Things are picking up, if in unpredictable directions and without very clear agendas yet. Lots of plans afoot. The Tuning Fork from Hell seems easy enough of Sybil to thwart, and Selene doesn’t seem worried about it at all, but the two sister sirens are both serving Cade in their own ways. Sybil’s involves getting Damon to keep his humanity switch locked down (ever wonder if vampires even have one of those, or if instead they use it as an excuse to indulge the mad power fantasies their supernatural powers make possible?), which apparently takes more than just rewiring his subconscious to forget Elena.
But why does she need him? Why can’t she procure for herself? And what’s Selene trying to do with Alaric’s daughters? They absorb magic, but they’re not always going to be happy to do that for her. I suppose Josie and Lizzie could become future sirens themselves, but not if Alaric and Caroline have anything to say about it.
Speaking of, Caroline finally returns to superhero mode this week and ignores Stefan’s warnings to stay out of it when he tries to talk Damon down. Her shooting him in the back with vervain ampules saves the day, and it’s not like he deserves much better. Who knew Sybil would break out of her observation room by hitting the right tone to shatter glass?
It’s not really about the big guns this week, it’s more about Bonnie and Enzo. She’s been keeping him restrained with all the skills she’s learned over the years of coping with vampires (tough even without her magic), but he’s too busy taunting her to listen to her appeals to become human again. So, she does the only thing everyone on this show learns how to do, she risks her own life as a way of forcing someone who loves her to act by setting the cabin on fire (the one he can’t leave) and refusing to leave lest he help her himself.
Which he does by throwing her out the door and accepting he’ll probably burn alive before she awakens, only she does and runs back in and extinguishes the magic candle so he can get both to safety with vamp-speed. If that seems sick and twisted, it’s the sexiest and most romantic series of acts on this show since last season when they fell in love, and the actors make you believe it all.
Damon’s problem seems to be that he’s suddenly scared of hell, as if he never worried about that before. And yet he’s clearly resisted killing Bonnie and Matt and everyone except for Tyler (to be fair, werewolves and vamps are natural enemies) even under Sybil’s vaunted control. She’s in trouble when he figures himself out I’m guessing.
Speaking of Matt, the story between him and his rediscovered father ties back to the first season of the show in interesting ways, and the Matt who knows how to handle vamps and stay human is a different man than that high school kid of years ago. His season of love with the cop girlfriend he accidentally shot made no sense, but this season he seems to be a crucial player and that’s only fair. When he learns that Tyler was hunting for a siren, he realizes Selene is Alaric’s nanny and runs to tell everyone like a smart ally. Also, the whole episode was the core gang trying repeatedly to have a funeral for Tyler, and this show is always much better at funerals than weddings or parties.