The Vampire Diaries Episode 515
“Gone Girl”
Written By: Melinda Hsu Taylor
Directed By: Lance Anderson
Original Airdate: 6 March 2014
In This Episode…
Nadia is in bad shape. She is definitely dying. Katherine vows not to leave her side - but she also refuses to call Klaus for the cure. That would mean outing herself - not a risk she was willing to take. Instead, she calls Wes, who takes a sample of the werewolf toxin and promises to create an antidote.
Stefan, Caroline, and everyone else have finally figured out that “Elena” is really Katherine. They all feel pretty guilty about not having figured it out sooner, as well they should. All they have is the element of surprise, so they need to bring Katherine to them. The only way to get Katherine away from Nadia is to make an offer that Elena could not say no to. They try a surprise birthday party for Bonnie (“I am setting up funeral arrangements for Aaron”); Bonnie tries an “I’m feeling blue” coffee (“I am out buying you your birthday present”). All they succeed in doing is annoying Katherine, who wants to know why her friends are being so clingy today. They it dawns on her: they know. So she tests them back by calling Damon. He invites her over (even though yesterday he tried to eat her) and she agrees. “They know.” But her willingness to come over sets off warning bells with Stefan: she knows they know.
Tyler is babysitting Damon, who pushes his buttons until the hybrid enters the cell. They argue until Tyler gets close enough that Damon can grab him and feast. This satisfies his bloodlust (for now) and makes him insanely strong - strong enough to break from his chains. It is like King Kong breaking free from his chains, or the Hulk hulking out. He goes to pay Wes a visit. Unsurprisingly, Wes isn’t inclined to help Damon, so Damon shoves his hand into Wes’s chest, throws him up on a table, and takes a scalpel to his eyes.
Wes is taking a really long time with the cure, so Katherine leaves Nadia in a church to keep her safe (not sure how that works, but okay) then goes to find Wes. She is too late - Wes is long dead, and he didn’t seem to leave an antidote behind. Stefan calls and reveals they know it is Katherine. They have Nadia at the Salvatore mansion. Katherine realizes this is it. She truly does want to spend whatever remaining time she has with her daughter, but showing up at the Salvatore mansion would ensure her death. Surprisingly, she chooses Nadia.
She arrives at the Salvatore mansion. Everyone (Stefan, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Bonnie, and Jeremy) lets her in and she sits with Nadia, apologizing for being such a lousy mother, and describing what their life should have been together. “Your mother loves you,” she says, and Nadia dies. Bonnie ushers her to the other side. Katherine stands, and stares at a room full of frenemies. She gives it one last go and zips to the door, only to throw it open and find Damon waiting for her. That’s it; she’s cooked. Accepting this, she goes around and says goodbye to everyone (didn’t we do this a few weeks ago?) in that special way only Katherine can. The only one she is genuine to is Stefan. She admits her undying love and takes one last kiss from him. He gives her that much - then sinks the traveler dagger into her back. Katherine collapses, and we see her eyes flash black. Katherine leaves the doppleganger body and we are left with only Elena.
Stefan and Damon keep watch over Elena, waiting for her to wake up. Matt decides that Nadia deserves better than an unmarked grave in the forest (Stefan’s suggestion) and takes her corpse out of the house. Tyler and Caroline talk, and she stands up for herself: I am allowed to make mistakes; I slept with Klaus after you walked out on me; I am done feeling guilty about this. Bonnie goes to the church and lights a candle for her dad. Katherine meets her there, almost ready to cross over. But first, she has a villain speech to give: her last hurrah. Katherine knew that, once Stefan had Nadia, it was all over. She wanted to spend what time she had left with her daughter. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life running. She knew she would never have Stefan. And what did that leave her with? Nothing. That is why she accepted her fate and went to say goodbye to her daughter. But Katherine isn’t going to go quiet into that cold night. While at Wes’s lab, she learned that Wes hadn’t intended on helping her and Nadia at all. He simply wanted the werewolf toxin to add to the ripper virus, making it even more dangerous. Once Katherine heard that Stefan had Nadia, she injected herself with Ripper Virus 2.0 so that when Elena woke, she would be infected. She even left the syringe in her jacket pocket, a little “present” to Elena.
Ah, but the joke, ultimately, is on Katherine. Now that she has laid out her evil deeds, she is ready to cross over. She puts her hands on Bonnie’s shoulders - and nothing happens. She removes her hands and tries again. Nothing. She is getting frustrated, and Bonnie is too. This has never happened before. She is supposed to cross over. A wind whips up in the church, the doors fly open, and a deep, dark abyss appears. Katherine is dragged into the darkness, kicking and screaming the whole way.
Dig It or Bury It?
This one had some pockets of sentimentality, chunks of empty blather and a less-than-slick way of laying out the rest of the season (like we didn’t need Katherine giving the traditional “bad guy reveals his plan” speech) but otherwise, this was a very enjoyable episode. First off, Damon going Dr. Mengele on Wes was a scene of epic beauty. It was swift, it was violent, it was slick. I would not have minded seeing a little more of Damon’s “playtime” with Wes. Katherine going to hell was an obvious choice, but I liked the way they did it. The comedy of her slapping Bonnie’s shoulders, trying to get it to work, then just getting swallowed up by darkness.
The werewolf toxin added to the ripper virus was a nice little twist. I don’t really understand how the werewolf toxin won’t just totally poison whatever vampire it is injected into, but let’s just pretend that the ripper virus neutralizes the toxin. How much worse could the toxin make the virus? Will she only be able to last four hours between feedings?
Prophecies?
Katherine is gone for good, and Elena is in charge again - except she has the virus and is losing control.