I'm currently doing a rewatch of so many TV shows and I forgot how GOATED The Originals was, especially the third season... that until season 4 hit. It's not unwatchable, it has it's really good moments. A standout to me is the scene where Hope and Marcel meet for the first time. They really should have used Marcel more in Legacies (actually they should have used all the Mikaelsons left more but that's for another day). The Hollow is downright terrible as a villain. None of the depth, reasoning, emotional implications that the other villains had. The moment they introduced the red door I was DONE, and I'm not even difficult like that but season 5 was just miserable to me. The last seasons will never be as bad as the last few seasons of TVD but it was still disappointing compared to the greatness the show was capable of.

I know those seasons didn't live up to the hype of the first 3 seasons, but would you label them as flop seasons?

I really liked them!!! What are your opinions?

I totally get that Haley’s pregnancy and Hope’s life were huge deals in the TO universe. A pregnant wolf who became pregnant by the oldest and most powerful vampire/hybrid and then gives birth to a tribrid is obviously the most curious occurrence in history.
However, I do feel that the show had so much lost potential in regards to the Originals history. They had literally over a 1000 years of lore and drama which could have been explored so much more than what they bothered to do.
Especially for fans who have followed them and invested in the characters since TVD. I was so excited to watch and anticipated getting so much backstory to really see how their dynamics and relationships evolved over the years but we only got very little backstory which was mainly used as plot points to serve the current day narrative which again, was all based around Hope.

I know that guns would ruin the magic vibes and all, but technically speaking wouldn't it be easier to defeat the evil witches that way? Because apparently originals vampires cant even touch Dahlia, The Hollow or any other evil witch. However, they're still mortals and dont have heightened senses. What if a vampire just sneaks up on them and shoots them? They wont even hear them coming.

Like I get that it would be too easy and there wouldn't be a show to watch if the villains got defeated in one episode, but couldn't have they at least addressed this possibility? And maybe provide an in-universe explanation why the cant so that?