I can't believe there are only two episodes left (!!!), but even more so, I was blown away by the awesome ending of this one. At first, the episode seemed to be wandering along a bit aimlessly, what with Stefan trying to go after Cade by himself and taking Damon out of play. However, things picked up amazingly well, what with a Damon-Stefan-Bonnie v.s. Cade showdown, Kai's continued hilarity and new place of residence, and a wonderfully twisted final reveal.
Cade finally learned not to mess with Elena Gilbert or those who love her. For about the seventeen millionth time, Elena's body was used as a bargaining chip to force a Salvatore to do the unthinkable. But at long last, that smug, not-nearly-scary-enough devil Cade got what was coming to him. In Stefan's attempt to make up for his misdeeds from when he was working for Cade, he refused to allow Damon to help, and in spite of his own mortality, went running to use the knife (again, it's the umpteenth MacGuffin we'd been assured was "the only thing that could kill Cade," but how satisfying to see that it worked!) to destroy his former employer. Of course, we all knew that sticking Damon with a needle wasn't going to work for long, and soon the elder Salvatore returned to assist Stefan, who so needs to learn to invest in the concept of teamwork (it's Season 8, Stefan, really?)
In the middle of a heartfelt chat with Enzo, who adorably encouraged Bonnie to forgive Stefan, Bonnie felt that something had gone horribly wrong and rushed to the scene where Cade had coerced Damon into sacrificing himself to save both Stefan and Elena. An immediately enraged Bon Bon used all of her considerable psychic power to fight back against Cade, but Damon was still ready to allow himself to be sucked into Hell in order to protect his friends. Thankfully, Stefan made good on his former determination, popping back up to dispatch Cade; bye bye Julian/Markos the sequel!
Also lovely? That Bonnie started to warm slightly to the idea of forgiving Stefan. And that she reacted so strongly at the possibility of losing Damon. It's always very special and precious when we get to see the beautiful friendship between Bonnie and Damon in all its glory.
In fact, the feel-good vibes were going so strong that they even got Stefan to wake up to what a fool he was being regarding Caroline. He returned to his fiancee and they reaffirmed their plans to marry, despite him being a human and feeling so burdened by guilt. This sets everything up perfectly for the famed "June Wedding," yet...could there be another reason why having that wedding might prove convenient to the plot? The ending reveal of the episode suggests this reason, which is confirmed in the preview for next week. Talk about feeling epic!
Kai informed Bonnie that in killing Cade, the scoobies had only allowed an even more formidable baddie to take over Hell. But who could Kai be referring to, we wondered? A female character, someone the gang had fought before, someone who hated them and wanted revenge? Huh. Were the writers seriously going to do something lame like bringing Sybil back or something? They wouldn't possibly do something so effing spectacular that it boggled the mind, like bring back Katherine, right?
But oh, yeah, triumphant satisfaction was mine as Kai revealed that yes indeed, the original baddest bitch of them all, Katherine Pierce, is now ruling Hell. This sets up quite the phenomenal situation for the final two episodes! I also love how we're going back to the themes and characters of old school TVD in the concluding hours, bringing the series full circle. Genius.
Elsewhere in the episode, Alaric informed Caroline that he's planning to pull a Professor X and start a school for young people with powers that need help learning to cope with their abilities. I love this idea, and it seems like, despite her talent for the world of journalism, mentoring young people in this predicament is a special strength of Caroline's, so it will be interesting to see to what extent she'll be involved with the project.
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Friday at 8/7c on the CW!
