Damon is in hell …. quite literally
Welcome back from breakTVDfans!
What better way to launch back into season 7 than with flashbacks and terrible wigs?
Except its not exactly a flashback.
Credit: Guy D’Alema/The CW
This is Damons prison world, and were just living in it.
to go help his brother, Damon asks for leave.
But when the two deserters come out guns blazing from the cellar, everyone but Damon ends up dead.
Then she shoots him and he wakes up in the present with Bonnie.
They didnt want Damon to lose so much that hed come out and kill Bonnie to bring back Elena.
Bonnies locator spell works, so Damon heads out to meet Julian at a diner on Route 29.
There, Julian has soaked Stefans body in gasoline.
Julian explains that resisting the pain when youre in the Phoenix Stone just makes it worse.
And then he throws a lighter onto Stefans body.
As Stefan goes up in flames, Damon sees his mother again.
But this time he has history on his side: He tells Henry what to do at the farmhouse.
They gather up the women on their side, so the men wont shoot them.
They shoot them anyway.
Damon wakes up with Bonnie again, but this time Stefan was pulled out before him.
Damon doesnt have time for Stefans did you feel anything in the prison world?
speech and stabs his brother.
Then we finally see therealBonnie, Stefan, Matty, and Caroline.
Turns out theydidpull Stefan out first, but theyre struggling to get Damon out.
If theres anything weve learned about Damon in 7 seasons, its that he wont do that.
He decides the fastest way to get to Stefan is to become a deserter himself.
He tries to head back to Mystic Falls but ends up at the damn farmhouse anyway.
Stefan tells Damon that he cant tell right from wrong without Elena around.
She wants him to save her, but he says it doesnt matter; its not real anyway.
Again she says, The pain is real, the feeling is real.
And instead of saving her, Damon finally confronts his feelings about his mother.
He cries, and my heart breaks.
And it would seem that this was the breakthrough he needed to be reunited with his spirit.
He wakes up to Bonnie, Stefan, Caroline, and Matt.
He stakes Stefan, stakes (pregnant!)
Caroline, throws Matt across the room, and chokes out (kills?)
Then he looks around and says, Why am I still here?
Guys, IS THIS REAL?
Will anything ever be real again?
If Bonnies dead, does this mean Elena can come back?
(Did Nina Dobrev change her mind??)
Will the twins be okay?
What did you think of Hell Is Other People?
Tell me below or on Twitter@realdalener.
And be sure to read the showrunners thoughts on the episode inJulies Diary, exclusively here at EW.
