About:
Previously: We’re introduced to The Armory (hoarders of all things supernatural), Bonnie chops off Enzo’s hand to save Damon but ends up in the hospital anyway (THANKS TYLER), Stefan finds some help down in New Orleans, and Klaus and Caroline TALK ON THE PHONE. It was pure magic.
What Went Down
Stefan is running out of Freya’s Magical Witchy Herb Paste, and so he and Valerie are on the road again, not just to get a headstart on Rayna, but because they’re looking for the witches’ equivalent of Home Depot; a place where the herbs that Valerie needs to cloak Stefan from Rayna for good are grown. When they arrive they’re knocked out by someone that IMBD lists as Scabbed Woman (LULZ). Turns out that someone ELSE is ahead of our friends because the herb they need has been snatched. Scabbed Woman explains that she tried to fend them off but got blasted as a result. (I mean, fix yourself up a healing balm or SOMEthing, lady. Those burns are going to leave scars.)
Meanwhile Bonnie and Damon are on opposing sides of how to take down Rayna Cruz; Bonnie wants to listen to Enzo’s pleas to return to The Armory, believing that they hold more information on Rayna than anyone else (true, true) but Damon doesn’t trust them. Officer Matt Donovan alerts Damon to Rayna’s presence in Mystic Falls when she destroys a parcel of vamps while he and Officer Penny are out on Vamp Patrol. She announces that she’s looking for Stefan Salvatore, and for now Matt is still looking out for Stefan. Damon shows up, does his charming Damon-y thing and kills Rayna. Oh – and he cuts her into pieces and throws her in a well. (I mean was that TOTALLY necessary??) She regenerates (because shaman magic is real AF) and Damon sighs. A brother’s work is never done.
Over at The Armory Bonnie gets to see their Rayna Cruz exhibit, including all of the shamans linked to her resurrections. What Damon DOESN’T know is that each time she comes back to life, not only is she stronger, but when she dies for good on death #9 she’ll take ALL marked vampires with her…which means Stefan will also die! TWIST. Bonnie tells Damon and he frantically digs up Rayna, saving her in the nick of time. He’s only saved by The Armory, who’ve sent out a posse armed with tranq guns. Rayna is down and taken off to (I’m assuming) their supernatural prison.
And then all the really terrible stuff happens: Stefan finally realizes that Caroline is never going to leave those babies for him, and he can’t be with her without putting her (and them) at risk; he doesn’t think The Armory will hold Rayna and he’s probably right. Damon decides to lie in a coffin for 60 years until Elena wakes up (due to Bonnie’s DEATH), thereby breaking Bonnie’s heart, and Matt is convinced by Penny that he needs to Take A Stand and so he threatens Stefan, telling him to leave town. It’s all kinds of awful for our friends.
Holy CRAP
- Stefan is linked to Rayna as long as he has that scar, and we know it’s not going anywhere because of the flash forwards. CONUNDRUM!
- It looks like this episode has finally brought us three years into the future. You know, where all of our friends are scattered to the four corners of the earth and we’re left with broken hearts. No big deal.
- The love of Rayna’s life was a vampire…that she KILLED? DO TELL.
- Phoenix Sword scars can be transferred. I mean, why didn’t she drop that knowledge THREE YEARS AGO?
Vamp of the Week: Stefan Salvatore
No one had it rougher than Stefan this week and he still got through it with his dignity (and hair) intact. Damon left him, Matt told him to leave town, the herbs he needs to stay off Rayna’s radar have been taken, AND Caroline is living that domestic life with Alaric and the twins. And it’s a life he can never share with her. I never thought I’d say this but thank God for Valerie. Our Stefan doesn’t do well when he’s alone.
Hero Hair/Nefarious Grin
Hero Hair: To be clear I am only giving Damon’s hair a nod this week because of the lengths he went to to keep Stefan alive. OTHER choices he made are decidedly LESS heroic.
Nefarious Grin: I am SO conflicted, y’all. On one hand I totally understand how Matt Donovan is just DONE with all of this vampire nonsense; he’s lost family, friends, colleauges, and now his TOWN because of vampires, but on the other hand people who would die for him? Some of them are vampires too. I audibly groaned when he showed up to Chez Salvatore and told Stefan to leave town. I thought you were loyal, Matt. I didn’t think Officer Penny could come in with her shiny hair and her talk of “you need to take a stand” and sway you SO easily to this black and white way of thinking. It’s hard living in the grey, Matt, but it’s where more truth resides than not. Pull yourself together.
Sound Bites
Stefan: “If there is even a fraction of you that cares about me, do not walk out that door.”
Damon: “Save a bottle of that good bourbon for me, brother. We’re gonna need to sort all this out in about sixty years.” Elena is NOT going to approve of this course of action.
Bonnie: “Are we friends? I know why you wanted to do this in a letter. So you could desiccate in peace imagining whatever reaction you wanted. Me reading it and thinking “huh, I’m really gonna miss him.” Well too bad. That’s not my reaction. This is. I’m not okay with this decision. I’m not okay with you choosing yourself. And I’m not okay with never seeing you, my best friend, ever again. This hurts me. This hurts.” Damon Salvatore: Head of Bad Decisions.
Burning Questions
- Who burned that poor woman and snatched up all of the herbs that Stefan needs? The Armory? What’s their endgame?
- How does Bonnie Bennett end up in REHAB in the future? Oh Bon-Bon. #sadface
- What isn’t Alex (I think that’s her name?) St. West telling Enzo? I’m thinking HELLA STUFF. (She’s gonna try and come for Bonnie and sh*t is going to get VERY VERY REAL.)
- Can the Phoenix Sword be destroyed? This seems like a logical step forward.
- Now that we’re three years in the future WHAT NOW? And is is just me or does Future Damon seem EXTRA cray? And will we finally get to see Bonnie and Enzo get it on??
So much has happened so come dish with me in the comments! #BEnzoForever
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.
