The Vampire Diaries: Rescue Me (5x17)

I apologize for my brevity about this episode. I'll try to get everything important down.

So... Damon and Elena participate in an awkward day together at Jeremy's school, as they are both there for a parent/teacher conference. Damon keeps pushing Elena to talk about what happened the night before, while Elena insists that they need to be done for good.

Matt and Tyler see Jeremy talking with Liv at the bar, which is seemingly suspicious. Liv reveals that she's actually quite the proficient witch. She even shows up at the school to try and kill Elena. Damon stops her, and then Jeremy shows up and stops Damon from killing Liv. We learn that Liv and her brother Luke are trying to stop the Travelers from... well, doing something evil that we're not quite sure about yet. Basically, Liv explains, Elena is the last female doppelganger. Stefan is soon to be the last male doppelganger, as Caroline and Enzo are on a mission to kill the last one besides Stefan. Once that happens, the Travelers will want to use Elena.

Eventually, Liv and Luke agree to form an alliance of convenience with Elena and Jeremy, in order to bring down the Travelers together. At the end of the episode, Elena decides to move back to campus. She says that she and Damon are bad for each other and bad for Jeremy, as well. Jeremy decides to stay with Matt and Tyler for a while.

Meanwhile, Stefan is still in the hands of the Travelers. They won't let him go until Caroline and Enzo kill the remaining doppelganger. Through Stefan's painful visions, Stefan and the Travelers learn that the last doppelganger is a paramedic. He seems like a totally decent guy. Caroline and Enzo track him down to the house of a witch, who it turns out is working with Liv and Luke. Enzo kills the witch, to Caroline's horror. The two of them find the last doppelganger. Instead of killing him, Caroline snaps Enzo's neck and tries to help the doppelganger escape. Enzo turns up and kills him anyway. Back at the Traveler's camp, Caroline and Stefan fall asleep together, planning on escaping when an opportunity presents itself. Then, something strange happens.

They wake up to loud noises and when they find the Travelers, they see them doing some sort of weird ceremony involving Stefan and Elena's blood. Bonnie, the anchor to the other side, starts helping tons of the Travelers to pass over, causing her intense pain. As the episode ends, we see her collapse to the floor, not moving.

So. Shall we start with what's annoying?

Well, first of all, can anyone tell me what this season is supposed to be about? Honestly. It's so confusing! There was all the Silas stuff, then the Katherine stuff, now the Traveler stuff, but also the Liv and Luke stuff, and Bonnie being an anchor stuff, and... and... I am lost. This was another one of those episode where I felt like they were stumbling around all over the place. Maybe everything will tie together by the end of this season, but I'm starting to lose hope that that will be the case.

I feel like Matt, Tyler, and Bonnie were totally wasted in this episode. If you're not going to use them properly, just keep them out of the episode! In particular, I think they need to figure out what to do with Bonnie, and fast. Her character is always shafted to the side. I'm surprised that actress hasn't gotten fed up and quit yet.

Also, it seems like they might actually want to build up the Enzo/Caroline angle, and I am just not even a little bit okay with that. Just leave Caroline alone! Or let her fall in love with Stefan!

But there were some things I liked. I like that Jeremy is acknowledging how stupid and meaningless school seems, in comparison to the rest of their lives. I think it was a bit hypocritical of Elena to be on his case about that, when she hasn't been very studious lately! I hope it will be good for Damon to be on his own for a while... think about what he's done... stop making stupid mistakes...

I also love, love, love the development of Caroline and Stefan's relationship. They had better make them a couple by the end of the show. In all honesty, there's not a single other relationship in this whole mess that is built on the same level of mutual respect. Think about it. Stefan and Caroline are always there for each other. They don't go back and forth in their friendship. They're consistent. It's sort of nice to have that.

I'll leave it off there... I'm confused about a lot of the plot elements that have been going on lately, but I suppose I should just wait and see how it all pans out!

6.5/10