The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 17, “I Went to the Woods,” explored the Salvatore brothers’ relationship like never before.
Since everybody else will inevitably say it, I guess I’ll say it too: Will the real Stefan Salvatore please stand up? Honestly, I’d take either one of them, though! We had the psychopath inhabiting Stefan’s body, and the real Stefan who’s stuck in the body of a human drug addict. Aside from the psychopath being hilarious and a great throwback to ripper Stefan, he offered some good, outsider commentary on where the Salvatore brothers stood. The human version of Stefan gave us a ton of insight into Stefan’s character, which I’ll get into more later.
I’m really glad they decided to have Paul Wesley play both roles. The episode wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful if there were another actor playing the Stefan/Marty character. Paul Wesley did a great job juxtaposing the well-kept, Edward Cullen haired, psychopathic character living in his body with the broken down human character.
With Elena out of the picture and Caroline largely preoccupied, The Vampire Diaries hasn’t had a lot of romance to focus on in season 7. This left more room to explore the complicated Salvatore family dynamic than ever before. Ever since Lily left, things have been falling apart between Stefan and Damon, and that all came to a head in The Vampire Diaries, season 7, episode 17.
Before we get into the brotherly dynamic, though, let’s focus on Stefan. Damon had his time to shine when we watched him relive his scenario in the hell stone for an entire episode, and now it’s Stefan’s turn. This episode made me want to see everything Stefan went through inside the phoenix stone so badly, but I’m guessing it was actually pretty similar to what we saw him go through as Marty.
Stefan was convinced he was trapped in the stone when he first awoke. That is, he assumed it after he immediately saved a bus full of cheerleaders because he’s just that good! Apparently his hell stone experience included a lot of “failed attempts at being a hero” and metaphors for vampirism and control issues such as alcoholism. It doesn’t sound like the most fun to watch, but if phoenix stone Stefan has the same level of snark as this human Stefan, I would watch it any day.
When you think of Stefan Salvatore, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t usually witty banter, but he delivered it in spades in The Vampire Diaries, season 7, episode 17. So much so, that if Marty’s body wasn’t rapidly deteriorating, I would ship Smarty (Stefan/Marty) forever! Somehow I think Stefan would disagree though, since one of his highlight lines of the episode was, “Suck on that, Marty, you miserable drunk.” Poor Marty!
This episode was packed with irony and just about every character took a turn pointing it out at one time or another. We had Stefan being stuck in the body of an addict when he is an addict himself (when he gives in to his ripper side), and Stefan immediately being killed by humanity when all he’s ever wanted is to be human. Really it’s just Stefan having a super rough time. This guy can’t ever catch a break, can he?
I do wonder if this experience will have any effect on Stefan’s desire to be human again. He admitted that he actually liked his forced mortality when his life was linked to Rayna’s, but when the stakes were raised a little higher, he realized that “being human actually sucks.” Granted, he did get thrown into a pretty tough situation in his first day on the human job. Could this whole thing make him change his mind and realize that he’s been romanticizing humanity this whole time?
Between Smarty and Damon’s time with his pretend brother, my initial thoughts about this episode were that it was kind of light and fun for The Vampire Diaries! Then, things took a sharp turn toward deep and insightful when Stefan found the phone that somehow evaded his gaze before when there was no snow on the ground at all. That brings me to his “garbage heap of a brother.”
This is the first episode in a while that I haven’t wanted to slap Damon across the face, so we’re at least getting somewhere. He refuses to believe that Stefan could actually be dead, since that would mean he’d have to “see his own self loathing reflected in everyone else’s actual loathing” for the rest of his life. The thing is, Damon, that still makes it about you! Can’t you just actually think about your brother for one second? At least he’d be loathing himself though, so that’s progress. Baby steps, I suppose.
Apart from some brooding diary entries, Stefan still held onto Damon all throughout the desiccated years, but now he has finally had enough. His big brother has been the person he has turned to in his times of need, but he no longer trusts that Damon will be there for him, even in the most desperate circumstances. Unfortunately, since Stefan has been foiled by an empty gas tank for the second time in two episodes, a blizzard in Arkansas just happens to be one of those circumstances where he could really use a brother he can count on!
In this case, Damon proved Stefan wrong by getting to him just in time. While Damon appears to be starting to turn things around, he has a long way to go to win Stefan back. Thank you, Stefan Salvatore, for making Damon pay for going into that coffin, and every other selfish choice he has made in The Vampire Diaries season 7. Don’t get me wrong, I will definitely forgive Damon if and when he earns it, but for now, I’m just as mad at him as Smarty is.
The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 17 explored a lot of what it meant to be Stefan, and how he feels about his brother right now, but it also asked some important questions about what it means to be Damon. The elder Salvatore himself stepped in to answer the question of “what does the voice in your head say?” He acknowledges that he is selfish, angry and impatient.
He also says that before Elena came along, he had no desire to do the right thing by anyone, including his brother. However, we know that’s not true. As they illustrate with the cute hide-and-seek memory, in their human years, Damon was the soft-hearted one who was always trying to protect Stefan.
This probably has a lot to do with why vampirism broke him so much more, but if he has been the sweet brother who put Stefan before himself before, he can be again! As for now though, all is not forgiven. “Not by a long shot.”