The Vampire Diaries Review: “The World Has Turned And Left Me Here” (Season 6, Episode 5)

I’ve said it before, but to reiterate, The Vampire Diaries is a show that deals in death. Even though most of the main characters have been able to cheat death through the years, sometimes multiple times, there has to be a limit. Otherwise, tragedy stops meaning a whole lot and you’re not getting the effect you’re going for. When you know that your favorite deceased character has a relatively high chance at being resurrected, it’s not really that traumatic to watch them go down in a glory moment.

Not to be Captain Obvious, but realistically losing Bonnie is the lesser of the two evils. In this episode alone, there were multiple references to how much Damon meant to the people around him, despite being a murderous psychopath at least half of the time. He was the one that no one could get over losing. With the exception of Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), the characters seem to accept that Bonnie was gone from the beginning. As the anchor, she was already on borrowed time as it was. The choice between the two characters was obvious. And if this was it for her character (or even if it’s not), what a way to go (I wonder if this counts as martyrdom?).

This episode moved really quickly through a lot of new information. What really stood out though was Tyler’s (Michael Trevino) not-so-joyous ride through the corn field. Obviously, someone is trying to trigger his werewolf curse, but why? Not that aggressively human isn’t a good look for him, but we’ve already seen how his transition goes – and he’s not the only one that would appreciate avoiding it again. Good thing he had Liv (Penelope Mitchell) around to save the day. She’s actually turned out to be a decent addition to the show.

Without completely diminishing the last five seasons, “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here” is quite possibly one of the best, if not the best, episodes of The Vampire Diaries. Along with the other episodes this season, the direction the show is going in reminds fans why they tuned-in in the first place. There’s more heart this season than we’ve seen in quite a while, and the momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.