The Vampire Diaries review – 4×19 : ‘Pictures of You’

In a ploy designed specifically to toy with my emotions, tonight’s return of The Vampires Diaries saw the return of my beloved Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). Oh ya, and there was senior prom, schemes revolving around Elena (Nina Dobrev) and a serious witch problem…again.

Let’s bitch it out…

I must address Jeremy first, simply because this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. This show has an infinite number of dearly departed characters to pull from, but they’ve mostly left the option on hold throughout the whole season. One of the greatest things about this show is how unpredictable it can be: characters are killed or sacrificed or staked at the drop of a hat when we are least expecting it. But the brilliant thing about a show that revolves around the supernatural is that they can always come back. And that is why I still hold out hope to see Alaric (Matt Davis) again, and why I knew I hadn’t seen the last of my dearly departed Jeremy. This show has this exceptional ability to rip your heart out and then tease you with it by making you relive the deaths over and over until you want to just “turn it off” like our darling Emotionless Elena.

However, this season has been severely lacking in that great emotional upheaval that I’ve come to learn to love. Until the death of Jeremy, that is. And maybe it took them a few episodes, but the writers finally get it right, here using him to damage both Bonnie (Kat Graham) and the viewers. We know Jeremy’s not real, but we don’t quite have the strength to wish him away like Bonnie has to do.

But more importantly, we now know how unstable our witchy friend is, though I’m not holding my breath that this will turn out well for viewers (I’m still waiting for a storyline that Bonnie doesn’t screw up somehow – that would be a miracle). But let’s take a step back: so Silas, the greatest power of all time, is relying on little Bonnie Bennett and her powers to release all of the demons throughout time? Really? She has THAT much power? I’m sorry, but a teenage witch who only discovered her powers four seasons ago is now the go-to person for an immortal creature like Silas? Sorry, but no – I’m not buying it. You would think the powers of darkness would have done a little better research before going all in on Bonnie Bennett. But hey, what do I know? I’ve only got four seasons of evidence to back up my theory.

Other Observations:

• I’m no vampire, but I have a feeling that when you “turn it off”, it takes a little more than a walk down memory lane on the dance floor or calling someone your boyfriend to make you want to feel again. We have watched Stefan (Paul Wesley) go through this how many times now? And Damon (Ian Somerhalder) has a few decades without emotion under his belt as well. So why did they think a few pictures reminiscing about the good old days, a spin around the dance floor, and friends being very obviously “fake nice” were going to draw Emotionless Elena back in to the land of the feeling? At least now, as we draw closer to the season finale, they actually have a plan. That’s a start.
• There is nobody I would’ve wanted LESS to be prom queen than Bonnie. I think Caroline (Candice Accola) would’ve been a smarter play since that would have at least been realistic. Alas, Bonnie ruins another moment for me and takes the crown.
• I don’t know if it’s just me, but man I am tired of having to guess who Silas is impersonating now. The writers have really overplayed it in this episode to the point that I actually groaned out loud when I realized that its not actually Rebekah (Claire Holt) at the end. Narratively it is a smart move, but I was so tired of guessing that I couldn’t even appreciate how good the ploy was.
• One thing I love about Klaus (Joseph Morgan) is that he always stays true to form. Whenever I feel a glimmer of hope that maybe he will show some brotherly love to Rebekah, for example, he resorts back to the jerk that I’ve come to love. There’s something satisfying in the the fact that he never changes. He’s been this way for a thousand years, so loving one teenaged vampire from Mystic Falls isn’t going to change him that much.
• I do, however, feel bad for my girl Rebekah. She’s waited a thousand years to go to a high school dance, and she finally makes it to the prom…and it’s a huge bust. She goes with Emotionless Elena (which is obviously going to be a drag), sits by herself for most of the evening, and ends up losing the one thing she wants the most in the world. But hey, that’s how school dances usually end up, right, so maybe it was true to form (…. Or was that just my school dance experiences?!)

Next week we take a break from Mystic Falls to join Klaus in New Orleans and test out the potential Originals spinoff. Is anyone else excited to see how it turns out? Were you as annoyed as I was with Bonnie? Were you as excited as I was to see Jeremy back? Sound off below!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8pm EST on The CW.