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The Vampire Diaries - Christmas Through Your Eyes - Review

13 Dec 2014

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It wouldn't be Christmas in Mystic Falls without a little bloody mayhem, which this episode delivered along with some further developments in Kai's wicked schemes, Matt's new vendetta, and the show's tentative current romances.  Additionally, Bonnie was sad and mad and alone some more. Le sigh!  All in all, I felt fully emotionally manipulated throughout.  I'd expect nothing less - let's review and discuss!

Christmas Miracle One: Liv's moral revolving door - Liv's ability to change her reasons for wanting Jo and Kai to merge had my head spinning.  First, it was all about self preservation.  Girl, that's cold.  Jo totally saved you back in the day (plus, I'm pretty much Team Jo in this situation anyway, as she's really grown on me overall).  Then, Liv was all about telling Jo she believes that Jo can beat Kai in the merge.  Hmm.  Does Liv really think that, or is it just a convenient excuse for not dying?  Anyway, though I've enjoyed Liv more this season than last, I still think she had a lot of nerve chastising her brave, noble sister for running from her supposed destiny.  Luke's reasoning made a lot more sense: stop Kai, whatever it takes and whatever the sacrifice.  Somehow, though, Jo managed to make a case for letting Kai live and doing the merge after all, just as Alaric had a gun poised to the villain's head.  If Kai wasn't such a thoroughly enjoyable baddie, that would have felt like even more of a huge wasted opportunity.
Christmas Miracle Two: The Dalaric Diaries - Ric, continuing his trend of being oddly whiny and repetitive this season (don't get me wrong, nothing could lesson my love of Alaric), was still angry about Damon's compelling him to get the Ascendent last week.  I didn't appreciate him accusing Damon of only wanting to save Bonnie just to make himself feel better.  The Bamon friendship is real, Ric, mmkay?  Still, it was really sweet and apropos of heartwarming holiday feels when Ric finally took Damon's hand for help, signaling a return to bromance for the two, or at least showing that it's possible.  Additionally, Alaric was completely charming with Jo in this episode, and their romance is seriously adorable.

Christmas Miracle Three: Kai takes what he wants - It was awesome when Kai sucked up all the magic from the anti-magic spell the Travelers cast over Mystic Falls.  First of all, it interrupted the Dalaric bickering, which was getting tiresome by the time Damon knocked out Alaric's tire.  Secondly, I'm all for getting rid of every vestige of the Travelers having ever been a plot point (sigh of exhaustion).  And thirdly, the spell being broken right when it was stopped Matt from his hideously annoying plan to kill Enzo before the poor bastard can at least get a good plotline as a series regular.  Ha, Matt, we'll talk about you momentarily.  Plus, this twisted turn of the tables once again showed Kai for the devilishly inventive and hard-to-beat foe he truly is.  Oh, and that opening of him at the hospital, covered in blood, was so perfectly chilling.

Christmas Miracle Four: In which Jeremy is the voice of reason - Did I really witness Jeremy (of all people!) giving a halfway decent, totally logical and necessary speech to Matt about how his vendetta against vampires cannot possibly end well?  Sure, now it's Enzo, but how long until the lines blur further and Elena, Caroline, Stefan, or Damon come under fire?  Not only is this storyline an actual manifestation of everything that's grown annoying about Matt this season (I miss when he was a pathetic puppy dog hanging around in the background rather than a loud complaining voice nudging to the forefront), but it's sucked Enzo into its pointless, irritating vortex as well.  Seeing Matt's sad imitation of Tripp was really hollow and weird.  That's why, despite all of Enzo's severe misdeeds (I blame his murder of Monique more on the writers), I was pleased to see him get the upper hand over Matty.  Too bad that moment of glee led right into Enzo's own ridiculous speech about how he's going to use Matt to help him cause Stefan misery.  I don't know what's more bizarre and uncalled for: Enzo's hatred of Stefan in all its randomness (the only aspect I like is Enzo's jealousy over Caroline), or the fact that he's barely even interacted with Damon at all this season.  Damon and Enzo's complicated friendship was the only silver lining of the Augustine storyline from last season, and it's a shame to see no further development on that front.  Here's hoping the new year brings Matt back to the sidelines where he belongs, and Enzo some much better motivations and hobbies.
Christmas Miracle Five: In which I experience genuine Steroline feels for a minute there - Awww.  I admit that I don't care for the super-transparent, contrived device of having Liz suddenly on death's door just to bring Stefan and Caroline closer together.  But there's no question that the scene of Stefan telling Caroline about her mother's illness was intensely lovely and beautifully acted by Paul Wesley and Candice Accola.  Stefan's expression of grief at seeing Caroline's sadness was especially well done.  Despite all of Caroline's fighting to break off her relationship with Stefan, she needs him more than ever, as surely as she held onto that snowglobe keychain (because again, awww!).
Christmas Miracle Six: Bonnie is still trapped in 1994, alone and melancholy.  I'd call it a miracle that the writers have managed to stretch this situation out for quite so long.  It felt like the breaking point last week, and I'd have really loved to have seen Bonnie escape, through her own brilliance, in this episode.  Unfortunately, there was no such luck.  As painful as it was to watch Bon Bon try to buoy her spirits with a Christmas tree and then later burn it, the flashbacks to Christmas past were cute and fun, while Jeremy's quiet statement of missing Bonnie while he stood at the tree was actually rather touching (that's two kind of likable Jeremy moments in one episode, wow).

Christmas Miracle Seven: "So look, I don't know what we were, or are, or are supposed to be. All I know is I want to see you."  Oh my long-awaited, gorgeous Delena buildup to reunion.  There was Elena, all brimming with happy, nervous anticipation, and there was Damon, feeling much the same.  It could not possibly have been more too good to be true.  I was just waiting for the rug to get pulled out from under the two, but I was surprised when Stefan showed up first to give Damon his car back.  What a wonderful scene between the brothers - another excellent one following on from their reunion earlier this season when Damon came back from the dead. 

But soon enough, Elena was at Damon's door, yet of course he couldn't see her.  Goodness, no; why would it ever be that easy?  No, Kai was on hand, the moment-destroyer, with a spell hiding Elena and some further dastardly deeds to unfurl.  See you in January, guys!

What did you think of this episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  The Vampire Diaries will be back January 22 on the CW.


About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana
Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries and Beauty and the Beast, Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @VMaeFontana
Recent Reviews (All Reviews)


23 comments:

  1. No idea what's up with the weird formatting guys. I'll work on getting that fixed. :)

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  2. While it was definitely an improvement over last season's mid-season
    finale,it was still underwhelming.Everything went exactly the same way
    anyone would expect-enzo turning the table on that dumb busboy matt(who
    even thought he could take down enzo,my foot),jo getting her magic back
    persuaded by threat against her family by kai,bonnie still
    remaining trapped in that purgatory for unforseeable future(now that no
    one actually is there,watching bonnie roam around the empty streets is
    not a good idea for storyline IMO-can we get her in MF now,enough is
    enough),kai going after elena at the end(after all,TVD won't be the same
    unless elena is the damsel in distress and suddenly everything becomes
    about her-although that cloaking spell trick was a good one).What was
    unexpected was that kai lifted the boundary spell and it allowed our
    resident vampires to return home.I absolutely loved the defan moment at
    the end.I always thought liz was going to bite the dust in this one/by
    the end of this season,but the cancer was not what i had in my mind.I
    just hope her death is not used to prop up this ridiculous ship
    steroline,although i'm almost certain it is exactly what will happen
    eventually.Kai is turning out to be a fascinating villain since our fair
    share of great villains like kat & klaus,i hope he sticks around
    for a bit.I like liv but i don't want her with that jerkwad tyler who
    showed exactly why he will win a poll of worst & useless TVD
    character ever.While we're at it,can we get shirtless jeremy please,he
    has no storyline in this show other than whining anyway!LOL!!
    Anyway,great review!Loved it!

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  3. totally agree and yes enzo being jealous that caroline likes stefan eep

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  4. Anyone who is interested-Both caroline dries and the actor on FB have confirmed that we will finally get to see enzo's backstory and he will fall in love with sarah salvatore-the real one played by Tristin mays.

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  5. Phew, I think it's okay now! :)

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  6. That is extremely interesting and sounds like a tremendous improvement for Enzo. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. That was the only enjoyable part of Enzo's whole monologuing about his supposed woes and hatred of Stefan...Caroline and Enzo could have been cute had the writers chosen to go there.

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  8. Thanks! Last week was a bit disappointing for me and this was definitely a lot better. Kai's use of the boundary spell was probably the only unpredictable part as you mentioned, and yes I'm so ready for Bonnie to be freed. As if she hasn't been martyr enough times on the show so far, now they're really rubbing it in a little too much. Even though Tyler has been relatively likable to me this season, he was indeed ridiculous in this episode, like to the point of "why are you here again"? LOL, that's a zone it's all to easy for him, Matt, and/or Jeremy to fall into.

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  9. For any TVD scoop,anytime!

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  10. I have gone through 4 post-mortem interviews of TVD mid-season finale of Caroline dries and Julie plec-No one even mentions the name bonnie,let alone her fate/storyline in the show.And now they're sending back jeremy to an arts school far away so that means beremy break up after she returns to MF!I am like-are you kidding me?!? I bet jer will meet the real sarah as she also is pursuing arts in Duke university,north carolina and we will have another semi trio like situation with enzo-sarah-jeremy.What about bonnie?

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  11. I don't really like Beremy, but agree thoroughly that more attention needs to be paid to advancing Bonnie's storyline. And another love triangle sounds like way too many for this show!

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  12. Oh yeah I suppressed Tyler's whole crossover last season cause it was pathetic! But okay you aren't really besties if you didn't try to kill each other in the vd-verse

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  13. That is good news because I so feared that Enzo would find her and kill her. It would be nice if there was some happiness somewhere and that all of Stefan's efforts to keep her safe didn't end up for naught, plus it would be nice for Matt to realize that Stefan did choose a human life over a vampire.

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  14. And Julie was actually SHOCKED a few seasons ago when she got Twitter bashed over her continued mistreatment of Bonnie? Sheesh!

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  15. I really wish that we would see the villains surviving more out of simply outsmarting the heroes. Instead we see the heroes continuing to make stupid decisions (ie plot-holes) as an excuse to keep the villains alive.


    Jo's stupid choice to keep Kai alive has now screwed everyone. And Matt not killing Enzo when he had a chance put anyone Stefan cares about in jeopardy.


    How stupid is Matt, by the way? Didn't he think that removing Enzo's daylight ring or at least pumping him full of vervain would be wise choices before trying to torture him? Crimany...

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  16. The only time I like Enzo is his scenes with Caroline so if they aren't going to give them more to do together, even on a non "romance" level, they really need to just get rid of him.

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  17. wouldn't dark Bonnie have been in season 4 when used dark magic to bring Jeremy back

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  18. That was brainwashed Bonnie. Not even close to Dark Bonnie or not vlose to what I'm expectimg.

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  19. I wonder in what state of mind Bonnie will be when she comes back. Being alone all that long must have a toll on her. I hope she is turning a bit darker now that Damon is softer, and it is him who helps her through it.


    I still like Enzo, and I would prefer not to turn him into another villain, but rather him being friends with Matt etc. His jealousy regarding Stefan is senseless and it is weird that he has no interaction at all with Damon. Enzo has no real friends which makes it sad, I like him with Caroline, but apparently that is not going to happen in the Vampire verse. If Damon finds out about Enzo's plans regarding Stefan, he is a goner. Loved the Stefan and Damon moment, more please!

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  20. Thanks :) I agree on taking Damon's side of the argument with Ric and wishing Ric had stayed a vampire...so much potential in that twist for him that we never got to see play out. The keychain in the flashback and then in the present, in the Steroline part, was so sweet.

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  21. Agree with you completely. Seeing Damon able to help Bonnie in some way would be really interesting and rewarding. Enzo's whole storyline needs a total re"vamp," and the Stefan and Damon scenes this season have been wonderful.

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  22. Lol, good point...Matt is pretty darn stupid, so nothing he does surprises me at this point. Lucky for those of us who like Enzo, but really, unbelievably dim of Matt.

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