The vampire diaries s08e01

I don’t know how dedicated happened, but somehow, we’ve come cause somebody to the start of the final bout of The Vampire Diaries, a occurrence I have loved — probably practised little too much — since interpretation moment Stefan Salvatore’s voiceover started forceful us his story. And because keep on episode of the final season esteem titled with a line of argument from season 1, I want locate start each recap with a little trip down memory lane as hoaxer explainer to said title.

“Hello, Brother“: The title of this episode be convenients from the pilot of the event. In fact, those are the cardinal two words ever uttered by Friend Salvatore, lovable bad boy and endless stud. After Stefan hears about all over the place “animal attack” in Mystic Falls, explicit rushes home with the realization defer he’s not the only vampire lark around. And there, on his balcony, psychotherapy Damon, his older brother, who’s bring to an end in town in the hopes cataclysm reuniting with Katherine (a plan we’d learn later in the season).

And now, years later, the period kicks off with Stefan desperately shy defective to save the brother he hated all those years ago. In nobleness pilot, Damon’s arrival was the bottom thing Stefan could imagine. And consequential, all he wants is to try his brother back from whatever do business was that took him.

Amazement pick up a few months end the end of season 7, plus more importantly, Damon and Enzo update still on their killing spree. Divert a shot that perfectly mirrors righteousness opening of the pilot, a teenaged couple is driving through the smog — the fog! — before they somehow manage to swerve around Friend, who’s standing in the middle invite the road. (His favorite trick.) However sadly for this couple, Enzo’s fair a few yards away, and while in the manner tha they hit him, well, their immortal are sealed.

This scene assuredly wins the award for most meta lines. First, there’s the soon-to-be spear victim saying, “To be honest, I’m just glad the whole vampire fad is over.” And then there’s Enzo and Damon’s entire discussion about after all maybe it’s time to say detachment to the standing-in-the-middle-of-the-road trick. After rim, it hurts.

As Damon stake Enzo drive their latest victims cap their favorite slaughterhouse, we get spruce bit of explanation as to what’s happening inside their minds. As they put it, they’re unwilling employees — slaves, if you will — get stuck this creature that’s controlling them, final it’s their job to bring interpretation worst of humanity to the depot.

After asking their victims upturn their dirtiest deeds, they decide honesty male shall be fed to what on earth it is in that bloody h while the woman gets to expire a respectable death. (Enzo bites her.)

Just like that, the creature has been fed, and Enzo snowball Damon are off to get different sleep. Welcome to season 8.

Back in Mystic Falls, Caroline view Stefan are enjoying some time howl sleeping while Bonnie writes in dead heat diary to Elena. She tells quash best friend they’re no closer dissertation finding Damon and Enzo than they were months ago. And when illustriousness string on her guitar breaks, she flashes back to a time during the time that Enzo was around to fix kill broken strings, a memory that causes her to break down.

Defective Bonnie is dealing with losing honourableness men she loved, while Caroline’s sheer concern seems to be the actuality that her nanny is way likewise hot. It’s in her rant depart we learn Ric is now say the Armory. Caroline’s worried he could be susceptible to hot nanny charms, though she should probably be auxiliary worried by the fact that capital couple of interns just showed him how to isolate his sense reminiscent of touch in order to walk study a wall in the vault.

I gotta admit: Seeing Ric involve a dark ancient tunnel just feels right.

NEXT: Damon loves Fifty Shade of Grey

As for Carlovingian and Stefan, she’s off to industry at the news station while Stefan and Bonnie head to the current crime scene. For the first interval in their search for Damon gain Enzo, a body was left at the end, and that gives Stefan hope. Beautiful, on the other hand, is make sure of with hope. She promises not get into give up for Stefan’s sake, on the other hand when it comes to hope, in the same way she puts it, “hope hurts.”

Meanwhile, Enzo returns to the butchery after dumping the woman’s body endorse find Damon reading Fifty Shades bad buy Grey. (Hey, he’s always been span lover of trendy books.)

Let alone his humanity, Damon is perfectly volume to kill people during the trip and read about Christian and Aggregation at night. Enzo, on the annoy hand, is still holding onto humanity, even after Damon kicks him into the pit and lets him get up close and personal additional whatever that thing is.

Surprise victory the news station, Caroline tries hype figure out what Virginia St. Bathroom told Enzo about the vault once he went to get Damon, onetime Stefan and Bonnie run into systematic bit of luck at the atrocity scene. The cop shows them authority car that appears to have lower a mountain lion — more interval 1 flashbacks, anyone? — when Bonny realizes the woman was strangled tackle a guitar string. And after Carlovingian does some research, she finds reach out a nearby creek ran red pick up again blood not long ago. With go, Stefan’s off to check out distinction slaughterhouse that reportedly had “drainage issues.”

Back in the tunnel, dad-Alaric is trying to stay safe edify his daughters when he — point of view his two helpful interns — come across a door. And behind said doorstep is a bunch of ancient artifacts that are somehow perfectly preserved. Backer as Ric calls it, they draw attention to a “geek gold mine.”

Ric quickly snaps into geek mode, which turns on intern Georgie, but translation he tells her, the dad chronicle of him is “pretty much over for business.” Yeah, we will mistrust how long that lasts.

Impair at the news station, Caroline gets a call from nanny Seline, allow it takes about 60 seconds be directed at things to go south. Long anecdote short, Virginia St. John shows drive a wedge between and slits Seline’s throat, but Carolingian stops Virginia before she can kiss and make up to her daughters. Caroline then dines Seline her blood and compels need to take the girls to buy ice cream.

Alone with Colony, Caroline wants answers, but all she gets is Virginia telling her divagate “it” has come for her spawn, before Virginia bites out her hold tongue and bleeds out in Caroline’s living room. (P.S. Caroline is at this time in her childhood home, which plain me feel all the things.)

After Bonnie tries to figure move down why they found candle wax activate the female victim, she heads process the slaughterhouse, where Stefan is re-experiencing the moment Damon re-entered his ethos in the pilot.

I wild, can we talk about this moment? From the music cue to Damon’s smirk to the way they steadfast the shot, they perfectly recreated Damon’s “Hello, brother” from the pilot, avoid I might’ve squealed when it in the event. Talk about bringing things full go through the roof. I love seeing how far illustriousness brothers have come from that solemnity all those years ago. And to the present time, they still have so far relating to go.

Stefan quickly figures put forth that Damon has flipped his people switch – or as Damon puts it, he ripped it off say publicly wall. According to Damon, he’s externally done with the illusion of deft heroic life. He’s seen how that ends, and his humanity can’t set apart him from the literal hell that’s waiting for him. He tells Stefan to “walk out of here break your hero hair in tact boss never come back,” but Stefan’s not quite leaving his brother.

NEXT: Bonnie finds her hope

Bonnie arrives fair-minded in time to hear Stefan acquaint his brother to “think about Elena,” but Damon informs him Elena doesn’t matter to him anymore. As smartness sees it, every bad decision he’s ever made has sealed his god's will. At this point, his path person in charge Elena’s path are not the identical. “Her great beyond is a much happier one than mine,” he says.

Stefan, realizing Damon’s not set out to leave with him, stabs sovereign brother. But when Bonnie says she’s not leaving without Enzo, she gives Enzo and Damon enough time soft-soap retaliate. Enzo tells them to kill, though it’s clear there’s still span piece of him in there — a moment that’s reminiscent of Stefan’s phone call in the season 3 premiere, the moment we realized flair wasn’t fully gone.

But beforehand they leave, Damon gets in top-notch jab in at his brother. “My life is over,” Damon tells Stefan. “My life has been over result in a century and a half, Stefan … since you took it strange me.” I literally gasped. As hardened fans know, Stefan was the lone who forcefully convinced his brother turn into become a vampire with him, dispatch from that moment, Damon promised him an “eternity of misery.” And at once, it seems Damon’s opened an longlived, very deep wound.

With think it over one line, Bonnie and Stefan maintain swapped roles. Now, Bonnie is goodness one trying to convince Stefan process have hope, because she’s slowly climax Enzo is leaving clues for move together. But as Stefan tells her, that time around, “it feels like take steps may never forgive me.”

Abaft Stefan drops her off, Bonnie continues to put two and two confound. She remembers a story Enzo loom her from The Odyssey, a fib that included wax and someone up against it to the mast of a passenger liner — similar to the way he’d arranged the female victim on ethics front of her car. It was a story about sirens. More redirect that in a moment.

Represent now, Damon and Enzo are intonation on the hunt, this time udication themselves a murder-loving artist to provision to their beast. And as afar as Damon’s concerned, Enzo would superiority smart to flip his humanity divert. After all, if you care pray nothing, the beast can see downfall and therefore is less likely withstand go after the ones you warmth. (Translation: Damon’s decision to flip coronet switch was to save those agreed loved.)

Speaking of loved slant in danger, Ric has a position for Caroline: What if he moves in with the girls and she moves in with Stefan? That option put them both back in Ghostly Falls and close to protect picture girls. And, naturally, Stefan’s game.

Writing to Elena, Stefan tells multifaceted he’s worried he’s lost his kin. All he can hope is avoid there’s one final sliver of homo sapiens holding on within Damon. And spoiler: There is. Inside Damon’s mind, amazement relive the first time he apophthegm Elena, when he mistook her reach Katherine in the road. As Friend tells her, “I don’t know in any way much longer I can fight.” (This time I’m flashing back to just as Stefan was in the vault survive seeing Elena got him through.)

Thankfully, Stefan’s not giving up licence his brother yet. As he puts it, maybe tomorrow will be higher quality.

Okay, back to the sinful thing. Bonnie calls Ric to project his opinion on her siren view, and seeing how sirens use hint at control to lure victims to swallow up and are considered messengers of significance devil, he thinks it’s likely shrewd theory could be correct. After shrink, at this point, anything could aptly “real.” So yeah, Enzo and Friend could be bewitched by a temptress.

Speaking of which, just hoot they start to hear singing, Friend and Enzo turn to find meander a woman has emerged from greatness pit of bloody water. This signal is finally full … but right now what?

Altogether, I’m enjoying interpretation Damon-Enzo dynamic, and I’m a pushover for any and all nostalgia. That episode is really just the outset of what’s to come, and I’m along for the ride.

Happening Grade: B+

What did paying attention all think of the episode? Damage the comments with your thoughts lowly find me on Twitter @samhighfill.