The Vampire Diaries review- 5×22: ‘Home’

One thing I cannot deny about The Vampire Diaires: boy do they know how to do a season finale cliffhanger. So is this the end for two of our main characters?

Let’s bitch it out…

Wow. Let me just say that the emotions that I’m feeling right now are all over the place. I’m going to pick a random spot to start because there’s JUST TOO MUCH.

Alaric. My boy Alaric (Matt Davis) is BACK baby! Of all the things I was hoping to come out of this “other side is imploding so let’s bring everyone and their dog back” business, that is the one thing I was secretly hoping for the most. And I’ll admit it – I was scared at the beginning when Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Lexi (Arielle Kebbel) couldn’t find Alaric but my heart leapt with joy when he appeared. Alaric’s relationship with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is one of the most entertaining and genuine parts of the show so we better get more of that now that he is back! (And I assume Damon will be too. I’m keeping the faith). However, his home coming and reunion with the Mystic Falls misfits falls a little flat… in fact Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) doesn’t even notice that Alaric is alive.

Not that I blame him. His girlfriend did lie to him and pretend everything was sunshine and lollipops when she knew that she was going to die. I guess I can see where he is pissed and not taking notice that the best guy ever has returned from the dead.

I’m not too worried about Bonnie (Kat Graham) in all this. And no, its not because I can’t stand the girl. Its because Grams (Jasmine Guy) told Bonnie that she would be taken care of. Grams made some kind of deal with the other side, or with the witches from the great beyond or… who knows. It doesn’t matter. There’s a deal in place for Bonnie to be taken care of and I’m assuming the sacrifice Grams was referring to is that she would die or be at peace or whatever in Bonnie’s place. But Bonnie conveniently forgets about these things and prepares for her death. So here’s what I’m thinking (and please don’t quote me on this as I’m just thinking out loud here) – the light is not them dying, but them being sent back because of whatever deal Grams made, and the reason Damon gets to go too is because they are physically connected with the (adorable) holding hands that happened. It has to mean something that Bonnie made such a show of linking hands with him for the end. Doesn’t it?

Well that is quite the goodbye that Damon and Elena (Nina Dobrev) have. I’ll give her one thing – Elena is a master at crying. And Damon is a master at the moving, “profess my love even though she can’t hear me” type of speeches. But even as I was caught up with Damon’s amazing speech, a thought popped in to my head: ‘Lord I’m happy Elena can’t actually hear this because her head would be a billion times bigger’. Yikes, is that too mean? I mean, the girl did just lose the second love of her life at the age of eighteen.

Okay. I think I am possibly ready to talk about the second best thing about the episode – Steroline! Since we only had such a short time with Lexi on the show, sometimes I forget how great she is at just cutting through the crap and telling Stefan how it is. So I couldn’t be more thrilled that the one thing she wanted to help Stefan with this time is to force him to admit his feelings for Caroline (Candice Accola). And my heart was bursting with joy at the scene where she is comforting him over the loss of Damon and Lexi. These two have such skill at showing their connection and emotion with no words but with their small touches, like when they fell asleep holding hands, or in this case, where she just holds him while he’s crying. Their non verbals are impeccable.

Other Observations:

• I think it bears repeating: ALARIC IS BACK BABY!!!!!
• We get a few reminders that Matt (Zach Roerig) is the only human of the group and it seems that he might be happier without all the supernatural craziness that he has had to endure. And I can’t blame the kid. But now we have Tyler (Michael Trevino) coming back and not being a hybrid anymore, so perhaps Matt won’t be alone for long?
• The fact that Enzo (Michael Malarkey) made it back also made my night. He is a gem and considering how characters keep coming back on this show, I hope to see him much more in the future!
• OMG Silas (Paul Wesley) is hilarious. That was a stroke of genius and I’m proud it was my boy Enzo that came up with it. I was lol’ing and he made me forget for a few minutes that he is a mass murderer. Part of me was disappointed that Bonnie let him get sucked up by the air monster, I can admit it.

Well that closes out the show’s fifth season with a bang. What do you think will happen to Bonnie and Damon? What do you think of my little theory? And how excited are you about ALARIC coming back?!?! Thoughts about next season and where we go from here? Sound off below!

The Vampire Diaries will return in the fall on the CW.