Ah, prom. I remember my prom (which wasn’t even called a prom at my weird ass high school) mostly revolving around what to wear and finding shoes that did not make dancing a hellacious misery. Vampires and witches and werewolves (oh my) still have to worry about all that crap PLUS fret about the cure, Expressionism (not the art movement), white oak stakes and spooky shape shifters who get inside one’s head. Really, no teenager can ever bitch about not being able to find the right nail polish to match her corsage ever, ever again.
Still, there’s always something jarring to me about the times the show delves into actual teen world. These kids, if you can call them kids, are either centuries old or so battle-scarred by life in Mystic Falls they probably feel that ancient in any case. Caroline whines that Elena stole her dress, and she’s not even nice anymore! Which would sound whiney if Elena wasn’t actually evil these days. And yes, Elena’s evil. Really, really evil. I’m actually not entirely convinced Elena isn’t Katherine, as there were moments when she didn’t seem to remember her history with Damon or with anyone else. Of course, everyone was so busy worrying about the many, many terrible, ungood things happening at the moment, it seems no one worried about this (or, if they are worried, as Bonnie seemed to be for a hot minute, they don’t care too much). Because, yes, Katherine pretending to be Elena would qualify as a minor issue on a night like this one.
Bonnie, who is so rarely at the center of the drama, is fittingly chosen as prom queen (with Matt as her prom king). She is the planet around whom everything rotates these days, including Silas. Without her, he has no way of bringing down the wall between the mortal world and the underworld, so he resorts to pretending to be Jeremy in the hopes of conning her and convincing her. Bonnie, however, isn’t so in love with her departed ex to rain hellfire and dead demons down on everyone she knows, so Silas has to resort to sneakier methods of getting what he wants. Even though the entire Scooby gang is on high alert, it really doesn’t matter with this guy.
Still, tonight’s episode does an excellent job of showing Bonnie’s torment, vacillating between her drug magic addiction and her sense of loss over Jeremy. It’s hard not to love that there are physical manifestations of Bonnie’s anger (couch on fire! Aaagh!) and heartache. With a character like Bonnie, who has been so so good and so so nice, it makes perfect sense that she isn’t able to contain her negative feelings, and it also makes the transition we see in this episode to an increasingly calculated, passionless witch and the horror that evokes in her all the more effective. Poor Bonnie.
The other tortured soul in the episode is definitely Rebekah, who is challenged by Elijah to be human for just one day before he gives her the cure. This isn’t great for her from the jump, because after Klaus (who really wants to give the cure to Silas to get him off his back) informs her he’ll let her die in a pile of her own puke if she gets the cure over him, she discovers just how often she has to compel people to get what she wants. Matt tells her straight up she’s been an inhuman bitch, she can’t get a single vote for prom queen, and all the girls at prom go to the bathroom without her. Being human kinda sucks, in short.
Of course, Rebekah will get her chance to prove herself — but only by breaking the rules and bringing on her inner vampire. Elena (who I may want to believe is Katherine simply because she’s so friggin’ mean now) is hell on wheels. She doesn’t love Damon. She doesn’t love Stefan. She thinks Bonnie is a brainwashed crazy person who reminds her of her dead brother. She doesn’t want her dead brother to come back, anyway. She steals Caroline’s dress (the nerve!). Man, Elena (if this is Elena) is all kinds of bad, like a feral monkey after an electric shock. Finally, Elena hits on a solution to everyone’s problems — whatever happens to the cure, Silas still can’t bring down the wall without Bonnie. So, kill Bonnie! Elena is wildly pleased she’s come up with such a clever solution, even though that means killing her best friend. Not that she cares. Because Elena (if she is Elena) is just that bad. I mean, Rob Zombie would write a song about her and then make the movie.
So, Elena tries to kill Bonnie, which fails miserably because Bonnie is becoming more and more powerful (thanks, Expressionism!). Elena, pissed, decides to kill April instead. Don’t you love that April’s main purpose on the show at this point seems to be blinking in clueless horror and getting murdered?
Matt begs Rebekah to help — if she gives April her vampire blood, she’ll be saved! But poor Rebekah will break the one rule Elijah gave her — to be human all day long. Matt convinces her that to be kind, to help, these things would just prove her humanity. I thought cutting off people in traffic and not being able to do anything about her futile frustration would prove it, but that’s me. In the end, Rebekah does the right thing, even though, for her, it’s kind of the wrong thing.
Still, Elena and Silas (looking like Jeremy) aren’t done with Bonnie yet. Jeremy (Silas) begs Bonnie to let him help her (just substitute expressionism for the drug of your choice; it makes it all feel like a vampire-meets-TLC show!). While she’s distracted getting Jeremy out of her head, Elena tears into her. And starts gagging blood. Bonnie’s wound heals as Damon and Stefan look on, watching in horror as Bonnie lets Elena choke and spit. Bonnie, in case you’re wondering, is not going down easy, ever. The brothers Salvatore convince her to let Elena go, but Bonnie is instantly horrified — between Silas and the Expressionism she can’t control, she knows she’s losing it.
Back at prom, Matt promises Rebekah he won’t tell anyone she helped April, so she can still get the cure from Elijah. Except Klaus is there, listening to everything. He’s going to make poor Rebekah tell Elijah the truth. But wait! We cut between this scene… and Rebekah telling Elijah she passed the test. Is this a temporal switch up? No, Silas is Rebekah and Elijah doesn’t realize and CRAP, he hands the cure over to fake Rebekah/Silas.
Now, the only thing standing between Silas and a whole lot of trouble (for the world, not him) is Bonnie. And we may have some reason to worry, because Bonnie goes looking for Silas (love that magic GPS!) and gets him to show her his horribly disfigured face. Which, theoretically, we’ll get to see next week.
Thankfully, there were a few moments of sweet and light, and they revolved around Caroline. After Elena stole her dress, she convinced Klaus to give her something from his creepy archives of fashion, and I’m a little sad there wasn’t more of a fairy tale moment here. Still, the real fairy tale moment does come when Tyler shows up at his house to give Caroline flowers and ask for a dance. It’s good to see him again in this purely sweet, purely romantic moment, as Klaroline is likely a no-go now what with Klaus headed to New Orleans next week thanks to a letter from Katherine. There’s a witch that will reveal something to him that will shake him to his core, so you know Klaus can’t resist that! Spin-off, here we come!
Do you think Bonnie will defeat Silas alone, or will she need help? Are you looking forward to “The Originals”?