It was all hands on deck to save the Bennett witch in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it doesn’t look like she’ll be returning the favor.
“Kill Em’ All,” was another one of those classic episodes of The Vampire Diaries in which Bonnie (basically) comes back to life! Seriously, that girl has faced death more times than the Peverell brothers combined, but she’s just awesome enough for us to allow it.
Salvatore and co. were operating as a complete set (minus Elena, of course) for the first time in far too long in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20. If there’s one thing that can bring both Caroline and Matt to a fight, it’s the hope of saving Bonnie’s life. We didn’t get as much heartwarming, vampire murdering action as we did in the last episode, but the fact that everyone was on board this time made up for it.
Caroline had to push through Alaric’s feeble attempts at protecting her, but after she immediately and accurately convinced him that she is 100 times more powerful than he is, he relented. Whatever their strange relationship is, I’m glad they have it. They make a good team and are clearly great friends and partners, even if that’s all it is. Everyone needs a Caroline Forbes in their life, especially Alaric, who has lost so much.
On the other side of the Caroline/Alaric coin, where does Caroline’s final declaration leave Steroline? Last week, I was certain that we would be seeing a Steroline reunion very soon, but Caroline actually made me question that in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20. She is clearly still hurt by Stefan’s actions, but she made a pretty solid promise to Alaric that she’s in it for the long haul with him. That doesn’t leave much wiggle room for Stefan to swoop in, apologize, and win his girl back. This makes me equally worried for the fate of Steroline, and Alaric’s life.
Like Caroline, Matt was more than willing to spend a day killing some vampires, but he was slightly more reluctant about his partner. I have to say here, since we’ll probably never see them again, that I am in love with Matt and Penny! A happy Matt Donovan was such a welcome sight after all of the brooding he’s been exhibiting. I’m so over all of these glimpses of amazing things that we can’t have, since they’re already in the past.
We finally got some answers about why Matt hasn’t been feeling the Stefan love lately. Penny was allegedly killed in a car crash, but the pieces weren’t quite adding up in Matt’s mind, and he knew Stefan had been in town that night (to be there for Caroline on the anniversary of Liz’s death *swoon*). However, it turns out it was actually Matt that shot Penny, and Stefan compelled him to forget.
Matt’s pain is completely justified, but I do believe he was stretching a little bit when he said that he still blames Stefan for Penny’s death. It was really all just an unfortunate coincidence, and I have faith that he’ll see that, in time, and we’ll have a decent Matt Donovan again.
Now, to the main event, which is Bonnie Bennett and her dysfunctional band of saviors. I actually liked Enzo a lot more in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20, than in recent episodes. He showed more anger and passion in trying to figure a way out of Bonnie’s death, and I also really enjoyed him when he went back to Bonnie. I thought his “when have I not” line, in response to Bonnie’s “you came back,” was adorable.
It’s interesting that fans have been painting the Bonnie/Enzo/Damon grouping into a return of The Vampire Diaries love triangle, because there were such clear parallels to the Elena/Stefan/Damon dynamic in this episode. Damon’s feelings and actions in The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20, are much more easily dismissed as friendship than his clear envy in the last episode, but those previous emotions can’t be forgotten.
When Elena was human, she appreciated Stefan because he allowed her to make her own choices. Unfortunately, that ultimately ended in her death. Damon’s actions were often misguided and sometimes did more harm than good, but he was always willing to do whatever it took to make sure Elena was safe. He did a very similar thing with Bonnie in this episode, while Enzo was content to respect Bonnie’s decision to not open the vault.
Luckily, Bonnie is smart and badass enough that she got the best of both worlds! She opened the vault, which allowed them to complete their end of Rayna’s deal, but ultimately, just sealed the Armory into a slightly larger version of the vault with Jacob’s brother from Lost the evil magic. This spell could still end up influencing the show, but I really hope it doesn’t. We’ve already dealt with enough psychopaths on The Vampire Diaries, so it wasn’t shaping up to be a very interesting twist.
Unfortunately, we lost Rayna Cruz in this episode, but on the bright side, we may get to keep her intriguing mythology, since Bonnie is now the huntress! Does this definitely mean the end for Bonenzo? Potentially, no. In my interview with Leslie-Anne Huff, she said that she believes Rayna might actually be able to make a romance with a vampire work now that the phoenix sword is destroyed. This means that, with some training, Bonnie may be able to overcome her desire to hunt her friends and Enzo.
If not, I’m still excited to see Bonnie as both the huntress and a witch! If she turns into an actual villain, it will be so cool to watch how Damon, Caroline, Enzo, and everyone else deals with the transition. If she truly can’t be tamed, there’s always room in my heart for a Bonnie/Jeremy vampire hunting spin-off series. Either way, I can’t wait to see what the final two episodes of The Vampire Diaries season 7 have to offer.