The Vampire Diaries - I Could Never Love Like That - Review

I'm finding that I actually hold this episode in higher regard the more I reflect on it, as opposed to the somewhat underwhelmed impression I had while watching it.  Maybe I'm still so disappointed by Nina Dobrev's announcement of her departure after this season that the many hints to Elena's desire to be human and Damon's inevitable reveal to her that he has the cure were saddening to me.  On the other hand, these references also felt awfully forced and telegraphed in places, which would have irritated me anyway.  It's hard enough to imagine the show with no Elena without the writers starting to indicate this inevitable outcome in such a maddeningly obvious manner.  But while I might not have loved that part of the episode, there was plenty to enjoy elsewhere, from Dark!Steroline's continued romp of terror and snark, to an Enzo subplot that actually clicked quite well, and a nice turnaround to Stefan's state of inhumanity.  

Mama Salvatore: her limitations and possibilities: I'm really finding the character of Lily to be a highly fascinating and rewarding addition to the show, not only for the intriguing new  context given to Stefan and Damon's past, but also as she herself is quite interesting.  Take, for example, her multi-tasking a horrifying Ripper massacre and giving Enzo a second chance at life on that ship back in the day.  Then there's her apparent sadness regarding her inability to reconnect with her love for her children, though she can certainly feign it with heartbreaking realism when she is forced to in order to save Stefan from himself (which she only does to rescue her creepy brood of friends from the 1903 prison world).  Lily is certainly a mysterious and complicated character, and her texting attempts were downright awesome ("Dearest Elena, I hope this finds you well...")

I thought that the scene of Lily speaking loving words to Stefan, which were put in her mouth by Damon, and then those words actually causing Stefan to turn his humanity back on, was the most poignant and deep one in this episode.  There's so much going on there, from Lily's bizarre inner conflict and inscrutable blend of sensitivity and coldness, to how well Damon knows Stefan and how greatly he longs to bring his brother back from the abyss.  At first, just as when Caroline got Stefan to switch off his humanity, I wondered if Stefan was faking it when he switched it back on.  I was convinced that he was being honest, however, by the time Damon offered Stefan a night to collect himself before looking for Caroline and Stefan replied "I don't need a night.  I'll find her."  Even as someone who doesn't particularly ship Steroline, I must say that was a wonderful moment reflecting the depth of Stefan and Caroline's relationship and how nice it is to get the real Stefan back.  I liked the way that scene was constructed, with the reflection of Stefan's face in the window telling us volumes about his weary feelings and yet his firm resolve to save Caroline from herself.

In order to convince Lily to overcome her emotional block regarding Stefan and coerce him back into the light, Damon had to hand over the ascendant.  As it turns out, this was an even riskier move than it seemed at first, since we got an all-new insight into the nature of Lily's beloved buddies back in 1903-land by the end of the episode.  Yep, a gaggle of vampire-witch terrors who will surely wreak plenty of havoc if Lily springs them loose - a promising premise for an end-of-season crisis.  That jailbreak seems inevitable, but what about Kai?  His fate seemed grim enough when last we saw him, but I want him back big time!

Stefan didn't need to take a night…but Damon did, as he continued to hesitate in telling Elena that Bonnie gave him the cure for vampirism.  It was so sad to see Elena yearning for a human life she can never have, with Damon knowing he can give that to her at the cost of their relationship.  Elena's reaction to Jo's pregnancy announcement was bittersweet, leading her to ponder the endless lifetime she has stretching before her, not only with regard to her not being able to have the family she wants, but also that her lack of aging will eventually force her to move before the Mystic Falls residents start to wonder why the local doctor doesn't look a day over 20-something.  Plus, Elena's being a vampire totally makes Matt resentful despite his instinctive affection for her, but I honestly could not care less about that, or Matt's ceaseless whining.  

More on Stefan and Caroline: This is a fairly detailed and thought-provoking storyline, given that no matter how funny and badass Stefan and Caroline's antics were (first murder, then karaoke, and you will sit there and listen to Caroline's performance, or else!), it's hard to avoid feeling somewhat horrified by the idea of how Caroline will feel when she flips her switch back on.  Stefan, at least, has been down this road before, but Caroline's likely going to face a hard journey back to finding peace with herself when this is over.  That said, these scenes were terrific, from Candice Accola getting another chance to show off her singing chops, to the absurd showdown with Caroline quizzing Matt and Tyler on their knowledge of her, with the threat of killing whoever answered incorrectly.  Of course, given how whipped they both were and Caroline's control freak tendencies, both Tyler and Matt were still quite knowledgable in Caroline trivia.  But while Matt was just trying to make it through the next five minutes, Tyler decided to be more proactive and fight back.  I know it's kind of a no-win scenario, but was Tyler seriously going to kill Stefan and/or Caroline if he could?  That's hard to believe.  Tyler paid the price for his tempestuous behavior when he accidentally stabbed Matt and faced not only the possible death of his friend, but also the threat of going all wolfy again.  I'm not surprised that Michael Trevino won't be back as a series regular next season.  After a somewhat more promising start to Tyler's storyline at the beginning of Season 6, the writers seem unsure of what to do with him aside from dangling his possibly going back to being a werewolf, which is nothing we haven't seen before.

Enzo, Sarah, and some long-needed backstory.  I thought the explanation of Enzo's past with Lily was entertaining, and rewarding since it finally pulled Enzo back into the same story as the rest of the show rather than off in his own weird, tangential, vendetta-against-Stefan mess of a subplot.  In fact, it was very cool when Julie Plec actually acknowledged on Twitter this week that the writers had made mistakes with Enzo this season.  Now that they've seen the errors of their ways, it's not too late for them to make Enzo relevant again, and this week's episode seemed like a step in the right direction.  I also like the relationship between Enzo and Sarah, and how she seems to somehow bring out his better qualities.  I don't know if we'll see more of these two interacting, or how large of a role Sarah will possibly play in future episodes, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of either.  Plus, Enzo's rapid-fire recap to Sarah of how Damon was now actually less bad than Stefan was comic gold.

As is usually the case by the time we get this close to the end of the season, things are ramping up for some crazy plot twists and shocking cliffhangers.  Damon and Elena are at a crossroads in their relationship that will likely play into how the latter exits the show (meh!).  Stefan has a major undertaking on his hands in trying to restore Caroline's humanity and deal with the aftermath - and the set-up for this situation looked fabulous in the preview for next week's episode.  There are plenty of rumors swirling about more revelations to come for Enzo, so that should be intriguing to watch out for.  And the possible return of Lily's witch-vamp friends sounds like enough to keep everyone busy.

What did you think of this week's episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  And don't forget to catch an all-new The Vampire Diaries, Thursday at 8/7c on The CW.

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries and Beauty and the Beast for Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @VMaeFontana

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