
Happy Halloween! I didn’t get to this episode until Sunday night because I was in Vegas this weekend (and let me tell you, people, there is some skin on display when the ladies almost wear their costumes). So, I was a bawling, snotty mess at the end of it and that surprised me. I was also surprised afterward at the little things the show didn’t do, that I think would’ve made the episode perfect. It’s like I’ve said before–at some point, we are going to need a two-hour episode. First off, though, I’m glad I didn’t read the credits and that everybody aside from Mason who popped up was a genuine, lovely surprise
So, we begin with Damon getting his fair share of the exact abuse he inflicted on Uncle Hottie Mason from Uncle Hottie Mason, and instead of shaking awake from a nightmare, it’s very real. Damon thinks Stefan had a hand in it but Stefan pleads innocence and it’s not too long before he pays Bonnie a visit telling her to put back in the box whatever she let out.
Alaric and Elena have a meeting with Jeremy to ask him if he can try to reach out to Lexi since he’s got Ghost AT&T and she’s the only one with a track record of curing Stefan from his bouts o’ Ripper. He says he’ll try. He’s also still hot and heavy-ish with Anna, whom he can now touch. And kiss. More on that later.
The centerpiece of the episode is a town shindig to commemorate a founders tradition of lighting lanterns, which Anna expositions is a big fat sham. In pretty soon order, the town historian is killed and displayed to make that point.
Stefan pops in on Alaric and Elena and tells them to leave well enough alone, that he’s not their guy anymore and he saunters off to find himself confronted by Lexi on the street in front of God and everybody. She’s there to fix him again, he’s not hearing it, and she just moves past that to busting his head against a window and knocking him out.
Bonnie and Caroline have Bonnie’s grimoire fall at their feet, opened to a specific page, and that leads them to the witch massacre house where Bonnie immediately begins a spell and her grandmother appears. After a very sweet exchange where Caroline shyly greets her, she tells Bonnie that she upset the balance bringing Jeremy back and sending Vicki home, that an old witch has taken advantage of it to prop that door open, and now she has to close it with Elena’s necklace.
Elena’s back at the Grill when she walks in on Jeremy and Anna kissing in the bathroom and is processing that as she gets a call from Caroline about what’s going on around town and informing her that her necklace is the key. She tells Caroline to text Damon and find the necklace. She heads back outside into the restaurant and Lexi grabs her and says she has Stefan locked up and come on, already. Elena’s processing that Lexi is standing there, holding her hand, which she can feel, and saying words, that she can hear, and that she just set in motion returning the ghosts from whence they came, as she lets Lexi drag her out of the bar with the promise that this won’t be pretty.
They arrive at the holding cell where Stefan is chained to a chair, all vitriol and defiance. Lexi alters her tone just a bit and then starts projecting onto him incremental visions of what happens as he’s denied blood for days, months, and years. He wavers in and out of “I love you” and “I hate you” and Elena asks Caroline to ask Bonnie to wait on the necklace.
Outside, in the town square, several of the tomb vamps are wandering around wielding destruction on descendants of the founders. Bonnie and Caroline find out the necklace is missing and Elena accuses Anna, confronting her that she can’t hold onto Jeremy at the beginning of his life, most especially if she loves him. Anna confesses to Jeremy she was hoping all of the tomb vamps returning would include her mom. At the end of the day, what she wanted most was to no longer be alone. She realizes Elena is right and gives the necklace to Jeremy.
Bonnie and Caroline head back to the witch house and on the way, they see Mama Lockwood in dire straits and Caroline gets out of the car to attend to the descending ghost vamps and tells Bonnie to go. Caroline takes the vamps on and Carol rouses just enough to see that Caroline is fighting to protect her. About the same time, Elena realizes they can’t wait just for Stefan.
Jeremy brings the necklace to Bonnie and she snatches it from him. She tosses it into the fire and stands back to begin the spell and her grandmother appears beside her and takes her hand (BAWLING) while Jeremy stands back (gripe: we never see his face after grandma appears and I wanted to see that register for him).
On the Damon front, after the smackdown from Mason, Mason shows up at the Grill in front of Alaric, and tells Damon he’s not there for revenge, although that part was fun. He’s there to help Tyler (who is not in the episode = FAIL!) and all he wants is for Damon to apologize, which he kinda sorta does. He asks Damon to come alone to the Lockwood cellar, where he can show him a tool to kill Klaus (who is not in the episode = WIN!). Damon goes, and finds himself impaled on a few booby traps before they finally have their “aha!” moment just as Bonnie’s spell kicks in and Mason disappears (DAMMIT).
Back with Stefan, Elena has told Lexi her time is short and Lexi fixates on the necklace and its importance to Stefan as a symbol of hope before telling Elena to keep on with it because Stefan is still in there, and then she, too, disappears (DAMMIT).
After Jeremy tearfully bids Anna goodbye and pledges she won’t be alone, she walks down the square, crying, and finds her mother waiting for her. She gets out “Mama?” before they fall into each other weeping and laughing and then disappear together (BAWLING and DAMMIT!).
And then we end.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED having Grandma, Mason, and especially, Lexi back. If we’d had two hours, I’d have wanted Mason and Tyler to talk to each other. I’d have wanted Mama Lockwood to bitchslap the mayor about his secrets about his brother and their son. I’d have wanted Rose to get inside Damon’s head. I’d have liked Jenna to rattle Alaric. I thought about getting the Gilbert parents back, but since we’ve not yet seen them in flashbacks, I’m not sure what weight that’d have carried.
What we did get was chock full of awesome. I like that Bonnie and Jeremy have to sort out that she might’ve been a rebound from Anna and that she sacrificed so much to bring him back and then he betrayed that with Anna. I like that it’s Elena’s hands now to restore Stefan. I like that Damon has the Klaus key so close at hand and will have to do the right thing.
I was glad it was character light. We had a Matt drive by but no Tyler, Klaus, Rebekah, or Liz, and yet it was still chock full. Good on you, show, that it was sort of Halloweenie but nothing to do with that actual day. Awesome, awesome episode.
The Vampire Dairies airs Thursdays at 8/7 c on the CW.
Heather M
Related posts
Classics
Dennis Heaton Talks The Imperfects
Longtime readers at TV Goodness will know that Motive is one of my ride-or-die series, and as such, I am fiercely loyal to its creator, Dennis Heaton. He followed up that fantastic reverse procedural with Netflix’s The Order and is back on our streaming screens with The Imperfects, which dropped…
Kelly McCormack Talks Favorite Moments in A League of Their Own
[Warning: Mild spoilers for season 1.] Now that you’ve had a chance to watch A League of Their Own, here’s the rest of my chat with Kelly McCormack about her favorite moments of the season. Seeing the iconic Peaches uniforms for the first time wasn’t just a goosebump moment for…
John Griffin and Harold Perrineau Talk From on EPIX Season 1 Finale
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] How are we doing, #FROMily? In case you missed it this morning, the very good news is that that cliffhanger will be followed by a second season, which was gifted this morning ahead of the linear broadcast of the finale. I always legitimately appreciate when we…
Elizabeth Saunders Talks EPIX’s From
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] One of the things that makes EPIX’s From such a fun ride is the abundance of Canadian cast members. Elizabeth Saunders, who plays Donna, is a favorite from her turn on the third season of Mary Kills People [streaming on Global TV in Canada and Roku…
Corteon Moore Talks From “Broken Windows, Open Doors”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight’s episode of From had us all in our feels as we learned through flashbacks about the Sophie’s Choice Boyd had to make to save his son, and back in the present as Boyd said his piece with Ellis before heading into the woods with…
Pegah Ghafoori Talks From “All Good Things…”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode] Tonight on From, Fatima’s anniversary celebration turned into a Colony House of horrors when a misguided Kevin let his monster bae in and she promptly killed him and left the window open for her crew. While the party devolved into terror and sent everyone running,…
Shaun Majumder Talks From “Book 74”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight on EPIX’s From, Father Khatri made a bold move, kidnapping Sara instead of turning her in, and then recognizing her as a vessel for some big messages. That startling realization speaks to him on multiple levels–as a man of faith, a man trapped in…
Avery Konrad Talks About Sara’s Struggle in From “Silhouettes”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Over the course of the season so far on From, we’ve witnessed Sara’s battle against the voices telling her to to do terrible things, and tonight we saw her unravel further, threatening the Matthews and lashing out in a moment of terror with horrifying results….
Hannah Cheramy Talks From “Choosing Day”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight, on EPIX’s From, the Matthews participate in the show’s version of the sorting hat, choosing where to call home–the town or Colony House. At the end of the episode, Julie makes the decision to split from her family and instead settle in with Fatima…
Ricky He Talks From “The Way Things Are Now”
[Warning: Spoilers for episode 102 of EPIX’s From.] Epix’s new series From is two episodes in and it’s already laying the groundwork for a seriously spooky season. Tonight’s episode demonstrated the careful balance of relief and horror that the show hits, with our characters’ worst fears realized, just not when…
What They Said: Three Revealing Conversations from Survivor’s Remorse “Closure”
WARNING: Spoilers for Survivor’s Remorse “Closure” The latest episode of Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse featured conversations that showed characters really digging deep into their thoughts, emotions and motivations.
Two Takes: The Catch “The Knock-Off”
Who can you trust? If this episode of The Catch was any indication, the answer is just about nobody. Betrayal was running rampant as Felicity (Shivani Ghai) arose from the dead to seduce-con Margot, Gretchen (Maria Thayer, Gotham, The Mindy Project) played gold-hearted Alice 2.0 before swindling Ethan, Tessa jumped…
What They Said: Top 3 Quotable Moments from Preacher “El Valero”
Both Quincannon and Jesse refuse to give up on what they each think is rightfully theirs. While Jesse is struggling to face the consequences of his actions, Quincannon has laid his past demons to rest and is hellbent on moving forward and putting Annville on the map again. Despite a…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Supergirl “Worlds Finest”
Oh, Supergirl. That ending was cold. But I can’t hate on you because the latest episode has quickly become one of my favorites.
What They Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Black Sails “XXIII”
The dialogue in “XXIII” is phenomenal. It’s always a fun ride when Black Sails carries its viewers along without giving them the chance to catch their breath. When an episode moves at this unforgiving pace, there is no chance for a breather nor is there a respite from the information…
What Lucifer Said: Favorite quotes from Supernatural “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Supernatural episodes are almost always funny but thanks to the dialogue and a certain man speaking said dialogue, I laughed a lot during “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” You know, when I wasn’t busy fearing for Sam’s life or wondering what in the world was going on with Dean and…
What They Said: The Flash, “Legends Of Today” and Arrow, “Legends Of Yesterday”
Two nights of Arrow + The Flash = what more could we ask for?! I don’t know what it is about blending these shows, but I can’t help but feel that every time they come together, they somehow become greater than the sum of their parts. And that’s saying a lot…
What they Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Graceland “Little Bo Bleep”
Shoot outs. Fake outs. And long-awaited revelations. “Little Bo Bleep” was a jam-packed episode that wrapped up some loose ends and totally frayed others. Â It finally gave us one Sarkissian in jail and pulled back the curtain on Briggs’ master plan, but it also set up Jakes for a world…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Poldark “Part 4”
“What have I told you, I don’t require my wife to crochet and sip tea, but I do require her to remember she’s not a beast of burden.†No, I’m not talking about The Rolling Stones! I have to admit though, just for a second, the lyrics popped into my…
3 Moments of Goodness from Brooklyn Nine-Nine “Johnny and Dora”
The most satisfying part of this season’s finale has to the Jake and Amy kiss. Well, they kiss three times but the last one is the best one — and it means something. The Charles and Rosa dynamic was also great. I love how she’s convinced he doesn’t know anything…