TV Review: The Vampire Diaries (6×18) “I Never Could Love like That”

After Nina Dobrev’s bombshell last week (that she is leaving The Vampire Diaries at the end of this season), it is hard to not go into this trying to see how they will phase her out. This is the first new episode back, after a couple weeks of hiatus, and we finally get to see the ripper duo (Caroline and Stefan) and more of Damon and Stefan’s mother, Lily.

Stefan and Caroline as a romantic couple is better off as an AU FanFiction. These two actors have great chemistry and worked amazingly as friends, but their “romance” hasn’t been well-written. This whole ripper plot line just isn’t as fantastic as it should be. Stefan without his humanity was amazing the first time and just seemed over done now. I liked seeing the bitchy side of Caroline. I loved Caroline in season one because she had a dynamic quality; you could both love and hate her all at the same time. Recently she has been on the moral high ground of boring, except for her plots with Klaus that have disappeared with the start of the spin off, The Originals. We hadn’t seen much of Tyler and Matt recently or maybe we have, but they just haven’t been all that memorable. It was good to see them interacting with Caroline. It seems like forever ago that she was with either of them and in recent episodes it is as if they completely forgot that they were ever  together. Tyler not being a werewolf has just made him boring. As for Matt, he just no longer fits into the group dynamic with his new ‘all vampires are evil’ ideology.

I liked seeing more of a background story for Enzo. Enzo has his moments. Sometimes I really enjoy him, but other times it just feels like a repetition. We hardly see a new side to Enzo. Tying Enzo to Stefan and Damon’s mother was really interesting. Enzo and Sarah Salvatore relationship just doesn’t seem to have much of a point anymore. Sarah was interesting at first and a development to the family tree, but she doesn’t serve much of a purpose anymore.

Stefan and Damon’s mother, Lily, being a vampire who was trapped in a prison world is one of the most implausible plot lines they have ever had on this show.  They never talked about her ever and it is just so out of nowhere. It was sad to see Stefan bring his humanity back for a mother who couldn’t care less about him.

The cure being back in play now has everyone figuring out how it will play out for Elena. Nina Dobrev is such a fantastic actress. When Jo told her about the baby you could see how happy Elena was for Alaric, who is like a father to her, but you could also see her envy and her sadness knowing she will never have a child of her own. I think after all of the loss Elena has faced she deserves more. Elena deals with a lot of regrets in this episode that she never really dealt with. She knows that there is an evil still lurking within her after seeing Caroline and Stefan’s carnage. A lot of the plot  lines this season haven’t focused on Elena like all of the other seasons. It was a nice change to feel more for her. You can’t help but feel bad for Damon through all of this. Yes, he is with holding the truth from Elena, but he doesn’t want to loose her to mortality. As a hardcore Delena shipper, all of this is really upsetting.

The ending of this episode makes all of the ridiculousness worth it. The idea of witch-vampires, however crazy, sounds like it will lead up to an action packed last few episodes of the season.

Episode Grade: 4/10

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW

 

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