TV REVIEW: TVD “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get”

By Chelsea Ballinger

Ah, another Thursday, another state of Vampire Diaries-induced high blood pressure. What to say about this episode? In short: sneakiness, lost hope, that damn mystic falls border and an anti magic spell. But don’t let’s leave it there. An episode with this many feels deserves to have its best bits highlighted. Let’s break down those key events of last night’s episode.

R.I.P Ivy …

…AKA Stefan’s flavor of the month and owner of an Etsy store. She was an entertaining vampire for the short amount of time she had left and she lived it to the fullest. Amen. So Ivy is dead, having been sent (along with two other vampires) across Mystic Falls border by Tripp, the Psycho Vampire Hunter — but not before confiscating her phone and seeing that Caroline Forbes was at the top of her recent call list. Uh Oh.

Guess Who?

Damon is back! And he’s awesome, and funny, and sweet, and hotter than ever. (Can you tell we missed him?) He was happy to see his baby bro, Stefan, but that fragile happiness was short lived once Stefan informed him of Elena’s compulsion. However Damon wasn’t going to let that stop him, convincing himself that if Elena saw him fireworks would appear and everything will get back to the way it was… and by ‘way it was’ we mean everything that happened after Damon snapped Jeremy’s neck in season two.

Poor Baby Gilbert

Jeremy finally broke after inquiring after Bonnie. Damon told Stefan the truth, but notably decided not to tell everyone else in an attempt to save them from further heartbreak. He simply told Jeremy Bonnie had found peace. Good intentions Damon, but something tells us this is going to come back and bite you in the behind. Matt and Sarah (the lost Salvatore) found Jeremy as he was breaking down in Matt’s arms over the loss of his girlfriend.

Speaking of Matt and Sarah

Do we sense a new couple? Flirty banter occurred while the pair snooped through Tripp’s office. Matt also informed Sarah that the only family she had left was Stefan and Damon and that they were vampires… Wow Matt, way to snitch!

Operation Save Enzo

Matt finally went to Caroline and Alaric and informed them of Enzo’s captivity. But Stefan also arrived and informed them that he was the one who had turned Enzo in, and Caroline wasted no time telling Stefan about himself. She reads him well, as she informs him of his guilt over giving up on Damon and turning in the friend who never gave up on his brother.

Pictured (L-R): Candice Accola as Caroline and Paul Wesley as Stefan — Photo: Bob Mahoney/The CW

Where are thou Bourbon and Elena?

While Enzo was being searched for, Alaric came into his office to see his best friend drinking his bourbon. The Reunion brought back the great bromance between Alaric and Damon even when Damon confronted him about erasing his beautiful and lovely girlfriend’s memory of loving him. Damon wants him to fix it, but Alaric refuses unless he gets Elena’s consent.

Alaric: She loved you too much, and it was killing her.

Damon: Oh, flattered

Damon did show up at Elena’s door, and spoke sweet nothings to her, begging her to open up, but Elena scurried along because obviously even though she didn’t see his face, she sensed the electrifying chemistry between him. Go ahead keep being in denial Elena, you will fold soon. YOU WILL FOLD!

Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev have proven they still have that great chemistry because who knew that watching two people speak through a door could give you so many feels?

Jo, The Awesome

So far Jo is awesome. She is awesome, because she blatantly told Elena that she knew that she and Alaric were Vampires.

“If more blood bags go missing, I know who to come to.”

Second, she is awesome because she’s a witch and witches that save Alaric like she did last night are awesome.

Her story seems to be getting very interesting and it just makes you wonder where they are going next with her. She’s a witch, but she obviously doesn’t embrace her powers, so what could the history be there?

Phone calls, Car Crashes, and Stupid Anti Magic Spells

Everything came together as Elena called Damon, asking him to meet her at her dorm. Let’s point out how cute it was that Damon called Bonnie’s voicemail, thanking her, and apologizing, and admitting he missed her. Next Damon cute moment? Seeing how nervous he was waiting for Elena! Bed made? Check! Hair, face, hot body intact? Check! Tripp, the psycho vampire hunter coming into the dorm, looking for Caroline, but instead capturing Damon? Unfortunately, double check.

But at least it led to a Damon and Enzo reunion, which was a sort of déjà vu moment for the pair, seeing as how they were chained up when they first met. The group assembled and operation save Enzo turned into operation save the hot bad boys of TVD. While waiting for Tripp and his van of horrors to arrive near the border, Elena told Caroline that she wanted Alaric to give back her memories of Damon.

There is a God! Hope is put back in our hearts, but fear still happens when Stefan and Alaric’s attempt to save Damon and Enzo hits a snag once everyone except Stefan crosses the Mystic Falls border. Have No fear! Stefan straps on his hero hair and goes through the border, causing himself to reverse, but with that hero hair, anything is possible. He struggles, but manages to save Enzo and Damon. Unfortunately Alaric is too far away, but Jo comes to the rescue and instead of risking his life so she can drag him back, she saves him the human way. The human way is really getting its praise this season, huh?

Such Sweet Sorrow

Unfortunately, saving someone the human way sucks because when Caroline gives Elena the good news that Alaric is alive, she also gives the bad news, which is that Alaric is ALIVE. He’s human again, which is great for the self- vampire hating now ex original, but cult studies professor? But completely terrible for Damon and Elena and Delena fans all over the world. Cue Violins and loss of hope, which Damon has but Stefan encourages his big bro to go and fight for his woman. We knew the writers were going to do something to prevent Elena from getting her memories back the easy way, but never this way, so kudos to Julie Plec and her team of Awesomeness. Stefan also might be following his own advice. He goes to Caroline and tries to apologize and get back to being friends, but clueless Stefan doesn’t understand that the term friend is not so simple anymore for Caroline.

1. He was a huge Jerk to her.
2. She’s in love with him!

But the show could not end without Damon approaching Elena’s door. We would like to say that fireworks exploded and Delena embraced… but this is Vampire Diaries, and everything is complicated. From the preview of next weeks episode, its going to get even more complicated once Damon finds out about Liam.

Is Jo a good witch or bad witch? Is she (I really think she is) part of the Gemini coven and Kai’s sister? Will Alaric and Jo work out? Where is Tripp? Can he die already? Will Stefan keep his hero hair? Matt and Sarah? Marah? Will Damon kill Liam? Will Damon break the compulsion of Elena by simply just making her fall back in love with him? Will Sarah embrace her vampire ancestors? Is Bonnie okay back in 1994? Where was liver? Where was Luke? Is anybody going to have just a normal day on this show?

Probably not and that’s why we love it.

Until next time TVD Watchers!