The Vampire Diaries – Coming Home Was a Mistake

By starrymag | November 26, 2016

By: Luke Joseph

 

Ladies and gentleman we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Tyler Lockwood. He started off as your typical arrogant jock (who thought calling people “dude” was cool) who came off as quite the douche. It took learning his family’s secret of their werewolf line and enacting the curse to make him grow into the person that fans are now mourning.

 

Last Friday’s episode of “The Vampire Diaries’” was titled Coming Home was a Mistake and the title is fitting considering Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) had the mission to return home to Mystic Falls to share some very important information he had found out. Unfortunately for Tyler, before getting to deliver this news he had stumbled upon Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) resulting in a deadly encounter. Tyler Lockwood came home only it wasn’t the way that fans had hoped because instead of greeting his loved ones in open arms he greeted them by being confined in a coffin.

 

The episode starts off showing glimpses of the rest of the gang remaining completely oblivious to the grim news that they are about to find out. Newly engaged couple Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) share a simple moment of bliss together, Alaric (Matt Davis) has a tea party with his daughters and Bonnie (Kat Graham) remains keeping watch of Enzo (Michael Malarkey) who has flipped the switch. The happy bubble is busted though the second that Matt (Zach Roerig) calls to tell the gang what has happened causing the doom, gloom and mourning to begin.

 

Stefan doesn’t take the news very well as he comes to terms on just how far gone Damon is now. “Tyler deserved more than to be collateral damage in whatever game Sybil is playing with Damon,” he says pausing his outburst to see a distraught Caroline who reminds him that today isn’t about Damon, but mourning Tyler – their fallen friend.

 

Meanwhile, in a cabin located in the woods Bonnie gives up the chance to mourn Tyler to continue to babysit Enzo. Even though she’s no longer a witch she’s still got some tricks up her sleeve like “flame of imprisonment,” which puts Enzo in lockdown in the cabin. The spell can only be put out by the person who lit the flame and that’s Bonnie who is being quite the stubborn and self-sacrificing. She even goes as far as stating she won’t put it out until his humanity is back on.

 

Back at the armory, Alaric takes his anger out on Sybil (Nathalie Kelley) asking her where Georige is (dragged to hell Ric) and then gets a couple hits in with the tuning fork to make her suffer deeming her responsible for Tyler’s death. Sybil doesn’t bite though or take the guilt telling Alaric that she had told Damon to sever ties and in his eyes that meant killing Tyler. Not wanting to miss Tyler’s funeral, Ric instructs his intern (his nosey intern who can’t follow directions) to set up an intercom system and test the tuning fork every hour on the hour to torture Sybil.

 

Usually at funerals you expect lots of mourning and seeing one grave ready to be that new home for that lost loved one. Sadly, this funeral isn’t your routine funeral as Matt, Alaric, Stefan and Caroline) encounter four graves dug up for each of them. Damon Salvatore, the Funeral Crasher, makes his appearance known as he taunts those around him about killing Tyler. If the taunting isn’t enough and to prove his case of not wanting to be saved, he not only snatches Matt but force feeds him blood (oh, oh Matty Blue better not die or you’ll be what you’ve come to hate). Instantly it’s made clear (especially from Caroline) that no one wants Damon around and once he’s been given confirmation that he severed any and all ties from the gang he takes his leave.

 

Back over at the armory, Damon decides that it’s high time he pay a visit to the “Boss Lady” considering he wants answers. Since she’s been bored and doing yoga she is more than eager to see him (Granted he doesn’t seem pleased to see her, then again who really is?). Sybil is quick to see based on Damon’s reaction to the day’s events that he feels guilty about killing Tyler, which means there’s still some humanity in him is threatening to flood to the surface. Though fans are cheering for it, Sybil isn’t so pleased because it means Damon isn’t fully hers and that’s a big no-no in her book. Since this is unacceptable in her eyes, she gives Damon an ultimatum telling him that he either flips the switch completely and submit to her or he drowns himself in the emotions threatening to escape him and find whatever fraction of happiness that is left before death itself delivers him straight to Cade.

 

Matt’s still having a difficult time with Tyler’s, passing especially since he now finds himself back at the Lockwood Mansion packing everything up. But there is a silver lining to all of this because Tyler was actually doing his homework. A package is found from the armory and with it comes a letter from Tyler himself pretty much starting off with if you’re reading this I’m dead which honestly sucks. It’s actually not just a letter that is found, but also photos which means Tyler had been following Virginia St. John’s mission and locating the sirens. With Tyler now gone, it seems he’s passed torch over to Matt.

 

Seline (Kristen Gutoskie) proves herself to be even creepier when she not only takes the girls to the carnival, but allows the carnie attendant to give the girls a dead goldfish as a prize. What the hell? Crazy Nanny wants to throw a funeral for the goldfish (honestly, I was half expecting her to sing a siren tune and bring her fishy friend back to life). So with dead goldfish floating in a big, they leave the carnival only to have the twins help her in using their magic to burn Georgie’s body and most likely resurrect Cade. Enter Stefan taking note of the fact that everyone is making their exit. Stefan ends up asking what is going on (the people saw clowns and got confused on whether they were there as their job or to terrorize. What do you think is going on Stefan?) The stranger claims it was a gas leak (ha, funny) to which we hear Stefan say, “hello brother,” the phrase slipping past his lips as he senses Damon’s presence. This time it’s different. Damon doesn’t look as deadly, in-fact he looks vulnerable and he proves that by asking Stefan to help him. Obviously Stefan had the intention to free Damon once Sybil is defeated, but considering the gang has not progressed in anything how long would that take?

 

“This is where it gets tricky,” Damon begins to explain stating how he wants to serve Sybil because it keeps him from the big bad devil himself (once again this showcases Damon fearing what awaits him). Pretty much Damon is screwed either way so what’s the use in trying if he’s only going to find failure? Stefan isn’t buying it though causing him to still continue to try and get through to Damon even using the “I’m your brother and I love you” line (yup, took eight years to finally hear those three little words). For a second it seems as if Damon is actually considering it before Stefan whips out a vervain gun and shoots Damon (to knock him out). Sadly, Damon isn’t an idiot and he’s ready for the attack. What he isn’t ready for is Caroline Forbes to shoot him in the back three times with vervain darts, knocking him out (guess it’s a good thing Caroline didn’t listen to Stefan’s request about not helping him).

 

Remember how back in Season Seven Damon confessed to Stefan he can’t be a good brother or a better man without Elena? How he explained to him that everyone would be better off and safer without him in the picture? Damon locked himself up and when Stefan woke him up (because they are lost without Damon) everyone held a grudge for Damon’s choice. Fast forward to now and it is Stefan locking Damon up because he realizes he’s too much to handle. Really Stefan? You’re just going to give up on your brother like that? Chains and closing the coffin had been Stefan’s method of dealing with Damon, but had this been Stefan off the rails Damon would have ended up simply locking his brother in the cell downstairs at the Boarding House. Would Stefan have been locked up? Yes, but at least Damon would have provided blood bags for his brother and visits. Stefan; however, simply gave up completely, closing the lid and walking away without turning back.

 

After the police end up discovering Georgie’s (Allison Scagliotti) body, all hell breaks loose because the second the intern gets the call (see, he doesn’t do well with orders) he leaves the armory. Thus, he allows Sybil the chance to spring free from her cell. Taking the tuning fork and heading to the crypt, she frees Damon which in turn gets her exactly what she’s desired – him. As twisted as it is, it’s easy to understand why Damon suddenly has given his full loyalty to her because at the end of the day she’s at least fighting for him even if it’s for her own doing it’s something. It’s safe to say things are only going to get worse from here and, honestly, the gang all has it coming. Stefan lit the match and now it’s time to watch the fire.

 

Taking a trip back to the cabin in the woods to check on Bonnie and Enzo, fans find that Bonnie is taking “burning love” to a whole other level as the flames begin to take over the cabin causing her to suddenly start to fade away. Bonnie refuses to leave though saying, “I’m not leaving you,” repeating this over and over before she passes out. From Enzo’s conflicted expression it’s clear as day to see that he is battling between what to do, but one look at her causes his emotions to flip back on so that he can save her. As Bonnie’s eyes open she’s greeted to the fact that Enzo not only saved her, but is ready to die. That’s not something Bonnie accepts as she bolts back into the cabin, burning her hand so that she can extinguish the fire. Now being free, Enzo wastes no time in grabbing Bonnie and getting the hell out of there. “You’re stuck with me forever because I’m never leaving,” she says (Is this a foreshadowing that Bon, Bon might be joining the vampire brigade?).

 

Funeral do-over take two as Stefan rounds up the troops (Caroline, Matt, Alaric, Bonnie and Enzo) at the fairgrounds wanting to pay tribute to Tyler. They all go around the table sharing nice thoughts about Tyler. “He was so much more than a small town kid and lived so much more than a small town life. I loved him. We all did.” (I kind of was expecting more tears on Caroline’s part considering she loved him). Stefan then goes into flashback mode talking about how he had taken Elena on the Ferris wheel telling her they needed to appreciate the moments and in turn it causes him to tell the group they needed to live by that. Suddenly, the darkened and dead fairgrounds light up and come to life as the group takes a break from the doom and gloom, playing bumper cars and enjoying the company of each other. While the kids have their fun, Alaric takes the time to journal to Elena explaining how they missed her today and things have been bad, but she’d be proud of them all because of the way they come out of it (no, she’d be disappointed because while you guys play pretend the man she asked you all to watch over while she’s gone is locked in a coffin).

 

Finally, as the episode comes to a close, Caroline shows Matt pictures of her kids and he spots a familiar face – instantly recognizing the nanny as the other siren. Not wasting a second, he explains about Tyler’s findings causing Alaric and Caroline to hastily exit the carnival and head straight home where they are greeted to a parent’s worse nightmare – the kids missing.