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The theme for this year’s Halloween festivities on The Vampire Diaries was zombies. We saw two characters return from the dead in the latest episode and while that’s nothing new for Mystic Falls, things are different now without the Other Side. Odds are the people who return are not going to be the same ones we remember.
“I Carry Your Heart with Me” was a fun episode, even if it felt a little trying at times (Heretic times). There were some fantastic Salvatore brothers moments, both together and individually, Bonnie and Caroline finally got to share an adorable scene, which doesn’t fit into any of the top five moments, but it still deserves a mention (#friendship) and we received another confusing glimpse into the future. Let’s talk about everything.
5. Enzo’s Suspicious of Valerie
In the show’s latest attempt to make Enzo relevant, he picked up on Valerie’s strange behavior when it came to Oscar’s welcome home party and vowed to find out what she’s hiding. He tracked down Matt to let him see the security footage of the town and then went back to Val and she spilled the beans on killing Oscar. Then she turned the tables on Enzo and warned him of Lily’s true love Julian, who just happens to be the worst. Enzo decided to team up with Val to make sure he never returned to town. To be honest, I don’t care about any of these people, but it took up screen time so it warrants a mention.
4. Oscar’s Weekend at Whitmore
Moving on to the episode’s hilarious plot: hiding a dead body and then resurrecting him. Poor Damon discovered Oscar and told Stefan, who had zero patience for this latest mess. But he quickly got on board with his brother when Nora and Mary Louise showed up to see what was taking so long. Damon claimed to be binging and Stefan told them he was judging as the Heretics searched the dorm room for their friend. I laughed an inappropriately long time when the brothers went to retrieve him from hanging outside the window and awkwardly waved to the college student below.
Damon interrupted Bonnie and Ric’s attempts to bring Jo back and ordered them to use the Phoenix stone on Oscar first. They knew the stone worked, but Bonnie had to find the right spell to make sure the soul came back to the body (as one does). At one point, she set the body on fire and once again, I laughed way too hard. But then Bonnie did her thing because she’s the absolute best and Oscar rose from the dead. Damon tells Bonnie she’s officially the most terrifying person he knows (and let’s be real – that’s the best compliment Damon can give a girl).
3. Twins!
This week’s flash forward opened with Ric tinkering with some vervain inside of a doll. Seems a little strange, but then twin girls appear and question what their daddy’s doing. Of course Ric would hide weapons in his daughters’ toys (Once a vampire hunter, always a vampire hunter). There’s not a lot of time to process the shock of the twin girls’ existence (one’s name is Josie and there goes my heart breaking into a million pieces) before Damon arrives at the door and neither man looks happy to see the other. Seriously, you guys, what happened in three years to break their BFF status? I need to know.
Back in present day, Bonnie and Alaric succeed in bringing Jo back. Normally, this probably would earn the number one spot of the review, but 1) we’ve all been expecting this since the season started so it’s not all that shocking and 2) I think we all know this will not go well at all and we will probably be discussing the disastrous consequences in the number one spot of future reviews.
2. Damon Says Goodbye (for Now)
Oscar basically went insane with bloodlust and jumped out of the car as Damon attempted to drive him back to Mystic Falls and exchange him for Elena. He terrorized and ate a tour bus full of people who wanted to see the abandoned town. Then he started to go after Lily, who did her best to calm him down and remind him this kind of thing happened when he fed his hunger, and then Damon snapped his neck before he could do any further damage. Lily seemed grateful for about half a second and then Damon pointed out that she always loves her ripper sons best. Oh Damon, my heart breaks for you all the time because even though it was sarcastic, it’s obvious he’s been hurt by Lily’s terrible mothering skills.
But then she actually did him a solid in her own way. She told him the truth he didn’t want to hear, but needed to: as long as he kept holding onto Elena, he’d never be able to figure out who he was without her. Damon told his mother he’d be moving back to Mystic Falls to help Matt keep peace (I’m not a fan of Matt’s, but I do appreciate Damon’s concern for him because Elena and Bonnie care about Matt and Damon loves them). He also asked Lily for one more thing and then we received an amazing gift: Damon Salvatore writing in a journal.
Damon told Elena the history of the bottle he drank from that he retrieved from the Salvatore house and confirmed Lily’s words about how time would stand still and he wouldn’t know who he was while he waited for her to come back. So Damon called Tyler (!!!!) and had him take Elena’s body away while he remained behind, even though his heart would stay in the coffin with Elena. This was such a big moment of growth for Damon…and now I’m even more curious how and why he’s in a coffin three years from now.
1. Stefan and Caroline vs. Mary Louise and Nora
Mary Louise and Nora sent a compelled student back to the Salvatore brothers and warned them they would kill one student every hour until Oscar was returned to them, starting with the messenger. So in order to buy Damon, Bonnie and Alaric some time to resurrect Oscar, Stefan teamed up with Caroline, who he still couldn’t touch, to distract the heretics. Caroline suggested the Heaven and Hell Ball and manipulated the ladies into thinking it was their idea to attend. Then she and Stefan were tasked with feeding their victims vampire blood to save them.
There was trouble in paradise because Nora wanted to be free and have fun and Mary Louise held on too tight because she was afraid of losing her. Like Val’s backstory last week, this was obviously an attempt by the show to make us care about them. And I did on a small level. It’s 2015 and there’s still a disgusting amount of prejudice and hate in the world so I do feel for what they must have gone through in the 1900s. But overall, I’m not embracing any of the Heretics and it’s getting to the point where the story needs to move along a little faster. Three years from now seems so intriguing. I want to go there and not waste time watching two guest stars fight and make up.
On the bright side, and the reason this earned the number one spot, Stefan was super sneaky and I loved it. Since neither woman would remove Caroline’s vervain skin because they didn’t want to piss off Valerie, Stefan took Mary Louise hostage and threatened to stake her. Nora easily retrieved the stake with magic, but then Caroline grabbed her and burned her skin. She ordered her to syphon away the spell or burn. Naturally, Nora chose to save herself, Caroline snapped her neck, Stefan dropped his hostage and the two ran to each other and started making out in the hallway. They headed back to Caroline’s room and she still felt uncertain about Stefan not seeing Valerie and he assured her once again that he’s only thinking about her and the two of them had more history in the last five years than he and Valerie ever did (which is true since they only spent one day together!). Cue the sexy times (and shipper swooning).
[SPOILER WARNING: But of course the afterglow will be short lived because next week, Stefan does come face to face with Valerie and she tells him about the baby. We’re also going to see Bonnie’s flash forward and learn who her love interest is (My money’s on Enzo).
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