The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2, “Today Will Be Different,” set us up for the June wedding that we’ve been waiting seven years for.
Okay, so when Caroline mentioned that her and Stefan would have a “June wedding” in The Vampire Diaries season 1, none of us really expected it to happen. However, this show has moved far away from the halls of Mystic Falls High School, and now, Stefan and Caroline are actually engaged!
In my opinion, the proposal was beautiful, but not perfect. Mainly, my issues come from the timing of the proposal, on Stefan’s part, and the dialogue.
Stefan had just received two extremely crushing blows, with the definite loss of Sarah and the potential loss of Damon, so would he really be in the mood to plan a surprise proposal? Also, Stefan has been writing his thoughts and feelings down beautifully for over 100 years, so you’d think he’d actually be able to put a few words together for the girl he wants to marry!
That being said, the engagement still made me feel everything I wanted to. This was an ideal proposal for Caroline Forbes in The Vampire Diaries season 8. This isn’t the same Caroline who would have wanted a personal parade in season 1. She’s the mother of two who’s desperately trying to hold everyone she loves together.
For Stefan to lump the proposal in with the news that he had built a room in their house for her children was genius. He knows that her family is the most important thing to her now, and that being able to incorporate them into her life with him would make her happier than anything. Most of all, I’m just really excited to see these two happy together, and I can’t wait for an extraordinary Caroline Forbes wedding!
The Steroline scene wasn’t Caroline’s only shining moment in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2. The female friendships are pushed to the background far too often on this show, so it was great to see Bonnie and Caroline reconnect in a meaningful way.
I absolutely love when Bonnie actually says what she’s thinking. That girl can lay down the brutal honesty like nobody else on The Vampire Diaries. It was amazing to see her demand to be heard, and let Caroline know exactly how difficult the situation with Damon and Enzo has been for her.
Of course, Caroline handled the verbal beatdown with perfection. Yes, she’s been distracted, but if she says she’s going to be there for Bonnie going forward, I absolutely believe her. Hopefully there will be way more scenes between Bonnie and Caroline in the rest of The Vampire Diaries season 8, so we can watch her live up to her promise.
Now, on to that pesky siren problem that Salvatore and co. have been having. Thanks to the evil souls that Damon and Enzo dutifully provided, the siren (Sybil) now has a full physical form, and she’s hoping to use it to her advantage as much as possible. Apparently, she’s been caged for roughly 200 years, so she’s eager to stretch her legs.
She still has Damon and Enzo running the same kind of errand, as she still needs to feed on evil souls to survive. We still don’t know what her endgame is, but she said something in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2 that hinted toward a higher power in the operation.
In a comment to Damon, she said, “We’re tasked with harvesting evil souls.” The we in that statement would suggest she’s also following orders from somebody. Could that somebody be connected to the “hell” that Damon’s been told about and that Alaric is in the process of discovering?
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Whatever Sybil’s mission is, she needs Damon and Enzo’s full attention to accomplish it. Similarly to the last episode, I found myself liking Enzo more than ever before in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2. Damon’s warning about flipping the humanity switch was a solid one, but it seems like Enzo is strong enough to resist Sybil without losing his soul.
He managed to leave yet another clue for Bonnie. This time, it came in the form of the youngest Salvatore, Sarah. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her, but it seems like she’s been living a fairly normal, vampire free life since leaving Mystic Falls. Seriously, why doesn’t everybody just leave?
Stefan’s been working hard to keep Sarah alive and happy for her entire life, so he obviously wasn’t keen to let Damon have another shot at killing her. He appealed to whatever humanity was left inside of Damon, and despite Damon’s fear of the “hell” that Sybil promised, it actually worked!
In the first episode of The Vampire Diaries season 8, there were some parallels between Stefan and Bonnie’s search for Damon and Enzo, and Damon and Elena’s search for Stefan in season 3. Bonnie and Stefan helped to keep the other’s hope alive if one started to give up, while Damon and Elena did the same for each other when trying to bring Stefan home.
Those parallels were just as clear in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2. Damon knew that he couldn’t give up on Stefan when he saved him from being bitten by a hybrid. Even at his weakest, Stefan still couldn’t let Damon die. Stefan was filled with the same hope when he managed to convince Damon to not kill Sarah.
Unfortunately, Sybil’s not big on hope. Even though Damon seemed to be taking all the right precautions to keep Sybil out of his mind, she was so easily able to get exactly where he didn’t want her. She managed to infiltrate his memories of Elena and replace them with herself.
This is so interesting, as it makes me wonder if Damon will now have the same love for Sybil that he has for Elena, or if the switch just completely cut off his ties to humanity. Also, could it be possible that his memories of Elena will be damaged forever? Will Elena’s body be in danger as long as Sybil’s around?
One person who is almost definitely in danger now is Bonnie Bennett. Enzo has remained so strong throughout his time as a hostage, but Damon’s ambush combined with his time spent with Bonnie was enough to break him.
The scenes between Bonnie and Enzo were spectacular in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 2. All of Enzo’s cute lines combined with his determination to protect Bonnie, and Bonnie’s unyielding desire to free Enzo, were so powerful. It all built up to one hell of a kiss, so hopefully both of them are able to stay safe from Sybil’s wrath to be reunited and to have the future that Bonnie has pictured for them.