Even though The Vampire Diaries slowed things way down tonight, there was still that sense of urgency and pending doom that makes the show so enjoyable to watch season after season. With tragedy looming around every corner- past, present, and future – the characters took a much needed time out to celebrate the birthday of their temporarily departed friend, Bonnie (Kat Graham).
As Mystic Falls’ resident supernaturals decorated the Salvatore Manor and baked the perfect cake, Bonnie wasn’t exactly sharing in the celebratory mood while still stuck by her lonesome in a perpetual 1994 prison. But, that didn’t stop the writers from turning “The Day I Tried to Live” into somewhat of a public service announcement on the power of positive thinking.
My biggest apprehension about the direction that the writers are taking The Vampire Diaries in is that they’re setting us up to fall for Kai (Chris Woods) in a very Klaus-like way. It’s not that every villain on the show has won the hearts of the fans, but I get the sneaking suspicion that now that Kai has merged with Luke (Chris Brochu), that somehow more and more redeemable qualities will begin to emerge from this recently heartless character. And, I don’t like it. Either that, or Luke has somehow pulled the biggest con of all, and is hunkering down for the winter inside of Kai. Not as gross as it sounds, I assure you.
It’s not that watching Kai portrayed in a marginally improved light was a horrible viewing experience, it was just a little hard to swallow. In fact, the entire twin merging thing has been a little hard to wrap my head around. In a completely morbid way, finding out about it turned the Gemini Coven into more of a cult than anything else. There have been some screwed up plot twists on The Vampire Diaries in previous seasons (e.g. Klaus’s sacrificial circle), but this has to top them all. Forcing your twin children to become one, literally, for the sake of tradition, seems more than a bit much. And then, in this case, having a second set of twins after your first set isn’t good enough? Sick.