watch the vampire diaries season 6 episode 20

This was one of those occasions when The Vampire Diaries reminded us of its roots in horror, and boy was it creepy to see those desiccated vamps seated around the table. While all of this was going on, Damon, Bonnie, Kai and Elena took a trip to the 1903 prison world Damon’s mother was trapped in, finding a whole slew of new ‘family’ members that are obviously going to cause trouble before the end of the season. We’ve seen that on a million shows before, and The Vampire Diaries has never been interested in being so black and white. It also makes the process of Caroline letting go of her ‘performance’ of humanity far more satisfying than if it had been an instantaneous shift.

It’s a neat twist to have Caroline still act like a control freak, ambitious and cautious, when she’s also basically a sociopath, and just witnessing all of these characters’ differing reactions to becoming emotionless monsters gives us more insight into their psyches than I ever gave the show credit for in the past. (Speaking of whom, if Klaus didn’t exist on another show with his own storylines going on, I feel like the first thing Caroline would do would be to take a trip to New Orleans.) We’ve seen Stefan the Ripper before, but back then his chosen playmate was Klaus, and that’s not nearly as fun. When Stefan flipped his humanity switch last week, for example, I think everyone expected he and Caroline to go on some kind of Bonnie and Clyde crime spree, but we instead got to watch him try to convert a still in-control Caroline to his way of thinking.

Watch the vampire diaries season 6 episode 20