As Liv and Luke search for ways to avoid merging, Sheriff Forbes’ health takes a drastic turn. Here is a recap of the Vampire Diaries episode “Prayer For the Dying.”
Recap:
Alaric’s out of town retrieving a thingamabob to help Jo, so Elena and Damon watch over the unconscious Kai. Before Elena rushes off to the hospital, Damon plans a date that they’ve already been on. Elena’s convinced that’s cheating and wants them to start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. Tyler and Liv’s cuddle session and discussion about where to spend spring break is cut short with Papa Parker’s knocks. He’s there for Liv and Luke’s birthday meal, and the twins plan to convince him to let them out of the merge.
Caroline wakes to Colin, the cancer patient from Duke, banging on her door. Stefan joins the party to discover Colin’s now a vamp. They bring Colin to the hospital for Jo to examine, but she’s feeling less than adequate, having just failed to revive a plant. Jo starts a full blood transfusion on the Sheriff. Trying to end the excruciating pain, Colin repeatedly stabs himself with a metal rod. Knowing the blood transfusion didn’t work, Damon pulls out Colin’s heart, much to his friends’ dismay.
Stefan finds Caroline debating which flowers to pick for her mom’s memorial service. To calm her down, Stefan tells her the story of when his mom got sick. He would travel into town to buy tea and flowers, telling himself it was for her, but it was truly his way to avoid her. He now wants nothing more than to spend another day with her, and Caroline has that chance. The Sheriff goes into cardiac arrest. Neither CPR nor the paddles bring her back. She dreams about packing her suitcase with baby shoes and pictures and telling Caroline she’s leaving. Forbes comes back to life. After a moment with Caroline, Forbes sends her to get coffee and asks Stefan to look after Caroline when she’s gone. Realizing how short life is, Elena kisses Damon and doesn’t want to waste another minute.
While reminding Liv and Luke the coven will die out if they don’t merge, Papa Parker gets a call from Damon. Damon wants the blondes to merge because Kai’s about to be on the loose, even though he’s magic-less for now. Sparking an idea, Damon takes Kai to syphon the magic from Sheriff Forbes. It seems to work, and in return, Kai wants to merge tonight. He sneaks up on Jo and Damon’s conversation, snaps Damon’s neck, and drags Jo away.
Right outside the restaurant, Papa Parker starts merging Liv and Luke, but Tyler knocks him out. Luke runs off with a plan. He shoves Jo away from Kai during their merge and wants to merge with Kai instead. When the spell ends, they both fall over unresponsive. Jo rushes over to Luke, who takes a while to come back alive. Papa Parker can feel that Luke is gone. Kai won. Just then, Luke fades away. Kai pops to his feet and disappears.
Comments:
– “Prayer For the Dying” is one of those emotionally taxing episodes of The Vampire Diaries that’s still a great hour to watch despite the little plot progression. With most of the episode composed of scenes with characters talking about their feelings and worrying about their futures, it simultaneously seemed as if they were stalling and also building tension for the end.
– It’s interesting to note that most of the drama this episode focused on did not directly deal with the main characters, and yet, I was more invested in what happened this week than during many of the past weeks. The Gemini witches have been superb additions, and I hope they stick around a while.
– Seeing Liv and Luke side by side this episode made me think they were really twins. If it hasn’t been said before, the casting is on point.
– Liv and Luke cannot be the first set of twins who did not want to merge. Not wanting to kill your twin strikes me as a fairly normal reaction to this kind of thing. How has no one mentioned whether there were twins who fought it in the past?
– Even though it looks like we might have seen the last of him, Luke gained major points for taking charge. The character finally got his own moment to shine!
– As expected, Elena’s daylight ring problem was indeed resolved in an incredibly quick and drama free way.
– Those flashes of Sheriff Forbes packing her suitcase and trying to say goodbye were perfect. Not only were they heartbreaking, but they also succeeded in using another way to depict death without death seeming like something we’ve seen a million times on the series.
– Seeing Caroline in a mixed state of denial and grief was such a beautiful character beat that Candice Accola pulled off flawlessly.
– This was an odd and fun conversation.
Damon: You’re not free tonight by any chance, are you? Because I know this little Italian joint that has eggplant so good you actually think you’re eating people.
Elena: I happen to have a weird eggplant obsession.
Damon: And I’m thinking after that go to the Art House Theater. They’re playing some pretentious French flick.
Elena: I don’t speak French, Damon.
Damon: Well, not to see the movie, silly. To hide in the back and throw popcorn at hipsters.
Elena: Wait. We’ve gone on this date already, haven’t we? Damon that’s cheating.
Damon: Cheating? Cheating’s erasing all of our epic memories. That’s cheating.
– How has it taken them this many episodes to include a witchdoctor joke?
Damon: Please, sound less confident, doc.
Jo: Look, we are in uncharted territory here. This isn’t just a medical problem, Damon. It’s a magical one.
Damon: Well, then you’re uniquely qualified. Witchdoctor and all.
– “If you think he’s doing this out of the goodness of his heart, I can assure you, he doesn’t have one.” – Jo (about Kai)
