The Vampire Diaries: I'll Wed You in the Golden Summertime (6x21)

Okay WHAT THE HELL. Not acceptable. This episode kind of annoyed me in some ways, but then there was that ending, and I just... I cannot deal with this right now. Let's go over what happened.

It's Jo and Alaric's wedding day, and everybody is scrambling to get ready. It looks like Jo's wedding coordinator is sick with the flu, but never fear - Caroline steps in and saves the day. She is on a mission to make sure Jo's wedding goes off without a hitch, and also to go on her apology tour, saying sorry for all the people she hurt while her humanity was off. She enlists Tyler and Matt for help with the wedding, saying sorry to both of them for what she did. Liv comes to the wedding, and she and Tyler talk about their past.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is having bad dreams about Lily and Kai. She tells Matt about them, and so the two of them go into the Salvatore dungeon. They decide they want to take care of Lily once and for all, but they discover that she has escaped. Lily meets up with Enzo, and the two of them go to an address where her witch-vampire friends are apparently going to be coming back to this world. Bonnie and Matt, down in the basement of the Salvatore house, are strangled by an invisible force.

Stefan takes Damon on a road trip to show him what his future as a human would be like - he's harsh, getting inside Damon's head and showing him a future where he and Elena are miserable together. He also shows him what his life will be like if something happens and Elena dies. Stefan tells Damon that he needs to decide to be a human for himself, not for anybody else. Damon thinks about it, but after seeing an elderly married couple, and how happy they are together, he makes his choice. He tells Elena that he's going to take the cure. He wants to give up vampirism for their chance at a future - to be her husband, her partner, the father of her children. The two of them are so busy - ahem - celebrating, that they almost miss the wedding.

Jo and Alaric spend the day of their wedding nervously awaiting the ceremony. Jo has a brief health scare where she collapses. Newly human Elena experiences the shock of having to handle the situation as a human instead of a vampire - she can't speed over to her or feed her blood to help her. However, she gets Jo to a hospital, and it turns out that she was just stressed and overworked. Alaric and Elena talk about how wonderful it is to be human again after having been a vampire.

The ceremony begins - Alaric says his incredibly moving vows, and then it's Jo's turn to speak - just as she starts to talk, she is stabbed from behind by an invisible foe (the same force that choked Bonnie and Matt earlier, leaving them in peril in the Salvatore mansion). Jo collapses, blood everywhere, as Alaric catches her and calls her name. The invisible force reveals itself to be... Kai! He uses a blast of magic to send everybody flying. Elena hits the ground and seems to be unconscious!

Okay so wow. To start off with, I do have one serious complaint about this episode, but it's not really anybody's fault. We all know Nina Dobrev is leaving the show, and Ian Somerhalder isn't. So... this whole business about Damon taking the cure and then running off into the sunset is just NOT going to happen. Because of that, every scene about Damon and Elena's potential future just couldn't really have the correct impact. Like, it's adorable that Damon says he wants a future with her, but we all know that's not going to happen. So... what's all this about?

Also, I thought the Tyler/Liv moments were really strange. When Liv showed up and reminded Tyler that she's Jo's sister, I felt like she was reminding the audience too. Where the heck has Liv been this whole time, and why would she show up to an event where her father would be present? It was sloppy writing.

But now, to switch to the good stuff in this episode, I will admit there was one moment about Tyler that I did enjoy. Caroline reminds him that even if things with Liv were tricky, at least when he had her, he was striving for a brighter future. I feel like that will be a good way to explain Tyler's exit from the show. Maybe he'll go off with Liv and they can try to build a life together.

And, even if I know ultimately the Damon/Elena relationship is going nowhere, I will admit to letting out a great big "awwww!" when Damon made his speech about being her partner and the father of her children. Like, be still my beating heart.

And the Damon/Stefan feels were strong with this one, too! Damon accuses Stefan of just being afraid of being alone, and Stefan later asks Caroline if he's being selfish. But not wanting to lose your brother isn't particularly selfish - it's totally understandable! Damon called Elena and Stefan "the two people closest to [him]" which, of course, I already knew, but it's still adorable to hear it.

Stefan and Elena even got a good scene together! Stefan joked about Elena switching brothers again, but it was clearly just a good-natured jab. The two of them are friends, and I think it's wonderful. Stefan reminds Damon that he and Elena were once soul mates too, which Damon doesn't take kindly to. It's such a messy dynamic with the three of them, but it's not your run-of-the-mill love triangle anymore.

Stefan and Caroline! They held hands! Caroline had a lot of good moments in this episode, but I think my favorite was her apology to Stefan. She was very self-aware of all the selfish things she's done since she fell for Stefan. She's also conscious of the fact that with so much else going on in her life, she can't be in a relationship right now. That was a delightful scene.

Bonnie and Matt working together! These two are the most criminally underused characters on the show, so I enjoyed seeing them team up. They were being total idiots, of course. Why were they trying to confront Lily like that?! But even so, I'm worried about them, and I was glad that Matt took Bonnie's concerns seriously.

I loved the scene between Alaric and Elena about being human again after having been a vampire. That was such a fun moment, and I'm so happy for Elena. Since it seems like they might be killing her off, it's all the more tragic. Also, Alaric and Damon got a moment. Damon said he was going to take the cure, and Alaric told Damon he was proud of him!

And then speaking of tragedy, you've got Jo and Alaric. Oh. My. God. They really hit you over the head with the cuteness of their relationship. They talk on the phone, and Jo looks so radiant in her wedding dress, and Alaric is so worried about her when she hits her head... all of these things are just winding you up to fall all the harder when it happens. When Kai stabs Jo. Right through her pregnant belly. I got serious Red Wedding flashbacks actually, even if this wasn't quite as graphic.

I must say, I am so glad that Kai is evil. I wasn't liking the whole potential-redemption thing with him. He's better as a straight-up villain. And this is about as villainous as I can imagine. He stabbed Jo just before she started to say her vows! Noooo!

I can't wait for the finale. Honestly - are they really going to kill Elena? How is that going to work? We're going to need a time jump going in to next season, aren't we? Yikes.

8.5/10