The Vampire Diaries: The Lies Are Going to Catch Up with You (8x13)

I knew Kai was going to save this show. Damn, I love that guy. Let's dive right in.

Cons:

The only plot thread I didn't care for all that much was Stefan's. He gets kidnapped by Dorian, who has remembered that Stefan murdered his family. See, all of the people Stefan compelled as a vampire are now remembering what he ordered them to forget. That's cool, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But Dorian basically forces Stefan to dig his own grave, then shoots him in the stomach. Then, seemingly for no particular reason, he changes his mind and freaks out about what he's done, calls Matt to tell him, and helps to save Stefan's life.

My problems are these: first of all, Stefan has already been severely injured through a stabbing. He's only been human a couple of days. The dude needs to be on bed rest or something. Secondly, Dorian is one of those characters that's never going to grab my attention, and to have him be the focus of an arc just served to remind me how uninterested I am in him. And his emotional arc was fairly nonsensical. It's not like he shot Stefan in a fit of passion, and then regretted it. He planned for this. He contemplated it, kidnapped Stefan, waited while he dug a hole, and then shot him, seemingly without remorse. Stefan doesn't say anything particularly compelling to get Dorian to see the error of his ways, but suddenly Dorian regrets it all. I guess there could have been an interesting angle here, but this plot thread didn't quite find it.

Pros:

That being said, the idea of all of Stefan's past compulsion victims suddenly remembering what happened to them is brilliant. I can't believe I forgot about this element of vampire lore. Caroline and Matt spend the whole episode meeting with people who have come into the police station to report old crimes having to do with Stefan. Caroline compels them to forget again, also giving them closure, however false, for their losses. It's grim work, and Caroline is beaten down emotionally by all this evidence of Stefan's wrongdoings. Seeing the ripple effect of just one vampire in Mystic Falls is making her understand Matt's view of things all the more acutely.

I like that Matt wasn't too harsh on Caroline, here. He still thinks that she's part of the problem, but he acknowledges her feelings, and even jokes around with her a little bit about the absurdity of their current situation. While I might be a bit annoyed at Matt's relationship to the myth arc of this convoluted season, I can't deny that he's a great character.

Caroline, after spending the whole day cleaning up after Stefan's mess, is thrilled when Ric calls her and asks if he can bring the kids by. Her reunion with her daughters is somewhat marred by the fact that Lizzie and Josie have been acting out. They have been using magic to hurt each other, and one of the girls inadvertently syphons power off of Caroline while touching her. They can't seem to control it. I like adding in this element here, because I think it's probably going to spin off with Ric into The Originals. The problems of magical witch twins seems like something we can let the New Orleans crowd handle. It's so nice to see Caroline with her girls again. The poor thing has been through enough without being separated from her children as well!

Bonnie spends the episode trying to tap in to her magic to find Enzo. She learns from Cade, of all people, that Enzo isn't in Hell, but is actually trapped in a dimension of her own creation. It looks like she's going to be able to find a way to save him. At first I was a little irritated - I mean, come on. This show is almost as bad as Supernatural when it comes to its deaths meaning anything. And as angry as I was about Enzo's death, it was an undeniably effective dramatic moment. If Bonnie really does manage to find a way to bring him back, it sort of cheapens all the pain we've been through thus far. However, this is still going in the "pros" section, because more than anything I want Bonnie to get the happiness she deserves.

So then there's Damon and Kai. Kai is back, but not fully. Looks like Matt ringing that damn bell is what did it. Kai can interact with the world but he can't feel physical sensations. Ric pretty much wants to do away with Kai on the spot, but Damon wants answers. Kai agrees to help Damon and the others kill Cade, if they first help him return fully to the mortal plane. He throws in something else to sweeten the deal: he can wake Elena up. Now. Damon figures that the way to get Kai out of Hell is to redeem him. He tries to make Kai wake Elena up just out of the goodness of his heart, a totally selfless act. Predictably, Kai doesn't do as he's told.

God, Kai is just so much fun. Every second he's onscreen he makes me smile. He's obviously super evil, don't get me wrong, but fun in a way that most people generally aren't on this show. He has real emotions backing up his funny and sick attitude. He's scared of Hell, and he wants his freedom at any cost. I loved the bits with Bonnie, where Damon was on the phone with her and Kai was in the back seat, begging Damon to let him say hello. Kai's joy in torturing Bonnie Bennett is fun to watch, in a sick sort of way.

Bringing Kai back is also a brilliant way to bring Elena back for the finale, without having to do a flash-forward. I always thought Nina Dobrev would only be able to appear if they skipped forward a bunch of years or, God forbid, killed Bonnie off in some way other than old age. But now a third option has presented itself, and even if the way we got here was a little convoluted, I'm willing to accept it.

I guess that's all I've got for the time being. I'm excited for Elena to come back. I'm excited to see what's going to happen with Enzo. I could really care less about Cade and all his crap, but whatever. I actually have hope that we might get some good closure for these characters... although I'm increasingly nervous that either Caroline or Stefan are going to get the axe!

8/10