The Vampire Diaries – I Was Feeling Epic

By starrymag | March 23, 2017

By: Luke Joseph

 

Saying goodbye is the hardest of things because when you say goodbye you fear that it’s final. Saying hello? That brings hope and the chance at a new beginning. For eight years we have taken a journey with these characters but now it’s time for us to say farewell. But, before we do that, we’re joining them for one final battle.

 

——

 

Doppelganger Hijinx from Hell

 

The episode picks up right where it left off with hellfire making itself known thanks to Katherine Pierce’s minions (Vicki and Kelly Donovan). Stefan (Paul Wesley) is attempting to resuscitate Bonnie (Kat Graham) considering she’s absolutely drained because of the magic. In the real world, while Stefan continues to try and breathe life back into Bonnie, Bonnie finds herself in a deep woodsy area. It looks like something straight out of a fairytale when she stumbles upon a sleeping and peaceful Elena (Nina Dobrev) who could honestly give Sleeping Beauty a run for her money. Eyes open and Elena spots her best friend and the two rush in for an embrace. The joy does not last long when Elena realizes in order for Bonnie to be here that must mean she’s either dead or on the brink of death. It’s not your time knowing she still has a full life left to live. Bonnie is okay with death though because it means she gets to reunite with her beloved, who actually is now standing beside her. Bonnie might be ready, but Enzo (Michael Malarkey) isn’t and he’s refusing to let Bonnie give up causing her to finally wake up not missing out to tell Stefan and Caroline she saw Elena.

 

Meanwhile, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) had been on the move the second Kelly revealed Katherine’s plan causing Damon to hightail it to the clock tower wanting to stop Vicki (Kayla Ewell) from bringing hellfire. Throwing her out the window and snapping her neck proves to Damon she’s made a deal with the devil and that this is a woman who is on a mission. There’s too much going on and having to deal with Vicki? That’s not on the top of his list causing him to put Matt (Zach Roerig) in charge of trying to talk down his sister, but having a gut feeling that’s not going to work he calls for the gas leak protocol (again) which is enough to evacuate the town from the hell that is about to unleash.

 

Entering the Boarding House with Stefan in tow the two brothers are greeted to the horror of Elena’s coffin being empty. Recalling the events of earlier, Stefan tells Damon how when Bonnie’s heart had stopped she had seen Elena. Damon hears his name said by a voice he hasn’t heard in years – causing his attention to move towards the lift of the stairs. His eyes widening and coming back to life at the sight of the love of his life. She confirms she is awake and just like that she’s running straight into his awaiting arms. Light has returned to dar——-finding that something is not right in the embrace his expression hardens as he drops her. False alarm, it’s not Elena. It’s Katherine (Nina Dobrev). “Hello brothers,” she drawls with that devilish smirk of hers.

 

The Final Battle

 

Why is Katherine here? Well, she’s the Queen of Hell and she’s come to gloat. About what? The fact that she had been able to wrap the devil around her perfectly manicured fingers. She, Katherine Pierce, had the devil himself fooled and now she’s reveling in the winnings. Her prize? Elena’s body hidden away in the boiler room of the high school. Drawback, as there always is one, Kai (Chris Wood) spelled the place so that Elena can’t be taken out. Katherine snarks, “I have everything I want Damon…or I’m about to…Once that last bell rings this stupid town will go up in flames and everyone will go poof…Well, they’ll first burn alive but then their ashes will go poof.” It wouldn’t be a Damon and Katherine confrontation if they didn’t pick and probe at one another. Damon doesn’t waste a second to point out that she’s still jealous over the fact that Stefan and he would choose Elena over her every single time. Katherine, firing back with how Elena would choose Stefan every time “because I would, because every woman would…Stefan is the better man.” Yeah, okay Katherine, maybe it would be more believable if you hadn’t been stalking Damon the entire time since making your return.  Already finding himself gaining a headache because of her, he takes the dagger (made of her bones) and stabs her making her go night-night for awhile.

 

Thankfully, Bonnie suggests that they let the hellfire come and then send it straight back to hell. However, in order for this to happen Katherine needs to be back in hell and someone needs to make sure that she actually goes there. Both Stefan and Damon volunteer for taking the first class trip to hell and because of it this causes the brothers to argue back and forth. Katherine might have pointed out that Stefan is the better man, but it’s Damon who is stepping in wanting to be the good brother he believed he never was. “In nearly two centuries since I made you become a vampire I have fought to turn you into the man who deserves that happiness that’s out there right now,” Stefan tries to reason but Damon isn’t having it. Wanting to be the older brother who looks out for his younger brother he uses being a vampire to his advantage by compelling a human Stefan to leave “because I am the big brother. I’m sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.”

 

“I don’t need to remind you what it’s like to lose your mother,” Alaric says using this bit of ammo against Caroline (Candice King). It’s not that Alaric (Matt Davis) doesn’t care about Elena and Damon, but family comes first and those little girls (Lily and Tierney Mumford) are his family. It’s his duty to protect them so getting them the hell out of Mystic Falls is exactly what he plans to do. Knowing that it’s her duty as a mother to be there for her children she leaves with them, but first she needs to make a call. “I need you to know that I understand—-I love you, I will love you forever,” says Stefan. “I understand,” she says into the phone hoping that Stefan gets the message.

 

Hellfire is coming as the bell rings for the twelfth time. Kaboom! The clock tower and Vicki going along with it as it ventures its way through the Mystic Falls tunnels thanks to Bonnie’s spell and directly to the Armory. Here Bonnie has a battle not just with the hellfire, but herself as well. Being put to the test, she comes face to face with it saying, “It’s not my time…You can’t take me,” she shouts out fighting against it. She’s fighting hell though, literally fighting hell, and the power it harbors is becoming too much causing Bonnie to slowly come to the realization that she’s not enough.  Fearing her worry the spirit of Enzo shows up telling her that she cannot only do it, but she’s not alone. Now, beside her, is Grams (Jasmine Guy) along with the other Bennett witch line and together they are able to beat the darkness and good defeats evil.

It’s Been a Long Time Without You My Friend

 

Meanwhile, in Elena’s mystical coma she finds herself back at Mystic Falls High and just like the pilot she bumps into Stefan. He’s quick to catch Elena up with what’s going on and reveals to her how he hadn’t been compelled, how he took a syringe full of his blood and injected Damon with the cure. With the cure now out of his system he’s going to start aging rapidly and draw closer and closer to death. Wanting his death to be meaningful he chooses to give Damon life, while he accepts death. “Burn in hell,” he had told Katherine giving one last goodbye to his brother before the hellfire consumes him. Tonight I saw a side of Damon that I hadn’t seen in awhile—-the older brother I looked up to, the son who enlisted in the Civil War to please his father, the Damon I knew when I was a boy—-I wanted that Damon to live and I wanted you to have the opportunity to get to know him,” he remarks. He tells Elena it was good to see her one last time and asks her to relay a message to Caroline (he got the message and he’ll love her forever) and then The Fray’s song “Never Say Never” (like from the end of the pilot) begins to play and we’re holding back tears.

 

Walking out of the school doors, walking into the white light and being greeted by his best friend Lexi (Arielle Kebbel) leaning against the side of his vintage car. A beaming smile playing on her lips as she tells him “great speech,” to which he answers back with a grin and remarks, “I was feeling epic.” The death pact duo reunites with an embrace and from here on we know Stefan’s going to be okay.

 

Taking on hellfire adds a boost of confidence to Bonnie and with the help of her past ancestors they are able to find a loophole to the Sleeping Beauty curse that results in those warm brown eyes finally opening. There she is Bonnie’s eyes shining as they lay upon her best friend, embracing yet again but this time it’s real. Even though the moment is happy it’s disrupted when Elena recalls her last conversation with Stefan. Her eyes glancing around the bedroom before back at Bonnie and asking “where is he” as she wants to be at Damon’s side while he’s saying goodbye. In the crypt, Damon and Caroline visit Stefan and the moment is very tender between the two of them, especially when you realize how far they’ve truly come. Though Damon lost a brother, he gained a sister. Leaving the crypt, Caroline is shocked to find Elena staring back at her but before she can go to her someone else comes from behind, Damon. It’s not the reunion he’s played in his head over and over, but there is one constant to it – Elena is back and with that they fall into each other’s arms. Making us realize that home doesn’t need to be found in a place it can be found in a person, Damon and Elena have finally come home.

All Around Me Are Familiar Faces

Even though their loved ones are gone they are surrounded by them because they’ve found peace in the afterlife. Vicki and Tyler (Michael Trevino) watch as Matt remains the Sheriff of Mystic Falls and he’s even considering running for Mayor. Jo (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) watches over Alaric and their daughters while Liz (Marguerite Macintyre) continues to look after Caroline, marveling at how much her daughter has grown. Alaric and Caroline have honored Stefan’s last wish of using the Salvatore Boarding House and making it a Boarding School for the young and gifted. With a school you need staff and it seems Jeremy (Steven McQueen) has come back to Mystic Falls to work for them. In order to keep the school afloat, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) generously donated three million dollars and happily tells Caroline how enamored and grateful he is to her -hoping to someday have the honor of thanking her in person. Enzo watched as Bonnie saved the world and now he’s going to journey with her to explore it. Even though she can’t see him anymore, he’s still with her.

 

As for Damon and Elena? They lived a long and happy human life together. Her dream of working in the surgical residency program and becoming a doctor became a reality. The vow that Damon made to Elena years ago to be her partner, husband and father of her kids rang true. The love story that these two shared was never ordinary, it’s always been extraordinary so it’s no surprise that even in death they found their way back to each other. They always find their way, living a long and happy human life together and now afterlife.

 

Everyone has found their peace here. Waiting on the Gilbert Porch are Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning), her mom (Erin Beute), dad (Jason MacDonald) and even Uncle (biological father) John (David Anders). It’s in this moment where the girl who lost her parents when we first met her finds them again. Damon is still worried that he’ll never find Stefan again…that he’ll never find peace, but I know he’s wrong because peace exists….it lives in everything we hold dear. The Gilbert optimism proving to be true as Damon finds himself standing outside of the Boarding House. Finally finding the courage to knock and a second later the door swings open that is the promise of peace that one day after a long life we find each other again revealing a familiar face. Damon’s lips curling into a smile saying, “Hello brother” and just like that the Salvatore Brothers say hello again as we say goodbye.