After last week’s big revelation about the fate of the doppelgangers, this week’s episode of “The Vampire Diaries” brings our story back home to Mystic Falls and ties up some loose ends in order to move forward with the rest of the season.
Somewhere outside of Mystic Falls, Damon takes Stefan on a drive to try and bring Stefan’s memory back. Inside the car, Stefan reads his past journals and acts indifferent about his former life. He doesn’t believe he is a vampire and refuses to eat the blood bags Damon gives him. Damon crashes his car on purpose in order to show Stefan how indestructible his vampire body is in order to prove they are vampires.
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At the Salvatore mansion, Elena calls Caroline to tell her how Damon and Stefan are working together to try and get Stefan’s memories back. Caroline tells Elena she has been studying up on amnesia and biology to help Stefan and get Dr. Maxfield’s attention. She wants Dr. Maxfield is notice her so she can hopefully figure out why he covered up their roommate’s death. Caroline goes to Dr. Maxfield’s lab to say hi and get Jessie, who is now her study buddy.
At the Mystic Grill, Damon and Stefan are taking shots to participate in Remembrance Day. Damon explains to Stefan the origin of the holiday and explains how vampires fit into Mystic Falls’ history. Stefan is now convinced he is a vampire, but he only wants to drink fresh blood. Damon warns Stefan about Stefan’s ripper past and explains Stefan cannot indulge on human blood because he might wake up that hunger again. Elena arrives at their table and realizes Damon hasn’t told Stefan about her. Stefan leaves to go drink at the bar and Elena tries to call Bonnie to see if she can help Stefan, but Bonnie does not pick up. Damon and Elena realize Stefan is no longer at the bar; a waitress goes to the break room and Stefan follows her. He explains his hunger for her blood is too strong and he attacks her. Damon arrives just in time to stop Stefan from killing her.
Meanwhile, Bonnie visits Jeremy and she tells him she cannot help Stefan get his memory back. Jeremy explains he is tired of lying to everyone about Bonnie’s whereabouts and wants to tell them all the truth about her death. Bonnie protests, but before they can talk anymore Matt calls Jeremy. He tells Jeremy he knows something is wrong with him. He keeps waking up in odd places and also found an old knife on him when he woke up last. In order to figure out how he keeps winding up in odd places, Matt has rigged video cameras around his house so he can video tape the times he blacks out. He knows Nadia did something to him but he doesn’t know what. He thinks it has something to do with Silas not being able to compel him, and explains to Jeremy he really needs Bonnie’s help.
Damon takes Stefan and Elena to the family crypt in order to see if it helps Stefan’s memory. Damon gets an urgent text message from Jeremy and leaves Elena and Stefan together to go help Jeremy. Stefan asks Elena about her family history, and Elena tells Stefan about all of the loss she has experienced in the last three years. Stefan is clearly impressed and attracted to Elena while she relives the past, and notes that the two of them must be bonded by death. Elena takes Stefan where they first met at the high school and tries to jog his memory. Stefan realizes he and Elena dated and wants to know why they broke up. She says it was her fault because becoming a vampire changed her.
At the Remembrance Day event in the cemetery, Caroline and Jessie are studying. Jessie wants to know why Caroline brought him to Mystic Falls and where her boyfriend is. She explains she does not know where Tyler is and that she simply wanted to hang out with Jessie. Jessie tricks Caroline and manages to get a kiss, but Caroline stops and goes back to their studying.
Damon arrives at his mansion and asks Jeremy what is so urgent. Despite Bonnie’s protests, Jeremy tells Damon Bonnie is dead. He explains Bonnie gave up her life in order to bring Jeremy back from the dead so that Elena would have at least one family member in her life. Damon hugs Jeremy and is visibly upset, and realizes this news will crush Elena.
Elena takes Stefan to the bridge where her family died and where Stefan saved her. It is also the same bridge where she died and became a vampire. Stefan tells Elena his urge to feed on human blood leaves while he is with Elena. Stefan goes in to kiss Elena, and she stops him from kissing her, explaining she is with Damon now. Upset about this news, Stefan tells Elena his hunger is back and he abruptly leaves.
Back at the Lockwood mansion, Matt wakes up on his couch and goes to his computer to see what he did while asleep. On the videotape, he sees his eyes turn black and then he rises from the couch and approaches the video camera. The person inside Matt, Gregor, talks to the camera and explains Matt needs to protect the blade that he found on his person. Gregor tells Matt his friends might come after that blade and that he must do everything he can to protect it, or else he will be killed.
At the cemetery, Elena calls Damon and tells him Stefan is gone. At the Remembrance Day party, Stefan is drinking and Caroline finds him. Stefan tells Caroline he is very hungry and about to feed like crazy. Jessie interrupts them and, while Stefan threatens Jessie, Caroline compels him to leave. Stefan leaves Caroline and finds Jessie in a crypt and bites his neck. Jessie is terrified and begs Stefan to let him go. Stefan goes in to attack Jessie again and Caroline stops Stefan just in time. Stefan leaves, no longer hungry, and Caroline has Jessie feed on her blood in order to save him.
Damon and Elena arrive back home and find Stefan burning all of his journals. He tells them he does not want to be the person in the journals anymore, and leaves the mansion for good. Elena says she needs Bonnie so that she can help Stefan, and Damon breaks the news to Elena and explains Bonnie cannot help Stefan because she is dead.
The next morning, Caroline finds Stefan in the crypt. Caroline tells Stefan Bonnie is dead, knowing very well Stefan has no idea who Bonnie is. Regardless, Stefan tries to comfort Caroline and tells her he will be there for her. Caroline says she wishes she could trade places with Stefan so she didn’t have to have feelings of loss and sadness.
In the woods, Damon, Elena, Caroline, Matt, and Jeremy gather together to hold a memorial for Bonnie. They each place an item that reminds them of Bonnie on a tree stump, and Jeremy rings the remembrance bell in Bonnie’s honor. Through Jeremy, Bonnie tells everyone she is still there for them. Before the memorial is over, Tyler arrives and pays his respects.
The episode ends back at the University. Jessie is in Dr. Maxfield’s lab and explains he does not remember much of the night before. He thinks he must have partied too hard, but Dr. Maxfield tells Jessie he has vampire blood in his system and was likely compelled to forget the events from the night before. Dr. Maxfield takes Jessie’s arm and injects something into him, killing Jessie and thus turning him into a vampire.
And finally the series has dealt with Bonnie’s death and we can move forward. I was wondering how long they were going to drag that story on because it was really serving no purpose to the overall plot. It remains to be seen if Bonnie will continue to be on the show, but it would only makes sense to keep her if somehow they could bring her back alive. The writers created a very touching tribute to Bonnie and personally I think it would be safe to move on without her character. Now that we have Qetsiyah in the mix there really is no need for another witch.
It was really great but tragic to basically watch Stefan fall right back in love with Elena, and it was pretty clear Elena’s feelings for Stefan were emerging again as well. The destiny of the doppelgangers is going to throw some interesting curves in the love triangle between Elena, Damon and Stefan, and I predict Elena will go back to Stefan by the end of the season. It was clear that Elena still has strong feelings for Stefan, and seeing Stefan naive and vulnerable clearly reminded Elena of the days when they first fell in love.
Lastly, it seems we have a Frankenstein-like storyline emerging, which is so intriguing. How does Dr. Maxfield know about vampires and why does he want to create them? Is he going to experiment on Jessie and will the rest of our gang help Jessie? We will have to wait until next week to find out!