The Salvatores and Valerie track down Julian’s body and learn the surprising truth about the Phoenix Stone. Meanwhile, Alaric attempts to remind Jo of who she is. Here is a recap of the Vampire Diaries episode “Live Through This.”
Recap:
Three years from now, Bonnie confesses in group therapy that she screwed up and lost someone she loved. She returns to her room with a kiss from Enzo. In the present, Alaric stares at a sleeping Jo until Bonnie drops by for the Phoenix Stone. She needs more information. Stat. Waking next to Stefan, Caroline would rather do anything than lie there and do nothing. No problem. Damon interrupts with the declaration that he’s turning over a new leaf to do right by Elena, starting by stopping Valerie on her way out of town to ask about Oscar’s death. Stefan joins, and it’s an unhappy reunion. When Jo wakes, she’s hungry, like always because she’s a vegetarian, except she passes on Thai food for meat. She recites facts about her life like she memorized them from a notecard and instinctively bandages Alaric’s wound.
Caroline calls Stefan to say her makeup exams are going swell. How’s Valerie? Not important. Stefan asks Caroline on a proper date. The Salvatores return to the search for Julian, but Valerie corrects them; it’s the search for Julian’s body. He died in 1903, and now he’s in a warehouse of coffins. Turns out, the Phoenix Stone contains old vampire souls. Lily wants to reunite Julian’s soul with his body. Snooping through the Salvatore mansion, Bonnie wants a chat with Oscar, who hasn’t been himself. The maid’s screams interrupt Bonnie’s spat with Enzo. Oscar’s eating the maid, so Enzo compels her. Damon calls Bonnie to ask her to tell Alaric that Jo is actually Faux Jo, but Bonnie’s a little busy. Oscar gets violent. Bonnie drops the stone. And Enzo snatches it.
Stefan and Valerie find Julian’s coffin. She sets Julian ablaze, but the flames subside as quickly as they began. The lovebirds appear out of thin air, along with Lily and Beau. After failing to convince Lily that Julian’s a monster who made her vindictive, Valerie lets it slip that Lily gave Kai the idea to put Elena under a sleeping curse. The Salvatores and Valerie wake sometime later with splinters in their chests and a stronger vengeance against their mother. As Stefan helps Valerie up, she confesses what Julian did to their child that could have been. Throwing down with Oscar, Enzo stakes him – dead dead. Before Enzo hands the stone to Lily, he wants her to choose between him and Julian. Sorry, Enzo, she chooses Julian.
Mulling over her wedding dress, Faux Jo remembers being stabbed in the heart, not from behind by Kai. Freaked out, she leaves. Nursing bourbon, Bonnie calls Alaric with the truth. He finds Jo peering into a storefront. Nothing about this world feels familiar to her, so he promises to help her figure it out. Together. Stefan bails on his date with Caroline after things got “complicated,” but he’ll make it up to her. Promise. Hearing the story of how Valerie became a heretic, Stefan wants Julian to pay for making her go through that alone. The loyal heretics raise Julian, who has a healed “x” scar. Plotting with Bonnie, Damon hopes Lily finds true happiness just so he can rip it away or rip off Julian’s head. Break her heart. Crush her spirit. Damon says so long to turning over a new leaf, but Bonnie still thinks he’s doing right by Elena.
Comments:
– “Live Through This” answered a few lingering questions brought up at the beginning of the season, while still playing it coy when it came to other unanswered questions. In addition, this episode cherished the new character dynamics, not only in the present, but also in the future, which provided a fresh perspective. Therefore, it felt more dynamic and important to the season than last week’s installment and piqued the audience’s attention rather than merely holding our attention.
– It was nice to see the Salvatore brothers working together this week. With Elena out of the mix, I expected this season to focus more on their dynamic. Even though their mother is causing a heap of trouble for them, thus throwing the focus onto the brothers, it still does not feel as if they’ve been working together in as strong of a team as they could.
– With so much uncertainty surrounding the Phoenix Stone, it didn’t come as a complete shock that the Stone is actually a purgatory for vampire souls instead of a resurrection tool as the characters originally believed. Regardless, the reveal still landed with enough weight that it created a surprising moment enhanced by the fact that both Jo and Oscar served as examples. The new question that this reveal raises is where these souls came from. Were they selected and intentionally put into the Stone by someone? Or does the Stone steal certain souls once the bodies died?
– Guys! And girls! Jo’s back! Okay, not really, but I’m still taking a moment to celebrate … until I realize they’re probably going to kill her again.
– Who is possessing Jo’s body? Given the way she did not hesitate to provide medical attention to Alaric’s superficial wound, the vampire inhabitant probably has some medical training or whatever the equivalent would have been back in the vampire’s prime. This suspicion combined with knowing that the Stone holds souls of old vampires makes me wonder if Pearl has made a return. Half of me would love to see Faux Jo be someone we’ve seen before simply for the nostalgia and the fresh take on a familiar character. The other half of me would love to see Jodi Lyn O’Keefe tackle a completely new character since she excelled so well the first time around.
– The moment where Jo asked if the television was art came across as just plain awkward before and after we knew the truth. I would have rather seen her trying and failing to use modern technology to get this point across.
– Who is dead? We’ve heard a few mentions that someone significant perishes in about three years, but it’s difficult to figure out who with any degree of certainty because there’s no conclusive evidence that the flash forwards have been linear. Even though Alaric asked Damon who died, it might have been more of a figure of speech than a literal question. Could they be (temporarily) killing off Caroline to accommodate Candice Accola’s pregnancy? Or is Stefan a goner? These questions are going to bother me as much as the mystery flash forward death on Arrow.
– With the opening scene as the context, the present day scenes between Bonnie and Enzo were obvious in their purpose. They highlighted the dislike between the two characters while demonstrating their incredible chemistry, making the audience wonder what exactly turns these two into an item. When Enzo was first introduced, I enjoyed watching his character and his crazy antics, but about halfway through last season, he became grating, a thorn in everyone’s side for a poorly constructed reason. Watching him struggle to figure out where he fits into this world has caused him to ever so slightly grow on me again. And Bonnie deserves someone who makes her happy after everything she’s been through.
– Julian’s “x” scar could indicate that whoever gave Stefan his scar and is after him three years from now is quite an old soul, whether vampire or vampire hunter. Could it be Faux Jo or the recently cast Leslie-Anne Huff?
– The occasional reminders that the characters actually attend school are always an amusing bit. Between Alaric trying to recruit Bonnie as his TA so he can watch over Jo and Caroline taking makeup exams, I’d say these characters’ priorities sound about right. Although, I’m curious how Caroline passed her kidnapping off as an excused absence without revealing the truth.
– Was it just my cable box or was the sound volume inconsistent throughout the entire episode?
– Alaric: She’s been sleeping for twelve hours. That’s normal, right?
Bonnie: Yesterday she was dead. Today she’s alive. I’m not sure normal applies.
