What a rebound. After the previous week’s mish-mash, The Vampire Diaries is back on target for the mid-season finale, with the Salvatores teaming up to track Julian, while Bonnie pursues her education at Whitmoor with only minor distraction from Heretic Nora, who’s lonely and not acting out for a change. Can these vamp witches actually be something besides monsters? If so it’s past time to start showing us, but maybe not quite too late.
We also get movement on the Caroline Baby Mommy front, as I guess the little tykes are actually in her supposedly non-functional uterus and instigating all sorts of cravings for (since she’s a vampire) more and fresher blood than usual. Caroline doesn’t like to be out of control, and she’s actually been mostly the most decent of vampires since Katherine killed her (barring her rager after her mother died of cancer), so this imposition on her life is freaking her out. Alaric’s trying his best to be supportive, but as Damon wonders out loud, how prepared is a functional alcoholic to really be any sort of support system?
The boys track Julian to I think a small California town (the kind of place where Christmas is mostly outdoor theater anyway), where they find to their dismay that he has old friends and a penchant for munching on Santas. The Salvatores have never much worried about how older vamps have so much more power in this world, even though they’re relatively young and vulnerable at 150 years. Their team-up powers usually serve them pretty well against their foes, but unfortunately they’ve kind of been on the outs about Lily for weeks, with Damon wanting to prolong her torture and Stefan disgusted at his unwillingness to be kind at her death.
It’s the usual Salvatore BS, and due to the actors’ chemistry it’s a pleasure to watch as always. And maybe it gives us hints as to how estranged they are going to be in the future, where Damon has staked himself to await Elena’s revival, and Stefan has renewed his first love affair with almost baby momma Valerie.
The latter is the best news of all, because despite what both of them keep saying they want, Caroline/Stefan is still not happening. Face it, immortals, he’s just not that into her.
Oh, yeah, both Stefan and Damon get sucked into the vampire hell sword, because they kidnap Mary Louise and piss off Nora, who thought she had a new BFF in Bonnie. She’s wrong to assume Bonnie was in on the vamp plans, though, but this is just not a trusting lot. Typical winter finale stuff, the eternal appeal of TVD is that it’ll all be reversed within the first few episodes beginning in January.