The loss of one of their own brought the whole gang back to Mystic Falls in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 5, “Coming Home Was a Mistake.”
Tyler Lockwood is really gone, guys! We can’t pretend that he’s just taking a nap in the trunk anymore. Matt Donovan has spoken, and the unfortunate verdict is that Mystic Falls now finds itself without a single Lockwood or werewolf.
Of course, it’s sad that Tyler is dead, but I can’t shake the thought that his death should’ve been…better. Even though he wasn’t a huge part of The Vampire Diaries season 7, he’s still an integral character in the overall story and he deserved a way more impactful death than he got. Bled dry by Damon and subsequently forgotten for an entire episode? Come on.
Sure, his death was supposed to serve as a line in the sand for Damon to cut all of his ties, but only Damon is foolish enough to believe that’s actually the case. If he had killed Jeremy, then maybe (and only maybe) Stefan and Elena would’ve had a difficult time forgiving him, but they’re always so quick to move past his actions. Especially when he’s barely acting of his own accord.
It was great that Salvatore and co. finally acknowledged Tyler’s death in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 5, but even that was a little lackluster, at first. Bonnie didn’t even attend the funeral and Stefan was too worried about Damon to even care that Tyler was dead.
That being said, they definitely turned it around at the end of the episode. Everyone, even Enzo expressed their love for Tyler and the amazing things about him. It was (finally) a proper send off and an appropriate way to say goodbye to his character. Hopefully, Matt’s new discovery about Virginia and Seline will link to an actual purpose for his death, or maybe he’ll get to come back! Could he be in hell with Cade?
One person who’ll have a difficult time coming back from hell is Georgie, since Seline used the twins to seriously scorch her body! I don’t think Caroline and Alaric have been teaching the girls magic, so this must’ve been a side project for Seline for a while.
We got way less information about the sirens in The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 5, but the stuff we did see was no less creepy. Seline’s been telling the girls about Cade, and they may’ve even met him! Both sirens definitely have a plan, and Seline’s revolves heavily around Josie and Lizzie.
Her line about the girls keeping her young really creeped me out, and makes me worried about what Seline and Cade want to do with them! Thankfully, Matt figured her out, so hopefully it’s not too late to find them…in hell, perhaps?
Related: The Vampire Diaries: Could we see Katherine Pierce in the siren’s ‘hell’?
While Seline is using the twins, Sybil is sticking with her main man, Damon. In The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 5, Damon decided that he wanted to sever ties with everyone, then almost immediately changed his mind. He then changed his mind again, was chained up by Stefan, and subsequently freed by Sybil. So…Damon remains the same.
Sybil obviously has a different plan than Seline, but it’s still not clear if they have the same goal. They’re obviously both evil, but Seline just seems so much more deadly with her sickly sweet alter ego. It’ll be interesting to see if one of these girls actually has good (or at least not entirely evil) intentions, in the end.
The Vampire Diaries season 8, episode 5, allowed us to check in on Bonnie and Enzo after they took a little break in the last episode. They were back in the little cabin where they fell in love, and Bonnie was desperately trying to get Enzo to flip his humanity switch back on.
I have to say, the girl did a damn good job. Remind me why she wasn’t in charge of getting everyone to flip their humanity switch, again? After getting some advice from Caroline about her own struggles with the issue, Bonnie promptly used Enzo’s biggest fear, abandonment, to bring the love of her life right back to her.
The candle that she used to seal Enzo in the cabin was genius. I was so excited when he got stuck at the door because it was just like the tomb spell and I was sure, for just a second, that Bonnie got some magic back. Alas, it was just the artifact, but it was still great. The only thing that worries me is the burn mark she got from putting out the candle. Magical artifacts can have lasting damage, so that scar could spell trouble for Bon Bon.
The scene where Enzo and Bonnie saved each other was beautiful, and The Vampire Diaries season 8 is making me like Bonenzo more and more with every episode. However, when Bonnie was telling Enzo that he was stuck with her “forever,” it reminded me that that word means very different things to each of them. I’m very interested to see how their human-vampire relationship plays out over the rest of the season.
Related: The Vampire Diaries: Will Bonnie become a vampire in season 8 (and should she)?
Stefan annoyed me a lot at the beginning of this episode by focusing too much on the Damon of it all and by telling Caroline to stay behind, but he really turned things around in the end. The Mystic Falls carnival was a perfect setting for him to rally the troops for Tyler’s actual funeral.
The carnival was a big moment for Stefan and Elena, and I loved how beautifully he brought her into the moment with all of them. The carnival was also a huge turning point for Caroline, as it was the scene of her first kill as a vampire. With that, however, it was also the beginning of the Steroline friendship/relationship, as Stefan began helping her through her transition.
It was great to see Caroline reference that she’s going to be Stefan’s wife (eek!) all while reminding him of how much they’ve helped each other get through already, and assuring him that they’ll continue to be each other’s strength in the future. They’re just the cutest.