The Vampire Diaries S06E21: "I'll Wed You in the Golden Summertime"

Of all the things we love about The Vampire Diaries probably the things we love MOST are definitely scenes where pregnant ladies get stabbed in the stomach with hunting knives on their wedding days. You know? Who doesn't love scenes where pregnant ladies get stabbed in the stomach with hunting knives on their wedding days? Those are definitely crowd-pleasing moments, always. They are the kinds of scenes that cause all 25 people in attendance at your TVD living room viewing party to jump up and high five. "Did you SEE that pregnant lady get stabbed in the stomach with a hunting knife on her wedding day, bro??" "You know it, son!" Tons of high fives and chest bumps and meanwhile some lady does a cartwheel onto the wall where she then twerks in celebration. That's because scenes with pregnant ladies getting stabbed in the stomach with hunting knives on their wedding days are the visual equivalent of JOCK JAMS. They just get the crowd GOING.



Just kidding, I do not care for scenes like that if we're being honest! Because ouch. Ouch & dang. But this is The Vampire Diaries and we have all agreed to watch this thing even though its very premise is bad-things-happen-to-good-people. Outside of Mystic Falls there is a mass grave full of undeservingly brutalized guest stars. We all know this show is capable of horrible things and that it frequently has a total boner for ruining our week, so we can't look at a scene like the one at the end of "I'll Wed You in the Golden Summertime" and be TOO shocked. Repulsed and saddened yes, but what were we expecting? It was a season-ending WEDDING for Jah's sake. We all knew that wedding dress wasn't gonna stay white.

Aside from the trauma inflicted upon us by this episode, it was a very good episode! Alternating between quiet, meaningful moments and big, suspenseful ones, it was also noticeably more hilarious and clever than usual, and perfectly set up what promises to be the most important season finale in the show's history. Let's talk about this bruiser!

It all started peacefully enough, with Bonnie getting some much-needed Z's where she could finally be free of danger and she could spend more time with her #1 most loved ones a.k.a Snickers bars. But Bonnie was not safe even in dreams!

First Lily showed up and left Bonnie with no choice but to stab her with a fire poker. Then when Bonnie ran out of her dorm room look who was waiting in the hallway:

Kai! What you doing here, boo? Just kidding, it was all just a dream, of course.

I am very against dream sequence cold opens (on account of them asking us to become invested in situations without logic or stakes), but at least this one functioned as a bad omen for what was to come. Even Matt would later say that when Bonnie has a bad dream it means the Grim Reaper is on the way, so it added to the creeping vibe that this episode would not end well. Also, has Kai been doing push-ups?



Meanwhile Jo was getting ready for her wedding by freaking out all over the place. Bonnie was trying to operate a steam cleaner and meanwhile Elena was celebrating her new humanity by getting so drunk immediately and ASAP.

But then just when it looked like the wedding planner was dropping out due to having the flu (but let's be real, she was probably murdered), guess who showed up to take the reins?

Caroline was back! She'd taken a few days to be sad and feel guilty about all the things she'd done when her humanity was switched off. But then she got wind that there was a wedding to run so she was BACK. I honestly felt so relieved and warm-hearted when I saw regular Caroline again, how about you?

Caroline did her best to apologize to everyone, but it felt like most people were past it already.

I enjoyed a few of these small moments when Elena would describe how much better she felt being human again. Remember that most of Season 4 was about Elena's transition to vampire, so it seems like maybe the reverse transition is something to explore as well. But really it just came down to the fact that Elena could get drunk faster now, and more importantly, the fact that she was mortal and can now experience injury makes everything higher stakes and therefore more meaningful. That is actually a very eloquent explanation for the benefits of humanity. Personally I can't even sleep without somehow hurting myself, so I would really miss that ultra fast healing. But I guess as long as Elena has a vampire boyfriend he's like a walking medicine bag, right? Oh but wait, it was still up in the air about whether Damon would become human or not. Hold that thought.

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