Back in present-day, Nora and Mary Louise threaten to kill Whitmore students off by the hour if Oscar is not returned to them, which leaves Stefan and Caroline on baby-sitting duty at the Heaven and Hell Ball. Nora and Mary Louise have jealousy issues and it’s almost torture to watch – not because I feel their pain or anything, but because I just don’t really care. I understand that the show wants the audience to learn more about these characters, but they’re going about it all wrong. The weakest part of this season is how underwhelming the bad guys are. If we are to sympathize with the Heretics this early in the game, then all the build-up of their threatening nature has been for nothing. It also doesn’t help that Nora and Mary Louise behave more like catty, petulant friends than they do lovers. I just don’t get any of it.
At the ball, in between preventing senseless deaths at the hands of petty Heretic girls, Caroline and Stefan continue to struggle over the fact that they can’t touch each other. They air out their misgivings about Valerie and then execute a great plan to reverse the spell on Caroline. At first, I was dumbfounded by the choice to have Stefan and Mary Louise share their vulnerabilities and confide in each other as though they weren’t enemies. It felt awkward and inorganic until Stefan injected her with vervain and threatened to kill her unless Nora syphoned the repulsion spell off of Caroline, which she ultimately did. And then, of course, we got a steamy make out session from Steroline once they reunited into each other’s arm. This was pretty awesome and easily one of the highlights of the episode.
When Enzo is suspicious of Valerie, she admits to killing Oscar and brings up Julian, and again we are reminded that there is another Big Bad lurking around the corner. Later, Lily confirms to Enzo that Julian was the love of her life, which, I don’t think he appreciated very much given that he revealed his own feelings for her a couple of episodes ago to no avail. At the end, Enzo and Valerie partner up to make sure Julian never comes back. But, we all know they’re going to fail, right?
Meanwhile, Damon, Bonnie and Alaric attempt to revive Oscar and it works, which means it should work on Jo, except we know better and none of this could possibly end well. We learn that a side-effect of being resurrected by the Phoenix stone is ravenous hunger. When frantic, hungry, Oscar escapes, Officer Donovan makes a brief appearance to do some officer stuff and curse the murderous nature of supernatural creatures, and Damon sort of indicates that he cares for Matt, or at least would feel guilty if he were killed. Jokes aside, Damon makes a good point. Matt should stop acting like he’s invincible because he’s not. And I don’t know if it’s just me, but I fear for Matt’s life now more than I’ve ever have before.
When Damon finds Oscar and trades him for Elena, Lily inadvertently gives Damon advice about how to proceed with his life without his true love. Keeping Elena around will always place her in danger, and his constant need to remain close to her will eventually be his undoing. Taking these words to heart, Damon calls Tyler, who takes Elena’s casket with him for safekeeping. Through voice-over, we hear Damon degrade himself to some of his worst qualities, the very qualities that come to the surface when Elena is absent from his life. It’s a great moment for Damon because we’ve seen him be more than the selfish, horrible, and jealous person he claims to be, and exploring who Damon really is post-Elena is going to be really fun to watch.
The final shot of the episode is a chilling image of Jo’s awakening. We know from the flash-forward that the babies make it out alive, but what will become of Jo? If Oscar’s erratic behavior is any indication, Jo’s revival is bad, bad news.
Other Observations:
-There is a cute Bonnie and Caroline moment that made me miss Elena and the different dynamics between the three girls.
-As far as the history of TVD balls go, this one was pretty lackluster. Remember the awesome decade dances from High School? Those were the days.
– The Horror Tour Ride is a rare, hilarious moment for the show, even if it did end in total catastrophe. Human life has very little value here.
-In the first time in TVD history, Damon writes in a journal! And he’s actually not surprisingly eloquent.