic for my youth, for old loves, boundless energy and exciting adventures traveling the world, etc. I think I would so love living through centuries, having first hand memories of history. I could study every discipline which struck my fancy, becoming an expert in them all. I would never have to wonder whether the history I studied in school was an accurate presentation of facts, or some revisionist nonsense produced more with an intent toward social engineering.

What would I do with the power, strength, knowledge, and perpetually great health? Would the power corrupt me? Would I be reckless? Not having to worry about social diseases, would I become a glutton for hedonistic pleasures? Would I enrich myself unfairly at the expense of good people? Or would I try to contribute to the world, make it a better place, and use my abilities and knowledge to create great music, make scientific discoveries, or help the normal people become economically secure? Of course if I had the power of these vampires I could be a virtual superhero if need be, moving at blurring speed to prevent tragedies, protect loved ones from violent criminals, and maintain order and peace in my immediate environs. ........Then there is that feeding on blood thing.....But I could compel people to donate to blood banks I owned, and feed that way. So I wouldn't need to be a monster. These shows let me escape and fantasize about a better world.

Of course this show revolved around the Mikaelson siblings, primarily the brothers Klaus and Elijah and sister Rebecca, and their closest friends and associates. The writers needed conflict in the story lest we all get bored and stop watching. If not for the dilemmas, crises, betrayals, and wars, the viewers wouldn't be so emotionally invested in characters, worried for their safety, etc. We wouldn't hate this one or sympathize with that one.

Because it's a fantasy we overlook the cavalier attitude toward the mass murders so common to the plot and even sympathize with some truly wickedly behaving characters.
It might be odd, but those things bothered me much less than the self indulgent navel gazing pity parties so many of the characters wallowed in throughout the show. Davina was in a (not constant but) continual, state of raw emotional alarm. I really got tired of hearing her cry and whine. And though I generally liked Klaus, he was incredibly paranoid, and always positioned himself as the injured party, even as he inflicted grievous injury to those around him. If Rebecca dated someone Klaus usually stuck a dagger in her chest and put her in a coffin for decades at a time. It only took an imagined slight for Klaus to rob one of his siblings of decades of life, or worse.
There were far too many of these immature emotional outbursts and displays, and almost never any recognition of how wrong and unjustified they were. I got sick of the self pity and the use of imagined slights as justification for all manner of violence, murder, and torture, and not just by Klaus.

But to be fair to the show, this (immature emotional displays) is what we see from most TV shows these days.

I came to really dislike the daughter Hope. This is partly because her character was made to appeal to the teenager/high school crowd which the sequel Legacies is being made for. Once Hope hit her teenage young adult years she cycled between rebellious know it all displays of independence and defiance, almost tearful complaints of abandonment and rejection by her father, and, in the last episode, an expression of forlorn, heartbroken sadness and love for her father in the hours before his impending death. Her dialogue with Klaus was almost comical.

Hope: "I'll gonna make you proud. I can't promise that I won't go through a period where I get irresponsible tattoos, and date older men."

WHAT!? There's a Freudian slip if I ever heard one.

Klaus had to be thinking ("what else? You gonna do some Internet porn too?")

Hope: "But I'm gonna go back to school."

Klaus thinking: ("oh sure, that's what all the strippers say, they're gonna go back to school and become nurses or something. Oh well, strippers make good money. ")

Hope: "I'm gonna be OK".

Klaus thinking: (damn Hope, don't you have a different facial expression? How long can you hold that 'about to break into tears while trying to smile' look on your face. Do something different. That's not natural.)

Hope tells her dad she's a Mikaelson and "I'm gonna do right by our name."

If it were any other name that might have been some comfort to poor old Klaus. But Mikaelson? She's gonna live up to THAT name!?

Klaus must have been thinking it might be better if she DID become a slutty stripper and an Internet porn star.

Sorry, I guess I am taking cheap shots now. But that scene was poorly done, IMHO. And I became fed up watching Hope roll in her emotional wallow pit a long time ago already.

And I guess I am pissed that they canceled this show and replaced it with the teenie bopper sequel "Legacies".
Goodbye Originals.

Maybe some witch will find a way to raise Klaus and Elijah from the dead. Why not? They raise just about everyone else they feel like digging up.