Everyone's cards were on the table in this episode, as Damon and Stefan's plan to end Julian was finally supported by Lily...but they needed help from the Heretics to succeed. We learned most characters' true allegiances and experienced some shocking twists along the way. Meanwhile, Caroline and Stefan dealt with her astonishing new status.
Reversal of fortune: This episode pivoted on the main theme of our heroes trying to take Julian out. As we saw in the previous episode, that smug bastard is so terrible that even Lily finally woke up to it and decided to help her sons in their plan. Mary Louise and Nora were celebrating an anniversary in their long relationship, providing a party -- perfect, since no major showdown can happen on TVD unless it is at a party or Mystic Falls Town Event.
In order for Julian to be killed without also killing Lily, a Heretic was needed to break the bond between the two, and Lily took the chance to let all of her surrogate children know just how evil Julian is. Surprisingly, each Heretic sided with Valerie and gave her a warm hug of solidarity, agreeing to help Lily...except for Mary Louise, who gave a worryingly reluctant embrace and professed her doubts that Valerie could be trusted. As it turned out, Mary Louise's loyalty to Julian takes precedence over pretty much everything else, even though it was a betrayal of her whole family, including her new fiancee, Nora. The biggest shock of this particular scenario was Nora suddenly becoming halfway likable out of nowhere, while Mary Louise just seemed really foolish and as blind as Lily ever was to Julian's true nature.
Lily did the noble thing by killing herself in order to kill Julian, all to protect both Damon and Valerie instead of choosing one of them to live as per Julian's crazy ultimatum. But since Mary Louise had already ended the bonding spell, Julian was left unscathed and Lily died for nothing, except the fulfillment of her own redemption. While Lily and Stefan were able to reconcile and find peace in their relationship, the same was sadly not true of Damon. Finding out that Lily had suggested Elena's sleeping curse was probably the last straw for Damon, who already resented his mother's abandonment and avoidance of feeling affection for her own sons for so many years. Damon's words to Lily right before she died, "you made your bed...", were so cold that I thought it should have been this episode that was titled "Best Served Cold." Brrr! Harsh, even for Damon.
Three years from now...Damon is being held prisoner in the t.v. studio where Caroline works. Disoriented by werewolf venom, Damon briefly hallucinates that his captor is Lily. However, the voice he heard before seeing his mother did not seem like hers, so even before we learned of Lily's present-time death later in the episode, I had a feeling it wasn't her. Yes, of course, it's that mysterious huntress, still concealed in the shadows. It was kind of heartbreaking that Damon tried to apologize to Lily for his behavior when she died, and this created a nice sense of connection between the present and future parts of the episode. I look forward to seeing the huntress revealed and learning of her backstory and intentions!
My favorite part of this segment of the episode was Caroline's recap of her recent realization: "I didn't believe it either, but then I ate 9 ice cream sundaes from noon to 3:00, and none of my clothes fit, and then there was that whole part with the doctor and the ultrasound so...yeah." Ha!
Elsewhere in the episode...Enzo made a final play for Lily that frankly just harshed my Benzo buzz. However, the bookstore scene was well-acted, and showed a hint of Lily being resigned to her fate, wistfully thinking of what might have been. Later, we got a convoluted detour with Matt taking his ludicrous anti-vamp sentiments out on Enzo. This part, unfortunately, reminded me of the weak subplot from last season where Enzo used Matt as a pawn in his plot for revenge against Stefan. No matter what new attempt the writers employ to make Matt seem in any way interesting or relevant, it is not working.
I missed Bonnie and Alaric very much throughout this episode. It's a wonderful thing that these characters have been so vibrant, so fiercely compelling to watch this season, that now we really can't have an episode without them that doesn't feel incomplete.
Lastly, Beau got a little bit more to do this time, and I enjoyed that. It seems he was a talented singer before being rendered mute somehow. The tragedy of that fate for him, combined with his kindness to Valerie and Lily, made him very likable in this episode.
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Thursday at 8/7c on the CW!
