The Vampire Diaries 3x09: Homecoming

Original Air Date: 10 November 2011

Storyline: On the night of the Homecoming dance, Rebekah opens up to Elena about why the evening is so important to her, leaving Elena with conflicting emotions. Caroline and Matt are both shocked at Tyler's behavior throughout the evening. The night takes a surreal turn when Klaus puts his latest plan into action. Determined to outsmart Klaus, Damon enters into a dangerous partnership, leading to a terrifying turn of events. Best Quote:

Elena: Hey, listen to me. We'll survive this. We always survive. Trust me.
Damon: We're never getting Stefan back. You know that, don't you?
Elena: Then we'll let him go. Okay? We'll have to let him go.

Damon's Best: I'd offer you a drink, but Katherine tells me you're more of a vampire-on-the-rocks kind of guy.Katherine's Best: Humanity is a vampire’s greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, It keeps trying to fight its way back in. Sometimes I let it.Review: If there were a rule on how to do these so-called mid-season finales, all writers should follow TVD's example. "Homecoming" was, as advertised, such a finale. It had everything I'd hoped for: great, fast-paced action, character development, an unexpected evolution of the events and a cliffhanger good enough to keep us on our toes with impatience for the show to return next year. I'm not one to praise where such praise is not deserved and, while The CW's reigning series has seen better installments, I was satisfied with this week's outcome.

That doesn't mean the episode didn't have its flaws. For one, I was wishing for a different outcome, in that I would have liked to see Sebastian Roché stick around for longer. I can never get enough of sexy men with British accents. Also, Mykael has been portrayed as such a threat to all vampires and we didn't get to see even half of that. The plot holes were noticeable for anyone over the age of 15, and Katherine's unexplained return and the fact that Klaus didn't recognize her was just one of those. And I wasn't very happy about how the unexpected if Stefan's betrayal was delivered. In that sense, I would have rather things were left unexplained than have the showrunners use flashbacks to give us the logic behind his actions. He's just back to boring now, the brooding vampire who sacrifices everything for his brother over and over again. Meh... But I must give it to him for his revenge; I wish he'd at least resurrect Elijah in the process.
But other than that, we were given a suspenseful, perfectly paced and perfectly delivered installment. It all revolved around the plan to kill Klaus and I welcomed the total absence of secondary plots, which wouldn't have made any sense in these conditions. As Katherine put it, as a compliment to Damon, it was a good plan, but, as usual, humanity screwed it up. Not Elena's humanity, or Bonnie's, or Matt's, or Damon's, but Stefan's and Katherine's - the two vampires who had turned that part of themselves off, willingly or not. Sometimes, love is stronger than anything else and Elena said it best in last week's episode: Stefan won't return to being himself because he loves her, it will be because he loves his brother.
Despite the plot holes concerning Katherine (though her not dying was somewhat explained by Stefan not dying either when Mykael fed from him), she got a good send-off (another one!) in the end. I've always believed her when she talked about her love for the younger Salvatore, but hearing her admit her own weakness when facing her humanity was a revealing moment, one that raised her even more in my eyes. The most interesting characters are the conflicted ones, after all.
The entire hour went fast, from twist to twist, without giving us time to think things through or get bored. As I said above, I wasn't very happy with Mykael's ultimate and irreversible demise, but other than that, I loved every single moment of the action, from Elena's backstabbing - literally, earning her an "It's very Katherine of you" comment from Damon, to Damon's plan and its almost perfect planning and execution ("We thought of everything, Elena! Klaus having hybrids. Mikael turning on us. We brought in Katherine so you weren't in danger. Anything that could have gone wrong, we were prepared."), to the character's journey through each phase of the plan. 
The complicity between Elena and Damon, having them work together and trust each other implicitly, to the point where they were the only ones to fully know the actions to be taken, as well as their mutual understanding regarding losing Stefan, maybe forever, was just the icing on the cake. Their feelings for each other - whatever those may be - are based on mutual support and on going together through difficult times, on knowing each other's flaws and accepting them, and that may be the basis of a strong relationship. I know that's wishful thinking, but a girl can dream, can't she?'
Some other stuff: I missed Alaric and thought his absence from the whole kill Klaus plan was strange. I will definitely miss Caroline and Tyler together (loved his "I'm here hanging streamers and have glitter all over my hands. If I'm sired to anybody, it's you."), but he's going back to being a douche and he deserves some time off. I loved the scene where Klaus confronted his father, as well as Rebekah standing up for herself and pointing out to Mykael that neither of them was born a killer. Family relationships are complicated for everyone, Original or not.
Thumbs up for bringing My Morning Jacket to perform at Klaus' wake; it was a good send-off for the first half of the season. We'll have Elena, Damon, Klaus and the others back in 2012, just enough time for us to miss them and start building up scenarios.
The Vampire Diaries 3x08: Ordinary People
Back to Season 3