The Vampire Diaries 6×10 “Christmas Through Your Eyes” REVIEW

No One is Safe when the Kai-pocalypse Arrives and a Blue Christmas Comes Too

This week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries 6×10 titled “Christmas Through Your Eyes,” was not only the season six mid-season finale it was also a holiday themed episode and considering the time of year couldn’t be more appropriate. However, like most holidays, special event or really any social gathering they try to have, things always tend to go awry. Now that Kai (Chris Wood) is in the present, he’s determined to merge with his sister, Jo (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) and kidnaps her. Elena (Nina Dobrev), Damon (Ian Somerhalder) put their mission to bring Bonnie (Kat Graham) home on pause to help Alaric (Matt Davis) find Jo and deal with Kai. Meanwhile, Kai forces Jo to take back her magic right before Damon and Alaric come to her rescue. Kai then sucks up all the magic from the Travelers; spell keeping Mystic Falls magic-free and allows everyone to return home again. Unfortunately, for Elena Kai puts a cloaking spell on them and she’s stuck with a sociopath. Elsewhere Matt (Zach Roerig) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) kidnap Enzo (Michael Malarkey), but as Matt takes him on a vampire-murder ride across the border, the spell lifts and Enzo turns the tables on Matt. In 1994, Bonnie remembers past Christmas memories as she has a tree lighting ceremony of her own. While sadly, after Liz (Marguerite MacIntrye) faints during decorating for Christmas, Stefan (Paul Wesley) breaks the awful news to Caroline (Candice Accola), that her mom has cancer and nothing can be done. A lot went down this week on TVD, so let’s get right to it and start discussing.

Candy Accola Coated with Goodness

Candice Accola performance in this week’s episode was terrific in her portrayal of Caroline and really showed her range as an actress. The scene with Caroline talking to her mom about Christmas on the phone as she walks do her dorm the audience really feels her ‘Bah Humbug” attitude towards the upcoming holiday. She has a melancholy look on her face and a tone of voice that there’s a sadness mixed with a slight annoyance because she’s unable to go home to Mystic Falls to attend any of the events of the holidays. Then the instant she walks in her dorm to find her mom decorating her room for Christmas she instantly does a 180 and viewers can she how elated Caroline is to have her mom come to decorate and lift her spirits. Smiling from ear to ear, she radiates happiness giving the audience all the warm and fuzzies we all know and love when a family member or friend does something so heartfelt. Moments later, Caroline has another seamless transition of emotion when Stefan shows up with the Christmas lights and discovers her mom invited him. The audience easily detects her discomfort and utter annoyance because of his presence. Caroline just glares at him and is very short and cold in her replies to him And the look she sends her mom when he first shows up say it all. Her eyes widened, eyebrows furry as she is totally miffed as to why her mom would even invite him knowing all too well how he has hurt her. However, knowing what we do now, it makes perfect sense why Mama Forbes would make sure Care has the support of all her friends, especially Stefan.

“You’re trying? No. This is the easy part, ok? We’re hanging Christmas lights. Anyone can be friends when you’re hanging Christmas lights.” - Caroline.

Candice really shines when Stefan explains to Caroline what he and Elena had learned from compelling the doctors for information about Liz. First given the awful news, Caroline has a look of utter disbelief as would anyone learning their only living parent has been diagnosed with cancer. In true Caroline fashion, she tries desperately to make a plan to gain control of a bad situation. Viewers can see the heartbreak in her eyes and hear it in her voice as she suggests possible treatments and even vampire blood. Viewers sense Coraline’s realization that her mother is faced with unbeatable odds. She is overcome by emotion and completely breaks down. Her facial expressions and body language as she sinks into Stefan’s arms in her grief convey the sheer heartache she feels in this moment. Its also important mention how good Paul Wesley was in this scene as well. The audience can really sympathize with Stefan. Faced with telling a friend such horrible news and knowing how heartbroken Caroline is going to be, he conveys Stefan’s state of mind perfectly to viewers.With a heavyhearted expression and a somber tone to his voice really adds to the raw emotion of the scene. Both Candice and Paul do an amazing job in such a heartbreaking scene. It is really done beautifully.

Chris Wood Brings the Kai-pocalypse

Chris Wood does a phenomenal job again this week with his portrayal of the family-killing, power obsessed sociopath, Kai. Each week Chris brings Kai to life in such a way the audience cannot help, but love him equally as much they hate him. In his own twisted idea of the holidays, Kai reunites his family and kidnaps his twin sister, Jo. Not only can viewers see the crazy by the actions he chooses, but also the way Kai goes about doing them. As Jo wakes up and realizes what happened and where she is, his face glows as he conveys to the audience how pleased he is with himself and what he’s done. His face shows his deranged state of mind by a sly smirk on his face and eyes detached to any emotion of what he’s putting his family through. Viewers can sense the joy he gets at reminding Jo she’s sister as he doesn’t call her by her name, but calls her sissy instead. And when he does Kai puts more emphasis on the ‘s’ and uses a mocking tone of voice reminding us of young siblings taunting each other in the backseat of a car. Determined to force Jo to take back her magic, Kai is robotic devoid of emotion as he stabs his own sister and later threatens Luke (Chris Brochu) and then Liv (Penelope Mitchell).

“I was wanting to kill you when your brain was the size of an acorn. You don’t think I’ll do it now?” - Kai.

The scene with Kai hiding behind a tombstone to avoid the onslaught of rocks being hurled at him by Damon, the audience can see Kai is plotting his next move. We can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he absentmindedly trades jabs with him. The audience can see as soon as the magic is mentioned for Travelers’ spell, Kai gets an idea. A light bulb might as well be photo-shopped above his head. His eyes widened with excitement and he gets that mischievous grin on his face that we all know means trouble. And just when viewers thought the Kai-pocalypse has finally run its course (for this episode at least) Kai ruins the Delena reunion. He appears and happily gloats to Elena he has put a cloaking spell on them before hitting her over the head. No one or nothing is off limits when it comes to Kai. TVD hasn’t seen such a villain as deliciously evil as Kai since season two when we were introduced to Klaus Mikaelson and considering he and his family got an entire spin-off series, those are some mighty big shoes to fill. Well, done Chris!

Another Mythology Mishap

While Sheriff Forbes inoperable, untreatable cancerous brain tumor is a change of pace for death on the series. Unlike past seasons of the series where death is usually at the hands of a vampire, werewolf, hybrid or from some sort of other supernatural element, “Christmas Through Your Eyes,” takes a more viewer relatable approach to death. However, while the new method of losing a character is applauded, it doesn’t seem to be too well thought out. Naturally, Caroline suggests the use of vampire blood to heal her mother, but Stefan claims this is not a solution to Liz’s illness. And like many viewers, we have to wonder why. Wasn’t the entire purpose of the vampire torturing Augustine Society we were introduced to last season to use vampire blood to advance medical science? Why is this instant different? In fact it was the mid-season finale for season five, “Fifty Shades of Grayson,” when viewers learned along with Elena her father was using vampire blood as a cure for many diseases and that is what linked him to her and Caroline’s dead roommate. Why is cancer different? It’s a disease. Or is it just more convenient to ignore the mythology previous set to fulfill the steps necessary to take the show in a desired direction. Common on, there are unless possibilities and ideas to move a storyline in a specific direction. Let’s not forget how when Alaric returned human again for some reason Elena’s compulsion remained in tact whereas in previous episodes it was voided. It is sad the integrity of the show has to be compromised to do so and unfortunately, this isn’t the first time mythology has been thrown by the wayside for convenience this season.

FINAL VERDICT

The mid-season finale “Christmas Through Your Eyes,” was a festive blend of nostalgia Christmas memories, Kai chaos, two kidnappings, heartbreak and it wouldn’t be TVD without a few unexpected twists. Caroline Dries penned an episode to fit right in to the holiday season. Despite the inconsistency in the series’ mythology because vampire blood is unable to heal Sheriff Forbes from cancer, Dries did come up with a few unexpected twists in the episode. Kai sucking up all the magic from the Travelers’ spell over Mystic Falls was an extremely clever solution to a leftover problem from last season. Chris Wood’s portrayal of Kai coupled with director, Michael Allowitz focusing on Kai’s glowing red hands they dug into the ground really emphasis what is happening and the huge amount of power he’s accessing. Throughout the episode does a great job capturing the emotion of each scene. When Liv shares she knows all Jo’s been through in her life and she believes in her Allowitz heightens the emotion of the scene. He chooses just the right camera angles to focus on Liv’s facial expressions and capture the underlying bond of family.

“You’re my sister, and I’m yours. Look how far you’ve come without magic. You didn’t get here listening to people tell you you weren’t strong enough.” - Liv.

The hospital scene between Caroline and Stefan is done beautifully from all aspects. Not only was the dialogue heartfelt and relatable to the audience, Candice and Paul both were flawless in this scene. Allowitz capitalizes on their great work by varying the shots from close-ups to see the raw emotion on their faces and then panning out so the audience can see the comforting body language between the two. Chris Mollere completes the scene with Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson’s “Winter Song” playing in the background. A slow and somber song that questions the existence of love adds to viewers experience of the scene and Caroline being faced with such devastating news at a time that is supposed to be about family, friends, and filled with happiness. “This is my winter song. December never felt so wrong. ‘Cause you’re not where you belong inside arms.” The lyrics fit the situation perfectly and tugs at our heart strings even more. In fact the entire episode is filled with a blend of scene appropriate hits and holiday songs to add that little extra to the audience’s experience.

” So look. I don’t know what we were or are or what we’re supposed to be, but all I know is that today was pretty horrible, and I just… I want to see you. I have something I need to tell you.” - Elena.

Like al TVD mid-season finales there’s always a cliffhanger that usually makes viewers want to hurl the remote across the room. This episode was no exception, but unfortunately there seems to be a running theme as of late for that cliffhanger to be some obstacle thrown between Elena and Damon being together.Shocker Dries did the same thing. While, yes it was quite clever to have Kai put a cloaking spell on Elena, but really? Isn’t there more of an original idea than keeping Damon and Elena together? The Vampire Diaries appeal has always been its unpredictable twists, but sadly the entire ‘journey’ of Damon and Elena’s relationship is becoming a little too predictable. Guess Damon is now off to save Elena yet again and then onto obstacle number 852 or whatever number it really is. Happy Holidays TVD friends!

Comments, Questions, Concerns:

• Great having all the characters in the episode.
• Hooray for Alaric being back among the living, but they’re destroying his character. It’s like he doesn’t have a mind of his own. He’s been with Jo for two seconds and is so whipped its annoying.
• Love Jeremy and Matt going all Team Badass 2.0, but Matt’s vampire hunting obsession is going to get him or Jeremy killed. Matt seems kind of brainwashed.
• Nice seeing Jeremy out of his druggy state.
• Christmas tree scene with Jeremy in Mystic Falls and Bonnie in 1994 was so heartbreaking.
• Love Enzo and Damon’s snarky comments.
• Enzo, love him. Cannot wait to see when he finds the real Sarah Salvatore.
• Brotherly moments between Damon and Stefan are the best. Loved that Stefan gave Damon his car for Christmas and ‘welcome back to life gift.” #Defan
• Since vampire blood cannot cure cancer and heal Liz, doesn’t she still could still become a vampire right? Just saying.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES RETURNS THURSDAY, JAN. 22 at 8/7c on the CW