It may not have been a tour de force such as "Gone Girl," but "While You Were Sleeping" was a savagely entertaining and exciting episode of The Vampire Diaries that boasted, among other charms, the full return of Elena Gilbert. As much as I love Katherine, I missed Elena, and Nina Dobrev's incredible acting skills were again on display as Elena had to deal with many massive problems after getting her body back.
For one thing, that same body is now addicted to vampire blood and filled with deadly werewolf venom, thanks to Kitty Kat's little "parting gift." Poor Elena is deluged with physical and psychological torments aplenty, from the temptations to kill her friends or innocent bystanders, to the paranoia and confusion about her lost time when possessed by Katherine. Moreover, Elena also had to deal with Damon's (eventually...!) coming clean about his little trip down Season 2 memory lane wherein he killed her friend Aaron.
I'll be using some lyrics from Gabriella Cilmi's song "Vicious Love" to supplement my review, as it not only reflects the brutal draw between Damon and Elena, but also touches upon some of the complex emotional journeys endured by the other characters in their various exploits. For most TVD characters, love is both a blessing and a blight, offering them the glimmers of redemption and peace while denying them at the same time.
"You came 'round like a thief in the night
I knew that you'd come 'round sometime
Come inside, lift me from abyss
I can feel my heartbeat pumping in your kiss
Strugglin' to breathe between the waves
You make my body feel all kinds of pain
After all we've been through, we either set aside our differences
or put it behind us..."*
Elena's painful delusions showed the irritation and woe anyone would feel after learning that their worst enemy had lived in their body for weeks without their friends and family noticing a thing. This whole plotline has been quite reminiscent of the classic Sweet Valley High novel The Evil Twin, and I like that a lot. Trapped in her room by Liv's spell, Elena was also trapped in her own twisted headspace, reaching out to a loving but problematically secretive Damon via phone.
Since Elena couldn't help jumping to the conclusion that Katherine must have killed Aaron while in her body, Damon really should have ripped that bandaid immediately, and relieved her of the unnecessary guilt of this assumed crime, given her tragic state. Of course, Elena shouldn't feel guilty since it would have been Katherine's crime, not hers, but we all know how her mind works.
However, that's not to say I didn't love their phone conversations, especially Damon's line about giving Elena the most mind-blowing night of her life. Ian Somerhalder infused that dialogue with a pitch-perfect blend of seductive longing and exhausted desperation, since Damon knew that Elena might run from him again after learning of his terrible deeds in her absence. It was worth the annoyance of Damon holding back the truth about Aaron until the end of the episode, as that confrontation scene between him and Elena was amazing (more to come on that).
Stefan displayed yet more admirably poised restraint and relative nonchalance in greeting Elena and explaining her plight, given how upsetting pretty much all of this must be for him. He also carried off his explanation of kissing Katherine and "putting it together" that she wasn't Elena with the same level of calm bluntness. He's an intriguing character in that he represses his own turmoil to maintain his somewhat uncomfortable position in Elena's life, but whatever residual feelings for Elena were stirred up during Katherine's tenure are still an issue (even though his attraction to Katherine herself was mixed up in it too...crazy doppelgänger shenanigans!). Both in this scene and in his interactions with the Travelers, Stefan had a wonderful, wise, tired wryness to him that's delightfully symptomatic of Paul Wesley's great performance in the role. Plus, he does a mean "Blue Steel." Check it out:
Later, Caroline and Stefan reached out to the Travelers to get the cure for Elena's virus. As others have noted, the Travelers' storyline and mythology are getting better and holding more interest. Here, we met Sloan, a stern and on-task leader in their community who seems like a more effective version of the Sophie character from The Originals. To get the cure for Damon and Elena, Stefan had to submit to a Travelers spell so they could find a new Stefan lookalike doppelgänger, whom Sloan wanted to kill. Caroline was forced to offer to go kill the paramedic (?) in Atlanta instead to protect Stefan from whatever might happen to him if he were the vessel for his doppelganger's death. Enzo facilitated the negotiations with the travelers and flirted with Caroline a little, though there was also a bit of Stefan/Caroline sparkiness going on in this episode. Whether friend, foe, or indifferent associate, Enzo continues to be a fun and welcome new character.
Can we talk about the awesome new witch siblings plotline? Okay! I love that Liv was hiding the full extent of her powers and that she's plotting with her just-introduced brother Luke to cause some manner of serious mischief. What do these two want with Bonnie and the rest of the scooby gang? I can't wait to find out. Luke and Liv are enjoyably mischievous and brought a lighter vibe of mysterious adventure to this rather dark episode. While there wasn't a whole lot of Bon Bon this week, hopefully she'll have more on her plate in the next installment. Her debunking of Liv's ego at the bar was awesome, even though we know Liv was falsifying her witchy limitations.
Once Damon realized the extent of Elena's trauma (and btw, it was pretty hilarious how she kept wanting to kill randoms and turn them so she could feed. Okay, I have a twisted sense of humor.), he did his usual routine of evading Matt and Jeremy (last time it was Tyler) to escape and go to her. When Elena's vision of Aaron faded into the reality of Damon, he had to deal with her horrified, miserable guilt over her lost friend, which just made his confession even more awful for both of them. The strung-out anguish between these two was palpable, and so pitiful, even Enzo could tell that in that moment, both looked like they'd rather die than take the antidote to their terrible illness.
Back at la casa Salvatore, Elena wished that Damon had realized Katherine had been in her body, as there would be no vampire virus and Aaron would still be alive. This is an interesting point, since it was Damon's weirdly masochistic conviction that Elena truly believed he was evil that sprang from his deepest insecurities - Katherine really played on that weakness when she broke his heart. All of that stopped Damon from seeing through Katherine's disguise - again, he was too wrapped up in his own feelings to see past them. Elena sees that selfishness of his for what it is, but she can't shut off her love for him, even when he begs her to. She's angry about his actions, yet resolute in her implacable adoration of Damon.
It was also very interesting that, after noting the insane amount of control they have over one another, Damon called theirs a "toxic relationship," basically quoting what many a viewer has noted about "Delena." Elena fully acknowledged the enormity of his crimes and how he keeps impeding her morality at every turn. Then we got this inevitable exchange:
Damon: "Well then stop loving me!"
Elena: "I can't!"
Sigh. That is just a quintessentially angsty-brilliant Delena moment right there. Finally agreeing that they "don't work" since Damon keeps dragging Elena's better instincts down into his moral abyss, they agreed to end their romance. After Elena declared, "it's over," I loved the way Damon ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, shook his head before they sprang back into each others' arms. Despite every layer of logic to the need for their relationship to die, neither of them can accept it. An exquisitely dark, hypnotic, passionate sex scene followed, giving way to the end title card, leaving the viewer wondering what's next for Damon and Elena. Like most of the big epic love scenes between the two, the cliffhanger remains: is there any way for them to either break their bond or indulge in it without destroying each other?
"Silently deluded, stronger in the mind
Together we're unhealthy, together it's ride...
Holdin' on, sinkin' deep,
In vicious love, you give to me
Holdin' on, endlessly
For vicious love, you give to me"*
I'm looking forward to seeing more complexities unravel in the various relationships of TVD in next week's episode, entitled "Rescue Me." And what will Caroline and Stefan discover about the new doppelganger? I'm sure we'll get a little more insight into the plottings of the Travelers as well as Liv and Luke.
What did you think of this week's episode? How do you hope to see things develop as the season continues? Share your thoughts in the comments!
*lyrics are taken from the song "Vicious Love" by Gabriella Cilmi.
