Once again, Mystic Falls had another founders celebration. This week they were celebrating Illumination Night. Apparently, they lit lanterns to tell the town that it was safe to come out at night again, after they had entombed all of the vampires. I am really sick and tired of the weekly celebrations of the former slave owners. Of course, The Vampire Diaries creators don't see it that way, but this is the truth of the matter.
It seems that when Bonnie sent Vicky back to the other side she opened up a door that allowed all of the ghosts that had unfinished business to walk the town. Because Elena was thinking of Lexy, Stefan's friend he came back and because the tomb vampires had unfinished business with the founders they came back with the aim of killing the descendants. Mason came back to find a weapon to kill Klaus in order to save Tyler.
Wrapped up in all of the ghost appearances, there was a lot of relationship angst. It started with Jeremy and Anna holding hands and then quickly escalated him to kissing her. When Elena walked in on the shared kiss, Jeremy begs her not to tell Bonnie, but Elena tells him that after they finish with the witch business that he is going to tell her himself. Of course, keeping Bonnie in the dark does not last long, and Caroline tells her about the kiss.
To break the curse, Bonnie needs to destroy the necklace and so Caroline heads over to Damon's house to search for it. When she cannot find it, Caroline tells Jeremy that Anna must have it. Anna denies taking it but but Caroline tells Jeremy to wake up and open his eyes. Enter Elena to save the day. Elena tells her Anna that Jeremy has whole life ahead of him and they she is holding him back. Jeremy tells Elena that he loves Anna. The guilt finally gets to Anna and she hands over the necklace. She says that she only took it because she does not want to be alone any longer. Jeremy tells her that just because she will loose her foothold that it doesn't mean that he will stop seeing and interacting with her and then he guesses that what she real wants is to find Pearl.
In the Salvatore dungeon, Lexy quickly puts Stefan through a detox. He begs and pleads and even goes as far as to tell Elena that he loves her, in a bid to get Elena to release him. This entire scene completely disturbed me because it was yet another example this season of the vampire diaries co-opting the experiences of real people for the sake of a plot point. Addiction destroys families and more importantly it kills. Comparing Stefan's issues with a chemical dependency, reduces the seriousness of the struggles of addicts to get clean and stay clean. Elena tells Lexy that they are going to destroy the necklace and she says that she needs more time to bring Stefan back.
Back at the Salvatore dungeon, Lexy realizes that she is out of time. Lexy tells Elena that Stefan is in there and that she has given her the tools to help save him. Elena frees Lexy by telling her that her job is done and that she can go and rest. Great, so now the ghosts are beholden to Elena as well. When Stefan asks Elena what she is going to do, sh tells him that she is going to go home and help Jeremy and be a friend to Bonnie. Isn't it nice of her to think of someone else for a change. Stefan tells her that he is glad that she has finally given up hope. Nope, he's wrong. Despite seeing Stefan kill so many people, Elena still wuvs him. Oh but wait, there's a catch. Now Elena has decided that she will not love Stefan forever, because she won't love a ghost and so she tells him to fight for her and locks him up. I don't know about you but I am pretty sure at this point that it does not matter how evil Stefan becomes, Elena will always find a reason to excuse and explain away his violence.
In the town square of Mystic Falls, Anna is wondering aimlessly when she sees Pearl. They run to each other and embrace and then disappear together. It looks like Bonnie is back to being the sole woman of colour on the show again. Yeah for keeping Mystic Falls nice and White unless Caroline is hungry, or they need some Black kids for background shots.
Unable to enter the room after Mason disappears, Damon calls Alaric. When Alaric wants to know why he called, Damon admits that he and Elena are the only two humans that he trusts. Alaric reminds him that they are no longer buddies because he killed him and Damon gives him the same half assed apology he gave Mason earlier in the bar but admits that this time he means it. Was anyone really surprised that Alaric accepted the apology? That was fan service all of the way. Since the bromance had a break down there have been many posts talking about the potential of Damon and Alaric kissing and making up. When Alaric enters the room, he sees drawing on the wall but does not what to make of it.
I found this episode to be predictable and not the least bit exciting. Lots of angst to keep the teens happy. I don't feel that this episode moved the plot along at all and was more about fan service than anything else. What were your thoughts?
