The Vampire Diaries: Black Hole Sun Recap

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9b4wwS0lJE]

The Vampire Diaries: Black Hole Sun (6×04)

Synopsis: Damon and Bonnie discover Kai’s past and a possible way out of their prison. Stefan tries to prove to Elena that he’s coping with Damon’s death and then finds out that Ivy’s a newly-minted vampire.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was mostly an exposition-filled episode setting up the rest of the season’s conflicts.

Damon and Bonnie are trapped with Kai, the only other person in their purgatory. Kai has finally decided to stop trying to murder both of them (for the time being) and instead tells them he knows how to set them free. He has a magic relic, the Ascendant, which, when combined with Bonnie’s magic, should get them out. Throughout the rest of the episode, we learn pieces of Kai’s story along with Damon flashbacks to his personal worst day ever.

Kai, whose face coincidentally reminds me of the love interest from Pitch Perfect in the best possible way, seems to be a bit of a sociopath. He makes Bonnie prove herself worthy of his help over and over, and he coerces Damon’s story by threatening to leave him in purgatory.

He’s also a member of the mysterious Gemini clan- the lead that Stefan stopped chasing down. Near the end of the episode, we find out that the Gemini clan sent him to this place as a personal jail cell. Kai, short for Malachi, murdered his entire coven/family (except his sister). Bonnie refuses to free Kai, and Kai threatens both of their lives if they don’t help him. Unfortunately for both Bonnie and Damon, Kai also has the power to absorb magic temporarily from whomever he touches. He saps Bonnie of her strength and ransoms both of their lives in exchange for their cooperation.

Side note: Kai says he could get out by himself by absorbing Bonnie’s powers, but he’s somehow bringing the other two along out of the goodness of his heart? Not buying it. Also, why did he try to kill one of his potential helpers earlier? #UnclearMotives #plothole

Back on This Side, Elena decides that she doesn’t like Stefan’s method of non-coping. She and Stefan decide to play the Well-Adjusted Competition for the remainder of their screen time. Elena follows Stefan to his new life as a mechanic and watches him having fun as a human.

There is one scene which I particularly like this week where Stefan and Elena are sitting at a table in a local bar. Stefan demonstrates the beauty of starting over and becoming someone new by (fake) proposing to Elena in front of the crowd. The two ham it up- Elena claims pregnancy, Stefan mentions his torrid past in and out of jail and how she stuck with him the entire time, etc. etc.

It’s pretty darn cute.

Everyone’s clapping and cheering when Elena says yes, with one sourpuss exception. After Elena agrees that Stefan seems fairly okay, Stefan picks a fight with said sourpuss and lets himself get pummeled before Elena intervenes.

Stefan gets upset and tells Elena that she has zero right to judge his coping mechanisms because she compelled away her feelings for Damon. A very confused Elena goes to Alaric and figures out what Past Elena did via her diary, and makes the decision to continue living in Damon-free, ignorant bliss.

Which, really. Good for her- and it probably wouldn’t make much sense to remove all those memories two episodes ago just to restore them now.

Anyway, there are a few other minor details before the episode wraps which will be important for future storylines.

We figure out Damon’s worst day involved a killing spree which ended in the death of his Uncle Zack’s pregnant girlfriend. Sarah, the girl Elena chewed on not four episodes ago, ends up being his child.

Matt wins Tripp’s trust (aka Neighborhood Watch guy) and figures out Enzo is stashed away in a woodshed somewhere.

Jeremy’s going off the rails with his drinking and girls, Bonnie has a weird sexual tension with Kai before she figures out he’s a serial murderer (which I kind of shipped…), and Ivy turns up on Stefan’s doorstep as a newly-minted vampire!

 [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dflA1agC5bA]