There was a moment on this week's fantastic episode of The Originals that found Josh telling Davina her behavior might be listed as an example in the dictionary definition of "not cool." That's just about how I feel about that twist near the end of this week's The Vampire Diaries, which had Damon doing something so unfathomably awful that I would be deeply disturbed...if I actually believed that the person who seemed to die was really killed. It was a highly entertaining, unsettling hour that also featured the world's most random and awkward baby shower, Matt's reasoning holding more water than Bonnie's (!!), and the fascinating fallout of the Salvatore brothers' time in the hell stone.
"Here’s the thing, Damon. Hell messes with you, but post-Hell is much worse." Damon and Stefan are both back after being trapped in their own personal hells and facing their worst truths in order to escape. Escape, however is just a theoretical notion here, since once returned to the real world, the brothers are still plagued by more than just the ghostly delusions they brought back from hell. The Phoenix stone urges its victims to be freed from the chains they have placed on themselves in life, so it identifies what it considers to be those burdens and seeks to force the victims to destroy their bonds.
I liked the idea of showing what the stone deemed Stefan and Damon's worst burdens: for Stefan, his close relationship with Damon, and for Damon, holding onto his love for Elena and allowing it to inspire him to find the goodness within himself. These insights were intriguing for two reasons: the emotions that they drew from the two brothers, especially the "Defan" bromantic feels, which came on super-strong this week; and for the erroneous, destructive reasoning of the stone. Stefan's love for his brother, and Damon's love for Elena, hold no restrictive power over them: these are the bonds that redeem them. The stone's quest to ruin these two relationships reveals its insidious, cruel nature, and I have to believe the quest to be doomed.
In the grips of his post-Hell-stone fever dreams, Stefan went so far as to nearly burn Damon's body, so desperate was his urge to end his suffering by destroying his brother. Caroline was thankfully there to stop him. Are we to hope that Tyler did Damon the same favor when the latter asked Ty Ty to take him to the site of Elena's coffin? Surely, after all of Damon's detailed instructions, and the clearly not-okay state he was in, Tyler would not be dumb enough to take Damon to the place where Elena's body really resides? I don't want to go around putting all my eggs in the Tyler-is-basically-an-intelligent-person basket, but I also don't see an alternative. I refuse to accept that Elena would ever be killed off in such a crazy, horrific manner after the brilliant set-up of the Sleeping Beauty curse concept.
That, and Julie Plec says she has a plan for Nina Dobrev to return one more time in the series finale.
That, and didn't we see Elena's coffin in one of the three-years-from-now flash forwards?
Still, the end of the episode felt bleak and brutal, with Damon unable to confess his awful deed to Stefan, who has also had a dreadful time trying to shake off his delusions. I'm so glad (though not surprised) that Stefan refuses to cast Damon aside, as the brothers need each other now more than ever.
Caroline, Alaric, Bonnie, and...Nora? I loved the scene between Caroline and Alaric this week when the two discussed his plans to move away from Mystic Falls and the dangerous supernatural element that resides there. As much as Caroline believed she would be able to step back once the babies were born and let Alaric parent them on his own, there's clearly a big part of her that's grown attached to the children and wants to be much more active in their lives. We can start to see the growing closeness between Caroline and Alaric as the bond of parenthood creates a new understanding between them that is warm and fragile. We're still nowhere near seeing them connect on a romantic level, yet it doesn't seem as completely unfathomable as it might have before. For now, Stefan and Caroline are very much together, supporting one another through a mutually complicated and difficult time.
One cool side effect of Nora's extremely random continued presence as scooby gang member adjacent was that we got a major hint about the upcoming entrance onto the scene of the Huntress! Finally! Nora received a note with a red "X" on it, which she explained is a threat from the Huntress of her imminent arrival and Nora being marked for death. Why is this happening, what did Beau do to receive his own wound, and what will Stefan do to make the Huntress hunt him so fiercely? I can't wait to find out more answers.
Matt implied that thanks to Stefan, the woman he loved was lost and the life he wanted was ruined, leading us to the simple conclusion that Matty eventually couples up with the lady cop from a nearby town he met cute with earlier in the episode, in present time. Damon and Stefan are certainly in huge trouble both three years from now and now, but how will it all play out?
Elsewhere in the episode: I actually enjoyed seeing Tyler again. His dryly humorous normal-guy schtick is intact, and he does bring his own special ingredient to the TVD scooby crew. That said, Jeremy can stay gone.
Where, oh, where is Enzo, and someone please tell me he's coming back in the next episode? One more reason to be irritated with Matt, despite this episode finding him more likable than he's been for years.
Matt and Bonnie being on the same internet dating website was hilarious!
Was there a body in that coffin, and if it wasn't Elena's, whose was it? Or was it just empty, a decoy for Damon to take his delusional rage out on? Gahh, next Friday can't come soon enough.
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries next Friday at 8/7c on the CW.
