Ahhhhh! Poor Caroline! But then yay Bonnie! And yay Alaric and Jo! So many emotions going on right now. This episode was pretty poignant and emotional. A lot of stuff was going on here, and it made me very happy. Let's take a look.
The main plot of the evening is focused on the funeral of Elizabeth Forbes. Caroline is in project-mode, just wanting to get through the horrible few days and get the funeral over with. She and Elena go casket shopping while everybody else helps to whip the funeral into shape. Damon is supposed to write the eulogy, but he can't figure out what to say. We see in flashbacks how Damon failed to show up to his mother's own funeral, letting a ten-year-old Stefan down by not reading the speech he was supposed to prepare for the event. Damon eventually realizes, with a little help from Elena, that this speech isn't about him, or even really about Liz, but about Caroline. He delivers a touching speech, where he tells Caroline that Liz was proud of her, and he calls both Caroline and Liz "extraordinary."
Caroline and Stefan are both wondering what to make of their kiss. Obviously, this whole thing has terribly bad timing. Stefan goes to Damon for advice, and Damon advises him to "pull the rip chord," because Stefan clearly doesn't feel the "true love" feeling for Caroline. Stefan thinks about it, and later realizes that even if how he feels for Caroline is different than how he felt about Katherine or Elena, it might still be something wonderful. Caroline, however, tried to ask Stefan about their relationship earlier, and Stefan had shut her down, promising that they could talk about it later. Caroline, devastated by her mother's death and with not even the promise of Stefan's love to help her, decides to flip her Humanity switch. Elena figures out what she's up to and tries to talk her out of it, but Caroline snaps Elena's neck and disappears, just in time to miss Stefan, who came over to talk to her.
Tyler shows up drunk to the funeral, still messed up over all that happened between him and Liv. Matt won't let him in. Later, at the wake, a now-sober Tyler and Matt talk about their futures. Matt was so moved by the police force's salute of Liz that he's decided maybe he should be a police officer. He has an application to a training school, and he got one for Tyler too.
Meanwhile, Alaric and Jo don't make it to the funeral because Jo is busy puking her guts out. Kai shows up in a similarly weakened condition. Kai thinks that they're both really messed up because the merge didn't happen the way it was supposed to. Kai and Jo's magic is supposed to be connected. Kai points out that if he dies, the entire Gemini Coven dies with him. Jo decides to give Kai her magic, which will cure Kai and save them all. Alaric tells Jo he'll still love her even if she's not a witch. Kai is cured, and he leaves, but not before whispering something to Jo which shocks her. Turns out, she wasn't sick because of food poisoning or because of any magic-gone-wrong. She's pregnant. Alaric proposes to her. Jo thinks it's a pity proposal at first, until Rick reveals that he'd been thinking about it for some time. He gives her the ring, and Jo says yes.
Bonnie is ready to get the hell out of her prison world and back home. She has her magic back, she has the Ascendant, and she has a celestial event. There's only one problem - Kai's magic is tied up with the prison worlds (apparently there are more than one!) and just as Bonnie is getting ready to come back home, Kai's magic does something crazy and propels her into another world. She runs through multiple prison worlds, but finally does manage to latch on to her magic and get back home. Just before she goes, she sees a strange woman. Before she can figure out who it is, she's gone.
Damon and Bonnie joyfully reunite, and Bonnie shows Damon her footage that she was taking as she was preparing to come home. Damon recognizes the mysterious woman - it's his mother!
Okay. I don't know if there are any complaints. Well... maybe just a few. Why is everybody just letting Kai run around like he's not a murderous psychopath? Shouldn't they be trying to lock him up or something? I don't care if he has Luke's niceness in him or whatever. It's crazy.
The only other thing is that I'm super annoyed with Tyler. He got dumped by a girl, and so he goes on a binge so bad that he can't even be there for Caroline at her mother's funeral? I mean, I know that Tyler liked Liv, but to be honest, they weren't even together that long! And Tyler was the one who ended things. In any case, I found myself losing a bit of respect for Mr. Lockwood over the events of this episode.
But the list of good things far outweighs the few flaws.
Damon. Damon you sweet, darling boy. His eulogy was so perfect. He was inspired by memories of letting Stefan down, and also by Elena's advice. In that way, the two most important people in Damon's life are what helped him to push through, and do right by Liz. Those flashbacks were pretty much adorable. I don't know what the canonical age difference between Damon and Stefan is, but I think it makes a lot of sense - if Stefan was ten in those flashbacks, then we can say that Damon was supposed to be seventeen or eighteen. Then, if Stefan was seventeen when he became a vampire, Damon would be 24 or 25. That makes sense. I loved it when Damon told Stefan that he let him down. Stefan was surprised to hear that, because obviously it was such a long time ago. But at the same time, it was a nice cleansing moment for them as brothers. It's also of course adorable that Stefan went to Damon for advice about Caroline.
And let's talk about the Stefan/Caroline thing, shall we? When Damon told Stefan to cut things off, I was upset. But I think ultimately I understand what they're going for - Stefan is confused about Caroline because he's never felt like this before. All he knows is the type of love that Damon and Elena have - the all-encompassing, heart-wrenching type of love. But Caroline and Stefan are just starting off on this more gentle and warm relationship. I love the contrast here. I don't think Stefan and Caroline are any less able to fall in love than any of the other more dramatic couples on the show. In fact, Stefan and Caroline are more... realistic, if that makes sense to say on this show. I can't wait to see what happens.
Caroline had such a complex range of emotions in this episode. I love this actress so much. She was obviously sad about her mother, and she was also feeling angry and useless. And she wanted Stefan to provide her with hope. When he didn't do so, she decided enough was enough. I loved the argument between Caroline and Elena there at the end. They were both making such good points. Caroline points to the fact that everybody else has flipped their humanity switch when things got bad, and that even if it wasn't a healthy decision, it helped them get past the worst of the pain. Elena points out that what she did when she erased Damon from her mind, and what she did when she flipped the switch after Jeremy's death, both ended up being huge mistakes. The difference here is that Caroline wants the humanity switch to be a temporary thing. She's already thinking about the consequences for when she "comes back," as it were. This should be interesting!
Jo and Alaric are getting married and having a baby?! Well that's just the cutest thing I've ever heard. I want Rick to be happy, I really do. There's a nice symmetry here, as we lose Liz in this episode but gain a new life at the same time. I'm really happy for them, even if I am annoyed about Kai running free.
I'm also happy for Matt, as he contemplates a future as a police officer. Although, I'm wondering how we're going to pick that up and reconcile it with the whole Enzo and Sarah thing? In any case, Matt has always been a good guy, and I loved how he protected Caroline from dealing with Tyler, even though Tyler is obviously his best friend.
Bonnie! Bonnie is back! And she did it all by herself! She's so brave and perfect and I love her. I'm so, so happy that this season has finally given her a chance to have her own story arc and do her own thing. It's prefect. That hug between Bonnie and Damon was more than I could have hoped for. She jumps into his arms and he's just so happy that she's there. Ugh. These two. I have such feelings. Also, I'm cautiously optimistic about this whole Salvatore Mother Plot. It seems like it might be a good excuse for more flashbacks, and I'm always down for that!
That's where I'll stop. Lots of pieces are coming together in this episode. Lots of exciting stuff coming up, too! RIP Liz Forbes. You will be missed.
8/10
Okay. I don't know if there are any complaints. Well... maybe just a few. Why is everybody just letting Kai run around like he's not a murderous psychopath? Shouldn't they be trying to lock him up or something? I don't care if he has Luke's niceness in him or whatever. It's crazy.
The only other thing is that I'm super annoyed with Tyler. He got dumped by a girl, and so he goes on a binge so bad that he can't even be there for Caroline at her mother's funeral? I mean, I know that Tyler liked Liv, but to be honest, they weren't even together that long! And Tyler was the one who ended things. In any case, I found myself losing a bit of respect for Mr. Lockwood over the events of this episode.
But the list of good things far outweighs the few flaws.
Damon. Damon you sweet, darling boy. His eulogy was so perfect. He was inspired by memories of letting Stefan down, and also by Elena's advice. In that way, the two most important people in Damon's life are what helped him to push through, and do right by Liz. Those flashbacks were pretty much adorable. I don't know what the canonical age difference between Damon and Stefan is, but I think it makes a lot of sense - if Stefan was ten in those flashbacks, then we can say that Damon was supposed to be seventeen or eighteen. Then, if Stefan was seventeen when he became a vampire, Damon would be 24 or 25. That makes sense. I loved it when Damon told Stefan that he let him down. Stefan was surprised to hear that, because obviously it was such a long time ago. But at the same time, it was a nice cleansing moment for them as brothers. It's also of course adorable that Stefan went to Damon for advice about Caroline.
And let's talk about the Stefan/Caroline thing, shall we? When Damon told Stefan to cut things off, I was upset. But I think ultimately I understand what they're going for - Stefan is confused about Caroline because he's never felt like this before. All he knows is the type of love that Damon and Elena have - the all-encompassing, heart-wrenching type of love. But Caroline and Stefan are just starting off on this more gentle and warm relationship. I love the contrast here. I don't think Stefan and Caroline are any less able to fall in love than any of the other more dramatic couples on the show. In fact, Stefan and Caroline are more... realistic, if that makes sense to say on this show. I can't wait to see what happens.
Caroline had such a complex range of emotions in this episode. I love this actress so much. She was obviously sad about her mother, and she was also feeling angry and useless. And she wanted Stefan to provide her with hope. When he didn't do so, she decided enough was enough. I loved the argument between Caroline and Elena there at the end. They were both making such good points. Caroline points to the fact that everybody else has flipped their humanity switch when things got bad, and that even if it wasn't a healthy decision, it helped them get past the worst of the pain. Elena points out that what she did when she erased Damon from her mind, and what she did when she flipped the switch after Jeremy's death, both ended up being huge mistakes. The difference here is that Caroline wants the humanity switch to be a temporary thing. She's already thinking about the consequences for when she "comes back," as it were. This should be interesting!
Jo and Alaric are getting married and having a baby?! Well that's just the cutest thing I've ever heard. I want Rick to be happy, I really do. There's a nice symmetry here, as we lose Liz in this episode but gain a new life at the same time. I'm really happy for them, even if I am annoyed about Kai running free.
I'm also happy for Matt, as he contemplates a future as a police officer. Although, I'm wondering how we're going to pick that up and reconcile it with the whole Enzo and Sarah thing? In any case, Matt has always been a good guy, and I loved how he protected Caroline from dealing with Tyler, even though Tyler is obviously his best friend.
Bonnie! Bonnie is back! And she did it all by herself! She's so brave and perfect and I love her. I'm so, so happy that this season has finally given her a chance to have her own story arc and do her own thing. It's prefect. That hug between Bonnie and Damon was more than I could have hoped for. She jumps into his arms and he's just so happy that she's there. Ugh. These two. I have such feelings. Also, I'm cautiously optimistic about this whole Salvatore Mother Plot. It seems like it might be a good excuse for more flashbacks, and I'm always down for that!
That's where I'll stop. Lots of pieces are coming together in this episode. Lots of exciting stuff coming up, too! RIP Liz Forbes. You will be missed.
8/10
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