The Vampire Diaries season 6 episode 20 review: I’d Leave My Happy Home For You
Things change in a big way for Elena this week, as The Vampire Diaries motors up to its season six endgame...
This review contains spoilers.
6.20 I’d Leave My Happy Home For You
Elena is human again, folks, and we’ve been transported back to season four – figuratively and literally – for some old-fashioned Delena angst in the process.
Yes, suddenly the worst storyline of season six – Elena erasing her memories of Damon but getting back together with him anyway – has a purpose. After taking the cure, a move I honestly didn’t expect despite (or because of) all signs pointing that way, she remembers the last time the McGuffin was around, when Damon refused to take the cure with her because of… reasons.
Now, then, she’s decided that asking Damon to become human would lead to a lifetime of resentment and, just like that, we have one final obstacle for these two to overcome.
Elena’s imminent departure dictated that there needed to be one and, while I think the actual ending will be far more tragic than simply her skipping town and letting Damon get on with his immortal life, tapping into the very nature of these characters – especially Damon – is a good way to get around the tricky business of breaking up a couple it’s taken six years to get together.
He’s selfish, but he’s also a fool for love – two perspectives offered by Stefan and Enzo and various points in the episode. Really, everyone who loves him stepped up to offer Damon advice this week, from Alaric and Stefan to Enzo and (off-screen) Bonnie, and it doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference until Elena puts forth her own argument.
Stefan and Enzo’s perspectives, though, are very clearly skewed by their own agendas. Enzo, as I’ve been sure of all along, is in love with Damon and bitter about everything that’s happened since his return (IMO), while Stefan is terrified of being left alone. This episode paints a really sad picture of Stefan generally, relentlessly comparing him to Lily with their shared ripper status as well as their pathetic personal lives.
Aside from one quick phone call to Caroline at the start of the episode, it’s clear just how isolated Stefan has become this season. He did a lot of it to himself, of course, but with Elena and Damon planning to become human and ride off into the sunset, he’s totally and utterly alone. It makes perfect sense that he’d be hurt by Damon not telling him about his plans first and, equally, why Damon chose not to confide in his brother.
The spine of the episode was Alaric and Jo’s bachelor and bachelorette parties, two parties that had very little to do with the guests of honour. Jo apparently doesn’t have any adult friends and Alaric is faced with a house full of strange women, collected up by Damon, Matt and Tyler to see him off into married life.
Speaking of Matt, his commitment to hating all of his friends continued this week, with him drunkenly telling Alaric to cut his losses, take his miracle life and leave town.
It’s not bad advice, and left me really unsure of exactly where Alaric is going to be at the end of the season. He’s been completely wasted this year, particularly irksome following so many years of pining for him to return, and the not-shocking discovery that Jo is carrying twins puts them both in a precarious position now that we know Kai and the rest of Lily’s ‘family’ are readying for a big return.
With all of the focus on Elena’s departure, the show really doesn’t seem to care too much about Tyler’s. It matches up with how much The Vampire Diaries has always treated the character, and how a chunk of the audience feels about him, but the decision to have him and Matt sign up to the police force only for Matt to be put on medical leave is confusing when taking into account we only have two more weeks with the character.
But, I won’t lie, that scene was worth it just for the revelation that their deputy calls Tyler “cupcake”. I bet he really loves that.
There’s an awful lot to cram into the next two hours of The Vampire Diaries but, as we all know, there’s little this show does better than pack an incredible amount of plot into the end of a season. Elena is already human, signifying that there’s something more to come before she exits for good. The bigger question is whether we will also be dealing with a mortal Damon next season.
Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Because, here.
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