Why’d you like this episode of The Vampire Diaries? Just because. It was nice the whole focus was on Caroline, locked away to curb her humanity-free violence, and to see the kidnappers found the nicest cage of all. They’re holed up in a purloined B&B, and they give her the plushest playtoy in the form of Stefan, trying to pretend he’s still turned off, too.
Only, Stefan is like the world’s worst actor, and is being far too nice for someone who doesn’t give a crap. Which Caroline eventually notices when she stops focusing on herself. I don’t know about these two, though. Caroline deserves better, I think. Stefan’s been self-involved for over a century. He can’t even see beyond himself anymore.
More surprising is the renewed relationship between Enzo and Lily. All she has to do is remember him and apologize for leaving him behind so long ago (turns out the night she turned him was the night the Gemini witches put her in the 1903 prison world. So she didn’t leave him on purpose), and suddenly Enzo has a role, as Lily’s ally and confidant. Poor fool is always searching.
Caroline makes a mistake she can’t fix, destroying a letter that has arrived through the post from her late mother. When Stefan telepathically shares the memory of her mom writing it (but not what it said, because he didn’t read it), Caroline realizes she’s lost her mother’s final words, and her humanity re-emerges. Now she can finally feel all she’s been avoiding, and of course it hurts so bad. Plus she killed more than a few people.
The continuing saga of Damon asking Bonnie to do things that are good for him but terrible for her recurs, but Bonnie is fed up and dares him to take the thingamabob if he really wants to, all tied up with the other thingamajig he isn’t offering Elena. He realizes he doesn’t want anything from Bonnie, finally, which is growth. But too late, because Lily realizes the absolute meanest thing she can do is sell Damon out to Elena, and she does so by literally giving Elena the thingamajig on a silver platter! Rippers are hardcore, Damon.
We’ve of course got to see Lily’s revenants and doomed Kai again before the season ends. A lot depends on how we get there, and how we say goodbye to Elena, who went through the episode being reminded again and again and again how humanity is made of win and vampires suck.