The Vampire Diaries “Bring It On” Review

By Mandy Treccia

After a brief hiatus, The Vampire Diaries returned Thursday night with “Bring It On” and we got our first glimpse of what Elena (Nina Dobrev) looks like with her humanity turned off. Basically, she’s a nightmare and Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice Accola) were tasked with keeping her under control while Damon (Ian Somerhalder) attempted to track down Katherine and the elusive cure.

But Damon wasn’t the only one trailing Katherine. Klaus (Joseph Morgan) hunted down Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) to see what she knew about Katherine. The two bantered and pushed each other and then ended up falling into bed or more accurately, onto a table, together. It was hard to refrain from an eyeroll during the entire scene because it seemed like a waste; a chemistry test thrown in to the episode to prepare for the upcoming spinoff series. Too bad there was no chemistry what-so-ever. Hayley didn’t tell Klaus anything useful and all he did was drop hints that he knows something about her family in New Orleans.

As Damon trailed a dying vampire that Klaus had bitten, Rebekah (Claire Holt) joined him because she still wants the cure too. These two are always fun to watch together so even though their mission didn’t lead to any answers either, it was still better than Klaus and Hayley. However, we did learn that Klaus and Rebekah have teamed up again and that was good to hear because I prefer my Original siblings on the same side. Anyway, Damon knew the mystery vampire and killed him instead of giving him Klaus’s blood to cure his werewolf bite.

Claire Holt and Ian Somerhalder in “Bring it On.” Image © CW Network

This was a little bit intriguing because Damon obviously knows more than he’s saying. Rebekah was suspicious as well and followed Damon home, trying to get answers. He attempted to convince her that she didn’t want the cure because being a vampire is what makes her extraordinary. Rebekah seemed to be considering his words, but after all the effort she’s put into finding the cure; I don’t think she’s going to stop now.

Meanwhile, Elena was getting pretty comfortable with having no emotions – terrorizing and biting innocent people, even after Damon told her to stop. The sire bond doesn’t seem to work now that she has turned off her emotions and the bond was tied to the way she felt about Damon. Really, it’s just one of the worst plotlines of the season so if it’s gone for good, that’s fine with me, whether it makes sense or not. But emotionless, unfeeling Elena is actually worse than the Elena that cried all the time so that was beyond unpleasant to watch.

For some reason, Elena seemed to be on a mission to hurt Caroline. First, she purposely let her fall during their cheerleading competition routine. Then she mocked her for attempting to have fun with Stefan. But that was all child’s play compared to what happened later. When Sheriff Forbes showed up at the Salvatore house to break up the party, Elena almost bit her. Then, she and Caroline got into a knockdown, drag out fight in the woods and Elena nearly staked Caroline before Stefan and Damon arrived to save her. Elena also got some digs in about Tyler leaving and Caroline’s not-so-secret feelings for Klaus.

Stefan explained that this was Elena at her worst self, but that doesn’t really jive with why she was so willing to go out of her way to hurt her best friend. It was one thing for her to bite people she didn’t know or for her to want to have fun and throw a wild party. But what’s the point of her being malicious? Are we supposed to feel bad for her that her life has become this? If we are, then I guess I’m watching wrong because at this point, I think I’d be fine with someone driving a stake through Elena’s cold heart.

After striking out with Stefan and Caroline, Elena turned her attention to Damon. He was a little busy going through his stuff to find a picture of him and the dead vampire from earlier in the episode. Elena pointed out that Damon probably liked her better this way and Damon didn’t exactly disagree. Now if I believed him, I would be crying foul about how he never really loved her if he didn’t love her with her emotions, but I’m pretty sure Damon was just trying to appease her so that she didn’t run away from him.

Paul Wesley and Candice Accola. Image © CW Network

Instead, she ran away with him. While Stefan was theorizing that Silas was probably the one stealing all the blood bags from the local hospitals, Damon was in his car with Elena. He blew off Stefan and then told Elena that he was taking her to New York. She was happy at the idea of having fun, but Damon obviously has an ulterior motive and it has something to do with his old friend, which probably means that he still wants to find the cure and fix Elena.

This season has been trying my patience because nothing really happens and it feels like the show has moved into lather, rinse, repeat mode. How many episodes are we going to have to wait before someone takes the cure or destroys it? What’s the point of making Elena worse? If the show is not going to give Klaus and Caroline a real shot, can we at least get more Stefan and Caroline? There are just too many unanswered questions. Next week, Damon and Elena hit New York and Stefan and Caroline team up with Klaus. At least the latter should be fun to watch.