The Vampire Diaries: I Was Feeling Epic (8x16)

I cried so much, you guys. So much. I don't even care that that was the cheesiest effing thing I've ever seen in my life. I cried a lot. I can't. I fucking cannot. I feel emotionally manipulated but I'm just letting it sink all over me. This is just a teen soap. This is one of the first shows I ever got emotionally invested in. I can't believe they did what they did. I can't believe I cried SO. MUCH.

Cons:

I don't know, man, I would have liked to see Jeremy and Elena interact a bit at the end? They got the actor playing Jeremy to appear for like 0.2 seconds. Couldn't they have had them reunite? The whole thing was a sob-and-cheese-fest, and that was one moment that I missed out on seeing.

The only thing that got a LITTLE too cheesy was Enzo and Bonnie. I felt like we got a good scene of Enzo being Bonnie's cheesy little spirit guide in the last episode, and then when he kept popping up it felt a little bit like overkill? But that might be because this episode was so teeth-rotting in its cheesiness that the Enzo stuff was what pushed it over the edge? I don't know. Small complaint.

The other thing is this: virtually every itty bitty little thing about the last ten minutes of this episode made me cry. A lot. Like, a lot, a lot. With one exception: Matt and his family still didn't feel like they got a proper place in the story. Matt said a bit in his voice-over part about Vicky finding peace, or whatever, and we even see that Tyler found peace too, but all the stuff about Vicky and her estranged father reuniting, and Vicky continuing to ring the bell to save herself from Hell... it was all soooo much less important to me as a viewer than I think it was meant to be. It's not like I hated it, but I just didn't care all that much in the face of all the other stuff. I wish we could have seen Matt and Elena share a moment, or Matt and Caroline, or Matt and Bonnie. Really, if we had just seen Matt have one moment of connection with the rest of the gang, that would have been nice.

Oh, and since I'm wishing, the most important relationships got a lot of really juicy and sappy screen time. Stefan and Damon took the cake, which, just, thank you. And Caroline and Stefan got a lot of good stuff, and we got to see Damon and Elena's epic reunion. Then there's all the ending moments which had me sobbing inconsolably. But you know who didn't get any time? Bonnie and Damon. Also, Alaric and Damon. Two friendships that were such a big part of this show, and they weren't even really referenced. I feel like we didn't get to see Ric and Damon get closure after all the stuff that went down. Probably a small, pedantic point in the grand scheme of things, and since we flashed forward over the human characters' long lives, I'm sure Damon and Bonnie became closer than ever, and I'm sure Damon and Ric bonded over the Salvatore boarding school. But some small visual reference to this sure would have been a treat.

Pros:

The plot is... complicated. But I don't even really want to go into it all that much. I just want to talk about the characters and say goodbye to them. Suffice it to say, the gang finds a way to defeat Katherine's evil plan to destroy Mystic Falls. It involves Bonnie doing some hella impressive magic, and then it involves Stefan sacrificing his life to make sure that Katherine, and Hell with her, are destroyed for good. Bonnie wakes Elena up using her newfound intense witchy magics, and Elena and Damon grow old together - did I mention, Stefan managed to pass Damon the cure just before he died? We get lots of cheesy montages showing how Bonnie traveled the world to keep her promise to Enzo, Caroline and Alaric helped open the school for gifted children, and Caroline got a large donation from a certain Original we all love to hate to love, and Elena went to medical school and then came back to Mystic Falls. She and Damon lived a long life, and then we get to see that when they died they reunited with their families. Elena sees her mom and dad, her Aunt Jenna, and even her biological father. And Damon, against all he believed about his own afterlife destiny, got to reunite with his little brother. We close on a shot of Damon and Stefan embracing.

I'm. Emotionally. Compromised.

I mean, where to even start? I guess let's start with Alaric, Caroline, and the girls. I love that Ric puts the girls first and doesn't even hesitate to get out of Mystic Falls when the danger starts. Alaric got one of the least significant roles in this finale, but I think it was fitting in that he's spinning off to The Originals, so this didn't have to feel like a goodbye to his character. I love that he gets Caroline away from the situation, and I love that he's the one to tell her the devastating news about Stefan. Ric is honestly such a good guy.

I'll have more to say about Caroline in a minute, but let's turn to Bonnie. As this episode starts, we see her "die" for a moment, and actually reunite with Elena in some sort of afterlife. Elena is devastated, because Bonnie isn't supposed to be dead yet. With Enzo's help, Bonnie decides to live, and she wakes up to a very relieved Caroline and Stefan, who had been trying to revive her. From here, Bonnie is the one to come up with the plan to destroy Hell and defeat Katherine. Stefan makes his sacrifice, but Bonnie is the one who has to be a bad-ass. She uses her newly found powers to redirect the hellfire that Vicky released, syphoning it through the tunnels to the Armory. She then uses her power to hold the wall of flames back. Just as it seems she's not strong enough, Enzo shows up to encourage her. She finds that her Gran is with her, and then the rest of the Bennett witches.

There was something so powerful and heartwarming about watching this incredible, strong black woman and all of her black female ancestors stand together to defeat the evil. The magic on this show might be hokey, but the fact that Bonnie gets to save the world at the end is just such a fitting way for her character to finish her run on this show. I'd also just like to thank the creators of this show for not killing Bonnie. There were about three moments in this episode where I thought she was going to die so that Elena could finally wake up, but no. She lives. She gets to live the long and happy life that she has always deserved. Sure, she lost Enzo. But she gets to keep him with her always, in a way. She gets to be happy, and content, and powerful as all hell. I think back over the treatment of Bonnie on this show, and I'm just so grateful that it ended the way it did.

And then let's take a break from all the warm feelings to talk about my queen Katherine Pierce, who came back to sass it up one final time. We actually get a fake-out here, where the Elena/Damon reunion we saw in the promos is actually Katherine up to her old tricks again. I love the moment when Damon is hugging "Elena," then suddenly realization strikes, and he just unceremoniously drops her. She says "rude," in that perfect Katherine tone of voice. Her snark is the thing of legends. It was so fun to get Nina Dobrev back as both Katherine and Elena. She really is such a talented actress. It's hard to believe she stepped out of these roles two years ago, because her return felt so seamless. The show did a really smart thing in not spending too much time with either Elena or Katherine. They made their presence felt in a really big way, but they didn't overshadow the other characters.

Let's talk Stefan and Damon. They get into yet another argument about who's going to sacrifice themselves to destroy Hell, and it's just everything one could hope for.  We get lines like this:

Stefan: "you have quite literally an eternity with Elena ahead of you."

Damon: "which means a lot less without you!"

Damon: "I love you, little brother."

Stefan: "I love you too."

Damon: "I am the big brother. I'm sorry I wasn't better at it until now."

And we get Stefan saying that although he doesn't want to leave Caroline, he has to do this for Damon. In the two centuries since Stefan forced Damon to become a vampire, he's wanted him to become a person who deserved happiness. And now he has, and Damon is going to get to live that life. He's going to get that happiness. 

Stefan: "Let me do this for you."

Damon: "No."

Stefan: "Then let me do this for me."

It was at this devastating point that I knew Stefan was going to be the one to die, but they do trick us one last time. Damon compels Stefan to leave the cavern, leaving Damon to finish things with Katherine and the hellfire. Of course, Stefan had been taking vervaine since becoming human. He shows up, sticks Damon with his blood, thus giving him the cure, and kills Katherine, sending her to Hell so that she, and it, are destroyed with hellfire. Stefan Salvatore is dead.

I'm... I can't explain what this scene was like. Damon and Stefan both crying, their voices cracking... it was the most emotional performance from Ian and Paul of the entire show, and it worked wonders. And the sappy sadness does not stop there.

Elena's first appearance with Bonnie in the afterworld place sets up Stefan's death really nicely. Elena appears to "wake up" at the high school, where Katherine had trapped her, and she comes out into the hallway, bumping in to Stefan the very same way she does in the first episode of the show. And then Stefan explains what happened. He tells her that Damon wanted to sacrifice his life, but that Stefan wouldn't let him. We realize that Stefan is dead. He hugs Elena, and asks her to deliver a message when she finally wakes up. Stefan says it was really good to see Elena. This scene makes me really emotional. It manages to capture the nostalgia for the early days of the show, without sucking us back into the Elena/Stefan romance. These two are really important to each other, and it was touching to see them share this final moment.

Of course, then Stefan goes outside, and... Lexi is waiting for him. They hug, and Stefan lifts her off the ground and spins her around. I'm. I can't believe it. Lexi. I love this character so much. Stefan had to leave behind Caroline. He had to leave behind his brother, even if he hopes he'll be able to see him again someday. But he gets Lexi. He gets to see his best friend again. I can't believe how emotional this made me.

I said I'd be pissed if Stefan was the one to die in the finale, but when it happened it felt right. It felt like he'd already started to die the minute he was turned human, and this way we get to see him redeem himself for all his crap, and he actually gets peace. We also don't have to contemplate Caroline, the Only Vampire Left spending 60-some-odd years with an aging husband. Instead, we get to say a real goodbye to Stefan, and we get to see him giving a real goodbye to Elena, a real goodbye to Caroline, and a real reunion with his big brother, the most important person in the world to him.

Let's turn back to Caroline for a moment. She promises Ric that she'll survive this whole hellfire thing so she won't leave her daughters without a mother. When Elena is trapped in Mystic Falls, Stefan has to stay behind to try and convince Damon to leave without her, even knowing it's probably a lost cause. Caroline and Stefan have to say goodbye, and it's pretty heartbreaking. They just got married, and yet the situation demands they part. Caroline has to be there for her daughters, and Stefan has to be there for Damon. As Caroline, Ric, and the girls flee, Alaric breaks the news to Caroline that Stefan and Bonnie have a plan that involves Stefan sacrificing his life.

This is where my heart is just completely ripped out of its chest. Caroline gets out of the car and she calls Stefan, leaving him a message. She tells him that she understands. She tells him that she'll love him forever, but that she understands. I don't think I can underscore what a big, huge deal that is. Caroline and Stefan have always had this very selfless love. Stefan has always been the selfless one. He was willing to let Elena die when she and Matt went over the bridge in the car, and now we see that Caroline is willing to let Stefan die to help save Mystic Falls, and Damon and Elena's future. There's something so depressing about realizing that Caroline is the last vampire left, but it also feels so right. She's the only one of these people who was good at being a vampire. She was supposed to be a vampire. And she's brave enough to say goodbye to the people she loves. She's brave and strong enough to let Stefan go, and carry him in her heart forever. I'm just so emotional about this.

So then we get Bonnie, in her awesomeness, waking Elena up by breaking the spell. I don't know why I never thought of that as a possibility, and despite the deus ex machina-ish aspect of it all, I really don't give a shit. Bonnie is just the best, okay? She could do anything and I'd buy it. There's something so powerful and wonderful about Bonnie being the one to save Elena. These two besties were there at the beginning of all of this mess, and now they actually get to grow old and be in each other's lives. Once again, I'm super emotional. They hug in joy at seeing one another again, and then pull back, each with grief in their eyes. Elena doesn't even have to say anything to let Bonnie know she's aware Stefan is dead. She just says: "where is he?" and Bonnie says: "with Caroline. Saying goodbye."

And we get another amazing scene with Caroline and Damon. The two of them stand at Stefan's memorial in the Salvatore crypt, and Caroline says she knows they will see Stefan again someday. Damon says he's sure Caroline will, but he's destined for the other place. Caroline encourages him, and the two stand there together, remembering Stefan, holding each other. These two just... I mean, Caroline is a saint. As I think I mentioned above. I love that they can stand there and be united in their love for Stefan, even as Damon knows he'll be living out a human life, while Caroline still has a long eternity stretched in front of her.

Of course, we get some slow-motion reunion stuff with Elena and Damon, as they share their first kiss as two humans who are going to spend their lives together. I love it. It's cheesy, it's overwrought, but who cares. We see Elena passing Stefan's message on to Caroline. He got her message about understanding, and says he'll love her forever, too. We see the gang at Stefan's funeral. And then we transition into our final montage.

The ending montage turns back to one of The Vampire Diaries' least consistent story elements: the diary thing. In voice-overs, we hear how everybody's lives shake out, and we see everybody being watched over by their departed loved ones. It's the cheesiest thing in the world, but... I don't give a damn.

Matt gets a bench made in his honor, and continues as the sheriff of Mystic Falls. He sees Vicky and Tyler watching over him, both at peace.

Bonnie is going to travel the world, the voice of her love Enzo there to help her through the rough moments. She's determined to live her life to the fullest.

Alaric has my favorite of the little voice-over lines, since it made me laugh and cry at the same time: "Caroline and I got what Damon decided was Stefan's last wish," that is, funds to open the Salvatore Boarding School for gifted children. We see Jo watching over Ric and the girls as they play and goof off, and we see that setting up the school requires help from some old friends, and that Dorian and Jeremy are both enlisted to help.

Okay, and back to Caroline. This episode so brilliantly set us up for a world in which every character we love and care for is either dead, or is human, which in this finale means you get to grow old and die. We can assume that Bonnie, Alaric, Jeremy, Matt, and of course Damon and Elena all live long and happy lives and die peaceful at an old age. So where does that leave Caroline? I was so curious in the buildup to this last episode as to how they were going to reconcile all the different characters and their various states of mortality. So, what do they do? They set Caroline up for future happiness in the best way imaginable.

We see her working hard to make the school great, to make her mother proud. We see Liz watching over Caroline. And then we see that Caroline has gotten a note from... Klaus. He donates an obscene amount of money to the school, and basically implies that he wants to be a part of her life once more, "however long it takes." This is great. We take Caroline, the only immortal left, and spin her off into future potential happiness. She'll always love Stefan, but that doesn't mean that she and Klaus can't be a thing. I'm a happy camper.

Elena gets the last voiceover portion. We see her writing in her diary at her parents' grave, within sight of the Salvatore crypt. She writes about her crazy, wonderful life. She went to med school, then back to Mystic Falls. She's truly happy with Damon. She says that she owes it all to Stefan, since when she met him, she was dead inside, and he brought her back to life. I mean, I'm tearing up just writing about it. Elena says that she knows Damon is still worried he'll never see his brother again, but Elena knows he's wrong. They live a long life, and we see that Elena finally dies, and gets to have peace - she gets to find her family again. Her mother. Her father. Aunt Jenna. John. I really want to praise Nina Dobrev's acting in this moment, because all of the cheesy hugs and the music swelling and all that would have been a hard pill to swallow if the performance hadn't been genuine. Elena is so happy and blissful to be with her family again, and it's honestly just the perfect resolution for her character.

I thought they were going to close on Elena hugging her whole family, (sans Jeremy, who I guess outlives Elena. That's a good sign!) and I would have been happy with that. I mean, it was Elena's show, right? But no.

They give us the thing. They give us the ending that I didn't hope to dream of. After living a long human life with Elena, when Damon dies he gets to go to the afterlife. And in the afterlife he goes to the Salvatore mansion and he gets to see his little brother again, something he worried he'd never get to do. And they hug. And that's the closing shot of The Vampire Diaries. Not Damon and Elena. Not Stefan and Elena. Not even Elena and her family. It's Stefan and Damon. They echo their words from the pilot. Stefan opens the door and says "Damon." and Damon says "hello, brother." And they just hold each other tight and it was all they were both waiting for. I can't handle this. Just... thank you.

Before I go, I guess I should say I totally understand why a lot of people hated this finale. It's sort of a cop-out way to end a show, to just show everybody in the afterlife. And a lot of people hate that Stefan died, because for some reason Damon gets absolved of his crap while Stefan has to keep feeling guilty about it right until the end. But I honestly think this whole story can be framed as being about Stefan and Damon's relationship. Stefan always loved Damon more than anything else, it just took him a while to get there. And in the moment when Damon was willing to give up his life, his future with Elena, for the sake of a little brother who was mortal anyway, Stefan knew he'd finally succeeded in getting the brother he always knew was in there. And also, this is honestly the only way I feel like Caroline gets the ending she deserves. It was always going to be difficult, ending with a couple where one was immortal and one was not. So now we get a human Damon and Elena, and an immortal Caroline ready to move on to other things, in time, while still loving Stefan forever. And Stefan gets peace. It's hard to believe, but I'm actually pretty happy with how it all shook out.

I guess this review is probably long enough, huh? I fully acknowledge that this show is a silly, campy, soap opera full of pretty people running around being gorgeous and dramatic. And I fully acknowledge that this finale was doing everything in its power to make me feel nostalgic. And I fully admit that it worked on me. I don't know, man. The stars aligned. All that sappy stuff about a promise of peace, and the reunion at the end... it was just what the doctor ordered. In short, it was a shit show. But it was a shit show that got through to me. My emotions about The Vampire Diaries are so tied up in high school, and the very beginnings of being a fan. I think this was the first drama I ever really binged, other than Gilmore Girls. But that show was ending as I was just entering high school, while with The Vampire Diaries, I started it when I was sixteen years old, and I went through college and now young adulthood still watching it. This finale managed to put a big focus on the one aspect of this show I loved the most, that of the Salvatore brothers' relationship, while also making me feel weepy and nostalgic for the beginning of my fandom days. I'm really happy with it.

This complete mess of crazy stupid awesome ridiculousness gets high marks from me.

9.5/10

The show as a whole? I feel like I should wait a few days so I can be more objective, but I'll force my way through and think about this entire mess. I still maintain that Elena Gilbert is one of TV's finest female characters. I still maintain that Nina Dobrev is a gifted actress. But those two things aren't enough to actually make this an objectively good show. At most, it's a fun show. A silly show. A teen soap. And without it, I never would have discovered the other CW content that I watch, so I have to give it props there as well. This really does feel like the end of an era. And while it wasn't always a good era, or an era with particularly high quality material, it was, in a word... epic.

7/10