The Vampire Diaries‘ world was rocked last season when the travelers managed to bamboozle their way into Mystic Falls and cast a no-magic spell, banning most of our favorite residents from going home. That, coupled with a few other calamities, namely the disappearance of Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) into oblivion, and the whole show nearly fell apart. OK, maybe not technically, but in my head it completely did. Sufficient to say, this loss of home base set in motion a definite shift in the framework of the show.
Enter Kai (Chris Wood), the season six antagonist. He’s psychotic and has family drama, so clearly he fits the pattern. And, now he’s free from his own personal version of hell, repeating one day over and over again, primed and ready to inflict revenge on, well, just about everyone. Purely by mistake (dumb luck), he manages to suck out all the magic keeping the spell in tact, and just like that, everyone’s favorite supernaturals are free to resume their lives in their own beds. Kai is still a psycho on the loose, but at least they can worry about it in the comfort of their own homes.
On tonight’s episode, “Woke Up With a Monster,” Kai singles out Elena (Nina Dobrev), mostly in order to stick it to Damon for tying him to a tree. In reality, Kai should probably be thanking him since if it wasn’t for Damon’s incessant rambling, he wouldn’t have had the time to ponder the potential a spell of this magnitude held for his giant ego. The writers continued down the path of the Gemini coven, taking fans along for a ride that has some pretty glaring problems already.
The biggest one being that this story, although it has crossed paths with The Vampire Diaries‘ characters, isn’t necessarily their fight. Especially not in the same way that previous conflicts have been, i.e. Klaus’ (Joseph Morgan) curse sealed by doppelganger blood. Yes, Damon and Bonnie were trapped with Kai in 1994. Yes, it was Bonnie that gave Kai a way out. Yes, Alaric (Matt Davis) is dating Kai’s twin. Yes, Tyler (Michael Trevino) does have a blossoming relationship with Kai’s younger sister. You get the point. But, what would be the real consequence if they just walked away and let the Gemini coven clean up their own mess?
