Grief is nothing new on The Vampire Diaries when you take into account how many characters have died over the years. Some have managed to come back to life once or twice, but it’s the effect of this loss on the loved ones left behind that matters.
Elena has taken the easy way out once again. She was so overwhelmed with the flooding of human emotions when Jeremy died in season 4 that she begged Damon to turn her humanity switch off. Now that she’s lost Damon, she turns to Alaric to help her forget that she ever loved Damon. We all know that vampires are known to have heightened emotions. Wouldn’t it only make sense then that their grieving periods could also last years, decades, maybe even centuries longer than humans? It’s like she barely gave herself a chance to deal with it the natural way.
Alaric’s approach to jog her memory to find out when she first fell in love with Damon was interesting. I’d have thought that since he’s considered an Original vampire his simple compulsion would be enough to do the trick. At least we got to take a trip down memory lane with all the highlights of the Delena relationship, including the actual first time they met before she met Stefan. Fans were livetweeting with the hashtag #WhenElenaKnew to guess what moment she knew she loved Damon. I guessed correctly, as it happened to be her 18th birthday when Stefan the Ripper was M.I.A. and Damon had been helping Elena look for his brother all summer. Damon gave her the necklace back that she had lost, and in that second Elena saw he was the most selfless he’s ever been.
The writers have to keep fans on their toes, of course, so we probably won’t ever get a happy ending for Damon and Elena until the series finale at least. Erasing her good memories of him and leaving her with only the bad ones will only make their inevitable reunion that much more sweeter.
Damon and Bonnie have indeed traveled back in time with the additional twist that they’re reliving this one day (May 10, 1994) over and over in an otherwise deserted Mystic Falls. Damon’s still got his vampire fangs but Bonnie’s magic doesn’t work. So what does it all mean?!
Damon’s convinced this must be his own personal hell, which he might have been onto something if it weren’t for the mysteriously finished crossword puzzle. With nothing better to do, Bonnie’s been stuck on a newspaper crossword puzzle for months until one morning over their usual pancake breakfast, she sees the last clue was filled in. Damon swears he didn’t do it. This could mean a lot of things. If this is actually purgatory, maybe there’s another soul around messing with them. Considering how creepy quiet the whole town is, it would be easy for someone to hide out in any old house. Or maybe one of them had traveled back in time to help themselves out and give them a hint on how to get out of this time/place.
Back in the real world, hope for finding Damon and Bonnie is dwindling. Elena’s given up. Stefan gave up a while ago. Caroline and Enzo might be their last chance for any help. Enzo was absent from the premiere last week but it was for good reason. He’s been searching out any possible leads for witches with intel on the Other Side. He learns of one coven who may be of some use, but apparently Stefan’s already tried them.
Caroline and Enzo road trip down to Savannah to visit their old friend and his new girlfriend, Ivy. Just add this to the long list of awkward dinners over the course of this show! Ivy doesn’t know Stefan’s a vampire so Enzo and Caroline have to be careful when trying to dig for information about why Stefan gave up on his investigation for his brother. Long story short, Stefan is a dick (Caroline’s words, but I have to agree) and Enzo is perfect. After snapping Ivy’s neck, he vows to make Stefan’s life a living hell every time he tries to start over because “brothers don’t give up” and that’s exactly what Stefan did.
In Stefan’s defense, he did visit shamans and witches in over 20 countries to no avail. All dead ends with no hope for recovering his lost brother. However that doesn’t make it okay to blow off all his friends in Mystic Falls, Caroline especially. The poor girl is the only one who cares enough to want to do something productive to bring Bonnie and Damon back.
On an unrelated note, more information about Tripp and Sarah was revealed. Remember the girl Elena took a bite out of on the side of the road last week? That was Sarah, one of many in Jeremy’s parade of girls in the Lockwood mansion. Matt doesn’t like her hanging around so much after he had gone through the trouble of having Caroline compel her to forget about the incident. He checks out her license plate tags to find that they’re stolen. She seems surprisingly chill about being kicked out of the house when she announces she has a father in town she’s never met, so she’ll just go stay with him. Umm, okay.
I’m thinking that’s probably Tripp since he’s bad news too. He reveals to Matt that he’s a member of the Fells, a founding family in Mystic Falls. In the grand tradition of his ancestors, he’s very much anti-vampire. I can’t say I’m surprised about him but this reveal feels boring and slightly underwhelming if he’s meant to be the Big Bad of the season. Why would he go out of his way to bus vampires back in to Mystic Falls just to watch them die as soon as they cross over the town limits? The town is already protected against magic so he could easily stay in his little bubble and be happy at least until Caroline succeeds in taking down the barrier.
What are your theories on Damon and Bonnie’s whereabouts? What do you think Tripp and/or Sarah are up to?
[Photo via The CW]
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