Previously: Marcos, Head Traveler in Charge, has arrived bringing truth about the Doppelganger Curse/Myth/Whatever, Tyler has a Traveler residing in his brain, Damon doesn’t want to be friends with Elena and Enzo was sexy.
Bear with me this week, friends. I’ve got a head-cold coming on and fear I may need to take to my bed for the rest of the day upon finishing this recap.
This Week in Traveler Stuff (that no one really cares about): Tyler is still chained up as a vessel for some traveler…? I’m not exactly sure who and I’m not sure I really care. Marcos has them all living in a warehouse, plotting to overthrow Mystic Falls to take up permanent residence. Seriously, y’all could just sign leases like the rest of us and live there – NO ONE would stop you. But Marcos insists that they need to break the Traveler’s Curse and of course they need doppelganger blood. Sloane volunteers as Human Guinea Pig and drinks some of Tyler’s hybrid blood. Marcos slits her throat, she begins to heal and transition into a vampire. They take the last of their precious doppelganger blood supply and Sloane drinks it, stopping the transition but killing her sillyass anyways, because hello? Throat slit wide open? So if doppelganger blood can break any witch’s magic, including the curse of vampirism, how is is that two doppelgangers became vampires? I AM LOST.
Speaking of other things we no longer care about – Bonnie is back! And has more than two lines! If The Other Side disintegrates then there will be no more need of an Anchor and Bonnie will die. I DON’T BELIEVE YOU, WRITERS. YOU NEVER LET HER DIE. She’s pretending that she’s totally cool with it and has accepted it but can’t bring herself to tell Jeremy that her impending death is a possibility. AGAIN. She’s trying to get Liv to help her save The Other Side but Liv tells her that there’s no way of stopping it.
Onto what we all REALLY care about – Enzo! Enzo has been looking for his lost love, Maggie, the kind nurse he had all kinds of Feels for when he was being experimented on by the Augustines. We finally see her in flashback this week and Maggie is a beautiful black woman (points for diversity!) which goes to show just how progressive European men were in 1950’s America.
Enzo shows up to the Grill, and informs all within – Stefan, Elena, Liv and assorted compelled college students – that his beloved Maggie is dead! And not dead from normal old lady stuff, oh no, she had her head ripped off on election night 1960 right here in Mystic Falls. He points the finger at Ripper Stefan but Stefan insists he was on the wagon in 1960. Gee. I wonder who could possibly have been responsible for Maggie’s death that would bring a lot of tension and sadness to the show.
Enzo doesn’t believe Stefan and so decides to tie him up along with Elena with vervane-laced rope. He also proceeds to go on a Damon Salvatore-style bender. He phones Damon to have him check Stefan’s journals (Dear Diary, Today I groomed my Hero Hair to perfection) for evidence of Maggie’s murder but alas, Stefan destroyed all of his diaries.
FLASHBACKS: It’s 1960 and Maggie meets Stefan in a dark alley after he’s fed on and compelled a woman. She approaches him and says she’s looking for Damon. He’s all like, You don’t want to find my brother, he’s been a monster for the past few years. And she’s all, Oh I know it. He’s responsible for turning the love of my life into a Vampire Fritter. Still, Stefan isn’t going to let her kill his brother and so he attacks her, but doesn’t kill her. He just wants to scare her out of Mystic Falls.
Meanwhile Damon is hanging out with Sheriff Forbes (SIDENOTE – I disapprove of the SERIOUS lack of Caroline in this week’s episode! Where else would she be if not totally all up in her friends’ business??), trying to get historical records on Maggie’s murder. He takes one look at her murder photos and is like, Oh THAT Maggie! I remember her! (Crap.)
FLASHBACKS: Enzo is imprisoned and Maggie asks him to turn her so that the two of them can be together. Instead he removes her vervane bracelet, compels her to leave Mystic Falls and forget him. And forget that he loves her. SO MANY FEELINGS. It really is a very touching scene.
Meanwhile Enzo continues to torture Stefan, not convinced of his innocence, and Damon FINALLY shows up. He tells Enzo that he was responsible for Maggie’s death and that he made it look like a ripper murder because he wanted to punish Stefan for not looking for him all the years he was held captive. And now we get to see Enzo’s heart physically break as he loses his best friend AGAIN. The pain of being alone once again is too much for him to bear so he flips off his humanity. This should end well.
Enzo distracts Stefan and Damon by attacking Liv and then escapes, taking Elena. Stefan follows, beats the everliving shit out of Enzo, and Damon manages to get an unconscious Elena to safety. But this is just what Enzo wants because it’s not like killing Damon would really be enough. Supervillains are never satisfied with ending your life; they want to make your the rest of your days as miserable and unbearable as possible. As Stefan tries to stop Enzo from setting the two of them on fire he ends up helping Enzo kill himself. Stefan is left holding Enzo’s dead heart in his hand. And Damon loses the only friend he has.
FLASHBACKS: So flashback Damon looks older than current Damon in his youthful, rebellious leather jacket. Ian Somerhalder is 35 at this point so…yeah. We see Damon murder Maggie after she finally tracks him down under the guise of wanting to interview him about his “time at Whitmore”.
Stefan arrives at Elena’s dorm, relays what just happened and tells her that they have to lie about Enzo to Damon. As far as he’s concerned, No-Humanity-Enzo took off for the tropics, never to be heard from again. He calls Bonnie to give her a head’s up before Enzo passes through her and to make sure she knows to lie about it.
When Stefan sees Damon at home he tells him to leave Enzo be, to not try and find him but Damon isn’t hearing it. Enzo kept Damon going all those years while they were being tortured. Stefan tries to convince Damon that Enzo isn’t worth it but Damon isn’t having any of it. Enzo is the one that kept Damon from hating Stefan, that kept him from losing his humanity.
The end leaves us with Ghost Enzo threatening vengeance! I love me some vengeance but how the hell is he a ghost when he just passed over?
Moments of Hilarity:
“You know when your brother kills your only friend’s girl and you’re stuck in the middle?” – Damon
“Whoa Enzo, you have your murder voice on…” – Damon
“Is stadium seating really necessary?” – Damon
“This is fun, not caring!” – Enzo
Moments of Heart-Swelling:
“That’s the problem, Damon. I don’t want to hate you, because if I hate you then I have nothing left.” – Enzo
So what did y’all think of this week’s ep? For me it was all about Enzo and Damon/Damon and Stefan. Those were some great scenes. Are we all ready to never hear about doppelgangers and travelers EVER AGAIN?
About the Contributor:
Amanda Reid is an East Coast girl living in California who will never stop missing a true autumn. She’s a bookseller who specializes in kid and teen lit, and she bakes a damn fine pie.
