Previously on The Vampire Diaries, ‘I’d Leave My Happy Home for You’

At the end of last week’s episode, it seemed as though everyone but Damon had made the decision about whether or not he would take the Cure. This was one of the key frustrations that made the episode fall flat, so it was a welcome surprise to see the show explore the issue further. With Elena’s consent, Stefan takes Damon to a house in suburbia in an attempt to show him all the things that could go wrong, should he decide to become human.

At first the problems are rather mundane, at least to a human audience. Damon will need to find a job, file taxes, deal with neighbors, and on occasion he may even have to eat frozen food! But then the problems get trickier. What if other vampires learn that the Cure is running through Damon and Elena’s veins? They’ll have to cut themselves off from everyone they know and live in isolation to stay out of harm’s way. Damon doesn’t seem too concerned about it all because he’s actually thought this through. He’s already purchased a bar with a medical center right next door.

Stefan decides to kick things up a notch and shows Damon what his future could look like. In these fake flash-forwards, Damon and Elena are quickly drifting apart. Their relationship gets so bad Damon admits he regrets taking the Cure and he resents Elena for it. The final vision Stefan provides is a depressed Damon, drinking from the bottle alone after Elena has died. Damon is shaken by this last possibility. Stefan leaves him to think things over, advising that he should make this decision for himself, not for Elena.

Damon sees an elderly couple returning home and overhears their conversation. They’re bickering with one another, but it’s clear that even after 40 years of marriage, they still have the same amount of love and passion. This puts everything into perspective for Damon. He’s willing to risk the fact everything may go completely wrong. The chance at a perfect life together is better than choosing an eternity without her.

This is one of those moments where the knowledge of Nina Dobrev’s departure impacts the show in a challenging way. We should feel excited for Damon and Elena because they’ve finally come to be on the same page. They may actually get their happily ever after. Unfortunately, and completely unfair for the show, the emotional weight is stripped away because we kind of already know the ending. At this point, all we can hope for is an interesting ride to a destination we already know.

I suppose this should have been obvious during last week’s episode at the bachelor and bachelorette parties, but do Jo and Ric not have any friends? I mean, friends their own age? Who they don’t teach? It’s now their wedding day and Jo has Bonnie and Elena by her side, while Ric hangs out with Matt and Tyler. This is weird, right? I think Ric’s decision to take his family and move far, far away is definitely the right one. Anyways, because this is The Vampire Diaries, we should know immediately that any day of celebration is typically when the shit hits the fan the hardest.

At least Caroline shows up just in time to take over for the wedding coordinator who’s sick with the flu. Her first order of business however, is to make amends with Elena. Caroline feels awful for telling her she’d never truly be happy with Damon and wonders if she was partly responsible for pushing her friend to take the Cure. Elena is quick to forgive her though, she’s happy to be human again. But she doesn’t quite articulate why she’s so happy – the best she can come up with is how nice it is not to have to wear a daylight ring all the time. Elena expresses herself much better later on during an interaction with Ric.

Brought together after Jo passes out from a severe panic attack, Elena and Ric share a moment of understanding about getting a second chance at human life. Elena thought her senses would be dulled but it’s the opposite. She feels connected to the world again. She feels alive. Ric explains that it’s because her life has purpose again: it’s finite. Foreshadowing, anyone?

As usual, Bonnie was left out of the BFF girl talk and is the only one around to answer the door when Enzo comes a knocking. He’s brought an iPod full of music from Lily’s era, something to keep her company while she rots in the cell. Bonnie graciously agrees to bring it to Lily, though she’s definitely on edge because of the nightmare she’d had that morning  - one that involved both Kai and Lily getting their revenge on. When Bonnie approaches the cell, she can’t see Lily, but she can hear her talking about getting her family back. Lily appears and grabs Bonnie through the bars, but Bonnie escapes with ease.

Next on Caroline’s apology tour is Tyler. Even though she nearly killed him, he’s quick to forgive her as well. That’s when Liv shows up and Tyler wonders why she’s there. That’s okay, Tyler. We all kind of forgot that Liv and Jo are sisters.

Though she did her best to ignore him all day, Stefan finally confronts Caroline at the wedding. He doesn’t hate her; in fact he’s totally fallen for her. This revelation is a little too late for Caroline though. She’s finally realized that she wasted her last moments with her mother because she was too busy obsessing over Stefan. She knows that feeling vulnerable is all a part of falling in love but being in control is all she has right now. She’s just not ready for a relationship on top of all the grief and guilt she’s dealing with. It was a nice moment of self-awareness for her character. Humanity-less Caroline was fun, but I’m happy to have the real Caroline back.

While picking up the wedding table centerpieces, Bonnie tells Matt about her nightmare. She’s not convinced that Damon and Stefan have the Lily situation under control and Matt agrees. He knows that when Bonnie Bennett has a hunch, you don’t ignore it. Together they plan to take care of Lily themselves, but when they arrive at her cell, the door is wide open and there’s no one in sight. Out of nowhere, Matt begins to choke and before she can help him, the same thing happens to Bonnie. Later, Matt wakes to find a trail of blood leading from Bonnie’s head.

The moment has finally arrived. Jo and Ric are at the altar. Ric delivers beautiful vows, which undeniably relate to not only him and his bride-to-be, but to Elena and Damon as well. “We’ve spent our lives dodging fate and beating the odds.” Just as Ric softens our hearts and makes us feel at ease – hey, maybe this wedding can go down with no problems – something unseen starts stabbing at Jo’s stomach. When she falls to the ground, Kai appears.

With his sister taken care of, Kai directs his rage onto the crowd. He shakes the entire building, knocking people off their seats and causing the windows to shatter and rain down glass on everyone. Human-again Elena is left lying on the ground, unconscious.

Well, that leaves three of our central characters is jeopardy. Bonnie looked alive, but seriously injured. If Jo isn’t dead then her poor babies certainly are. I feel as though it’s safe to say Elena may not make it through this one, and I think it’s probably the best way forward. A situation had to arise to make it impossible for Damon to join Elena, since we know he’s not leaving the show. I can’t think of a more definitive way to stop him than Elena dying.