S08.E04: An Eternity of Misery

[formerlyfreedom]

Tasked with finding a mysterious artifact, Damon’s latest mission takes him to Texas where a violent run-in with Peter Maxwell leads to a surprising revelation. Meanwhile, after gaining the upper hand in their fight to save Damon and Enzo, Stefan and Alaric team up and uncover the origins of the mysterious force they’re up against. Finally, Matt returns to the fray after his past and present collide in an unexpected way.

 

[2Old2BAFangirl]

The backstory of the sirens was a little interesting.

The maybe it's Georgie maybe it's Seline thing was done decently enough.

Alaric busted his own eardrums, ewww.

Matty Blue Blue is back and still the best cryer on the show.

Guess Tyler is really dead dead.

Bless Stefan's heart for trying so hard to save Damon.

I should've liked this episode more but I'm just tired of zombie Damon.  Hopefully I'll like it better when I watch it again.

[prospazzinator]

Matt! Glad he's back. He used to annoy me, but his relative normalcy and WTF approach to the goings-on in Mystic Falls are refreshing. 

I hope Georgie stays dead. I can't deal with the voice or the awkward flirtation with Alaric any longer. 

I wonder how long they're going to drag out this siren/Arcadius (sp?) thing? It was bad enough when there was just one siren. And now there are two and a vengeful psychic? Ok.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Inside the episode:

[missbonnie]

The title of the episode pretty much sums it up for me when it comes to this damn show. The thing that sucks the most is that I have wasted 7+ years of my life and I am here until the bitter end. At this point I'm beyond caring if most of these people die. In fact, I think it would be hysterical to have Elana wake up and everyone else is dead. 

[cbosdell]

Enjoyed seeing Matt again more than I expected.  Couldn't really get into the flashback scenes though.  Besides that it was a pretty average episode.  

[Goldmoon]

Yep the title says it all.  Bonnie was missing in action wasn't she? 

[TigerLynx]

The parents on this show suck.

I wonder if Matt will be the only survivor in the end?

Since Mystic Falls seems to be the supernatural attraction of the world, how did it go so long without all these catastrophes happening?  Until Damon returned to open the tomb, the Mystic Falls Council hadn't really had to deal with vampires or anything else in years.  They were so out of their element, they were going to Damon for help to kill the vampires without realizing he was one.  Now everyone is dead.

[Bort]

I liked the double switch they pulled with Georgie and Selene. Ever since they mentioned there was a second Siren, it was pretty obvious that it was the nanny so the purposeful misleading was done nicely to throw suspicion off the obvious party. Except Georgie ended up as Siren Chow and dragged off to hell a la the movie Ghost. Are she and Tyler dunzo on this mortal coil or is this going to be a Previously Unknown Other Side story?

[GaT]

Oh good, another siren. I loved having the first one on the show so much that I'm overjoyed they added another one. Yep, just can't get enough of those sirens. Is the season over yet? Please?

I spent a large chunk of this episode trying to figure out who the hell the son was. I didn't recognize Matt, I had no clue who he was until the car scene when I realized it was him. 

So, I guess Alaric isn't going to end up with either the nanny or the assistant. And why was the siren working as a nanny to begin with?

[steelyis]

I was feeling a little indifferent about Tyler's death until Matt found Tyler's corpse; it stung more than I thought it would.

Zach Roerig really is a great crier.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When I watched the "inside the episode" video and learned that this episode would be Sybil's origin story, I just groaned. This is the final season of the show but we're going to waste an entire episode on the back story of a new character who no one seems interested in and who can't act? GREAT. Somehow the young actresses they hired to play the flashback versions on the island were just as dull and stilted as the girl who plays current day Sybil. I was really hoping they would explain how Sybil lived in the Mediterranean and somehow ended up with an Australian accent. Like even one throwaway line like "And then I ran away to Australia for a couple hundred years."

4 hours ago, GaT said:

I spent a large chunk of this episode trying to figure out who the hell the son was. I didn't recognize Matt, I had no clue who he was until the car scene when I realized it was him.

In the very first episode of the season, I thought the guy in the car (the one who just saw a superhero movie with his girlfriend and got thrown into the vat of evil juju by Damon and Enzo) was Matt for a good two minutes. Real Matt looks much better with his new haircut. I guess at least we aren't going to get a retcon about Matt's dad being one of the Founding Families since he obviously didn't know that vampires are real. Fun trivia: Melinda Clarke (who played Matt's mom, Kelly) played a siren on Charmed!

[gibasi]

What has Zach Roerig done to his face?  I actually went online to see if they found somebody else to play Matt.  The guy playing his dad used to be on The 4400 or something like that, right?

I cannot tell Georgie apart from Selene or whatever her name is.  But I don't care either.  I'm with MissBonnie up above.  Here until the bitter end even if I hate it with all my soul!

[Primetimer]

And other not-so-burning questions.

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[Aeryn13]

Um...is the episode title meant to be the entire Season`s theme? 

I could buy the Qetsiyah Other Side explanation but now we get "Cade`s hell". If dude was so powerful, how come some random villagers could burn him at the stake? Also, "hell" doesn`t distinguish circumstances, context, intent, any attempts at betterment? Well, nice knowing you, Fellowship of the Falls. If ONE bad act damns you forever, no matter what, then every single one of them goes to hell. They can even leave Elena a note that says "see you in hell" since she, too, goes there. And all their old frenemies from the Originals as well. 

The only good thing about the forced parallels talk with the sisters and the brothers was Stefan acknowledging that he is both in the story. Thank you, things aren`t that clean-cut. By this point, both Sirens are evil. And the brothers? Stefan is trying and Damon is a zombie. It`s just not fun.

Tyler really did get killed off like that? I thought for sure fake-out but that was lame.         

Man, Season 5 would have been such a good place to end this show. 

[Bort]

1 hour ago, gibasi said:

The guy playing his dad used to be on The 4400 or something like that, right?

I cannot tell Georgie apart from Selene or whatever her name is.

Yes, he was Tom on The 4400. I knew he wouldn't be like Damon's usual randoms in a murder spree because I recognized him. Him turning out to be Matt's dad made so much sense.

I can tell Georgie and Selene apart because I recognize the actress who plays Georgie from Warehouse 13, where she played Claudia. She's also currently on Freeform's Stitchers. I've never scene the Selene actress in anything.

[tricknasty]

So Katherine is in Cade's hell? Why was there an other side if hell always existed? Why does only one of the sirens have an accent?

[Terrafamilia]

Oh, Matt, they didn't teach you how to tie up people in chairs in the police academy, did they? You didn't secure his legs and on top of that it had wheels! You should have just killed him when you had the chance.

The ancient Greek folk talking about 'God' rather than 'the gods' took me out of it a bit.

I never before got the idea that the Amory was that close to Mystic Falls.

The Jolaric twins are affected by the tuning fork. Are they psychics in addition to being siphoners?

[roctavia]

Maybe it's just that the tuning fork sends out waves of magic along with it's sound and as siphoners it hurts them? Or they're going to be the key to fixing things.... can they suck the magic out of the siren? They can unmagic just about anything else.... or maybe they'll be the key to getting bonnie some magic back?

[missbonnie]

9 hours ago, gibasi said:

 

I cannot tell Georgie apart from Selene or whatever her name is.  But I don't care either.  I'm with MissBonnie up above.  Here until the bitter end even if I hate it with all my soul!

I'm hanging in there because I know that we still have The Originals coming up and I have preferred that show to this one for a long time. 

[miss-vanilla]

Well I have tried really, really hard. I wanted to love this story and in the beginning I truly thought it had potential. It started excellently, the second episode was almost as good  but then it has started to unravel.

I'm sad because I wanted this final season to be awesome, I wanted it to bring back all the feels I used to have and it it did fleetingly but we have since devolved into what has become the same old tired trap that has dogged this show intermittently for a few seasons now. They are telling the wrong stories and focusing on all the wrong characters. This season had the potential to really go back to the beginning and place the focus back on what we loved so much about this show in the first place which is the core cast and the interactions between them. What do we get? an hour of exposition about brand new characters that by the end of the show will not matter one iota to us, which is about 12 episodes from now.  I understand the need to give some backstory but come on, those flashbacks were gratuitously long and ate up way too much screen time. I would swap at least half of them to see Bonnie and Enzo and witness their struggles, but I bet when we next see them Enzo will be miraculously himself with full humanity on show.

Damon and his memory confuzzled/controlled state is beyond confusing, inconsistent and flat out boring now. This is a main character and arguably the most interesting one on the show and he is nothing but a mindless drone for the 4th episode on the run.  Taking that coupled with the lack of Benzo made it clear to me that this show has gone off the the same rails Damon has. The endless monologues and rhetoric has just slowed the whole thing down to a snails pace and it felt exactly like it was, filler.

Poor Tyler. I never had strong opinions on him either way but I respect the fact that he has always been around somewhere. What I don't respect is how he was literally brought into the story so Damon could kill him.  Tyler being held up as beacon and yet another stick to beat Damon with in the narrative was cheap and unearned IMO and a total disservice to Tyler as a character in his own right. 

What is also unearned is Damons current attitude.  Some might view it as in character, but I don't. Damon is a pragmatist and will usually take the fastest and easiest route to get from A- B collateral damage be damned (as long as it isn't someone he cares about), but this Damon seems to have given up completely, or has he?

He talks of the pointlessness of fighting, of no hope, no redemption, and this might be consistent with how he views himself, but Damon has never been shown to give up on love. Love has been his driving force and he has been relentless in his pursuit of it and he finally found it. I find it really difficult to believe that he would choose to live without it rather than face the "hell" that Sybil showed him. Only last season Damon described living without Elena as a living hell, so why would he be scared of actual hell?  Isn't all of our gang headed there anyway? Damon seemed to understand from the outset of this season that no amount of trying to atone or remorse would change the path of destiny because the sins they committed would never disappear, could never be erased and Sybil reinforced that sentiment to Stefan. Surely that sentiment would apply to Elena as well, she has blood on her hands too, much more than Georgie the 'intern' has anyhow.

Speaking of Georgie, she got sucked up into the vortex similar to that of Katherine, Silas, Vikki etc and the Nanny Siren reiterated that ONE act of sin (for want of a better word) is enough to send you to hell no matter what. I'm hoping we see her again, she was fun.

Was not surprised that the nanny turned out to be evil. Too good to be true characters are usually just that on this show so now i'm feeling sorry for Virginia St John, she really was the voice of reason. Too bad Enzo never really got to know probably the only sane and decent member of his family.

[CabotCove]

Quote

Speaking of Georgie, she got sucked up into the vortex similar to that of Katherine, Silas, Vikki etc and the Nanny Siren reiterated that ONE act of sin (for want of a better word) is enough to send you to hell no matter what. I

LOL. Too bad I would have preffered Georgie as one of the sirens. 

[Couver]

I have to echo those who say the season started strong but it losing its way fast.

I have no issue with the backstory for the Sirens and in some respects it is interesting. But I hate that it is taking away from seeing the characters we have spent 7 years watching. I'd be fine with the new villains but just more focus on the main cast. It was nice seeing Matt finally since he's one of my favorites but what a way to treat Tyler and MT. Considering Tyler has ties to both this show and The Originals it was such a horrible send off. I expected characters to die this season but couldn't they have used him more? A Matt, Tyler, Jeremy reunion even if brief would have been nice to see. I hope we at least get to see Caroline react to this. Though I had to laugh that killing Tyler would make people hate Damon. He killed Jeremy and Elena looked passed that. So sorry Tyler...

So Kade is older than Silas then? Who I thought was the first Immortal/Psychic?

One bit of silver lining though. Kade's plane sounds like the Otherside and the Prison Worlds. Defeating him could potentially free a ton of characters at the end of this show. Including Katherine! It might be nice to see them pop up on The Originals. Even if that show probably only has 1 season left as well.

[ByTor]

Please...no more Katherine!

[miss-vanilla]

17 hours ago, ByTor said:

Please...no more Katherine!

Agreed, she was a really good character but her story has been told and all loose ends tied up. Keeping her around too long just made her annoying.

[Couver]

I don't think there is any danger in Katherine being back long term. I think Nina is pretty much done with this franchise. But I wouldn't mind seeing her one last time. A few snarky lines before she heads off wherever.

I have one huge nitpick I forgot to mention. Why did Tyler not fight back at all? Untransformed werewolves on this show still have a level of super strength and speed. He could have pushed Damon off of him. Also doesn't he have some level of regeneration/healing? I know werewolves heal much faster when transformed but I'm pretty sure Tyler and Mason, when he was on, could heal when in human form too just not as good as vampires. Didn't Damon have to use wolfsbane to torture Mason since he could heal otherwise?

[miss-vanilla]

Well supposedly a werewolf without a full moon is no match for a vampire. I think werewolves do heal quickly but it doesn't save them from instant death.

I think the show is intimating that Tyler was already dead when Damon put him in the boot of that car and he lied to Matt to send him on a wild goose chase to buy some time to escape and find the new macguffin.

[Bort]

Tyler also could have bitten Damon. It wouldn't have saved himself, but Damon's days would've been numbered without a Klaus blood transfusion. 

48 minutes ago, miss-vanilla said:

I think the show is intimating that Tyler was already dead when Damon put him in the boot of that car and he lied to Matt to send him on a wild goose chase to buy some time to escape and find the new macguffin.

It's the new moonstone! And actually looked something like a Magic 8-Ball. Also, yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Tyler died at the end of the last episode. Damon just wanted to escape. 

[miss-vanilla]

A werewolf bite is only effective when they are werewolves. As a human, Tylers bite is ineffective which is why the whole sun and moon curse was a thing in S2. 

5 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

It's the new moonstone!

haha! Yes it really is.

[Bort]

1 minute ago, miss-vanilla said:

A werewolf bite is only effective when they are werewolves. As a human, Tylers bite is ineffective which is why the whole sun and moon curse was a thing in S2.

Tyler bit Caroline as a human (compelled by Klaus to do it) although he was a hybrid at the time, so maybe we're looking at a gray area here. 

[miss-vanilla]

Hybrids are not reliant on a full moon to turn, werewolves are.

The mythology of S2 was about the race to find the moonstone because a) if the vampires broke the curse they could roam in daylight and b) If the werewolves broke the curse they would no longer be slaves to the moon, which meant turning was choice that could be made at any time or not at all. If werewolves could turn at anytime they wanted they would be a much larger threat to vampires because it was heavily implied that werewolves were incredibly lethal to vampires...but for only one day per month. The rest of the time, one on one, a vamp would easily outmatch a werewolf.

I'm probably not articulating it very well, but this is what I understood regarding previously established werewolf mythology so therefore I thing the Tyler/Damon confrontation is consistent.

What I consider hard to believe is that Tyler was not ingesting vervain. Now that would been a smart move and would have saved his life.

Edited November 14, 2016 by miss-vanilla

[2Old2BAFangirl]

Tyler was a hybrid when he bit Caroline. Klaus told him to do it - sire bond - Tyler refused but still ended up biting her.  It seems like hybrid bites were always lethal but werewolves only when they were transformed on a full moon.

And that's a good point about Mason healing quickly while Damon was torturing him!!  Why didn't Tyler heal as quickly?  They were both original recipe werewolves during the torture/fang attack. 

[memememe76]

I am all about Matt. I love Bonnie too but I will never buy her with Enzo. That conversation Matt had with his dad really perked me up. I always felt that there was always more to Matt's mom but the writers dropped it when the actress left for Nikita. Bonnie and Matt forever!

Edited November 15, 2016 by memememe76

[Couver]

32 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

I am all about Matt. I love Bonnie too but I will never buy her with Enzo. That conversation Matt had with his dad really perked me up. I always felt that there was always more to Matt's mom but the writers dropped it when the actress left for Nikita. Bonnie and Matt forever!

!!!

KG & MM sold me on Bonenzo but I'll always be a Batt shipper. What could have been? Why the show never went there I do not know. It's not like the girls haven't shared a bf before. Especially when they were both anti vamp.

[gazebo]

I think I'm pretty much done with this Show.  Damon killing Tyler is the last straw for me.  Not even the siren's story is interesting enough for me to hold on.  The only bright spot for me was seeing Matt Donovan again.  I really believe Matt will be the one to destroy the sirens.   I no longer care what happens to the rest of the characters though I still hope Steroline will get a happy ending.  

Thanks, folks!  Goodbye!

[miss-vanilla]

20 hours ago, doram said:

Tyler bit Caroline as a human, he hadn't turned. 

I Know, but hybrids are not the same as werewolves which is the whole point. 

When Klaus was also in human form his bite was lethal to vampires.  Hybrids trump werewolves.

Jules is a good example to show what I mean. When Damon and Alaric try to "out" her as a werewolf, why didn't she just bite Damon then and there at the bar? Because she has to wait until it was full moon when her bite would become lethal.

Watch from 2.50 onwards.

[ByTor]

On 11/14/2016 at 6:37 PM, miss-vanilla said:

I'm probably not articulating it very well, but this is what I understood regarding previously established werewolf mythology so therefore I thing the Tyler/Damon confrontation is consistent.

Now there's a word you don't see very often regarding this show :)

[Miles]

So I guess psychics were proto witches? I think this is the furthest we've gone back in time isn't it?

Wondering if we'll see Katherine in hell. Since this is the final season the actress will probably come back for 1-2 episodes,, won't she?

On 12.11.2016 at 3:12 AM, 2Old2BAFangirl said:

Guess Tyler is really dead dead.

eh, he's probably in hell which seems like other side 2.0 at this point. They'll have him back in no time

On 12.11.2016 at 9:57 PM, Terrafamilia said:

I never before got the idea that the Amory was that close to Mystic Falls.

I was sure it was a lot further away. But I guess it's just around the corner. Unless the tunnels are magically teleporty or something. But then it would still be weird that they end up in mystic falls of all places.

Also if there was always an exit, how come the siren didn't just walk out? They said that she was using those tunnels...

[Bort]

6 minutes ago, Miles said:

Also if there was always an exit, how come the siren didn't just walk out? They said that she was using those tunnels...

She had to be blind and deaf to get through the stone wall first. 

[immortalfrieza]

5 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

She had to be blind and deaf to get through the stone wall first. 

And she was magically sealed in there for 200 years.

[festivus]

On 11/11/2016 at 9:20 PM, missbonnie said:

The title of the episode pretty much sums it up for me when it comes to this damn show. The thing that sucks the most is that I have wasted 7+ years of my life and I am here until the bitter end. At this point I'm beyond caring if most of these people die. In fact, I think it would be hysterical to have Elana wake up and everyone else is dead. 

So funny, I was about to make this same post. I was thinking while I was watching that I hope Matt kills every last one of them except Bonnie. That would be a great ending.

[Miles]

7 hours ago, kariyaki said:

She had to be blind and deaf to get through the stone wall first. 

Yes but they specifically said that she was using the tunnels. I guess in her desicated form she was blind and deaf or something.

I guess I can fanwank it with the magic seal also cutting off the tunnels. Although there wasn't a magic seal on there all of the time, was there? That was only put in place a few years ago, and got one of the armory sisters trapped inside...

There are a few incosistencies in there, is all I'm saying.

[ByTor]

14 hours ago, Miles said:

I was sure it was a lot further away. But I guess it's just around the corner.

Much like Whitmore, which at times was an hour drive, but other times mere minutes, depending on the plot.

[tricknasty]

On 11/16/2016 at 9:20 PM, Miles said:

Also if there was always an exit, how come the siren didn't just walk out? They said that she was using those tunnels...

Why didn't her sister compel/mind control a witch to get her out a long time ago?

[Miles]

Because reasons!

It had to have been a Bennet witch, but I think all this happened a few years ago and there would have been still some around. So, no idea.

The even bigger question is why the sister never got her out before the vault was magically sealed, which it wasn't for a very long time. Maybe we'll get a good answer for it eventually. Kinda doubt it.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Miles

[tricknasty]

Thanks Miles. I doubt it too. We never got an explanation for Enzo day walking and he's been on for years...

[Bort]

Didn't Lily get one of the heretics to give Enzo a day walking ring? 

As for the vault, I think Sybil was only stuck in the vault for as long as it was magically sealed and not before that.