Unfortunately, this episode had a lot of structural weaknesses. However, that being said, what it's setting up for the future is still really strong. I think both the premiere and this episode lack a lot in terms of being stand-alone episodes, but both did a good job of establishing some cool ideas for what I still believe might turn out to be a great season. Let's get started.
Cons:
The Heretics are not interesting as villains. They're not terrible, but their familial bonds feel a bit forced. It's sort of like a retread of the Originals, but I found Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekka much more interesting than Lily and her gang. We find out in this episode that one of the Heretics, Valerie, met Stefan years ago, and is still pining. That's... weird. And didn't we already have a crazy powerful pining vampire in love with Stefan Salvatore? There's no way Valerie can fill Katherine's shoes.
Enzo is still floating around being useless as a character. We do learn one new thing about him, and that is that apparently he has the hots for Mama Salvatore. What? No! I am 100% not okay with Enzo crushing on Lily. It's awkward and forced and it's coming out of nowhere. Enzo needs to go away now and never come back.
Most of this episode focused on the Heretics having kidnapped Caroline, but there was one subplot about Alaric. He shows Bonnie the Phoenix Stone, and Bonnie tells him that it has powerful and evil magic, and needs to be destroyed. Instead of listening to this solid advice, Alaric of course decides that the thing they all need right now is a Zombie Jo running around. Now, we haven't seen Jo come back from the dead yet, but that's clearly what Alaric is heading towards. I get really impatient when characters are this stupid. Alaric has lost a lot of loved ones, and I feel bad for him. I do, really. But it's such a blatant plot-twisty thing for him to even attempt this. We all know it's not going to turn out well.
Pros:
The plan to save Caroline. Stefan is understandably furious to learn that Lily and the other Heretics have kidnapped Caroline as punishment for Malcolm's death. Damon tries to offer himself as a trade - he knows that this is his fault, and that Stefan and Caroline should not be punished for it. Of course, it's not that easy. Stefan and Damon form a plan to get Caroline out - it involves Matt, who apparently now owns the Salvatore mansion, so that Stefan and Damon can't get inside. I liked all the twists and turns with this plan, and I especially liked the fact that the plan wasn't successful. Stefan makes it inside the house, but he's expelled from the premises, with Caroline still trapped inside. This is mighty interesting!
It looks like the Heretics drained Matt of his vervaine, compelled him to sign the deed to the Salvatore mansion, and compelled him to never invite Damon or Stefan in, and then compelled him to forget all about it. This is quite a bit of plot to happen offscreen, but in any case, it looks like the only way for this to be broken is for Matt to temporarily die. Bonnie uses her magic to do it, but a strange vision of the Phoenix Stone knocks her out, nearly ruining her chance of resuscitating Matt. She saves him in the end, but he's not happy. What I like about this part of the plot is that Matt, always willing to be the sacrificial lamb, is continuing down his path of hatred towards the vampires. He can't quite forgive his former friends for causing so much havoc in his beloved town. And then Bonnie drops the bombshell that she helped Damon to kill Malcolm, so Caroline's plight and Matt's near-death are in fact partially her fault. I love the fact that we're pushing Matt to the edge with this. He has every right to be wary - and weary - of vampires and witches.
Stefan and Damon! As the episode begins, Stefan is rightfully furious with Damon for getting Caroline kidnapped. Later, when Stefan fails to rescue Caroline, he's pissed because Damon ran off instead of helping him with the last stage of the plan. Only... there's a twist with this. The reason Damon didn't help save Caroline is because he ran into Lily and the other Heretics as they were having a funeral service for Malcolm. It seems that Lily's "family" took Elena. Damon has been instructed to get out of Mystic Falls permanently. Only once he's gone far away will Lily reveal Elena's new location. Once Stefan hears that, of course he understands.
The thing is - Lily is their mother. The boys figure out pretty quickly that she's treating them the same way she did when they were kids. When they misbehaved, she took their toys. Now, she's doing the same thing, and she's trying to make them turn against each other. Now that they realize this, they can use it. Damon will leave Mystic Falls, and Stefan will pretend to be angry with him. He'll try and ingratiate himself with Lily, while Damon finds the last member of the Heretic family, who isn't with the others for some reason. He plans on offering a trade, so that they can get Caroline and Elena back. Their brotherly relationship is the best thing ever. I love the idea of them pretending to feud in order to get what they want. After all this time, they really are strongly bonded. Even when they fight, and they do fight a lot, they're still firmly on each other's side.
The flash-forward device is still working wonders. As we jump forward three years, we see Caroline working as a TV producer. She's busy giving orders and also busy with her own personal life. Apparently she's getting married, although the man in her life isn't revealed. Her assistant says she has a message from Stefan Salvatore, and Caroline says she never wants to hear that name again. Then, somebody shows up and kills her assistant. Uh oh! This is so interesting! What happened between Caroline and Stefan? And does this mean that three years into the future, they still can't go back to Mystic Falls? That's awful! Who's Caroline's new beau? It was also fun to see Caroline in a professional setting. She would kick ass at a job like that.
Like I said at the start of the review, this episode wasn't great. But it had kernals of greatness within it. Watching these first two episodes of a sans-Elena The Vampire Diaries is making me cautiously optimistic for a good season.
7/10
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