‘The Vampire Diaries’ Series Finale Recap: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Their Stories
Executive producer Julie Plec promised an “ emotional experience ” in “ The Vampire Diaries ” series stopping point, and that ’ s precisely what we got .
Picking up where the penultimate episode left off, “ I Was Feeling Epic ” begins with Stefan ( Paul Wesley ) attempting to resuscitate Bonnie ( Kat Graham ) after an specially draining bite of charming. While Bonnie ’ s unconscious, she reunites with her best acquaintance Elena ( Nina Dobrev ), who ’ mho been stuck in a mystic coma since the season six finale. But it ’ s Elena who realizes something ’ mho incorrectly — she and Bonnie ’ randomness lives are linked, so Elena can lone wake once Bonnie is dead for good, no loopholes — and she tells Bonnie it ’ s not her time. not so far. She placid has a full life sentence to live, even though Bonnie is more than will to die to be with the recently deceased sexual love of her life, Enzo ( Michael Malarkey ). But even Enzo ’ s spirit refuses to let Bonnie give up, and with that, Bonnie wakes up, letting her friends know : “ I saw Elena. ”
meanwhile, Damon ( Ian Somerhalder ) is trying to stop “ dead as a doornail ” Vicki Donovan ( Kayla Ewell ) from doing Katherine ’ randomness ( besides Nina Dobrev ) invite, ringing the Maxwell Bell 12 times ( every five minutes ) and bringing literal hellfire to Mystic Falls. unfortunately, neither throwing her out a window nor snapping her neck incapacitates Vicki for good, and she truly is a womanhood on a mission — it ’ s either this or going back to Hell, and the view of no longer existing at all is then much better than going back .
so Damon puts Vicki ’ s brother Matt ( Zach Roerig ) in charge of trying to talk his boastful sister down. Since he doesn ’ metric ton believe Matt will actually be able to stop her though ( neither does Matt, which is why he incites one end “ natural gas leak ” protocol for township evacuation ), he goes back home with Stefan to regroup and figure out a direction to stop Katherine and save their town .
It ’ s there where they see the coffin they keep Elena in is vacate — and she ’ s awake. obviously, Bonnie ’ s fleeting death must have triggered it… but there are no loopholes. No, this is Katherine pretending to be Elena and messing with Damon ’ s pass for old time ’ s sake. She ’ s come to gloat, naturally, as she ’ mho now the Queen of Hell and has bested the Salvatore brothers and their r-2 of friends once and for all. It ’ randomness hard not to gloat — she obviously had the Devil himself under her Katherine Pierce spell from the second she stepped foot in Hell. Hate the actor, not the game. As for Elena, her consistency is hidden off in the boiler room of Mystic Falls High School. unfortunately, before he got stuck in a Spin Doctors prison universe, Kai ( Chris Wood ) spelled the boiler room for Katherine so Elena can ’ thyroxine be taken out .
As for ways to stop Katherine, it turns out that a dagger forged from her bones ( like they did with Cade ) isn ’ t the long-run solution, as she only wakes up and talks them to death flush more. In fact, we can ’ thymine be sure Damon international relations and security network ’ metric ton in Hell already, with the way he keeps having to stab Katherine entirely to get more grief from her. “ I have everything I want, Damon, ” she tells him. “ Or I ’ m about to. once that last bell rings, this stupid town will go up and flames and everybody will go fagot. Well, they ’ ll tan alive first. But then their ashes will go fagot. ”
Damon tries to get her back by pointing out she ’ s still so covetous over how he and Stefan would both choose Elena over her, “ every prison term, ” but she throws back that Elena would constantly choose Stefan over him every time, equally well. “ Because I would. Any womanhood would. Stefan is the better man. ”
fortunately, Bonnie figures out a long-run Katherine solution from Alaric ’ s research : Let the hellfire hail and then send it back to Hell. The thing is, Katherine needs to be second in Hell. And person needs to make surely she goes there. Which is what leaves us with the Salvatore brothers arguing over who will be the one to take Katherine spinal column to Hell. specifically, who will be the one to end their animation to save the sidereal day ? As Katherine said, Stefan is “ the better valet, ” but it ’ s Damon who steps up, wanting to be the good big brother he never was .
And Stefan acknowledges that he very much is in this moment : “ In about the two centuries since I made you become a vampire, I have fought to turn you into the valet who deserves the happiness that ’ s out there right now. ” But Damon is hush a vampire, and Stefan no longer is, so damon uses the vampire advantage and compels Stefan to leave and not to stop until Damon ’ s death break the compulsion. “ Because I am the big buddy. I ’ meter deplorable I wasn ’ triiodothyronine better at it until now. ”
While all this is happening, Alaric ( Matt Davis ) is ready to ditch town with his daughters, and that means Caroline ( Candice King ) has to go excessively, a much as she wants to help the Salvatores save Elena and get the better of Katherine. After all, she and Stefan fair got married earlier that night, so they ’ re class, besides. But Alaric goes for the jugular when it comes to convincing Caroline to leave Stefan behind : “ I don ’ t need to remind you what it ’ s like to lose your beget. ”
It ’ second not like he doesn ’ triiodothyronine worry — Damon at one point was his lone friend and Elena is his step-daughter — but he has to put his daughters first, and they need their mother. And once it looks like things very are coming to an end for Mystic Falls, Caroline calls Stefan and leaves him a voice mail : “ I need you to know that I understand. I love you. I will love you forever. I understand. ”
even after an emotional reconnection with her estrange forefather, Peter ( Joel Gretsch ), Vicki however chose to ring the bell quite than go bet on to Hell. obviously that ’ s not ideal, but as this season keeps saying, Hell actually is no joke. But preferably than desert their family, Matt and Peter stay behind. And once the bell rings for the 12th time, it goes kaboom with hellfire ( as does Vicki ), which makes its way through the Mystic Falls tunnels thanks to Bonnie ’ mho enchantment and directly to the Armory .
It ’ sulfur here where Bonnie is sincerely screen, coming face to confront with Hellfire. She ’ second bold enough to tell the hellfire it ’ south not her meter and it can ’ thyroxine take her, but finally, the office becomes besides much and she worries she can ’ metric ton push it all back to Hell like she plans. But once again, the spirit of Enzo is here to tell her she can do it — as are the spirits of all the Bennett witches who came earlier Bonnie, including her Grams ( Jasmine Guy ), Beatrice Bennett ( Jaz Sinclair ), and Lucy Bennett ( Natashia Williams ), who we ’ ve all been waiting to see since her one and lone appearance in season two ’ s “ Masquerade. ”
The thing about Damon compelling Stefan is that he didn ’ thyroxine stop to think that his short brother would possibly be on verbena. That ’ s a point that ’ s addressed when Elena shows up again in her mystic coma populace, this fourth dimension greeted by Stefan at Mystic Falls High ( where they first met ). Stefan explains how he ’ s not quite certain what happened with Bonnie, but he knows that he took a syringe full of his blood ( and the cure for immortality ), went back to the grave where Damon and Katherine were, inject Damon with the cure, and took his place on the highway to Hell. Because then Damon couldn ’ t pull the vampire outdo card. And he besides couldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate betray his brother by not living a human animation to the fullest. Stefan promised Katherine he would kill her back in the second season premier, and here in the series finale, he finally makes good on his promise. “ Burn in Hell, ” he tells her, before he throws out a “ adieu, buddy ” to Damon. And with that, Stefan Salvatore ’ s life officially comes to an goal .
“ Tonight I saw a side of Damon that I hadn ’ metric ton seen in a while : The older brother I looked up to, the son who enlisted in the Civil War to please his don, the Damon I knew when I was a boy, ” Stefan tells Elena. “ I wanted that Damon to live, and I wanted you to have an opportunity to get to know him. ”
Stefan says adieu to Elena one last time, as The Fray ’ mho “ Never Say Never ” starts up ( like at the end of the fender ), and he walks into the white light… outside the educate, where his best supporter Lexi ( Arielle Kebbel ) is waiting, along with his vintage car he torched last season. In another recall to the first base season, Stefan throws Lexi ’ s own line her way : “ I was feeling epic poem. ”
After stopping literal hellfire from destroying Mystic Falls with the help of every single one of her ancestors, Bonnie Bennett has all the confidence and power in the populace to finally find a loophole to the Sleeping Beauty spell that ’ s not supposed to have a loophole. Elena wakes up, greeted by her best ally — in a recall to the picture where Bonnie first revealed her powers to her — and cook to return to the land of the live. After reconnecting with Damon after all this meter, Elena gives Caroline the confirmation she needed that Stefan got her voice mail. then they all remember the life of Stefan Salvatore, who ’ randomness “ immediately at peace. ”
As the Mystic Falls crew moves on with their lives, they ’ re constantly, unwittingly surrounded by their own friends and family who found their own peace in the afterlife. Matt Donovan is still Sheriff of Mystic Falls, and he ’ randomness thinking about running for Mayor. His sister Vicki and best acquaintance Tyler ( Michael Trevino ) have besides found peace in the afterlife together. Caroline and Alaric have honored Stefan ’ s last wish, opening up the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted at the Salvatore Boarding House. Jeremy works for them and Klaus keeps them afloat with his $ 3 million contribution. Jo ( Jodi Lyn O ’ Keefe ) watches over Alaric and their daughters, while Liz Forbes ( Marguerite MacIntyre ) watches over Caroline. Bonnie Bennett saved the world, and now she last gets to enjoy living in it. And Enzo hush watches over her, even though she can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate see him anymore. Elena last makes it through checkup school, and she and Damon move back to Mystic Falls once she graduates .
Despite everything, Damon placid thinks he ’ mho going to Hell and will never see Stefan again. But as Elena writes in her diary, “ he ’ sulfur faulty. Because I know peace exists. It lives in everyone we hold costly. That is the promise of peace. That one day, after a long life, we find each other again. ” After Elena and Damon live their long, full lives in concert, Elena ’ s peace in the afterlife features her parents who died before the serial began, her Aunt Jenna ( Sara Canning ), and her uncle/biological father John ( David Anders ). As for Damon, he finds his peace, excessively, reconnecting with Stefan in the afterlife. Damon lets out one last, soft “ hello, buddy ” — and “ The Vampire Diaries ” fades to white.
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