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Home / Recaps & Reviews / The Vampire Diaries #6.16 “The Downward Spiral” Recap

Stephanie Hall in Recaps & Reviews, Vampire Diaries Mar 15, 2015 1 Comment

With her humanity off, Caroline wreaks havoc on her friends’ lives. Meanwhile, Bonnie readjusts to being back, and Damon question Kai about his mom’s prison world. Here is a recap of the

Caroline celebrates her humanity switch flip, being most concerned about how badly her heels hurt. Been there. Liam arrives at the bar. The two of them get out of there, and Caroline has herself a little Liam snack. Bonnie surprises Elena at her dorm. To celebrate, Elena pops Champaign, making a noise that Bonnie’s reflexes dislike. Caroline returns with new sheets and such, starting completely over. She tells them about Liam. Her heels weren’t made for walking through the forest with a body, so he’s alive. Caroline requests a year without her humanity. She won’t kill anyone as long as they promise to leave her alone. Seems reasonable.

With Kai as his helper, Damon unearths his mom’s coffin, and after much internal debate, lifts the lid. It’s empty. Damon wants Kai to send him back to 1903. Kai needs the ascendant for the 1903 prison world – not a difficult request since he’s the leader of the Gemini Coven – and a chitchat with Bonnie. When Damon calls to ask the favor, Bonnie demands he never speak of Kai again.

Sarah sits in a coffee shop snapping photos of Enzo’s veiny face from afar. He catches on and admits he’s a vamp. She couldn’t care less – like Stefan compelled her. Caroline joins the party, wandering around inviting cute boys like Enzo to a rave.

Stefan drags Liam aside for a chat and compels him to tell the truth. After talk of biting with Caroline, Liam mentions she’ll be at a rave, so Stefan invites Elena and Bonnie. When a guy gets too friendly with Bonnie, she fries his hand. Stefan accuses Elena of defending Caroline, but Elena’s just glad she’s being smart. Maybe Caroline has it under control. Stefan’s not convinced and blames himself. He confesses to Caroline that he likes her as more than a friend. If she lets her emotions in, he’ll be there for her. She laughs it off, but Stefan knows he’s her emotional trigger. He wants to lock her up and plead with her until it works.

Damon brings Kai to Bonnie. As Kai apologizes, Bonnie has flashes of how he hurt her. Then, she storms out of there. Damon tries to explain, but Bonnie doesn’t care about his mom. She wants him to feel the pain Kai caused her, so she makes him. Later, Bonnie leaves Jeremy a voicemail saying she may not be the same Bonnie he wants. She’ll figure herself out, then visit him.

Kai refuses to honor Damon’s request to see his mom. Only two prison worlds exist. The 1994 one and the 1903 one with Lily Salvatore and her closet full of crazy pants. She was turned in 1858, faked her death, and went on a ripper spree through Europe.

Elena and Stefan find Caroline making margaritas. Oh, and elsewhere she has Sarah helping Liam with his surgical skills. Caroline compelled Liam to operate on Sarah unless Stefan represses his humanity too. No deal. Over the phone, Caroline orders Liam to cut out Sarah’s spleen. Don’t worry. She can live without a spleen. Stefan reminds Liam about their honesty and asks where he is. Whitmore Medical. Elena races there, so Caroline orders Liam to cut out Sarah’s heart. Elena searches Whitmore Medical, finally finding Liam with a power tool to Sarah’s chest. With her blood, Elena revives the unconscious Sarah and breaks Liam’s wrists to stop him. All seems fine, except Stefan flipped his switch.

- “The Downward Spiral” was quite a way to come back from hiatus and an even better way to rejuvenate the series for its next run of episodes. Twisted in the best way possible, this episode kept the audience guessing and wanting to see what was going to happen up until the very end, even though we were fairly sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant. It was filled with heart, heartlessness, and ripping someone’s heart out – all the ingredients that make it a great episode of

- As a first time director, Ian Somerhalder captured the series as well as any veteran director. He drew out solid performances and even added an artistic flare to a few scenes. The image of Caroline sitting on the bar, back facing the camera, lights illuminating her silhouette was such a cool shot.

- Also, the ending shot of Caroline lying on the bar and Stefan drinking a margarita would be a perfect promo shot. It’s beautiful.

- Caroline without her humanity switch was so much fun. A breath of fresh air. A cathartic example of that snarky woman we all want to let loose but have the better judgment not to do so. She brings back the intelligent, manipulative, destructive presence that the series has been lacking ever since Katherine’s departure. While Caroline is by no means a replacement for Katherine at the moment, it’s always a pleasure seeing how the writers come up with convoluted deceits for these female characters to carry out, whether for love or amusement.

- It’s a little odd to think that the Caroline who was so emotional the past few episodes is now the least emotional in the bunch, but in the world of the story, it works perfectly. Plus, Candice Accola performs each side of Caroline flawlessly.

- I’m curious to see how Matt and Tyler react to their ex-girlfriend having switched off her humanity, and how they plan to make humanity-lacking Stefan different than he was before.

- Given the major milestones between Alaric and Jo last episode, I longed to see the follow-up to them. However, their happy story would not have tonally fit with this episode, so it’s understandable why they were absent.

- Finally, I found myself interested in a storylines with Liam and Sarah – something I never thought would happen – and it only took a crazy Caroline to make it so.

- Enzo was still the least appealing aspect of the episode, even though he was wrapped up in the same story as Sarah in the beginning. Stefan knows of his knowledge of Sarah, which we’ve been waiting for, but now I expect nothing to come of it because of Stefan’s lack of humanity. The tension was built up for a big reveal and subsequent blow out, only to have it fizzle instead.

- Elena’s owl necklace was incredibly cute. Great going, wardrobe department, which doesn’t seem to get as much praise as they deserve.

- I’m concerned about Damon and Bonnie’s friendship being ruined. Their bonding was such a wonderful accomplishment that destroying it one episode after they’re reunited is upsetting.

- The moment where Stefan makes Elena promise she’ll bring him back reminded me of the phone call scene between these two in episode 3.01, “The Birthday,” which is one of my favorite and most memorable scenes of the series. Even though Stefan had no dialogue in that one, both are a reflection of their emotional bond despite their relationship status.

Bonnie: Can we talk about the fact that I drove Jeremy away to art school?

Elena: Does that make you his muse? Because, eww.

- “I can’t believe Bonnie made it out. Actually, I can. She’s plucky.” – Kai

- “Elena, I shut off my humanity. I didn’t turn into an idiot.” – Caroline

- “When Kai merged with Luke, he went through a metamorphosis. He went from a sociopathic caterpillar to a slightly less evil butterfly.” – Damon

- “I compelled a student to perform surgery on Stefan’s niece, and you found a way to make this about you. You truly have a gift, Elena.” – Caroline

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Stephanie Hall, born and raised in Texas, is an MFA student in writing and producing for TV at Loyola Marymount University and has a BA in multimedia development, English, and journalism from Duquesne University. A huge fan of television, her favorite shows include Castle, Chuck, Dexter, and Fringe. Follow her on twitter @_stephaniehall.

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