It has been a rowdy week for THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.
First, Ian Somerhalder announced at WalkerStalkerCon in Nashville recently, that next year, Season 8, would be the last year for the show, saying “We have decided to do one last season to really do the story justice.”
This seems to have caught some by surprise, although Kat Graham (Bonnie) already has announced her intention to leave at the end of next season.
Then, Somerhalder clarified his statement saying that no decision has been made yet about the future of the show after next year, but he has not committed to staying with the show after Season 8.
Somerhalder blamed his misspeak on “foggy brain,” which fans most likely will forgive, given the insanity of thousands of people screaming at a convention.
While Somerhalder easily is forgiven for his “foot-in-fang” faux pas, his alter-ego, Damon Salvatore, definitely will not get off the hook as easily.
The title of tonight’s episode is not “Everybody Hates Damon,” but here are some folks who are taking issue with Big Bro’ Blue Eyes…
1. Alaric Saltzman – After taking the twins and Caroline (Candice King) to Dallas to get them out of Rayna Cruz’s path of destruction, Alaric (Matt Davis) has fallen in love with Caroline in the three years that Damon has been in desiccating in his coffin. Why would Alaric hate Damon? Damon took his 3-year sabbatical and did not bother to tell his bromance bud his plan in person. He sent him a letter.
2. Alaric, Part Deux – Now that Damon is back in action, he shows up at Alaric’s door looking for help. Alaric fears that Damon’s reappearance will destroy his happiness. Damon needs Alaric’s help to save Stefan, and he plans to do it by dragging Alaric back into the vampire-hunting business. It is a long road trip to Memphis, and Damon is going to get an earful from Alaric about the past three years.
3. Matt Donovan – Matt (Zach Roerig) has been on a rampage in Mystic Falls during Damon’s three-year nap, cleaning the fang-gang out of town. Enraged over the death of Officer Penny Ares (guest star Ana Nogueira), Matt is going to save this city. Wait, that’s another show, but we’ll use it anyway.
4. Valerie Tulle – Valerie (guest star Elizabeth Blackmore) was having a great time with Stefan (Wesley) while Damon was entombed next to Elena’s body. It looked like things might work out for the last remaining Heretic when Damon offered to have the Phoenix Sword scar transferred to himself from Stefan. When Rayna told him that he would die just about the time that Elena would wake up, Damon backtracked and Stefan was killed.
5. Valerie, Part Dos – Damon pressures Valerie into performing a spell that will put Stefan’s spirit back into the correct body, almost killing her in the process. Not only does Valerie almost die, she realizes that Stefan does not love her as much as she loves him. After almost dying, she breaks up with Stefan.
6. Rayna Cruz – Rayna (guest star Leslie-Anne Huff) had developed a fondness for Stefan while she hunted him around the world. Relieved that she was going to be able to kill Damon instead of Stefan, she had no choice when Damon backed out on the transfer spell. Her nature forced her to go ahead and kill Stefan, and she hates Damon even more.
7. Enzo St. John – Enzo (Michael Malarkey) has been pretty testy with Damon ever since the latter left him to burn in a fire back in the day. Their frenemy status deteriorates even more with the devastating news that Enzo learns from Rayna. The Armory’s witch poison is made with Rayna’s blood, and Enzo kidnaps her to engineer a cure. Enzo and Damon lock horns because Enzo will not trade Rayna to help save Stefan, opting to try to save Bonnie instead.
8. Marty Hammond – Marty (guest star Ryan Dorsey) inherited Stefan’s spirit when Mary Louise and Nora blew up the car carrying the Phoenix Sword and souls went everywhere. Mortal bodies cannot tolerate a vampire soul and poor, drunken Marty was deteriorating faster than a snowball in July. If only Damon had done that transfer spell, then Stefan/Ambrose would not be killing innocent EMTs and trying to burn Marty alive.
9. Bonnie Bennett – Bonnie (Graham) has been undercover in a psych ward during Damon’s hiatus where she meets Alex’s sister, Virginia St. John (guest star Aisha Duran), who provides her with some valuable information about what plans the Armory has in store for the Bennett Witch. She is taking pills that Enzo thinks will hide her from the Armory’s locator spell, but instead are poisoning her.
10. While it is not all bad (she and Enzo fall in love), things are a bit more frustrating. As Enzo fights to save her, they are forced to team up with Damon to save her life. Note to Damon…she carries around your unopened “Dear Bon” letter, just to remind her never to trust anyone, just in case you didn’t catch on when she slammed the door in your face.
11. Ambrose – Ambrose, the bloodthirsty killer (also played by Paul Wesley), is running around in Stefan’s body, using his heightened vampire senses to zone in on the next targets of his killing spree.
12. The Delta Rho Tau Fraternity – The frat boys may not know it yet, but whether Ambrose slaughters them depends upon Damon being able to get the serial killer to leave them alone. As Alaric and Damon check out the carnage at the fraternity, they wonder if it must be Hell Week.
13. Stefan Salvatore – Stefan has so many reasons to hate Damon. After sacrificing himself to save Damon, Stefan is repaid with betrayal when Damon backs out on taking the Phoenix Sword scar from him. Despite Damon’s attempts to be a good brother, the results always seem to be usurped by his selfish tendencies and self-preservation.
But, despite all of his faults, in the end, the Salvatore Brothers seem to find their way back to each other.
And the audience never stops loving Damon. (Look at that face. What’s not to love.)
Tonight’s episode of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES was written by Rebecca Sonnenshine (teleplay) and Penny Cox (story). Rashaad Ernesto Green directed the episode titled, “One Way or Another.”
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES airs tonight (April 15) at 8:00 pm on The CW.
