The Vampire Diaries Recap: Season 6, Episode 2 — Total Eclipse of the Heart (1994 Remix)
The sixth season of The Vampire Diaries is off to an interesting start. Executive producer Julie Plec said this season would be a reboot for the series. With Damon and Bonnie trapped in an alternate version of Mystic Falls—one stuck in 1994—and the rest of the gang separated by the Travelers’ spell, it certainly feels that way. The Vampire Diaries has finally graduated—the emotions are more raw, more intense—and we couldn’t be happier with this new direction.So far, Season 6 has offered up very few answers to our questions. We still have no idea why Damon and Bonnie ended up in an alternate universe, or if there’s a way to reverse the Travelers’ spell on Mystic Falls. But that’s okay. After the craziness that was Season 5—Travelers, doppelgangers, oh my!—this season’s slow burn is greatly appreciated. And without all of that mythology to worry about, it’s nice to focus on pure emotion. This week, everyone had a lot of baggage to unload, but no one broke our hearts quite like Caroline.
We know it’s early, but can we just crown Caroline the MVP of Season 6 already? She carried this episode—and she’ll most likely carry this season. Sure, Caroline didn’t lose the love of her life like Elena, but she lost something more: her family. She didn’t just lose one of her best friends, she lost her home, she lost Stefan, and she lost Elena. She lost everyone she cared about, either to grief or supernatural barriers.
In Season 6, Episode 2 (“Yellow Ledbetter"), Caroline embarked on yet another epic road trip with Enzo. (We’re so happy Enzo is back. He’s kind of like a Klaus knockoff—with a little more heart!) It seems Alaric has been having Enzo investigate some leads for him. Enzo will do whatever it takes to bring Damon back, even if that means making out with a coat check girl for intel. Yeah, we doubt that was hard for him.
Enter Caroline, who is desperate for a lead—and let’s face it, a little bored with her current routine. (Sorry, Sheriff Forbes!) Enzo tells her that he may have found a group of witches that might be able to help them, but instead, he pulls a switcheroo and leads her to Stefan. And then they have the most awkward dinner ever with Stefan and Ivy. Clearly, Caroline is hurt. Not only has Stefan ignored her all summer, but she finds out he has a new life—complete with a new girlfriend? Yikes.
Enzo does what he can to make things even more awkward—the quote, “I’m a neck person is uttered”—even stabbing Stefan with a fork (yes, in front of Ivy) and spoiling dinner for everyone. Understandably, Enzo is angry with Stefan for giving up on Damon, but he’s not the only one upset with Stefan: Caroline wants to know why he’s been ignoring her all summer. She wants her friend back; meanwhile, Stefan wants to forget he even had friends.
That’s when Caroline does the most badass thing she’s ever done (yes, even more badass than taking down an entire group of vampires): she calls Stefan a dick and walks out. I am so happy to see a female character on this show take control. Yes, she still cried her eyes out in the car after their little fight (and it was horribly soul-crushing to watch), but at least she said what we’ve all been thinking. Stop being such a dick, Stefan, and go help your friends bring your dead brother back to life. But still, Stefan needed more of a push to take action, so Enzo kills Ivy in front of him—hey, Enzo doesn’t play around. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the end of Ivy. (Call it a hunch.)
So it sounds like Stefan is going to make his way back to the Mystic Falls area to get his revenge on Enzo—that’s a fight we can’t wait to see—and hopefully, we’ll see him and Caroline resolve their issues. Because let’s face it: we really want to see Steroline happen.
Meanwhile, Alaric was tasked with compelling Elena to forget she loved Damon. The show did a beautiful job with intercutting the present day with past Delena scenes. Elena remembered their first kiss, the first time she ever thought Damon was sexy (it was the Miss Mystic Falls pageant), but there was one thing she wasn’t allowing herself to remember: the moment she knew she loved him. And that’s because she was still with Stefan at the time.
Elena fell in love with Damon on her birthday—for TVD fans, that’s Season 3, Episode 1 (“Birthday”). Stefan was off Ripper-ing with Klaus, and Elena was grieving his departure. Her friends were throwing her a birthday party, and she really didn’t want to go—that is, until Damon knocks on her door and gives her the one thing that she really needed in that moment: the necklace Stefan gave her in Season 1. And that was the moment Elena knew. Damon could have confessed his love for her, but instead, he gave her something that would remind her of Stefan, and remind her not to keep fighting for him.
With that, Alaric was able to compel Elena to forget she loved Damon. Damon is no longer her boyfriend, the man she loves—now, he’s the jerk who killed Jeremy. He’s dead, but that’s okay. It’s going to be interesting when Stefan returns. If this is an Elena who never loved Damon, does that mean she still loves Stefan? Oh, love triangle. We just can’t seem to quit you.
As for Damon, we’re starting to piece together where he and Bonnie have ended up. Here’s what we know: They’re in Mystic Falls reliving May 10, 1994. So why that day? It may have something to do with the lunar eclipse that happened. We all know that witches love to cast spells during an eclipse.
Whatever it is Damon and Bonnie need to work fast because they’ve just learned that they’re not alone. Who could in this AU with them? Whoever it is, he or she has clearly lived through the ‘90s because they managed to finish Bonnie’s crossword puzzle—but is it someone older or younger than Damon? And have we met this person before?
Despite claiming he’s “stuck with the useless version” of Bonnie—don’t lie Damon, she’s always been kinda useless—she managed to find Grams’s grimoire, so here’s hoping Bonnie can teach herself some magic STAT because their days of carelessly flipping pancakes and dancing along to Salt-N-Pepa are over.
As for the real Mystic Falls, well, Matty Blue Eyes is going to have his hands full once he realizes what his mentor Tripp it up to. Not only do we learn that Tripp is a Fell—so he’s a member of one of the founding families—we also learn that he’s been executing vampires by driving them into Mystic Falls. Does this make Tripp the new Uncle John?! Okay, now we’re hooked, TVD.
Catch the next episode of The Vampire Diaries on Thursday, October 16 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
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