Well, we all knew there had to be a catch in Elena's not-so-perfectly thought-out plan to have her memories of loving Damon erased by Alaric. I'm sure some of us were just waiting to know what the reason would be why she ultimately wouldn't be able to get those memories back, given that Damon has returned and they'd sure come in handy. That further Delena-frustrating twist came in this episode, along with (naturally) a huge change for Alaric. Meanwhile, Jo revealed more of her personality and background, while Stefan and Caroline's complicated disputes continued. And as Damon struggled to communicate with a changed Elena, Tripp continued to loom large as a threat to vampire safety among our core set of characters.
"You have no idea how long I wanted to hear you breathe." Okay, lines like that are a little cheesy, sure, but they get me every time. I really enjoyed the lavish sentimentality that was put into the Damon and Elena scenes this week. It takes the edge of off the irritating, harder-to-believe as the episodes go by fact of Elena's voluntary memory loss. Because instead of hatred for the man she sees only as a monster, Elena reacted to Damon's return more with nervousness and indecision. Somewhere in her abyss of not remembering that love for him, Elena does seem to have a tiny little feeling, an inkling that's pushing her in the right direction - and I don't mean out the window. So yes, the hands-on-opposite-sides-of-the-door type angst was oddly satisfying, while Damon's funnier antics were a breathe of fresh air to a previously awkward storyline. I loved him drawing himself into Elena's graduation photo and checking his appearance out in the mirror in anticipation of seeing her again. That preview for next week makes it seem like Elena will still remain painfully unaware of sweet flashback moments with Damon, yet she was ready to regain the memories in the very same episode when Damon returned, another good sign (like her panic over Damon in danger, as well). Even though its start was somewhat hard to believe, I'm hoping that the memory loss storyline continues to yield sweet and moving moments like it did in this episode.
Sarah's search Sarah is a fairly cool and intriguing new character, and I think she'll be more so when she gets to interact with her fellow Salvatores instead of just Matt and Jeremy. She's still digging into her history and seemed unfazed by Matty's advice that she avoid Damon and Stefan. I'm still in hate with that whole twist of Damon having killed Sarah's mother, and that's sure to lead to some unpleasant scenes down the line; it kind of interferes with the otherwise fun idea of introducing a new Salvatore, but it wouldn't be TVD without the melodrama.
Meanwhile, Alaric also had an awkward reunion with Damon that sort of broke my Damon/Alaric bromance-loving heart a little bit. Aww, guys. Well, it's no worse than when Damon actually killed Ric back in season 3, and they rebounded from that. Anyway, it was pretty hilarious that rather than lashing out physically, Damon simply retorted to Alaric's decision to wait for Elena to say it was okay to return her memories by swiping his bourbon. Plus, Ric totally looked wounded by that, haha!
Overall, this episode had a winning blend of quasi or actual romantic drama and big plot shakeups, along with some steady new character development (mainly Jo, but slightly Sarah) and another heart-pounding big action sequence with Tripp's vehicle launching several of our vampy pals into Mystic Falls. In addition to his scenes with Caroline, I also enjoyed seeing Stefan's continued reunion with Damon and his commitment to help his brother even if that meant helping Enzo as well (I'm hoping Enzo gets a bit more to do soon, btw). The only drawbacks to the episode were the lack of Bonnie (not too much of a drawback though, since it only intensifies the suspense of what's going on back in 1994-land with her and Kai) and the continued boredom of the Matt and Jeremy roles. Alaric being human again is, as Elena was kind enough to observe, a wonderful thing to him in many ways as he really never got comfy with vampirism. I might have liked to have seen a bit more detail of how he adjusted and the usefulness of his Original powers, but oh, well. I'm looking forward to seeing how the stories of Season 6 will continue to build!
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 8/7c on the CW.
