The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 18, “One Way or Another,” filled in a ton of the blanks from the missing three years!
This episode was a huge information overload. We learned something about what pretty much everybody has been up to over the past three years, and we even got some extra tidbits about Rayna Cruz. If you lost focus for a second, you probably missed something, so I’ll do my best to hit all of the important revelations.
While The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 18 definitely took it down a notch from the emotionally charged episodes we’ve been getting lately, there were still some great emotional and tense character moments on top of the exposition mountain. Let’s dive in and start sorting through everything that happened!
Bourbon buddies
After his struggle in last week’s episode, Paul Wesley got a bit of a break in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 18. Harry Styles in 20 years Ryan Dorsey fully took on the role of Stefan in Marty Hammond’s body in this episode. I definitely would have preferred to see Paul as Stefan again, but his scenes weren’t overly important in this episode since he was actively dying, so it was okay.
Damon puts the compulsion skills that Stefan misses so much to good use and gives some paramedics a special assignment: keep Stefan/Marty’s heart beating until Damon gets back from his excursion with his bourbon buddy, Alaric.
After everything Alaric has been through on The Vampire Diaries, I often forget some of the things from his past, like his vampire hunting prowess and supernatural knowledge. It was nice to see his skills serve a purpose again, especially alongside Damon, but he didn’t exactly feel the same way. Don’t expect a Dalaric, crime-fighting procedural spinoff series anytime soon, because even though Alaric felt good hunting the bad guys again, he ultimately desires his quiet, family life.
Damon did need an accomplice to catch Ambrose, but inviting/forcing Alaric to come along also served as the next stop on the Damon Salvatore apology tour. Alaric isn’t necessarily angry with Damon anymore, but he does let him know that he’s been happier these past three years without him. Ouch! Damon isn’t exactly rising from the grave coffin to a warm reception so far. Before going back to his happy home, Alaric does let Damon know that the apology tour finale will take place in Nashville, where Bonnie is hiding out.
Stalerie has gone stale
Enzo kind of derailed Ambrose’s (the guy currently commandeering the hero hair) plan to use Rayna’s head as a decorative center piece, but luckily Damon was able to get both Stefan bodies to Valerie anyway. On the topic of Ambrose, we did learn that he was the one who turned Rayna’s boyfriend, but that really doesn’t matter now since Ambrose is a done deal.
We finally confirm that Stefan’s heart still belongs to our resident vampire Barbie, Caroline, and sadly, Valerie has known it all along. Throughout Stefan and Valerie’s travels, Stefan continuously wrote to Caroline to apologize for leaving and to explain why he had to do it. Apparently his letters didn’t have as many pictures as Caroline’s current reading material though, since she returned them all unopened.
Alaric filled in some of her side, saying, “Stefan broke Caroline’s heart and abandoned her,” so there is probably a little more that we’re missing here. Either way, I’d say we just have to sit back and wait for Stefan’s Ryan Gosling moment to win Caroline back. I’m guessing this moment will include the letter that Stefan/Marty told the paramedics he needed to write when he was on his death bed!
Poor Valerie knows she’s only second best, but she steps in to do the work of multiple witches anyway. It seems like the mental capacity she was using to rendezvous with Stefan in his mind may have been better spent on the actual spell, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as dramatic, so we’ll let The Vampire Diaries have this one.
We’ve seen Bonnie struggle to do powerful spells many times, but I wasn’t sure if a heretic would have the same problem. They are siphons with an endless supply of magic to draw from, so wouldn’t she be powerful enough to do any spell on her own? Especially since her body is so much stronger than the human one most witches are cursed/blessed with. However, whether it adds up or not, Valerie is dying in the process of doing the spell.
Even though she knows the truth, she asks Stefan to confirm that she was just a distraction for him. He obviously won’t do that, because frankly, it’s neither the time nor the place, but she sees right through him. If Valerie’s resolve to do the spell wasn’t going to be affected by Stefan’s responses at all, couldn’t she have just had this conversation after she saved him?
Despite her pain, Valerie pulls the spell off and reunites Stefan with his hero hair. I was so sure it was still Ambrose in Stefan’s body and I was certain he was about to snap Valerie’s neck, but thankfully, it was actually Stefan and Valerie got a less gruesome exit from The Vampire Diaries than the rest of her family.
This episode really drove home how true Valerie’s feelings are for Stefan, and it made me really sad to see her go. He is so much more than just a former one night stand to her. She knows him so well, which was proven when she immediately saw through his lies, and even in her parting words: “I know you don’t always believe this, but you deserve to be happy, Stefan.”
Even knowing that Stefan’s default emotion is guilt, and that he probably never would have been able to leave her after she saved him like that, she left so he could have a chance at the life he really wants. Classy girl, Valerie.
Group therapy
So this was the episode to fill us in on what happened to bring Bonnie and Enzo together, but who knew that the Bamon (Bonnie/Damon) feelings would be so real!
Last time we saw Bonnie in her group therapy, she was talking about something she had done that “turned [her] life into something [she doesn’t] recognize,” which led to her “losing someone [she] loves.” That doesn’t really fit with what we were told in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 18, so either this is just a part of the backstory that got her into the institution, or we’re still missing some key puzzle pieces.
She has actually only been in the institution in Nashville for a few weeks. Enzo is posing as her doctor, and they made up a fake identity to get her in there so she could hide from the armory. She has been taking the pills that killed Mary Louise (oh no!) because they make her undetectable by a locator spell. Apparently, one of Alexandria and Enzo’s estranged descendants is a patient in the institution and Bonnie gets some answers from her. Supposedly, the armory has “something that can’t be let out” in a vault that only a Bennett witch can open. Cue the villain for season 8!
I have to wonder if anyone in the institution is getting suspicious, because after a few weeks, her story in group therapy has already changed drastically. It was obvious in her parting words to Damon that she was extremely hurt by his decision, but apparently it affected her immensely! She can’t believe she allowed herself to break down so much over “someone who cares so little about [her].” She knows that he’s back and hasn’t contacted her, and she’s not happy about it.
Whenever Bonnie and Damon are together on The Vampire Diaries, the words “best” and “friend” are thrown in at least 10 times to make sure everyone knows that’s all they are. That is, until this week. Bonnie makes it clear that he’s not her boyfriend, but she does say that she doesn’t know what he is! It sounds like things could be getting a little more blurry between these two, at least on Bonnie’s side of things.
We only really got one moment with Bonnie and Enzo together in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 18, but it was a cute one. I really can’t say I’ve ever seen Bonnie as happy as when she ran into Enzo’s arms. That is, until he told her she was dying, of course.
Before we could even begin to appreciate Bonnie’s feelings for Enzo, Damon shows up to outshine him! The grand finale of the apology tour is met with a swift door in the face! Ian Somerhalder should just consider staying out of Nashville for a while, since things didn’t go so well for him last time he was there either. We’ll have to wait for next week to get some resolution on both Bamon and Bonenzo (Bonnie/Enzo)!
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