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If anyone thought The Vampire Diaries would lose momentum after its 100th episode, the show set out to prove those skeptics wrong last night. “The Devil Inside” was a fast-paced, character-driven episode that shook up a lot of dynamics and sent some of our favorite characters down unexpected paths.
Picking up where we left off last week, Katherine had made the move into Elena’s body, but she needed to make sure the residence was a permanent deal. Unfortunately for Katherine, Elena was not about to give up without a fight. But that wasn’t her only problem. Damon had disposed of her body and refused to tell Nadia and Stefan where it was (in the tomb where she was supposed to be all of those years). On top of all that, Katherine needed a refresher course in Elena 101 and decided to (hilariously) compel Matt and demand that he help her.
Meanwhile, Caroline was feeling super guilty about giving in to her desire for Klaus last week. Caroline dealt with her issues by cleaning her dorm room from top to bottom. Aaron stopped by looking for Elena and told her that he’d made sure Wes was cut off so there wouldn’t be any new vampire experiments.
Except that wasn’t good enough for Enzo. The Augustine vampire kidnapped him and brought him to Damon so he could finish killing the Whitmore line. But Damon was preoccupied with thoughts of getting Elena back so he simply snapped Enzo’s neck and compelled Aaron to leave town.
Of course any TVD fan knows that was far too simple and things were about to get more complicated. Matt had decided to throw a party so naturally everything was about to hit the fan. There were a lot of good moments in this episode so it wasn’t easy to narrow them down to a top five, but here goes:
5. Stefan punches Tyler for shaming Caroline
At the party, after Caroline confessed to “Elena” that she’d hooked up with Klaus, Katherine tricked her into starting to spill details so Tyler would overhear. Needless to say, he was heartbroken and angry that Caroline had been with Klaus. Caroline followed him upstairs and he reminded her of all the people Klaus has killed, including his mom. Caroline already felt terrible and this just made it worse. Tyler tried to get her to leave because he couldn’t even look at her, but she’s Caroline and she wanted to explain.
That’s when Tyler got so mad that he started to turn into a wolf and Stefan rushed in to get between them. Tyler immediately told Stefan that Caroline had ‘screwed Klaus’ so that Stefan would be horrified and angry with Caroline too. She ran off in tears and Stefan punched Tyler because Caroline didn’t deserve to be shamed that way (which is 100 percent true). Later, Stefan and Caroline shared an adorable friendship moment as Stefan pointed out that she didn’t judge him for Katherine so he wasn’t going to judge her either and she needed to stop being so hard on herself.
4. Tyler breaks down (and Michael Trevino shines)
So here’s the thing. I was happy that Stefan punched Tyler because he had no right to bring Stefan into the fight so he could make Caroline feel worse. I don’t think he was necessarily slut shaming her because it wasn’t about the sex, it was about Klaus. But he was definitely shaming her and making her feel dirty and that’s not okay. So he earned that punch in my book. However, Tyler is 100 percent right to be hurt and angry because Klaus really has taken everything for him.
Michael Trevino is one of those actors who I feel doesn’t get enough credit because Tyler often comes off as the worst (like when he went to The Originals to kill a baby). But when Tyler dropped the anger and just told his best friend how broken and lost he was and all he had left was a big house (which technically he gifted to Matt), it was hard not to feel sorry for Tyler. His life has been destroyed and now Klaus has taken Caroline too. Sure, we could argue that Tyler let her go when he chose revenge over being with her, but I think we all know Tyler wasn’t exactly seeing clearly then. Regardless, this was a great scene and it made me want something good for Tyler (as long as I don’t think too hard about the baby killing part).
3. Elena escapes and runs into Damon’s arms
While Katherine and Nadia were waiting for the witch to do her thing, Elena managed to get out, but Nadia immediately called Katherine back. However, Elena wasn’t done fighting yet. She took control again and did a better job hiding it until she had a moment to escape. She ran as fast as she could, but Katherine was a step ahead of her – she’d put a passcode on her phone so Elena couldn’t call anyone. Elena kept running and made it to the party where she spotted Damon and raced to him.
I might not be a Damon/Elena shipper, but I loved this moment. After their breakup and everything that Elena’s been through since, seeing Damon made her so happy and having her jump into his arms made Damon happy and it was awesome for about a second and a half before the spell worked and Katherine took control. Maybe next time, Elena should start by shouting ‘Katherine!’ and then have the romantic reunion, but it was still a beautiful moment while it lasted.
2. Damon loses hope and Aaron pays the price
Unfortunately, the moment was over too fast and Katherine took the opportunity to get Damon out of ‘Elena’s’ life. As he talked about how much he needed her, Katherine told him that she couldn’t be the only thing keeping him together and she’d have to worry every time they had a fight or if things didn’t work out between them. She also pointed out how terrible Damon had been to a dying Katherine (which was selfish, obviously, but also kind of great because once upon a time, compassionate Elena would have been angry about that).
So once Katherine broke up with him, Damon decided that he was going to prove everyone right and just go back to being the bad guy. Along with Enzo, he played his favorite game of lying in the middle of the road and waiting for a car to stop. But it wasn’t just any car – it was Aaron, who was on his way out of town. Aaron tried to remind him that Elena wouldn’t forgive him, but that didn’t stop Damon from biting him and presumably killing him, judging by the amount of blood that was pooling on the street.
While I could do without Enzo (sorry fans, he just bugs me), I’m glad Damon is going down a dark path. I hope he doesn’t completely turn off his humanity because we’ve seen enough of that, but I miss early seasons’ Damon. I can’t wait to see how much trouble he’s going to cause for everyone.
1. Katherine gets control and declares her true love
I have to admit that I’m not really sure what happened to Elena. Did they put her spirit in Katherine’s body or did they just find a way to seal her inside her own so that she couldn’t fight Katherine for control? My guess is that we’ll learn the specifics once we (finally) learn the history of the travelers and what their purpose is. But for now, I’m happy Katherine is in control because Elena hasn’t been my favorite lately so maybe a time out will be good for her.
For now, Katherine is in the driver’s seat and it’s pretty awesome because as Nadia pointed out, she’s not just impersonating Elena, she is Elena (how cool was the scene where Elena was running through the woods, absorbing all of Katherine’s memories? I don’t really know what happened or why, but it was awesome). Nadia wanted to leave town with her mother and Katherine made it clear that wasn’t happening, but she did tell Nadia she was free to stay too. Mother-daughter bonding should be a lot of fun and Nadia already knows the real reason her mother wants to stay: she wants Stefan back.
I can’t wait to see how this story will play out. Stefan loves Elena, but he seems really ready to move on from the drama and with Damon spiraling, I don’t think Stefan will want to hurt his brother, even if ‘Elena’ starts trying to get him back. Katherine has her work cut out for her, but I think we all know better than to count her out ever.
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the episode? Are you sad Elena is gone? Are you happy Damon is back to his murderous ways? Team Tyler or Team Caroline? Are you relieved Katherine’s first order of business was to lose the red streak? Hit the comments below and share your thoughts with us!
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