The Vampire Diaries: The Downward Spiral (6x16)

Caroline-sans-humanity is the best thing ever. I am so, so excited you have no idea. Let's dive right on in.

Caroline has turned off her humanity, and is thus totally without a conscience. She runs into Liam, Elena's old flame, and takes him into a back ally of a bar. She makes out with him and then feeds from him. She doesn't kill him, though, because it would be inconvenient and risky. Elena and Bonnie joyfully reunite, but they're worried about what Caroline might do. Caroline shows up to the dorm and makes a deal - if they leave her alone and don't try to flip her humanity switch again, she promises not to kill anybody. She'll have one year sans-grief, and that will be that.

Caroline invites Enzo and Liam both to come to a rave. Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie all go to try and keep an eye on her. They're not sure if they should believe that she really has a handle on it or not. Stefan confronts Caroline, telling her that he has feelings for her. For a moment, a hint of the old Caroline peeks back through, revealing that Stefan is Caroline's emotional trigger. Caroline, who had warned them not to try and get her to flip the switch again, vows revenge.

Enzo has discovered, meanwhile, that Sarah is completely unfazed by the news of vampires. Caroline helps Enzo to realize that this is Stefan's doing - Stefan must have compelled her not to care about anything to do with vampires. Caroline decides to enact her revenge by compelling Liam to perform surgery on Sarah Salvatore. Of course, Liam is a med student and has no idea what he's doing.

Caroline calls Stefan and tells him her diabolical plan. Stefan and Elena show up to find Caroline alone, giving instructions to Liam through the phone. Elena runs off to try and find Sarah and Liam before it's too late. Caroline says that the only way she'll stop Liam from killing Sarah is if Stefan turns off his humanity. That way, Caroline will no longer be threatened by the emotional trigger. Elena manages to find Liam and stop him from killing Sarah, but it's too late to save Stefan - he flips the switch.

Meanwhile, Damon is very shaken by the news of his mother's presence in a prison other-world. Kai has information about Mother Salvatore, but refuses to tell him anything until he helps him talk to Bonnie. Kai wants to apologize for everything he has put Bonnie through. Bonnie tells Damon she doesn't want to see Kai under any circumstances, but Damon brings Kai along with him anyway. Bonnie is hurt, and she lashes out at Damon, putting him through the pain of the injuries Kai inflicted on her. Bonnie realizes that her time in 1994-world has changed her. She calls Jeremy and leaves a message, telling him that she's okay, but that she's a different person now.

Kai tells Damon that his mother became a vampire, and a ripper, like Stefan. She killed people in the thousands, and the Gemini Coven put her away. Damon is crushed by the truth about his mother, and he decides not to tell Stefan for the time being.

Yikes! I'm super pumped about this! I think my only complaints are about Kai and Enzo. Kai's whole good-guy routine is annoying me. I really liked him as a total psychopath, but now that he wants to apologize and make amends, I'm starting to get confused about what he's even doing in the story in the first place. Enzo, similarly, makes no sense. If he hates Stefan so much due to his deep friendship with Damon, why is it that we never see Damon and Enzo share the screen? He seems to have no purpose in the story right now.

However, I've had similar complaints in the past, and this show sometimes surprises me with how well it pulls certain threads out at a later date and makes them relevant. Maybe Enzo and Kai will both have cool stuff coming up. It's totally possible. The good stuff in this episode far outweighs the bad, in any case.

Caroline is so funny without a soul! She was sassy to the extreme with Bonnie, saying "Oh, Bonnie. How we all just missed your commentary." She also made me laugh when she said that she'd forgotten Liam existed. Sort of like everybody watching this show, right? I think my favorite sassy Caroline moment was when she snarked at Elena for making everything about her. As much as I do like Elena Gilbert, you've gotta admit... Caroline has a point. I also find it delightful that Caroline manages to remain logical and not homicidal, even without her humanity. If there was any vampire in the world who could handle flipping the switch with such grace, it would be Caroline Forbes.

I love, love, love what's going on with Bonnie right now. She's not getting pushed to the sidelines, and we're actually seeing her deal with the consequences of everything that's happened to her. My heart broke for her and for Damon when Bonnie was hurting him, and Damon tried to apologize. I want these two to be friends, but I can totally understand Bonnie's anger. She must feel so betrayed that Damon would force her to confront her attacker in that way.

Ian Somerhalder had a great episode this week. His grief over the situation with Bonnie was one thing, but then there was the crushing, child-like realization that his mother was a monster. I can't wait to see what happens when he finds out Stefan's flipped the humanity switch... I want my angst! This whole thing about Mother Salvatore is shaping up to be really interesting. I can't wait to see where they take it.

Souless Stefan returns! That shot at the end of Stefan and Caroline looking all sexy and evil? Golden. I cannot wait to see these two on a rampage. It's going to be delicious. We're already seeing how Caroline's intelligence and logic are turning her into an even more dangerous adversary than Elena ever was when she was sans-humanity. That whole idea of Liam performing surgery on Sarah was absolutely terrifying.

I guess that's all I'll say. I can't wait to see where this leads us!

9/10