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Hi! I’m taking over this week’s Vampire Diaries recap for Amanda, who is moving. She’ll be back for the 11/21 episode!
The show opens with Silas pouring out his cranky heart to two unsuspecting people at the bus stop. Having lived in San Francisco without a car for six years, I can vouch for the authenticity of this scene: “subtly” shoving the bag under the bench, the internal fight between being polite and wondering just how crazy this person is, the awkward glances between the couple. The only false note was that the bus appeared to be on time. (Producers: I would watch a Crazy Silas At The Bus Stop comedy show.) This may be the greatest show opener in Vampire Diaries history.
Over at the Doppelganger Haus, Stefan reveals to Damon and Elena that his memories are back, courtesy of Qetsiyah/Tessa, right after Elena said she wanted to start fresh. “Hi, I’m Elena,” she says, as if there were no sordid love triangle business between them. They’re interrupted by Amara screaming “I don’t know!” and trying to kill herself. As she bites her own wrist to try to die, Damon regards her with all the exasperation of a new-puppy-owner and explains the anchor situation to Stefan. He calls Silas for an ETA and receives a sermon on gas prices (Silas is MY DAD?) and the news that Silas thinks Amara should die, he doesn’t really want to help bring Bonnie back, so he won’t, kthxloveyabai!
Stefan decides that whether Bonnie comes back, Silas needs to die and Stefan needs to be the one to kill him, even threatening to turn off his humanity.
Katherine, who is full of “personality,” finds out from Professor SnugJumper that the grey hair and loose teeth are a product of aging rapidly after 500 years as an immortal. Meanwhile, Nadia hunts down Mama Katherine. She is quite displeased that Katherine “abandoned” her again, but Katherine shuts down the mommy-daughter bonding and goes off with Caroline.
Bonnie and Jeremy exchange potential goodbyes. As they bring Amara dinner, Amara recognizes him as the Hunter from his time on the other side. Bonnie finds that she can touch her because Amara is the anchor to the other side, which gives them the brilliant idea to make Bonnie the anchor. What could go wrong? What could be unpleasant about having one foot in the afterlife? Damon approaches Tessa about making Bonnie the anchor; Tessa wants to use the doppelgangers as a source of power, and vows to make sure Silas and Amara spend eternity apart. Commence spellcasting!
Only, oops, Silas interrupts the spell and knocks out the power. Just as he’s busy killing Tessa, Stefan interrupts, holding Amara hostage. Elena yanks an iron poker (? candelabra?) out of Tessa’s chest and hauls her off to finish the spell, because no one is going to stand in between Elena and the witch she uses to solve all her problems her best friend. As Silas starts to kill Amara, per her request, Stefan interrupts to kill Silas.
In the end, everyone sort of gets what they want: Stefan kills Silas, Bonnie comes back from the dead, Amara dies, Tessa dies. But everything comes with a price: every supernatural death will now (painfully) pass through Bonnie, Stefan’s flashbacks return, and Amara and Silas will spend eternity apart. Katherine, unfortunately, is jilted – too bad, because Human Katherine is THE BEST.
Moments of Hilarity:
- Did I mention Silas at the bus stop?! Silas telling Damon secretaries prefer to be called “administrative assistants?”
- “Scary vampire daughter.”
- “Silas is waiting for me…true love prevails,” says Tessa as she dies, which was probably not to meant to be funny, but crazy lady is crazy.
Moments of Heart-swelling:
- The reunion with Bonnie is quite sweet, and I don’t even like Bonnie all that much! But who could resist Caroline immediately making plans for sharing a room with Bonnie and Elena?
- Stefan wanted his rescuers to be Elena and Damon. Aw. Ouch.
- I felt terrible for Nadia.
So, now what? Is that really the end of Qetsiyah, Silas, and Amara? (Will Nina Dobrev get a raise?) Will Katherine continue to rapidly age? What’s going on with Stefan’s flashbacks?
