The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 4, “An Eternity of Misery,” reminded us of the Salvatore’s past and sealed one character’s fate.
So far in season 8, there’s been a lot of mystery surrounding Sybil, hell, what’s happening with Damon and Enzo, and even the whereabouts of characters like Matt Donovan. The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 4, served to fill in some of those blanks, and it actually did a pretty good job.
Since Sybil was captured in the last episode, she really didn’t have much to do other than talk. So, talk she did. This episode gave us a ton of information about her and the other (*gasp*) villains of The Vampire Diaries season 8, even if it didn’t give us much else.
I definitely would’ve liked to see more of Caroline, Bonnie and Enzo in the episode, especially since there are so few left, but the episode was still interesting, and also slightly grotesque in a lot of ways!
Since so much information was delivered in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 4, I’m going to break this review down by character to unpack as much as possible.
Sybil
After leaving us completely in the dark for the first few episodes of The Vampire Diaries season 8, Sybil decided it was time to fill in the blanks of her life story and her purpose. Apparently, she was born with psychic abilities and she was shunned from her village because of it.
She was sent to an island where she met a girl with similar abilities. The girls had nobody else, so they knew each other as sisters and helped each other survive. Of course, it was largely “the island girl” who did the surviving. She drew in sailors to their island, as sirens are known to do, and tricked Sybil into eating their flesh for sustenance.
When Sybil found out, she tried to take her own life, but her evil “sister” bargained with the actual devil to give them immortality as long as they serve him and continue to eat human flesh (which was absolutely as disgusting as it sounds).
This much detail of Sybil’s backstory probably wasn’t necessary, but it did serve to humanize her a little bit. She could be a villain that makes her way over to Salvatore and co.’s side before the end of the season. She’s already at odds with her evil sister.
Seline
The aforementioned evil sister is the twins’ nanny! Seline’s character was getting to be pretty useless on the show, so I guess it’s nice that she has a purpose now, but I was hoping Sybil’s sister would be someone a little more interesting.
Related: The Vampire Diaries: Is Kelly Donovan related to Sybil
It is fun that the annoyingly perky and sweet nanny is the most evil character on the series right now, but I’m really worried about what she could have planned for the twins. Hopefully, Sybil switches sides quickly so they’re not in too much danger.
Cade
The devil, himself. He came from Sybil’s village, and was also ostracized because of his abilities. Instead of being exiled to an island, though, he was burned at the stake. His pain at the evil in the world was so powerful that it manifested a whole new world: The Upside Down err…Hell.
I’m interested to meet Cade and to see more of the world that he created for himself and the doomed souls of the earth. He’s clearly the big bad of the season, but it will be cool to see how he works with Sybil, Seline, and who knows who else to bring about whatever plans he has.
Stefan
One of the most interesting parts of Sybil’s backstory was its correlation to Stefan. Sybil, who was for some reason trying to figure out if Stefan was “worthy” of the full story, kept asking Stefan which sister he was, in the story of the two sirens.
After much struggle, Stefan eventually cracked and said that he was both. He’s the good brother who tries to live the best that he can despite his circumstances, and he’s the bad brother who forced his brother to become the thing that’s threatened to ruin him, and has on multiple occasions.
I’m still confused about where they’re going with the Salvatore story this season. After the progress of The Vampire Diaries season 7, it seems like we’re taking a huge step backwards. However, it does feel like we’re getting a more individualized approach in season 8, since Sybil can get inside their heads.
I could’ve done without the comparison to Stefan and Damon’s story, but I did like what Stefan’s conversation with Sybil brought up for him, specifically. His guilt over the things he’s done is definitely still a huge issue for him, so it’ll be great to see him wrestle with the possibility of confronting that in hell.
Damon
Even though Sybil’s threat has been removed for now, Damon is still under her control. If we’re to believe Sybil, this is because she messed with his psyche so much that he now wants to serve her, and also because he’s so afraid of hell.
His quest to do Sybil’s bidding caused him to seek out an artifact in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 4. His search wouldn’t have been noteworthy, other than the fact that it brought him to…
Matt
Matt is back! And he’s looking damn good, if I might add. We had no idea where he went when he left Mystic Falls at the end of The Vampire Diaries season 7, and that question has finally been answered.
He found his dad, who had abandoned him as child, and was doing some reconnecting with his family. His father had no idea about vampires or mythological creatures, as he was surprised when Matt told him, but there’s definitely something special about the family, or Sybil wouldn’t want their heirlooms!
Even though, evidently, Kelly isn’t Sybil’s sister, I’m excited to see how Matt’s family (weirdly, named the Maxwells) is connected to this myth. I hope it leads to a decent storyline for Matt in the final season. It’s been a long time coming.
Tyler
So, he looks pretty dead, guys. Of course, now that we could potentially have access to hell, anything’s possible,. But for now, yeah, he looks pretty dead.
If Tyler Lockwood is actually gone for good, I’d be extremely disappointed. This death was simply not befitting a character of his stature, although it does make me nervous for how easily some other main characters could be extinguished, further down the line. I hope he comes back, because I really don’t think that his death will have the effect on Damon’s friends that everyone’s thinking it will.
Georgie
After being forced to help the evil Seline, Georgie’s gone straight back to hell, and her body is missing quite a bit of flesh (grossgrossgross). I mean, what did she expect when she literally wears the mark of hell on her body? I wouldn’t care about this, other than the fact that it could mean we get to see other characters there, as well!
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