It’s hard to narrow down which of the shock and awe moments from this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries was the most surprising. Likewise, I’m having the same problem deciding which one was the most exasperating. Luckily, the writers of The Vampire Diaries were extremely generous in providing options for both trains of thought.
Tyler (Michael Trevino) returned to Mystic Falls last week in an unexpected act of chivalry. After the news broke that Bonnie (Kat Graham) was in fact dead, as opposed to traveling the world with her mother like Jeremy (Steven McQueen) had led them to believe, his return was a nice change of pace. It added the final piece to a touching scene (meaning, I cried like a baby), and signaled a move forward for all the characters. There was a sense that the group was once again complete, despite Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) recent bout of amnesia and the loss of yet another member of the inner circle.
It didn’t take long for that hopeful illusion to dissolve though and it makes me wonder if Tyler’s aversion to staying has less to do with avenging his mother’s death, and more to do with Caroline’s (Candice Accola) latent feelings for Klaus (Joseph Morgan)? It’s convenient for him that he has a more noble excuse to declare than that he feels his man card has been challenged.
Between the grief of losing Bonnie – his childhood friend – and the knowledge that he is only able to live blissfully happy with the woman he loves because someone else deemed it alright (for the time being), now doesn’t exactly seem like the best time to be making life altering, grown-up decisions. Klaus would more than happily rip out Tyler’s heart if he no longer had to be concerned with Caroline’s deep affections for him. Whatever mountain range he was shacking up on might not have had cell phone reception, but last time I checked New Orleans doesn’t have that same problem. Let’s hope for Tyler’s sake that Caroline didn’t call Klaus for a pep talk after Tyler walked out of her life.
