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The Mikaelson family is extremely complicated, and who better to untangle that drama than Julie Plec?

showrunner will blog each week’s installment throughout the season exclusively for EW. From answering burning questions to giving behind-the-scenes stories and more, this is a place for fans to hear directly from Plec about the episode they just watched. 

What happens when a Brit, a Kiwi and three Aussies sit at a table with a turkey? It’s

Thanksgiving! This week’s episode finds the Mikaelsons giving thanks for backstabbing, murder and mayhem. Writers Michelle Paradise and Beau DeMayo and director Bethany Rooney went to town to create the most opulent Thanksgiving dinner they could. And no one died before dessert. 

team, because the song chosen for the final sequence was also chosen by

for an episode — and they got it first. Running multiple shows is often a case of exercising the right for “dibs.” The general rule is whoever had it first gets to keep it, but in some situations where both sides are fighting over a song or a storyline, I get to be the unpopular judge who makes the ultimate decision. Sometimes I even “borrow” from one to help the other.

For example, Declan DeBarra spent three years pitching a concept that got no traction in

, only to have me pitch a version of it to great success at

. We almost didn’t create the long-lost Original sibling Freya because we had a pitch that Enzo would be a long-lost Salvatore sibling at the same time. The idea for Hope the Miracle Hybrid Baby was pitched during Klaus’ time on

, and if we had decided not to move forward with the spin-off, Hayley would have been pregnant on

and we would have already used up our one Miracle Baby opportunity. I’m glad everything worked out.

this season, this is his very first produced episode of television.

The song that ended up in the end of this episode is “Deep End” by Ruelle, and we’re lucky to have it. Once of the greatest things to happen to the CW in the Mark Pedowitz era is that he lets every show find their own distinct musical voice, whether anyone’s ever heard of the band or not. Between

s, we have been able to grant new and old artists alike many opportunities for great placements. Our co-executive producer Lance Anderson and music supervisor Chris Mollere have some of the best ears for music in the business.

Filed under the Perks of Being the Showrunner category, the band featured in the Turkey Day race is Gurufish, whose frontman Jimmy is a waiter at Sotto Sotto, my favorite restaurant in Atlanta. When I’m in town, you can find me at the bar with a glass of wine and my laptop many nights of the week. I get more work done over their salmon and strozzapreti than I do at my office. The bartender Eric started watching

because I came in there so often and proceeded to obsessively binge-watch five seasons in the span of two months. I once guessed the answer to a major spoiler of another Atlanta show because of a thespian I witnessed picking up carry-out.

*Addendum to the piece: Right after I typed this and hit send, Carina Mackenzie pitched me an epic Klaus moment for episode 315 and a look of horror crossed over my face. It was identical to a pitch I had JUST approved for Episode 715 of

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