Damon redeems himself, but it could be his worst decision yet.
Season 1 finale: Katherine returned.
Season 2 finale: Stefan left with Klaus.
Credit: Bob Mahoney/The CW
Season 3 finale: Elena died.
Season 4 finale: Silas doppelganger twist!
Season 5 finale: Damon and Bonnie “died.”
Season 6 finale: Elena went to sleep.
Season 7 finale: Damon and Enzo … go to the dark side?
The Vampire Diariesseason finales are always some of its best hours.
Whether they deliver on romantic moments Bonnie and Enzo!
or absolutely break your heart seeing Elena!
they’re known for leaving you emotionally exhausted.
And the season 7 finale was no exception.
Knowing that the team had to approach this as apossible series finaleonly made it more emotional for me.
(That last image of seeing Stefan back at his desk writing in his journal?
Yeah, that made me cry way too much.)
But because it’sTVD, it had to end on a cliffhanger.
Let’s get to it.
That’s how they save Bonnie.
Yeah, that’s not an option.
Get Caroline’s daughters to siphon the seal, but Caroline gives that a hard no.
So of course, Damon goes about making it happen on his own.
Elsewhere, Stefan and Caroline are still on the run as she Skypes her daughters from the car.
After she hangs up, she tells Stefan that Lizzie accidentally siphoned her the other day.
But she’s still not ready to get them involved in the supernatural world.
She wants them to have as normal a childhood as they can for as long as they can.
This is Caroline’s call.
Caroline thanks him but informs him that this does not make up for the things he’s done.
Just then, Bonnie calls Caroline and asks Stefan to drive faster.
Thanks to Matt’s police siren, she’s gaining on them.
There’s a six-car pile-up blocking the road ahead.
So Stefan pulls a Dominic Toretto and turns the car around and asks Bonnie to let them pass.
But when Bonnie can’t the urges are getting stronger it’s Matt who saves the day.
By the time they both wake up, Matt realizes he’s pinned.
You don’t belong in this fight."
(He probably could’ve heard that a few seasons ago.)
Now with a little time on their hands key word: little Stefan and Caroline stop for gas.
Stefan then hands Caroline the keys and tells her to keep running.
And stop him he does.
Yeah, Stefan called ahead and sent him away.
Stefan informs his brother that the involvement of Josie and Lizzie is Caroline’s decision.
Damon wants to know what made him flip the switch.
As Stefan tells him, he realized that what he did wasn’t about love.
It was about fear.
And that fear overrode any love Damon had for Stefan, Bonnie, anybody.
“I thought about that when I pulled a Damon,” Stefan says.
“I realized I never want to be that person.
I refuse to be ruled by fear.
I refuse to be you.”
More on that in a moment.
First, Josie and Lizzie successfully siphon the seal on the Armory with their tiny adorable hands.
And with that, Enzo calls Bonnie.
His role in this plan is to quite literally keep Bonnie distracted.
So he asks her to focus on chasing him, and so she does.
Who’s ready for a wild goose chase?
Back at the Armory, the plan worked.
The door is open, and just before Stefan and Damon go inside, Caroline stops Stefan.
But whatever she has to say, he asks her to say it when it’s over.
What if there is no later?
the vault they’re not supposed to enter.
Now, it’s their only choice.
Except Damon won’t let Stefan go with him.
Damon knows his brother can help him; it’s what he’s done over and over again.
And over and over again, it’s screwed Stefan over.
“I need you to let me go,” Damon tells his brother.
“Let me succeed or let me fail, but let me do it by myself.”
(Just like the Phoenix Stone wanted him to.)
Damon tells his brother not to be afraid of what will happen.
One way or another, Damon will be okay.
Stefan agrees to let him go, but not without one last Salvatore hug that I will cherish forever.
“I need one thing from you,” he tells her.
“When this is over, don’t remember this moment.
Remember the other ones.”
The couple shares one last “I love you” before Bonnie can’t hold back anymore.
Damon finds the Everlasting in the vault and burns it, just in time to save Enzo’s life!
Just like that, the scars disappear and Ric goes to Caroline.
He’s going to take the girls home.
And he thinks she should stay.
“You changed my life,” he tells her.
“For that, I will always love you.”
But he’s always known she didn’t love him the same way, and it’s okay.
“You should be happy,” he tells her.
No matter what happens, he assures her they’ll “always, always be a family.”
NEXT: Elena, is that you?
There was a thaw."
And thus with a kiss, they rekindle their flame.
Back at the wreck, Matt is still losing blood, so much so that he hallucinates Penny?
But as she tells him, “You’re a terrible shot, we established that years ago.”
(So yeah, this is the most I’ve liked Penny.)
Penny asks Matt what he wants, and he responds that he wants to be with her.
But she can’t take him with her.
So he wakes up to a rescue team there to help him.
Damon, still in the vault, calls Bonnie, who claims he’s “kind of forgiven.”
But just as Damon gets ready to leave the vault, he hears Elena’s voice.
“Help me, like,” the voice says.
“I’m so alone.
I need you.”
Only, it’s not Elena.
As Damon tells him, “It only hurts at first.
And after that, it’s kind of fun.”
And cue a creepy hand grabbing Enzo’s head and dragging him off.
We round out the finale with everyone writing in their journals per Elena’s request.
They waited in the Armory for a week, Stefan trying everything he could to get to his brother.
As for Matt, he’s decided to leave Mystic Falls in his past.
“Because as sad as is it, this isn’t my fight, he writes.
“And if I’m ever gonna be happy, I have to recognize which ones are.”
That might be the wisest thing Matt’s ever said.
Just know that whatever happens between now and then, it’s not his fault.”
And we end the hour with Damon and Enzo stringing up humans in a warehouse.
First, they hang them by their feet.
Then, they slit their necks.
Well, that’s a question for next season.
So season 7, the first full year without Elena, comes to a close.
It had its highs and lows.
The Stefan-Damon struggle held it together and gave us its strongest moments if you ask me.
Bonnie and Enzo were another nice surprise.
