This was an excellent episode, rewarding in having so many complex and surprising facets that left the viewer with plenty to ponder by the end of the hour. Speaking of that ending, it was probably the only part of the episode I didn't like! But we'll get to that. Everything that led to it - the scary-sexy-funny rollercoaster of Caroline and Stefan's decent into inhumanity; Damon and crew hopping over to 1903's prison world to retrieve Mama Salvatore; Bonnie's face-off with Kai; and even the Enzo/Alaric subplot were all highly enjoyable.
"You are an embarrassment to humanity-free vampires everywhere."
While a little sliver of me was hoping that Stefan had faked flipping his switch, he's back to his bad ol' humanity-free self. While Caroline carefully attempted to micromanage her every move and stick to her collegiate routine, such as a well done and hilariously self-congratulatory audition for the school musical, and avoiding any spilt blood that could come back to haunt her later, this only irritated Stefan. Since she's responsible for his inhumanity, he feels that Caroline should have to surrender to chaos as much as he is inclined to. It was too funny when Caroline tried to retaliate for Stefan's decapitation of her drama teacher by....sabotaging his motorcycle. But even after a hard-working Caroline managed to stop Stefan from murdering Alaric and Enzo, who were trying to round them up, she was still susceptible to Stefan's seductively evil influence. Finally, Caroline succumbed to her bloodlust and her lust for Stefan himself, as the two shared some steamy scenes. As exciting and fun as this storyline is, there's no doubt that it's going to be super-awkward for Stefan and Caroline when they get their humanity back and have to deal with the aftermath of their actions. How many more innocents will fall victim to their wicked games, and how are Stefan and Caroline going to feel about having had their first time together while humanity-free? I wonder how much longer the two of them will remain like this, and what the ramifications will be of this immoral spree of theirs.
I'm sure that I am forgetting some key detail here, but how is it possible that there is so little blood left in the 1903 prison world for Lily and her cronies? I mean, even if she had drained all the local slaughterhouses one day, the day would just start over again at midnight, restocking the blood sources. Or she could go a little further out to get more blood. Is the 1903 prison different from the 1994 one in this respect?
"I would rather die of cholera than spend an afternoon with you." Wow, this episode was replete with moments to make any BonKai fan happy. I loved the push and pull between these two, as Kai, even in his relentless pleas of apology and begging for forgiveness, revealed that he's far from totally redeemed by getting too intense about his own selfish needs. Bonnie's had enough, and the new her is fine with taking bloody vengeance on Kai for his brutal treatment of her during their time together in the 1994 prison world. Bonnie was so fierce while tearing into Kai for his previous behavior, crying out that she'd nearly been driven to suicide by his actions.
Elsewhere in the episode...Jo and Alaric had some huggably adorable conversations about potential baby names and Ric's tendency to rush headlong into trouble with little concern for his own well-being. Jo had a point every time, from noting that no one named Alaric should be allowed to name another human, to reminding her fiancé that he has a family now, and he needs to prioritize his safety in a new way. Enzo had asked for Ric's help in capturing Stefan and Caroline, since he can't really avenge himself on a Stefan who couldn't care less about anything. But...what's the point of all that again, Enzo? Alaric seemed uniquely able to alert Enzo to this issue, and then Enzo himself acknowledged that he's growing tired of his vendetta against Stefan, confessing as much to Sarah. But if Enzo was sincere in his new leaf turning, why did he mention the last name "Salvatore" to Sarah? Is this just the beginning of a subtle new twist in his evil plotting? I must say that Enzo did seem genuinely concerned about Sarah's safety for her own sake, and she seems to be growing on him, to whatever extent he wants to admit that to himself. This subplot continues to go from pointless to a little more intriguing.
That ending! The cure?! Again?! Ugh. I really feel like Season 4 explored the cure in a thorough way that was brought full circle by Katherine getting it and being forced to deal with her own mortality. We don't need the cure coming back to make Damon feel guilty and paranoid about whether he should offer it to Elena, and whether she'd rather be human and mortal, or live forever with him, and so on. Elena has grown into being a vampire in such a satisfying way that I have no desire to see her human again. It feels like going backwards to me. I know that plenty of fans think a human Elena is endgame, but I've never been for it. I guess we'll see where this is leading soon enough! Perhaps I'm jumping to an incorrect conclusion, and the reappearance of the cure will lead to some cool new development.
Speaking of that last scene, there was something really weird about the way Bonnie was just standing there while Damon and Elena were making out, without saying anything until Damon saw her. Something about Bonnie is certainly off lately, and this particular moment was unsettling.
What did you think about this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments! And be sure to catch the next all-new episode of The Vampire Diaries, Thursday April 16 at 8/7c on The CW.
