Well the time has finally come. We had to say farewell TVD. 171 episodes, 8 seasons and it all came down to this. From the books of L.J. Smith came the TV show that rocked our worlds, took us on a wild roller coaster and changed our lives. The stock of Kleenex has to be through the roof after this epic finale full of magic, love, reunions, loss and the ultimate sacrifice. The cast and crew did a tremendous job giving fans the thank you and closure that we all had hoped for.

The final episode of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ kicked off with Bonnie momentarily dying due to magic overload. She spent a brief time in the afterlife where she was greeted by Elena. Once Elena realized Bonnie had died she immediately wanted her to go back to living. “You’re supposed to be old”. Bonnie reassured Elena that she was ready to die. She desperately wanted to be with Enzo.

Enzo then arrived and told Bonnie it wasn’t her time to die and forced her back into the land of the living where she was greeted by Caroline and Stefan. Her best friend Damon was busy killing Vicki in hopes of stopping her from ringing the bell. After killing her twice he tells Matt that he must convince her to stop ringing the bell. Unfortunately Matt was unsuccessful and initiated a town evacuation.

Damon and Stefan then returned to the Salvatore mansion where they were greeted by Katherine pretending to be Elena. Her short rouse didn’t last long. The Queen of Hell informed the Salvatore brothers that she had taken Elena’s body. Where? “That’s for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot.” Stealing a line right out of Damon’s playbook.

Turns out Kitty-Kat had Cade wrapped around her finger the whole time. Everything that happened to them was a part of her giant scheme. The race to find Elena before the town was set ablaze was on. Thankfully Caroline stayed behind to help Stefan even though Alaric, the girls and Bonnie made an escape to the armory. Stefan eventually sent Caroline away and then found Elena in the boiler room of Mystic Falls high school.

Unfortunately she was trapped in the school thanks to a spell cast from Kai. His final parting gift. With Bonnie too far away to help, it seemed like Damon and Elena were fated to die together along with the town of Mystic Falls. At the armory Bonnie figured out a way to save Mystic Falls, Elena and one of the Salvatore brothers. She sent Ric, the girls and Caroline away just in case her plan didn’t work out. Bonnie drew the flames of the hellfire through the tunnels of the armory in the most epic fashion thanks to her ancestors.

Making sure Katherine died and stayed that way, Damon compelled Stefan (or so we thought) to leave the tunnels and he would stay behind to stab Katherine with the bone dagger and die along with her. Unfortunately for Damon, Stefan had been dosing vervain and returned to take his brother’s place after he took his own blood and injected it into Damon. Thus, giving him the cure and making him human. Stefan was going to die quickly after removing the cure from his body anyway and wanted to be sure that his brother got to the live the human life he deserved. The life that he took away from him so long ago.

Before Stefan went to the afterlife Caroline called him and said she understood his decision and that she would love him forever. Cue the water works that didn’t stop until the very end. Stefan also made a quick stop to visit Elena before departing from this world for good.

He tells Elena that Damon is the better man and then whispers something else in her ear. Stefan then opened the doors and descended into the afterlife where he was greeted by his red car and his best friend Lexi.

Bonnie, the true hero of this episode, not only stopped the town from burning down but also figured out how to break the sleeping curse and Elena finally woke up. Elena reunited with Damon and Caroline at Stefan’s grave. Elena then told Caroline that Stefan got her message and that he will love her forever too. The group then left trinkets on Stefan’s grave; Damon leaving his daylight ring.

We then jumped into the distant future and learned how everyone’s lives played out:

• Matt is still sheriff and is considering running for mayor.
• Vicki found Tyler in the afterlife

• Bonnie traveled the world
• Caroline and Ric opened their school for gifted children at the Salvatore Mansion that was donated to them by Damon
• Caroline also received a generous 3 million dollar donation from Klaus and a letter that read:

“Dear Caroline, I have often imagined the paths your life might take, but your chosen future is more noble than I ever fathomed. Please accept this contribution to your virtuous cause. I do look forward to thanking you in person, someday. However long it takes. Yours, Klaus.”

Does this mean we will be seeing Caroline in NOLA?

• Jeremy became a teacher at the Salvatore Boarding School
• Jodi found peace
• Liz found peace
• Elena became a doctor
• Damon rebuilt the Gilbert house for her
• Damon and Elena got married (showed by the engagement and wedding band on her finger)
• Stefan achieved piece

The final moments of the series finale showed Elena and Damon’s afterlife as well. Elena was reunited with her mother, father, Aunt Jenna and Uncle John while Damon was reunited with Stefan who was patiently waiting at the Salvatore Mansion. We once again heard the first line Damon ever uttered to Stefan in the pilot; “Hello Brother”.  After a long life each of our beloved characters were reunited with each other once again. They got their promise of peace.

Farewell TVD. The finale most definitely was epic, beautiful and satisfying.

Need more vampire’s in your life? ‘The Vampire Diaries’ spinoff show ‘The Originals’ premieres Friday March 17^th at 9/8c on The CW.

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The dilemma between the brothers Salvatore continued in Friday’s (January 27^th) episode. To quickly recap… Episode 9 of The Vampire Diaries left us with the following:

• Damon can push Sybil out of his mind
• Matt’s family is the only family who can ring the bell
• Caroline broke off her engagement with Stefan even after he gave her the striker
• Sybil gave Damon his memories and humanity back
• Bonnie wants to give Enzo the cure

Episode 10 of The Vampire Diaries picked back up on the Salvatore brother’s journey to hell (and hopefully back). The episode kicks off with Damon in a comatose state. The elder Salvatore believes he is physically in hell, forcing Bonnie and Caroline to team up with Sybil in order to get inside Damon’s subconscious.

Once inside Damon’s mind Bonnie and Caroline are greeted by many familiar faces including: Henry (Damon’s civil war buddy that he killed), Vicki Donovan (Matt’s sister who Damon also killed) and Sherriff Forbes (Damon’s best friend whom he DID NOT kill). Damon is hiding within his own mind and reliving his mistakes.

Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan continues his murderous spree and kills Violet not even one day after he turned her into a vampire, while Matt and his dad weld the bell together.

Inside Damon’s mind Caroline encounters her mother who then takes her hostage and tortures her for being a vampire. Caroline only gets her mother to stop torturing her when she admits to Sherriff Forbes that she has forgiven Damon for all that he has done because he was there for her when she died. He was the only one who truly understood what it was like to lose her. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to wake him up.

This left the job to Bonnie who visited her Grams for some help. Bonnie is unsuccessful in finding Damon but runs into Tyler Lockwood. She does however figure out that Damon needs Stefan in order to wake up.

In the tower in the Mystic Falls Town Center Seline tells Matt that he must ring the bell 12 times in order to kill Sybil. Once done a hell fire will unleash and wipe out everything in its path, including the town of Mystic Falls and it inhabitants. This will also allow Cade to come to Earth. Stefan also learns of this plot and compels Matt to ring the bell unless he can forgive Damon for killing Vicki. This forces Matt and his dad to get into a fist fight in order to stop him from ringing the bell. When that doesn’t work Matt tells his dad to kill him in order to save the town.

Stefan then enters Damon’s subconscious and the elder Salvatore finally emerges. Turns out Damon wanted to tell Stefan that he forgives him for turning him into a vampire centuries ago and that he will stop blaming him for all his mistakes. This only enrages Stefan and makes him tell Damon about the town’s impending doom.

This is enough to wake Damon up. Once he emerges Damon kills Stefan and comes to Matt’s rescue before Matt’s dad is forced to kill his own son. After Matt wakes up from a concussion after Damon smashed his head into the bell, Damon apologizes to Matt for killing his sister Vicki. Matt isn’t there yet but he says if Damon keeps heading down this path he may eventually get there. He also let’s Damon know he is going to be the town Sherriff again.

Damon also visits Bonnie and finally let’s her know what he wrote in his letter. In one of the most beautiful scenes of the night, he promises Bonnie that he will never leave her again.

As Damon begins his own journey to redemption, Caroline forces Stefan down his by tying him up in the basement. She is determined to get his humanity back even if it takes Damon and not her, to do it.

Back at a diner, Sybil and Seline try to make amends but fail to do so. As they begin to bicker Cade emerges and kills them by burning them alive. Apparently 11 strikes allows him to surface on Earth. Mystic Falls is in for some hellish trouble.

Next Week:

Cade tells Damon to kill 100 evil strangers or kill Caroline aka the love of Stefan’s life

Caroline may become a martyr

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Friday’s (December 2^nd) episode of The Vampire Diaries “Detoured on Some Random Backwoods Path to Hell”, brought Cade to Earth in some crappy backwoods motel. The episode, directed by Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore), not only tested the relationship between Stefan and Damon but those of Ric and Caroline, Caroline and Stefan and Ric and Damon as well.

In the last episode, Seline took the twins and headed off to summon Cade. In Friday’s episode Ric was finally able to get a hold of her. After getting nowhere with her, a violent threat seemed to be his only option. However, threating to kill Seline after he got his kids back really didn’t faze her. She does work for Satan after all. Unfortunately for Seline, Ric and Caroline weren’t the only ones hot on her trail.

Matt, Stefan, Bonnie and Enzo were all working together to find the twins and bring them home. Stefan was left behind with the ring he gave Caroline as Caroline did not want him to interfere if she was forced to kill Damon in order to save her kids. Caroline didn’t want any distractions that could cause her to lose the twins again or worse, get them killed.

Before anyone else can find the kidnapping Seline, Damon and Sybil find her and the twins in a dinner out in the middle of nowhere. It is then that we learn Seline’s plans for the twins; she wants to give them to Cade in exchange for her and Sybil’s freedom. Seline sees this as a way of atoning for her sin of making Cade bring her sister back to life and really giving her no choice but to serve him. Either she lives and is an immortal slave or she dies. Anyone would choose to live under those circumstances. No one ever really wants to die.

Well maybe except Enzo who is actually dying from the inside out via Sybil’s subconscious mind torture. Hoping to ease his pain, Bonnie asks Stefan to go into Enzo’s subconscious (something he has never done before). Inside Enzo’s mind Sybil is gutting him for breaking her hold yet again and turning back on his humanity. However, all was not lost. Thanks to Enzo, Stefan was able to see that Sybil was at a diner with Seline, The Twins and Damon. Stefan immediately calls Ric and tells him what he found. Unfortunately he can’t give him the exact location so Ric tells Stefan to go back into Enzo’s mind no matter the cost. He doesn’t care if it kills Enzo. He needs to find his kids and get them away from Seline.

Ric and Caroline had no luck in the beginning of this episode. When they finally get the location and arrive at the diner they discover that Seline, The Twins, Damon and Sybil have escaped.

As their escape vehicle barrels down the road, Damon decides that there is no better time to pick Seline’s brain. We then learn exactly what it takes to serve Cade. One must be supernatural and serve him of their own free will. Damon then criticizes Seline for taking the 4 year old twins. However, she believes she can convince them to serve Cade and save herself from rotting in hell. Apparently hell isn’t a one way ticket if you have the right exchange.

Seline’s escape is cut short when they run into a traffic stop. The officer is stopping all vehicles on the road looking for the twins. Seline uses her siren powers to trick the cop but one of the twins (Josie or Lizzie) isn’t having it. She will not be forced to sleep and she attacks Sybil raising the cop’s suspicion. This forces Sybil to attack and kill the cop to evade the groups’ capture.

A little while later the group arrives at a sketchy motel. Damon, fed up with how slow things are progressing, decides to take charge and gathers everything they need to summon Cade; a body of water and a couple human bodies. Seline is angered by this as she claims the twins won’t be ready for another decade or so. Unbeknownst to her Damon has a plan. He wants to strike a deal with Cade and asks Sybil for her help in doing so.

Stefan goes back into a now unconscious Enzo’s mind hoping to figure out where Seline went. This time Sybil is trying to kill Enzo. Stefan is forced to participate in this subconscious world and grabs Sybil by the throat. She tells him that Damon and she have an offer he can’t refuse but if he wants that offer and her to stop hurting Enzo, he has to come alone to the motel.

The only way Stefan could go to the motel alone was if he gave Ric and Caroline the wrong address. When the two arrive at the incorrect hotel it stirs up some crazy emotions from Ric. He tells Caroline that he is taking the girls away from her and everyone else. Danger and darkness follow her and he doesn’t want to subject his (and Jo’s) kids to that.

Stefan arrives at the right motel and is greeted by a trap setup by Sybil; a test to make sure he is serious about taking the deal. Sybil sirened all the motel members to attack him hoping to force him into killing one of them and make him dark. She wants to make sure Stefan has blood on his hands. That’s how Cade likes them best.

Cade arrives and Stefan is forced to kill one of the motel guests in order to save his life. As Damon watches his brother kill the man with a broken baseball bat, he tells Stefan about his deal and how he can get the twins back.

Back at the pool where Cade emerged Seline is trying to sell the idea of the twins to him. He is intrigued but gets a better deal when Sybil offers the immortal Salvatore brothers instead; in order to save the twins Stefan agreed to join Damon in serving Cade. The twins are then reunited with Caroline and Ric. Shortly after the reunion Ric apologizes to Caroline for what he said. Caroline tells him that he was right but to never throw the fact that she isn’t the twins’ biological mother in her face ever again. She then tells Ric to take the twins away from her and Mystic Falls until this is all over. That is the only way they can protect them.

Back at the Salvatore mansion Caroline gives Stefan an apology of her own. She places his ring back on her finger and learns exactly what he had to sacrifice in order to save her kids. Damon finally gave Stefan what he promised back in season one; an eternity of misery. However, Stefan struck a deal with Cade. He gets to spend his last remaining 24 hours of freedom with Caroline. Will they get married in that 24 hour period or is this the end of Steroline?

Speaking of keeping promises, Sybil finally got her revenge on Seline. Turns out the deal Sybil made only saved herself from hell not Seline. Seline will still have to suffer in hell and atone for her sins while Sybil stays out of hell, immortal and with all her powers. She isn’t finished with the game she is playing yet. Just what does this siren have in store?

At the end of the hour Matt finally decided it was time to fight back. He and Ric find Damon, shoot him and rough him up a bit before killing him. As Ric stabs Damon with a stake he says this is for Tyler.

Next Week:

A holiday dinner for the ages

Damon is alive (how?) and Stefan is dead!

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This week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries centered on the funeral of what was the last remaining Lockwood. Tyler’s fate was sealed when he crossed Damon’s path on his way back to his home, Mystic Falls. “Coming Home Was A Mistake” finally revealed why Tyler came back to the home he left behind months ago.

As everyone is reeling from the news that Damon murdered Tyler, Bonnie has Enzo captive in the cabin they lived in. She is trying to get him to turn his humanity switch back on. While in her custody, Enzo tries to escape but is unable to do so as Bonnie has set up a powerful barrier spell. She used the flame of imprisonment to lock Enzo inside the cabin. Only Bonnie can come and go as she pleases as she is the one who lit the flame. She is also the only one who can put it out and won’t do so until Enzo turns back on his switch.

Back at the armory Ric finally realized that Georgie has gone missing. He asks Sybil if she knows where she is and doesn’t get anything from her. He then has his intern do research on her whereabouts while he attends Tyler’s funeral.

At Tyler’s funeral Stefan, Ric, Caroline and Matt are all greeted by Damon who has dug graves for everyone promising to bury them all if they don’t back off. Not taking his threats seriously, Stefan tries to talk him down. This only infuriates him even more. He takes out his anger on Matt and force feeds him some of his blood, threating to kill him and turn him if anyone takes a step closer. The group finally gets the message and Damon releases Matt then parts ways.

Out of ideas Bonnie turns to Caroline for help with Enzo. Caroline tells Bonnie that she was able to flip on her switch by dealing with her biggest fear head on.

Stefan comes up with a plan of his own and tells Caroline and Ric that they have to put Damon down in order to save him from himself. This is only a temporary fix until they can figure out how to break Damon from Sybil’s spell.

Speaking of Damon and Sybil…. Damon pays a visit to our resident siren. Turns out he felt something when he killed Tyler which means he isn’t fully under Sybil’s control. There is still hope! However, that doesn’t mean Sybil will stop trying to rope him in. She tries to play on Damon’s emotions and asks him how Elena would feel about this in hopes to erase his emotional past. When that doesn’t work she threatens him with Cade. Sybil then tells Damon to go find his brother and see if he still wants to feel any human emotion after seeing the look on his face. She knows that patching things up with Stefan means Damon will have to feel loads of pain. Pain from killing Tyler and hurting his friends, pain from the disappointment he knows Elena would feel because of what he has done and much, much more.

Also trying to patch things up were Matt and his Dad. They were beginning to box up Tyler’s things when Matt lays into his Dad about the struggles he dealt with growing up; the time his Dad missed after he left home. A box was then delivered to Tyler’s home for Matt. A guy from the armory dropped it off and enclosed was a letter from Tyler asking for Matt to help him find someone. That someone being Seline. Turns out Tyler was helping Virginia St. John find the sirens and he wants Matt to finish the job. Inside the box were pictures of Seline, the second siren everyone is looking for.

Seline being her ever-so-helpful/deceitful self takes the twins to the carnival in town and sirens her way to winning the girls a gold fish. She makes sure it is a dead one so that they can “bury” it at home. Little do they know that they will be “burying” Georgie as well. Seline takes the twins to a warehouse and begins to tell them the story of Cade. She then has the twins call to Cade and set the gold fish and Georgie’s body on fire using some of Seline’s magic.

Speaking of fires… Bonnie uses gasoline to light the cabin on fire. She is using Enzo’s fear of abandonment against him. She refuses to leave the blazing home until he turns his switch back on. Even if that means she dies in the process. Bonnie passes out from smoke inhalation and possibly carbon monoxide poisoning. This is enough for Enzo to turn his switch back on and toss Bonnie outside into the fresh air. When she comes to Enzo is still burning in the cabin. Not willing to lose him again she dashes inside and puts out the flame of imprisonment with her hand. Enzo scoops her up and they escape before the home comes down. Benzo forever!

The Salvatore brother relationship may not last as long as Bonnie and Enzo, especially after Stefan was able to grab Stefan at the carnival. Well Caroline actually shot him with vervain darts. Same difference. They are going to be husband and wife soon enough and they can share the victory, however short-lived it is.

Unfortunately for Stefan and the rest of the gang, Sybil was able to break free from her chamber and leave the armory with the pitchfork. She then heads to Damon and breaks him free from his coffin and chains. He is completely hers now.

This all happens while they have a memorial service for Tyler. This time Enzo and Bonnie join Stefan, Caroline, Matt and Ric. Stefan then turns on the carnival rides on in order to show the group that they need to remember to live. We then hear Ric writing a diary entry to Elena.

Matt and Caroline also have a cute moment together. He asks how the girls are and she shows him pictures. One of the pictures is of the twins with their nanny Seline. Matt tells Caroline about Seline being the second siren and tells her and Ric to rush home. Unfortunately the twins are not there when they arrive. Seline has taken them.

Next Episode (Friday December 2^nd):

Cade comes out to play

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In “You Decided I Was Worth Saving” Sybil continued to infiltrate Damon’s mind and change his memories of Elena. The first act of the episode kicked off with a flashback to the day Elena’s parents died. In this rendition all of the Gilbert’s including Elena die in the accident off Wickery Bridge. Sybil asks Damon if he knew Elena, he says he never met her. All memory of his beloved Elena has been erased. Knowing that she has hooked her claws into Damon, she asks him to kill Bonnie. More trouble in paradise for Benzo.

Unaware she is being hunted Bonnie and Caroline celebrate Caroline’s engagement to Stefan. Bonnie pops a bottle of champagne, finds Caroline’s old wedding book and takes her wedding dress shopping. Caroline is getting the June wedding she always dreamed of. As the duo look at dresses while Panic at the Disco’s Death of a Bachelor plays in the background, Damon enters the shop and quickly severs the celebration. Bonnie is grabbed by Damon but Caroline comes to her rescue, injuring Damon and allowing the two of them to escape.

Later in the episode Sybil learns about Damon and Bonnie’s relationship. She realizes that is the last piece of the puzzle; the final bit of humanity holding him back. She then penetrates those memories and erases Bonnie from Damon’s mind. Realizing he is in trouble Damon calls on Stefan for help. He has Enzo in his trunk, tied up and unconscious. This leaves Sybil to do her own bidding. She arrives at the Salvatore mansion and is waiting to meet Bonnie and Caroline. Sybil wants to have a heart-to-heart, although her definition of a heart-to-heart is a little skewed. She wants to make Bonnie choose between two literal hearts. Damon or Enzo. One lives and one dies spending an eternity in darkness, pain and emotional torment. Unfortunately for Sybil, Bonnie won’t play her game. However she does have a plan b.

12 minutes from the moment she arrives Damon and Enzo will fight to the death. If Bonnie doesn’t choose they will figure it out themselves. We then learn that Damon asked for Stefan’s help in killing Enzo. He knows that in the end Stefan will choose to save him over Enzo. In route to the battle, Bonnie sends Sybil flying through the windshield (always wear a seatbelt people) and races to save Enzo. Stefan is unsuccessfully trying to tear Damon and Enzo apart. Enzo goes in for the kill and Stefan protects his brother. He is forced to attack Enzo but Caroline and Bonnie arrive in time to stop him. Damon then snaps Caroline’s neck and Enzo does the same to Stefan.

Bonnie pleads with Damon to fight through Sybil’s spell and not kill Enzo to no avail. Sybil arrives and the only way Bonnie can save Enzo is by choosing him, thus completely demolishing her relationship with Damon. This does not satisfy Sybil and she turns the tables once again. She will now have Damon kill Bonnie unless Enzo turns off his humanity. Wanting to save the love of his life, Enzo flips off his humanity switch trusting that Bonnie will be able to turn it back on down the line. Long live Benzo!

You can’t trust Sybil as far as you can throw her. As soon as Enzo flips his switch she commands Damon to kill Bonnie giving her a 10 second head start. Ric to the rescue! Using the pitch fork he and Georgie uncovered, Ric is able to debilitate Sybil and they capture her. However, she is still able to control her minions. She sends Damon on a mission to change hearts and minds by destroying his relationships. Poor Tyler Lockwood. He comes back to town, sporting some scruff, and is torn to pieces by Damon. There may be no coming back from this, although Ric believes that they can bring him back. One can only hope.

Next Week:

Sybil has a sister

Stefan is vervained

Stefan and Sybil meet face to face

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