While I don't feel that this episode was on the same level of greatness of the last three, it definitely had some fun, intriguing, and heartwarming moments. Stefan tried to show Elena the advantages to starting over, but only revealed his own vulnerabilities in the process...along with one of Elena's secrets. Meanwhile, we learned more about Kai's backstory and the MacGuffin that might hold the key to setting him, Damon, and Bonnie free...too bad there are other problems to interfere with that plan. And while a flashback to the '90s revealed Damon's lowest moment, in the present day, Sarah pieced together a mystery from that very same tale to finally reveal her parentage.
"You'd be surprised to find out how easy it is to forget the past, Elena." A still-chirpy Elena hitched a ride back to Savannah to observe Stefan in his unnatural habitat, namely that of an underpaid mechanic supposedly content in his new life. While extolling the virtues of a clean slate, Stefan explained the freedom that comes with inventing a new identity for oneself...fitting in a fake proposal to "Elena Williams" just to prove his point. Elena might have bought what Stefan was selling about his contentment, had she not walked back into the bar just in time to see Stefan enjoying having his ass kicked by some random guy. Obviously, as we might have gleaned from his perhaps punishingly bare-bones choice of new lives, Stefan is far from content and seeks masochistic forms of relief from his grief. Much to my surprise and enjoyment, after Elena pointed out the problems in his own behavior, Stefan couldn't listen to her memory-erased version of events regarding Damon any longer. He finally snapped and told her that she had loved Damon and that Alaric had erased those memories. Thank you, Stefan! That plotline needed to take a definitive turn for the better.
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"You loved Damon for the same reasons that I loved Damon. Because in spite of every single thing that he did, we couldn't live without him. Now you don't have to, but I do." - Stefan
That was so brilliantly succinct and accurate, not to mention right on at the end, given that Stefan doesn't have the luxury of a memory wipe to protect him from the pain of losing his brother. Ultimately, even though Elena has not yet opted to get her memories of loving Damon back, at least she's not unaware of the truth in the matter. Props as well to Alaric for his wryly self-depricating admission that he doesn't always know what's best. He does have a lot of his own problems, like a possibly overly sassy new love interest that doesn't seem much better than Meredith so far, though the jury's still out until we see more of Jo. And still, Alaric found time to talk some sense into the ever-wishy-washy Jeremy, reminding him that everyone has angst and not everyone deals with it by whining and moping uselessly through multiple episodes.
Despite or because of Kai's evilness, it's super-fun to watch him team up with Damon and Bonnie. The quips and tension among the trio are brilliant.
What Damon was up to in May, 1994. I honestly didn't like this part of the episode very much, except for the extremely sweet and cute sight of a younger Liz showing off a picture of the "high maintenance" little Caroline. Aw! I guess that even though we all know that Damon's done horrible things aplenty, this plot device of using some previously unseen dreadful deed from Damon's past to provide a new twist in the story has been a little too well-trodden (especially in Season 5, with the Augustine saga) for my taste. It was especially tiresome to have Damon's depressing murder of Gail confirmed so predictably after Bonnie anticipated it early in his recounting of the story.
Even though I found this specific build-up to be patience-stretching, we did finally get the pay-off by learning that Sarah is the daughter of Zach Salvatore and his girlfriend Gail. What's really most interesting about this is that Sarah is a Salvatore. We sure don't see many of those, and it will be interesting to see those implications (of extended family) unfold for Stefan and Damon. I would have found it cooler if Sarah was Bonnie's half-sister, but okay.
Tripp's motives, revealed... Hmm, a wife killed by a vampire who compelled Tripp to forget? Not the most original origin story, but maybe there's more to Tripp that we'll learn about down the line, or maybe he has other tricks up his sleeves than acting like a more brutal one-man Founder's Council. Anyway, Tripp revealed to Matt that he's keeping Enzo prisoner, trying to get the vamp to reveal the names of his fellow local bloodsuckers (good luck with that...this is not Enzo's first imprisonment-and-torture rodeo). This plotline is well-anchored with interest by Enzo's involvement and the fact that when Caroline comes back into the action, she'll probably have something to say about Tripp's methods as well. These are good things, since if this was just a Matty-Boo subplot, it might fizzle out - Colin Ferguson is very engaging in the role of Tripp, but he needs to interact with more characters.
Ivy's back! I was happy to have my suspicions confirmed as Stefan's girlfriend reappeared, not feeling too well (transitioning, in other words), since Enzo had made her drink his blood before killing her. Oh, Enzo, you old softy...well, by TVD bad boy standards, anyway. While Stefan was saddened and embittered by Ivy's loss, it will be interesting to see how he'll deal with now likely having to serve as her mentor during her adjustment to vampirism, especially since her personality will be heightened now.
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Thursday at 8/9c on the CW.
