Okay so wait a second - is Elena actually... did they really... or was it part of Damon's hallucinations? What about Tyler? And, like, did they actually just do that? When I first watched this episode, I was ridiculously confused. Let's back up a bit and we'll talk through this mind-trip of an episode.
Cons:
Too many plot threads! I liked each individual thing that was going on here, but it all piled up to such a degree that I was having trouble focusing. There were moments with Bonnie and Nora, Caroline and Alaric, Matt and his struggles as sheriff, Julian and his mission to destroy Mystic Falls, all mixed in with the larger story of Stefan and Damon each trying to recover from their experiences in the Phoenix Stone. When the episode ended, I was left overwhelmed by some of the smaller stories at play here, to such an extent that the biggest, most important thing to happen in this episode almost seemed like just one more detail in a whole pile of happenings.
This episode featured the introduction of a new villain, who we have yet to see: The Huntress. Apparently she's the one to whom the Phoenix Stone's sword belongs. In this episode, she places a hit on Nora, essentially swearing to take her out. We also learn that she, the Huntress, is the one who, in the flash forwards, is after Stefan and Damon, and using Caroline as bait. This show has had a history of introducing not-so-interesting villains in the past. When they get it right, they get it really right, but then you have things like the Travelers nonsense, and unfortunately things go awry. Here, we already have Julian, who has the potential to become more interesting. And now we're throwing in the Huntress to the mix. I really don't need another big bad right now! It makes things too convoluted! I guess I should wait and see what they do with her before I judge, but at the moment I'm not too happy with this twist.
Pros:
Like I said above, there were too many things happening in this episode, but I did like each plot thread for what it offered individually. Let's take a look at some of the smaller threads before turning our focus to the Salvatore brothers, where the real meat of the episode is.
Like I said above, there were too many things happening in this episode, but I did like each plot thread for what it offered individually. Let's take a look at some of the smaller threads before turning our focus to the Salvatore brothers, where the real meat of the episode is.
Caroline holds a huge baby shower to try and get stuff for Alaric for his fast-approaching days as a single father. Caroline is as neurotic as ever, obsessed with making sure the babies are in good hands, and have everything they need. She's distressed when she sees a letter from a university regarding a job that Alaric has applied to. She realizes that Alaric is moving away. When she confronts him about it, Alaric says that he wants to raise his children as far away from Mystic Falls as possible. He was under the impression that she didn't want to be involved once the babies were born.
We've already seen in the flash-forwards that these two are apparently together and raising their children. I liked seeing the seeds start to be planted here. Rather than go an odd romance route, they are really centering Caroline's motives on the children. She can say that she's doing this because it's what's best for the babies, but underneath that there's the real love she feels for the two children living in her womb. Also, I loved the humor afforded by the baby shower. Caroline's over-the-top tendencies are always good for a laugh.
We've already seen in the flash-forwards that these two are apparently together and raising their children. I liked seeing the seeds start to be planted here. Rather than go an odd romance route, they are really centering Caroline's motives on the children. She can say that she's doing this because it's what's best for the babies, but underneath that there's the real love she feels for the two children living in her womb. Also, I loved the humor afforded by the baby shower. Caroline's over-the-top tendencies are always good for a laugh.
Bonnie invites Nora to the party, something which Matt objects to strongly. Bonnie is trying to be friends with Nora and bring her into the fold, but things get out of hand when Matt insults her and she starts to suffocate him. Bonnie is able to diffuse the situation, but Matt is furious. At this point, Nora tells Bonnie about the postcard that she found, with an X to mark her as a target of the Huntress. Bonnie agrees to help.
I already mentioned that I think the Huntress sounds stupid, but I do like the setup of a friendship between Nora and Bonnie. I don't know if we'll ever see Nora and Mary Louise find their way back to each other, but in the meantime I love the complexity of one of the Heretics having nothing to do with Julian's mad rampage through Mystic Falls. She's just trying to make a fresh start for herself in whatever way she can. And Bonnie's altruism truly knows no bounds. I love that she's trying to help. Matt, on the other hand, is not about to forgive and forget. In an earlier scene, we see Matt and Bonnie's bonds of friendship, but when Matt sees Bonnie defending Nora, he is not happy. The seeds of discontent have been planted between Bonnie and Matt, and we'll have to see where that leads.
I already mentioned that I think the Huntress sounds stupid, but I do like the setup of a friendship between Nora and Bonnie. I don't know if we'll ever see Nora and Mary Louise find their way back to each other, but in the meantime I love the complexity of one of the Heretics having nothing to do with Julian's mad rampage through Mystic Falls. She's just trying to make a fresh start for herself in whatever way she can. And Bonnie's altruism truly knows no bounds. I love that she's trying to help. Matt, on the other hand, is not about to forgive and forget. In an earlier scene, we see Matt and Bonnie's bonds of friendship, but when Matt sees Bonnie defending Nora, he is not happy. The seeds of discontent have been planted between Bonnie and Matt, and we'll have to see where that leads.
Speaking of Matt, I'm beyond excited to see where his character goes from here. Julian has taken over Mystic Falls, and Matt, as the lone representative of law enforcement, is fighting a losing battle. He knows it. The most interesting thing about seeing the cracks in Matt's self control is that we see where it will all end up. In the flash-forward this week, we see that the baddie is the Huntress, and that Matt is working with her! He frees Caroline from her restraints, saying that he's sorry he had to use her as bait to lure Stefan and Damon. That's some dark stuff! Matt's hatred of vampires has been seeded very interestingly through the last several seasons, and all this buildup is suddenly paying serious dividends.
Tyler is back! I'm just excited about it, I really don't have a lot to say. He plays a pivotal role in one key plot point that I'll get to in a second, but mostly he didn't have a lot to do, other than to tell Matt that getting out of Mystic Falls is the best thing he's ever done. Seriously. Take the Jeremy and Tyler route, Matt. Get the hell out of dodge.
While I'm thus far unimpressed with the looming Huntress, I'm getting a bit more interested in Julian as a villain. Post-Lily, it seems that Julian has decided to forego any pretense. He's completely taken over Mystic Falls, compelling humans to be willing snacks, creating vampires to serve him... the place is a total mess. In the midst of all this chaos, we have everybody trying to deal with their own problems. The utter insanity of Mystic Falls acts as a nice backdrop to all this drama.
And let's end with Stefan and Damon. There were a lot of twisty things going on here, and it worked really wonderfully. In brief: Damon realizes that he's really out of the Phoenix Stone, and immediately feeds his blood to Matt and Bonnie to save them. Stefan tells Damon that he's bound to be a little unsettled after his experiences, just as he himself was after getting out of the Phoenix Stone. Damon hallucinates Henry, while Stefan slowly confides in Damon about how he was hallucinating Damon when he first got out of Hell. The reason? Well, when Stefan was in the Phoenix Stone his Hell was drowning over and over again with Damon. He finally succumbed to his full agony when he realized the only way to save himself was to let Damon drown and get out alone.
Then, once released from the Phoenix Stone, a hallucination of Damon followed him around to torment him. He nearly burned his brother's body to escape from the torment, but Caroline stopped him. In the present moment, Damon actually gets away from Stefan, who believes he's still with his brother (because he hasn't stopped hallucinating!) Damon finds Tyler and forces him to bring him to Elena. When he gets to Elena, he hallucinates Henry again, and burns "his" body, which is actually Elena's body the whole time.
Stefan confesses what happened in the Phoenix Stone to Damon, saying that despite what his version of Hell seemed to be telling him, he will never let Damon go. He will keep trying, always. Damon is on the verge of telling Stefan that he's killed Elena, but he can't bring himself to do it.
So... that's some twisted crap. First of all, when Elena was first burning to death I felt a moment of total uncertainty. Was this... real? Was it another hallucination? If so, why was it going on for such a long time? But no. They wouldn't do that. Not for real, would they? It took me a ridiculously long time to remember that we've already seen a flash-forward where Damon claims to want to remain in his coffin until it's time for Elena to wake up. That would seem to indicate that she's not actually dead. Because they wouldn't really do that! They have to leave it open for a "fifty years later" style epilogue, where Bonnie dies and Damon and Elena are reunited. Nina Dobrev can come back for one last moment. But I'll admit, when I saw that scene, I flipped out a bit. They went farther than I was expecting them to go.
Then, once released from the Phoenix Stone, a hallucination of Damon followed him around to torment him. He nearly burned his brother's body to escape from the torment, but Caroline stopped him. In the present moment, Damon actually gets away from Stefan, who believes he's still with his brother (because he hasn't stopped hallucinating!) Damon finds Tyler and forces him to bring him to Elena. When he gets to Elena, he hallucinates Henry again, and burns "his" body, which is actually Elena's body the whole time.
Stefan confesses what happened in the Phoenix Stone to Damon, saying that despite what his version of Hell seemed to be telling him, he will never let Damon go. He will keep trying, always. Damon is on the verge of telling Stefan that he's killed Elena, but he can't bring himself to do it.
So... that's some twisted crap. First of all, when Elena was first burning to death I felt a moment of total uncertainty. Was this... real? Was it another hallucination? If so, why was it going on for such a long time? But no. They wouldn't do that. Not for real, would they? It took me a ridiculously long time to remember that we've already seen a flash-forward where Damon claims to want to remain in his coffin until it's time for Elena to wake up. That would seem to indicate that she's not actually dead. Because they wouldn't really do that! They have to leave it open for a "fifty years later" style epilogue, where Bonnie dies and Damon and Elena are reunited. Nina Dobrev can come back for one last moment. But I'll admit, when I saw that scene, I flipped out a bit. They went farther than I was expecting them to go.
One of the most interesting parts of this episode was Stefan's belief that he can't truly be free unless he's rid of Damon for good. Caroline questions him on that, because despite her own dislike of Damon, she knows how much Stefan loves his brother. It seems that at this point, Stefan might actually believe that Damon will always hold him back. Damon certainly believes it! This would seem to be in contrast to what Stefan said in last season's finale, about how Elena's most important contribution to Stefan's life was to restore his faith in his brother once more. But I like the complexities there. Is Damon always going to be a metaphorical weight around Stefan's neck, dragging him down when he wants to be free?
I say probably not. Remember last week's episode, when Stefan said the only way he broke free of the Phoenix Stone was to succumb to misery so complete that it couldn't be fought against? Well, his version of that kind of misery was letting Damon go. Let's face it - he'd rather drown than lose his brother.
One of the best moments in the whole episode is when Stefan and Damon are talking in the car. Stefan is confessing about his hallucinations, about how he's been seeing Damon everywhere ever since he woke up from the Phoenix Stone. Then, Julian attacks, and things get confusing. When Stefan regains his senses, we realize that Damon was never there. When they lost track of each other at the grill, they never met up again. That was an excellent twist. Usually I can always see stuff like that coming, but this time I was shocked to discover that Stefan's hallucinations are persisting, even now that Damon is actually back.
To end this review, I'll briefly talk about the opening moments of the episode. Obviously last week I didn't really believe that Bonnie, Matt, or Caroline were dead, so it was no surprise to see Damon hopping to attention and saving their lives in the opening few minutes. I loved Somerhalder's performance here, as he tries frantically to explain himself to Bonnie as she slowly opens her eyes and looks into Damon's tortured face: "I didn't know where I was, I didn't know I was out!" I'd love to see a moment with Damon and Bonnie where he apologizes more thoroughly, but now with the whole "I killed Elena" thing, I'm thinking that conversation might end up on the back burner.
I think that's where I'll stop. This is a long review, but it kind of had to be, to tackle such an intense episode. I felt there was a little bit too much going on at times, which made it difficult to fully sink in to all the complexities at play here. But on the other hand, I like pretty much every ball they have up in the air, and I'm excited to see where these plot threads take us.
8/10
I say probably not. Remember last week's episode, when Stefan said the only way he broke free of the Phoenix Stone was to succumb to misery so complete that it couldn't be fought against? Well, his version of that kind of misery was letting Damon go. Let's face it - he'd rather drown than lose his brother.
One of the best moments in the whole episode is when Stefan and Damon are talking in the car. Stefan is confessing about his hallucinations, about how he's been seeing Damon everywhere ever since he woke up from the Phoenix Stone. Then, Julian attacks, and things get confusing. When Stefan regains his senses, we realize that Damon was never there. When they lost track of each other at the grill, they never met up again. That was an excellent twist. Usually I can always see stuff like that coming, but this time I was shocked to discover that Stefan's hallucinations are persisting, even now that Damon is actually back.
To end this review, I'll briefly talk about the opening moments of the episode. Obviously last week I didn't really believe that Bonnie, Matt, or Caroline were dead, so it was no surprise to see Damon hopping to attention and saving their lives in the opening few minutes. I loved Somerhalder's performance here, as he tries frantically to explain himself to Bonnie as she slowly opens her eyes and looks into Damon's tortured face: "I didn't know where I was, I didn't know I was out!" I'd love to see a moment with Damon and Bonnie where he apologizes more thoroughly, but now with the whole "I killed Elena" thing, I'm thinking that conversation might end up on the back burner.
I think that's where I'll stop. This is a long review, but it kind of had to be, to tackle such an intense episode. I felt there was a little bit too much going on at times, which made it difficult to fully sink in to all the complexities at play here. But on the other hand, I like pretty much every ball they have up in the air, and I'm excited to see where these plot threads take us.
8/10
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