Season 8 is still made of pure awesomeness so far, as the second episode plunged us deeper into the suspenseful plotline of siren Sybil's evil manipulations of Enzo and Damon, while some major romantic developments led to tear-jerking and deeply satisfying character moments. Throw in a shocking death, more nice character and story development for Alaric, and enough Defan angst to make any episode sufficiently gripping, and we had quite the epic hour. Let's review and discuss!
A lot stronger than you think. Sybil, now adjusting to life in human form, is still luring in corrupt souls to devour, using Damon and Enzo to do plenty of her dirty work. Moreover, the cruel villain is absolutely obsessed with manipulating her two unwilling, mind-controlled henchmen. She will not stand for them to have loyalties or loves of which she knows nothing, and their continued resistance to her mind-probing, Damon by turning himself into an unfeeling sociopath and Enzo by using pure will-power to block thoughts of Bonnie from Sybil, had finally caused her to lose her patience and temper. Unable to help giving Sybil some -- any -- meaningful name from his subconscious at last, after the power of her mind control left him no recourse, Enzo allowed Sarah Salvatore's existence to become known to the baddie.
Meanwhile, Bonnie had no intention of wasting the chance to, in her mind, save Enzo from Sybil by conking him out and taking him away with her. But as Enzo desperately explained, he must continue to keep thoughts of his love for Bonnie out of his mind at all costs, to protect her. And he is physically incapable of traveling too far from Sybil, as became clear when Bonnie tried driving past the limit. Again, I was beyond impressed by the portrayal of the love between Bonnie and Enzo, as their mutual longing to be together was again ruined by Sybil. The wicked siren made sure that by the end of the episode, she got far enough into Enzo's head to finally see Bonnie, and we also saw that he and Bonnie had shared a swoon-worthy kiss after he told her "You never lost me, Bonnie Bennett." The utter perfection of the romance between these two, mixed with the gut-punch sadness of seeing them ripped apart, just makes for amazing and tear-inducing drama.
Now that Sybil knows about the currently magic-less Bonnie, and has sabotaged Damon's memories of Elena, it will be fascinating to see what more the two of them can do to resist her will, or if they will be saved by their loved ones.
The threshold of crazy. Alaric and Georgie had some very interesting interactions this week. The quirky, deadpan intern with a questionable work ethic and dark past is an intriguing and enjoyable character, different from anyone we've really seen on the show before. Georgie recognized a symbol that Alaric found in his latest research, and told him the story of how, after her irresponsible behavior led to her friend's death in a car accident, she herself had briefly died before being revived. For that tiny bit of time, Georgie believes she saw Hell, and in the midst of the suffering she felt, she also saw one image: the same symbol. She also just happens to have a tattoo of it on her stomach. I'm liking the way Georgie's backstory has been woven into this cool ongoing mystery, and the relationship between her and Alaric has a nice chemistry to it. We also saw him conversing pleasantly with Seline in this episode, so it still isn't clear which one of the new characters, if either, is his love interest (Team Georgie!).
The big proposal! Still reeling from Stefan and Damon's painful confrontation in Sarah's death scene and the sad separation of Bonnie and Enzo, I'm not sure we were emotionally prepared for a Steroline proposal -- just kidding, I know that so many fans were more than ready, and over-the-moon at this beautiful scene between Caroline and Stefan. After inviting Lizzie and Josie to stay with them sometimes and to build the girls a room at his house, Stefan led Caroline to a dresser drawer where he had left an engagement ring for her. The tearfully joyful proposal and acceptance was definitely seriously sexy and romantic, and I am far from a fan of this pairing, so you know that if I say it, it's true! Wonderful execution of this important scene.
What did you think of this episode? How can Damon and Enzo get away from Sybil now that she has her hooks into them more than ever? Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Friday at 8/7c on The CW.
