The Vampire Diaries – S7E13 – This Woman’s Work
Previously on The Vampire Diaries, ‘Postcards from the Edge’
Origin Story
From a very young age, Rayna knew about the existence of vampires; her father was a hunter with the Brotherhood of the Five. Julian came up against her father in battle, but instead of killing him and suffering the Hunter’s Curse, he compelled Rayna to do the job for him. Hoping to seek revenge, Rayna sought out the help of some shamans. Before sacrificing their lives so that she could have many, they linked her spirit to the Phoenix Stone and Sword, enabling her to track vamps easily.
One night in the late 19th century Rayna found Julian and the heretics. She attacked Beau, giving him the X-scar, but the group managed to get away before she could do more damage. Fortunately, now that the sword had touched Beau’s blood, Rayna easily found them again before they could flee to New York. Unfortunately, the heretics ultimately escaped, albeit with the sword sunk into Julian’s chest.
Images: The CW
“Classy, with a K.”
Despite the fact that he nearly killed her in the very recent past, Bonnie turns to Damon when she needs to vent. She still considers him her best friend, which is why she’s so damn supportive after finding the jean skirt belonging to Damon’s one-night-stand. No one wants to be around a miserable, horny Damon for the next few decades, so he should just live his life. Oh, Bonnie, if only you knew the truth about Elena. Which, apparently Enzo does, and is using that knowledge to force Damon into giving him the Phoenix Sword. Though it’s obvious now that Damon is hiding something from her, Bonnie goes along with the plan.
Too bad the whole thing was a trap. Rayna has taken Enzo hostage in a Whitmore classroom – does anyone ever have classes here? – and has a crossbow pointed at Bonnie and Damon. She fires a warning shot at Bonnie but before Damon can save her, Rayna threatens to make it worse. Damon gives Rayna what she wants, in Damon fashion, by throwing the sword out the window instead of giving it directly to her. Bonnie acknowledges the fact that Damon didn’t hesitate to save her this time, and they share a long-overdue sexually heated, intense moment nice little moment.
What to Expect when you’re an Expecting Vampire
Valerie and Stefan have compelled the hospital staff to not only perform an emergency C-section, but to clear out an entire wing of the building so the focus can be on Caroline. This seems a little irresponsible, no? When the babies put up a violent resistance to being removed, Valerie believes they must want to stay where it’s so easy for them to feed on magic. She offers to channel magic outside of Caroline’s body in order to trick the babies into coming out, but she’ll need the help of her fellow heretics. Yeah, the same women who tried to kill Caroline are now going to help save her and some babies that aren’t even hers. Just whistle past it or you’ll get a headache trying to figure out who is on whose side.
During the spell, Beau’s scar reopens and starts bleeding. The heretics know that Rayna must have her sword back and it’s only a matter of time before she finds them. Staying at the hospital means putting every vampire there in danger, so the heretics, minus Valerie, make a run for it. They manage to get only as far as the parking lot before running into Rayna. She traps Beau in the stone and then sets his body on fire, but Nora and Mary Louise manage to escape.
While Valerie attempts the spell on her own, Stefan spends some time with Caroline inside her mind. The two of them are having a nice “date” when Bonnie shows up, telling Stefan his brother needs him. Damon is trying to right his wrongs, yet again, and will probably wind up dead without help. Stefan is hesitant, he doesn’t want to leave Caroline again and knows that helping Damon doesn’t usually amount to much; but when has that ever really stopped him from being the hero? Damon has been holding his own with Rayna but she eventually gets the upper hand. Just as she’s about to send him back into the hell stone, Stefan zooms in and takes the hit. He manages to pull the sword out before he can be trapped, but he’s definitely been marked with an X-scar.
Meanwhile, Ric’s babies are officially born. He names them Josie, after their mother, and Elizabeth, for Caroline’s mom. Cue the waterworks! Although her attachment to the twins had been growing right along with her belly, this had to be a big moment for Caroline. Still, there’s not much of a connection between her and Ric. There’s much ground to cover before we reach the future plot, where Caroline and the twins are currently on their way to New Orleans to see “mommy’s friend.”
The Brothers Salvatore
Knowing that Rayna won’t stop until she finds him, Stefan leaves town. Damon makes a promise to get his brother’s freedom back, by killing the huntress himself. Stefan almost trusts Damon, especially now with the knowledge that Elena is still alive. Yup, I knew Elena being gone was just too damn good to be true. Damon was going to kill Enzo until his old bestie revealed that Tyler had a decoy coffin, and Elena is safe and sound inside the real one somewhere in New York.
The Vampire Diaries S7E13
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Plot - 7/107/10
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Dialogue - 7.5/107.5/10
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Performances - 8/108/10
Summary
Here’s the thing, this episode as a whole was pretty good. The action was exciting, the major villain-arc is in full swing, and Damon and Bonnie even had screen time together. The problem, I think, is with a poorly plotted season overall. There’s information from earlier episodes and from the future plot line, which when taken into account with what’s happening episode-by-episode, take me out of the moment and it’s getting harder to ignore. Although I’m enjoying the flash-forwards, it’s possible we were given too much information way too early on.
For example, everything between Caroline and Stefan almost doesn’t matter. Every time they have a great moment, or a slight progression in their relationship, it’s dampened by the fact that we know they don’t end up together, making it difficult to become invested in the now. So in this episode, when Stefan visits Caroline in her mind, or when they commiserate over him always having to sacrifice himself, it’s touching but for about half a second before you remember that it’s not going to last.
Or, when Damon finds out that Elena is still alive, the shock value is non-existent. We knew from the very first episode that Damon was waiting in a coffin for Elena to wake up, so it’s no big surprise that her body is safe. Ian Somerhalder gives a great performance, mixing relief, happiness, and longing, so well. But, again, it’s negated because of information we already had.
Rayna’s backstory was fun, but it came at the wrong time and was almost unnecessary. Seeing Julian kill her father would have gone a long way in establishing him as a real threat, if we had seen it earlier in the season. Also, much of the material with the shamans had already been revealed to us through Nora and Bonnie’s conversation last week, so why reiterate? It was cool to learn how she is connected to the Brotherhood of the Five, but we didn’t really need a flashback for that.
