This was sort of an "in-between" episode, building the storyline up a bit more without having any truly epic moments of the sort we saw in the previous hour. Elena and Damon went to 1994-land to get Bonnie, but even a world away, Kai was stirring up enough trouble to ensure that their plan would hit some speed bumps. Meanwhile, Sarah's true identity was revealed, leaving Stefan, Enzo, and Matt in a big mess. And Damon's compelling of Alaric so that he could obtain the Ascendent yielded yet more strife in their troubled bromance.
"If you so much as hurt one hair on her annoying little witch head-" This week, Damon was a man with a plan, and if he had to manipulate Ric to save Bonnie, it was a step he was willing to take. While Ric, with Jo's help, sussed out Damon's trickery, Damon got Liv to send him and Elena back to Kai's 1994 prison world, where the two proceeded to consider past memories while doing their best to retrieve Bonnie. Since Bonnie was still a considerable car ride away, after a touching and exciting phone call between her and Elena that got our hopes up way too much, there was little for Damon and Elena to do but wait for their friend's arrival. This led to a rather charming segment of the episode which featured Elena and Damon enjoying his now habitual pancakes while "Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms played in the background. Amazing. And also, I totally buy that Stefan would have a Boyz II Men cd. We have that in common. Elena drawing the whipped cream vamp fangs on Damon's pancakes was a subtly endearing moment that showed the natural bond between them, even without her memories of their love.
What I did like about this turn in the episode was that it led to a great speech from Damon regarding his true motivations:
"She had hope. For both of us. She's the reason I survived, the reason I made it out. Who knew? It turns out you spend time with someone and don't kill them, you actually become friends. I'm doing this for Bonnie, Elena, not you."
Needed. To be said. Elena was able to move on from her hangups and enjoy being at her old family home, which she'd let one terrible memory allow her to burn down despite all the happy memories it also held. This segued well into her apology to Damon for removing her memories of their love, which were only half her own. What with the face touching and Damon's sweet comment of "we'll make more," things were looking quite romantic on the Delena front...until Liv and Tyler felt forced by Kai's rampaging to bring them back to the real world ahead of schedule.
The overwhelmingly awful feeling that descended over the episode after that was directly related to poor Bonnie's hopeful dash back to Mystic Falls, thinking she was going to see her friends and finally go home. The writers are stretching her terrible ordeal out about as far as they possibly can. I'm so wrapped up in Bonnie's sadness, yet her bravery and strength, with every scene she has in this storyline, that I'm sure to cry when she finally gets to go home. Here's hoping that happens very soon!
"There's a psycho loose in Mystic Falls and no vampires around to stop him. Whoops." Arggh! As frustrating as it is that his smooth machinations almost effortlessly thwart our heroes at every turn, it has to be said that Kai is a wonderful villain. Remorseless, relentless, and quippy make for a terrifically entertaining combination. After returning to reality, quickly realizing the discomfort of skinny jeans and the usefulness of earbuds as a murder weapon, Kai made for Liv's bar, where it took her about fifty million years too long to realize who he was. I know you were only a small child when you last saw your brother, Liv, but could you have looked at the name on the ID right away at least? Gah! Luckily, Kai only took some of Liv's power, allowing her to fight back, with some help from Tyler, who slowed the baddie down temporarily.
Alaric was enraged that Damon had deceived him and allowed Kai to return, although logically we know that Damon didn't really have anything to do with Kai's being able to get back since he did that with the other Ascendent. Still, the situation is what it is, and it looks like another long road back to the Dalaric bromance so many of us love dearly.
"Sarah's" real backstory: Well, she had me fooled. But Stefan saw through "Sarah's" story about being Zach and Gail's daughter, because he knows quite well what happened to the real Sarah Salvatore. Unfortunately, this quickly rendered Monique a completely useless character, and easy prey for Enzo (who has apparently been dubbed as this season's excuse for killing off any storyline-buoying character whose time has ended). So, why did Enzo so ruthlessly murder Monique? It seems his hatred for Stefan is amplified by his perception of the supposed unfairness of Stefan being considered a hero and Enzo himself a villain. So I suppose killing Monique was another cruel way to stick it to Stefan. But also, could Enzo have seriously wanted to know about the real Sarah/Monique story that badly, and if so, why? I don't know, the writing on this aspect of the episode felt a little weak to me. It's kind of like Enzo was promoted to a series regular without the writers having any clear ideas of what they were going to do with him other than tangentially propel or curtail certain aspects of the plot. I'd like to see clearer reasons for his behavior and more proof that there's good as well as bad in him. And incidentally, I wonder when we'll see the real Sarah. Stefan's speech about his resolve to protect her was really lovely and noble.
Elsewhere in the episode...Matt grew increasingly frustrated with Enzo, and by extension, Stefan. Not getting the full story on the Sarah situation, Matt assumed that Stefan is like other vampires who undervalue human life (despite all the evidence to the contrary Stefan has shown over the years). This uncomfortable feeling about being around and tolerating vampires is something Matt has struggled with since he first learned of their existence, and it looks like he'll be going through another attempt to come to terms with where he stands in the scooby gang. Given that Matt was so quickly affectionate of Monique, he's vengeful towards Enzo and has called upon Jeremy to put down the bottle and help him kill the wayward vamp. At the very least, this gives Jeremy something else to do besides whine.
Meanwhile, Kai came to Tyler with an offer of teaming up to save Liv, which cannot bode well for Luke. What's Kai's game here? It's hard to imagine Tyler stopping at almost any extreme to protect Liv, but what will the consequences be if he makes a "deal with the devil"?
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments! And don't forget to catch next week's episode, "Christmas Through your Eyes" (love the Gloria Estefan reference!) Thursday at 8/7c on the CW.
