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The Vampire Diaries - Hello, Brother - Review

Oct 22, 2016

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Here we are in the final season of The Vampire Diaries.  I can't believe it!  This is an emotional experience for those of us who have been there from the beginning and have loved the saga and these characters so much.  We're all hoping for a fantastic last romp and the best possible send-off for the show, and I think we have plenty of reason to expect those hopes to be fulfilled!  The season 8 premiere featured plenty of scares, laughs, thrills, and romantic moments while setting up an intriguing new storyline with a plethora of terrifying problems for our vampy friends.  Let's review and discuss!

No switch to flip.  At the end of Season 7, Damon and Enzo were attacked by a mysterious creature in the Armory vault and disappeared, only for Stefan and friends to trace missing persons trends to the duo.  The evil beastie is forcing Damon and Enzo, through some terribly irresistible mind control, to kill humans, placing the poor souls on hooks and lowering them into the depths of a watery grave where bloody and awful death awaits.  Not only is this method of killing for the victims frightening to watch (even for this show, which, let's face it, should have us fairly accustomed to the grisly at this point), but it is unbelievably heartbreaking to watch Damon and Enzo forced to comply with this wretched act over and over.  The pair are selecting corrupt individuals (some only commonly corrupt and some quite nefarious) to feed to the creature, but the numb, awful misery inflicted on them by their actions is all too clear.
Damon has dealt with this latest blow by flipping his humanity switch, not only so that he doesn't have to feel the full brunt of the trauma he's experiencing, but also to protect those he loves from the mind-probing tactics of their captor.  Enzo has undertaken a different approach which I found very clever and well played out in the episode.  While bearing the outward appearance of indifference, except to the uncaring Damon, to whom he complains of his worries that the last of his own humanity seems to be ebbing away, Enzo has been secretly leaving a trail of clues for Bonnie.  These breadcrumbs are specific to memories that Bonnie and Enzo shared in reading The Odyssey together.  This particular plot thread had the very satisfying dual purpose of filling us in on this season's mythology twist while tugging hard on the heartstrings of Bonenzo fans.  I loved the flashbacks of Bonnie and Enzo playing guitar, joking around, reading, and generally being swoon-inducingly romantic. It made Enzo's present, desperate attempts to reach through the insanity and let Bonnie know what's going on even more intensely felt.

As much as Damon has perfected his act of caring for no one and nothing, except his new hobby of reading chick lit (hahaha, Fifty Shades!), he's really just as intent as Enzo to maintain his identity somehow while shielding those he loves from harm.  Deep within Damon's subconscious, there's a little piece of him reliving memories of Elena, and in revisiting the first moment they met, Damon tells memory-Elena, "I need you."  He needs Elena to help him hold onto the goodness within himself, just like always.  A poignant and effective reveal, and I adore that the writers are weaving Elena into the episodes so that she feels included in the ongoing story, from the gang's diary entries to her, which form a beautiful narrating device, to scenes like this.

At the end of the episode, the dreaded creature finally arose from the depths of her watery hideout.  Far from the crusty, enormous, gross-out monster I expected to see, Enzo's hints to Bonnie had by now let us know that this baddie was not going to be along those lines.  Instead, we are dealing with a Siren, luring humans in and devouring them.  A blood-covered woman stood before Damon, leading us to wonder what she plans to do now that she has arisen in human form.
Hope hurts.  Stefan and Bonnie both had to deal with the Damon and Enzo situation in their own way, and they bonded over their shared sense of fear and worry.  Stefan reminded Bonnie that out of all of them, she is the best at never giving up, and so he asks her again to hold on and believe they'll save Enzo and Damon.  Bonnie, who doesn't have her magic, is able to keep that belief going, but responds that hope is just too painful to maintain.  Good thing that the fragile sense of hope is returned to her so wonderfully by her discovery of Enzo's trail of clues by the end of the hour.  Conversely, however, Stefan feels more bereft of hope than ever once he confronts the humanity-free Damon in the Siren's den.  

After giving a gorgeous and brilliant "Hello, brother" greeting complete with signature Damon smirk (one of many callbacks to Season 1 that we can expect this year), Damon informed Stefan that he cannot be saved.  Blaming Stefan for his vampirism and subsequent fall from grace, Damon insisted that he has already been damned to hell for his past evil deeds, so what's the point in aiming for an impossible redemption?  And since he and Elena are destined for such different fates in the afterlife, why hold onto the hope of being with her?  These words, especially the blame that falls on him, definitely cut Stefan to the quick.  Stefan should remember that the two brothers are either equal when it comes to the past hurt they have done to each other, or Damon might be a little ahead in that game.  After all, we had a whole episode last season devoted to whether Stefan could forgive Damon, and now the tables have turned.  Stefan's hope may be faltering, but Bonnie's seems rejuvenated.  I'm looking forward to seeing her spring into action against the siren!  Hopefully, Bonnie will get her powers back soon as well.
Living this life right.  Caroline and Alaric are adjusting to co-parenting while no longer trying to be a couple, now that she is happily with Stefan.  While Ric relies on help from a somewhat annoyingly-perfect-seeming nanny, Seline, Caroline is finding it hard to adjust to not being the only one besides Ric taking care of her family.  Stefan's quip that maybe Alaric is eating the crusts from the kids' sandwiches was too funny!  But those concerns had to be put aside when Virginia St. John returned with a knife, breaking into the house and slitting Seline's throat!  Caroline swept in to the rescue, brilliantly protecting the girls from seeing any of the violent aftermath and saving Seline with some of her blood before compelling her to forget and having her take the kids to safety.  Caroline's mama bear behavior in protecting her children was fabulous to see.  But there was no chance to get answers from Virginia about why she came after the twins, since she only had time to once again remind Caroline that opening the vault was a bad idea before losing her mind even more, as well as her tongue!   A scary and intense sequence of events that brings up questions as to Virginia's association with the siren and the relevance of the twins being the ones that opened the vault.

Meanwhile, Ric is running the Armory with some nice and talented-seeming young assistants, including Georgie, who clearly has a crush on Ric.  Of the two new potential love interests for him, I like Georgie a lot better than Seline so far, but we'll see.  Anyway, Alaric assured his co-worker that he just isn't dating right now due to his parenting and work commitments.  He seems a little gun-shy emotionally, and who can blame him, seriously?  Alaric and his assistants explored a new section of the Armory only accessible by tuning out all other senses except touch (that was a cool scene!).  Inside the hidden chamber seems to be a treasure trove of mysterious items to explore.  I'm interested to see where the writers are going with this reveal.  

Overall thoughts: The writers are doing a marvelous job so far of blending the mythology/suspense/action side of the show with the emotional beats between the characters that are the lifeblood of the story.  From Stefan and Caroline's love scene and decision to move in together, to the bittersweet Bonenzo flashbacks, Defan angst, and even a taste of Delena, we had just as much to experience all the sentimental feels about as to quake in fear from.  What with the cute and yet deep and meaningful little references back to season 1 (even down to the episode titles all being dialogue from that season), it's clear that a lot of thought has gone into creating a final season that not only provides fan servicing fun, but also bookends the story in a neat and fulfilling manner.  Will the siren be the season's only big bad, or will we split the season into two villains a la last year?  What other twists and turns await Stefan, Damon, and the gang in their final batch of episodes?  It's so exciting to wonder and to find out each week as the final 16 episodes continue to unfurl!

What did you think of the season premiere?  Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Friday, 10/28 on the CW!



About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana
Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries for Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @VMaeFontana
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