The slow burn of their interactions has gone from feeling slightly sluggish and directionless to quite poignant and charming, and I can't wait to see what happens next with these two. Also, Caroline's sarcastic quip that maybe picking fights in a bar would be a better way to spend her time, referencing Stefan's behavior earlier in the season, was completely hilarious. Their silly scuffle and subsequent fall to the ground beside each other felt like a much-deserved respite from all of their woes, and I don't know if we've ever seen Stefan so relaxed and open with another character, which is especially striking after how closed off he started the season. I loved Stefan's laid-back, careless attitude, put on to push Caroline to confront her true feelings of anger and helplessness, and even to encourage her to take those emotions out on him a little if that's what it would take to make her feel better. Plus, the scene out in the woods, with Stefan mocking Caroline as she searched for the lost toy, was my favorite of the "Steroline" interactions we've seen this season. After all of her turmoil last week, and despite her ongoing sadness over Liz's impending demise, it was delightful to see Caroline get a minute to breathe and come to peace with how she feels. Cuddles is such a wonderful and funny plot device, and never more so than in this episode, where Caroline's feverish attempt to dig up the original version of the bear (buried years ago during a childhood spat with Bonnie) brought her even closer to Stefan. Cuddles, my favorite minor character on the show. However, seeing her drive off with a new sense of purpose was certainly heartening. I will admit that as the end of the episode loomed and Bonnie clearly wasn't getting out this week, again, it was a bit frustrating. While I've always found him a problematic character, it's nice to see Jeremy going out on a high note since he'll soon be off to art school (which still can't happen soon enough for moi.haha). In this excruciatingly suspenseful and highly emotional scene, Jeremy probably had his single most useful and significant moment in.well.maybe ever. ![]() Thank goodness that Jeremy was miraculously able to open the garage door. But since Bonnie was already weakened by then, she needed an assist rather desperately. ![]() Luckily, she happened to remember that Grams told her to stay strong, which was enough to make her resolve to survive despite her suffering. Kat Graham's performance was lovely and heartbreaking as Bonnie recorded a video describing the reasons why she could no longer bear to live in the prison world. After a failed first attempt to get through to Bonnie and instill some hope (plus Damon's brainstorm about a magical source in Novia Scotia that could hold the key to Bonnie's freedom), Jeremy was able to go back later right as Bonnie was huddled in the garage with the engine running, seconds from death. That wasn't doing much good, since Bon Bon was drinking The Salvatore's Oldest Bourbon and getting ready to commit suicide (!!). Kai worked out a spell that let him visit Bonnie in the prison world, along with Damon, Elena, and Jeremy, but they appeared as ghostly figures invisible to Bonnie. ![]() On the other hand, however, this turn of events was both unstoppably hilarious in its perverse absurdity and pretty darn helpful, since we really needed the characters to get a new shot at saving Bonnie ( without Kai actively working to stop her from being rescued from 1994-land). I can't expect him to go much longer falling prey to feelings like sympathy or guilt, not if he's going to keep being this season's big bad. On the one hand, this humorous and brisk unveiling of Kai's new inner struggle might be poking a few holes in our perception of his threat level. Despite his newfound immense power, Kai was practically pacing the floor worrying about what he'd done to his sisters and even feeling bad for Bonnie when Damon described her ordeal. After killing his brother during their merge last week, Kai is now saddled with pesky and persistent urges from Luke's better nature. "I like being a sociopath, ya know? I'm not burned by things like guilt or love." I was surprised by the quick, almost nonchalant way that the effect of the merge on Kai was explored. While my only caveat is the weak and pointless Enzo storyline, when it comes to the main plots of the show, such as Bonnie's intense and admirable struggle, Kai's strange new issues, or the romantic overtones with Stefan and Caroline as well as Damon and Elena, I have zero complaints. We've had two almost thoroughly excellent TVD episodes in a row now, and it's an exciting trend I hope will continue.
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