The Vampire Diaries 7×21 “Requiem for a Dream” REVIEW

Bonnie’s Inner Huntress is Unleashed!

This week episode of The Vampire Diaries 7×21 titled, “Requiem for a Dream,” marks Bonnie’s (Kat Graham) transition into big, bad vampire huntress and is the penultimate episode of season seven. After learning that Rayna’s (Leslie-Anne Huff) last life comes with a few unexpected side-effects, which includes the urge to kill all your vampire friends and boyfriend, Caroline (Candice King) decides to stay in Mystic Falls to find a way to help Bonnie .While Alaric (Matt Davis) heads back to Dallas to be with the twins. And when Bonnie doesn’t wake up, Enzo (Michael Malarkey) thinks she might be refusing afraid of what she might do to them. In an effort to convince Bonnie to wake up, Caroline insists on going first going inside her head to convince her. She’s transported to their dorm room at Whitmore College and things go well at first, but things go downhill. Bonnie makes blood pool at her feet making Caroline’s face turn, which then Bonnie points out that her girls aren’t safe because she’s a vampire. And somehow Bonnie is able to mark Caroline through her subconscious with the hunter’s scar. She then comes face to face with Stefan (Paul Wesley) and isn’t the slightest bit happy to see him. He urges her to run before Bonnie wakes up, but she refuses so he takes matters into his own hands. Stefan vervains her and takes her on the road with him.

Meanwhile at the Sheriff’s office, Matt (Zach Roerig) gets word of activity at the Salvatore House and says not to worry he’ll look into it. He’s met outside by Enzo, who asks he allow them to stay in town without any problems. Matt agrees, but makes it known it’s only for Bonnie’s sake. Inside, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) begs Bonnie to wake up because he doesn’t want to be her last hope. Then Enzo tries his hand getting through to Bonnie and takes her back to back to her days at Mystic Falls High School. He greets her outside at the ‘Stoner Pit’ after she kicks some ass. They go inside to a classroom where he grabs his guitar. Trying to persuade her to wake up, Enzo reminds her of their song they wrote together. Bonnie confesses she’d rather die than wake up as a huntress and that’s why she’s refusing to wake. She then breaks his guitar and marks him too with the hunter’s scar. Next up is Damon. He takes a different approach to things and takes Bonnie to the Gilbert House porch, a special place to him and Elena (Nina Dobrev), not him and Bonnie. There, Damon thanks her for choosing to die because he’ll get Elena back. He points out all the special moments he and Elena shared there over the years and why it’s better for him that she’s decided to just die. Instead of attempting to trigger a pleasant memory, he just makes her angry. Bonnie becomes so mad that she does wake up, but not before marking him.

Elsewhere, Caroline is furious with Stefan for making her go on the run but agrees to continue running because she knows it’s for the best. She now understands why he just left three years ago, but even more upset he didn’t include her in the decision. Stefan reveals he still loves her, but Caroline just isn’t open to discussing her feelings for him or Alaric, so they just continue to their next stop. Back in Mystic Falls, Matt agrees to help Bonnie hold on to her humanity and to help her kill Damon. Bonnie tracks Damon into the woods where he’s waiting by the tree stump they used for her memorial after she died. He tries to reason with her by reminding her of all she’s been through over the years and even reveals he loves her like a sister. It doesn’t work and just before she stakes him Matt subdues Bonnie saving Damon’s life. Matt offers to drive Bonnie out of town to put some space between her and her vampire friends and as they’re driving, Bonnie gets free. She attacks Matt and takes the driver’s seat, makes a U-turn and heads back towards Mystic Falls. So much happened this episode. Let’s not waste any more time and start discussing!

Bonnie Gets Her Hunt On!

Kat Graham does a great job this week illustrating Bonnie’s internal struggle transforming into a vampire huntress and being programmed to kill vampires which include her friends. Sitting in Ric’s classroom at Whitmore College, viewers can see Bonnie Is surprised to learn that vampires are real and she’s completely terrified to discover she is surrounded by vampires. We see her breathing becomes heavy, her eyes widen in fear and she runs frantically to her to safety in her dorm . Her fear of vampires and her physically running away from them parallels Bonnie’s reality and the fear of transitioning into a vampire huntress. Viewers notice Bonnie is relieved to see Caroline inside their dorm. Bonnie takes in a deep breath and her expression turns calmer. She is the sweet, sensitive Bonnie we’ve always known, but the huntress instincts come forth and it’s as a switch flips. She turns cold, devoid of emotion and even marks her friend. The same happens during Enzo’s visit inside Bonnie’s head. In the Mystic Falls High School classroom, Bonnie’s demeanor toward Enzo is loving and viewers can see how much she cares about him. As she confesses to him she’d rather die than ruin their good memories her voice is soft, her eyes are sad and expression conveys to the audience how much she loves him. But when Enzo tries to convince her otherwise reminding her of the song they wrote together, the huntress takes over and she marks Enzo too.

“I’ve always wanted to be loved by someone in that way that you loved me. And I would rather have those memories than any future where I destroy that.” - Bonnie.

Kat Graham is exceptional channeling her inner Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and portraying Bonnie the badass vampire huntress or as Damon calls her, Rayna 2.0. The audience can see glimpses of the huntress emerge during each venture inside Bonnie’s head. Especially when she’s in the Mystic Falls High ‘stoner pit’ and goes all Kill Bill on the kids that annoyed her in high school. And When Bonnie finally wakes up, viewers see Bonnie’s demeanor has changed. There’s a glimmer of the old Bonnie when she asks Matt to help her hold onto her humanity. That goes to the wayside when she asks Matt to help her kill Damon. Her expression is cold conveying to the audience she is completely serious about killing the guy she once called her best friend. Bonnie not only attempts to kill Damon, she also attacks Matt, a lifelong friend, and leaves his fate hanging in the balance. Viewers see Bonnie is driven by her need to kill vampires specifically Damon. It’s consumed her and her expression is determined yet detached of emotion almost like she’s possessed as Bonnie fully embodies her huntress instincts. Kat Graham does a wonderful job this week as Bonnie both as the Bonnie the audience knows and loves as well as Bonnie the newly turned vampire huntress.

A Friendship on the Rocks

Both Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham are fantastic together this week as Damon and Bonnie. Taking a different yet clever approach at getting Bonnie to wake up, Damon takes her to the Gilbert House porch and instead of appealing to her warm and fuzzy feelings he pisses her off in hopes that her anger forces her awake. As Damon stands on the porch, a place that holds so many memories of his relationship with Elena, viewers hear the pain in his voice and see the sadness in his eyes that Elena isn’t able to be with him. Damon comes across so convincing when he thanks Bonnie for choosing to give up because that means Elena and he will be together again, but we know he’s full of it. While he’d love to have Elena back, it would pain him to lose his bestie and he knows Elena would want him to do everything he could to help save Bonnie as well. While his expression is serious, there’s a sense of desperation in his little rant as he knows he’s the last chance at getting Bonnie to wake up. Bonnie face illustrates her shock hearing such hurtful words from Damon and her eyes are filled with sadness. Her emotion triggers her ever growing huntress instincts causing her to attack him and then she finally wakes up.

“I admire you, I believe in you, and I love you, the same way Elena loved you.” - Damon.

In the woods, Bonnie finds Damon at the stump where all her friends had a memorial for her when she died. Viewers can see Damon is scared for his life as Bonnie attacks him holding nothing back and pinning him up against a tree. She is focused solely on the task at hand, killing Damon. Bonnie’s actions are almost robotic, her face focused, and eyes void of emotion. It’s a complete mindf*ck for the audience to see the always selfless Bonnie Bennett act like this. Even Damon is taken off guard. As he’s pinned against the tree, his eyes are full of fear as he attempts to lean further away from Bonnie. While Damon’s tone of voice is sincere and his words are heartfelt and kind as he tries to reason with her by reminding her of all she’s been through and come out the other side stronger. It’s obvious how much he cares about Bonnie because there’s a desperation in his voice as he begs her for her forgiveness before she kills him. Bonnie hesitates for only a second, but is unphased by his pleas and would have most certainly killed him if not for Matt. A truly emotional scene for viewers that Kat Graham and Ian Somerhalder illustrate wonderfully.

Who Does She Love?

After several weeks of build up, finally, Caroline and Stefan come face-to-face this week and forced to interact. It’s painfully obvious that Caroline is not the slightest bit happy to see Stefan again when he walks into the Salvatore living room. She is really annoyed with his presence. She is short with him and her expression illustrates her irritation to see him. While Stefan stays in the room despite her disapproval and just takes it on the chin. He doesn’t react to her sassy comments. The audience comes to realize how much Stefan truly cares about Caroline when he goes completely against character and has no regard for her wishes. Instead, he vervains her and forcing to go on the run. Once she comes to it’s evident Caroline is even more pissed at Stefan for kidnapping her and she makes sure he knows it. With a raised voice illustrating her anger at him, she confronts Stefan for not taking her opinion into consideration. Again, Stefan remains calm towards her. He has a softness in his eyes and his expression shows his concern for her safety now that she’s been marked by Bonnie not just because he cares about her, but because he’s been there before.

“I’m sorry. And you have every right to hate me for what I did to you three years ago… Just don’t pretend that you wouldn’t have acted any differently. You’re doing the same thing with Bonnie right now. You can’t accept a world where Bonnie dies. Even though that’s a choice she’s trying to make for herself and do you know why? Because you love her too much and there’s nothing wrong with that and I love you and the thought of you getting hurt… it’s not an option that I’m willing to entertain.” - Stefan.

Viewers see that Caroline softens towards him a little when she admits she understands why he did what he did. She no longer looks annoyed to be around him. Her tone is now normal as they and it appears to still hurt Caroline thinking about how much he hurt her when he just disappeared three years ago without talking to her because she looks down and her eyes are sad. As Stefan explains himself he appears truly sorry that he hurt her. There is a sense of regret in his eyes and his voice. While viewers rejoice when he confesses he loves her, but sadly Caroline seems unaffected by this just pointing out very matter of fact that she loved him. Then in the car, Caroline not reciprocating an ‘I love you’ to Alaric at the end of their phone conversation leads viewers to believe and Stefan that she’s still in love with Stefan even though she won’t admit it. And when Stefan tries to talk to her about her feelings, she quickly shuts him down refusing to discuss the topic. While it seems obvious that Caroline still has some remaining feelings for Stefan, but the question that remains will she finally fess up or is afraid of losing her little family with the girls?

FINAL VERDICT

The penimulate episode of The Vampire Diaries, “Requiem for a Dream,” centers around Bonnie refusing to accept Rayna’s last life because that means she’ll become a vampire huntress and the search is on to find a way to convince her to wake up before she dies. Brett Matthews and Neil Reynolds penned an episode that takes viewers through Bonnie’s emotional journey as she struggles to accept her new reality leading her to be reluctant waking up because she will be a huntress and forced to hunt the people she loves. Not only do the writers convey how much Bonnie’s new huntress status affects her, they also show how much it affects those around her. It’s a clever idea from Matthews and Reynolds to use the guided dream sequences from the three closest people to Bonnie each including a specific tie to her humanity. Coupled with a wonderful job from Kat Graham this week, director, Paul Wesley captures the emotion of each scene with exceptional camera use. During Enzo and Bonnie’s heartfelt discussion in the classroom, Wesley alternates close up shots of each of their faces to emphasize the emotion of the moment. He then indicates Bonnie’s huntress instincts kicking in by focusing on her fiddling with the guitar just before attacking Enzo. Wesley also captures the raw emotion of the scene between Damon and Bonnie on the Gilbert Porch again by switching close-up shots of their faces at just the right moment. He also makes sure to remind the audience of Elena and all that Damon’s lost by prefacing their conversation with a shot of Elena’s silhouette in her bedroom window. While Matthews and Reynolds penned powerful dialog which is greatly executed by Ian Somerhalder.

Again, in the woods both Kat Graham and Ian Somerhalder do a fantastic job conveying the emotion of such a somber scene between friends. Damon’s genuine and heartfelt dialog is wonderfully delivered by Somerhalder. Wesley has exceptional camerawork and tilting the angle showing Damon pinned against a tree illustrates Damon’s vulnerability. His use of varying close ups and the specific focus on Bonnie’s single tear just before she gives in to her inner huntress raising her hand to stake him enhances the viewing experience. The same can be said for Matthews and Reynolds’ beautifully penned bittersweet moment between Stefan and Caroline outside the motel. Wesley’s great direction as well as acting along with a great job from Candice King heightens the emotion of this powerful moment between the pair that Stefan admits he loves Caroline. And music supervisor, Chris Mollere, knows just how to get those feels going, even more, adding the sweet melody of Okay Kaya’s “ Damn Gravity” playing softly in the background. The episode leaves us asking so many questions.While Damon and Enzo believe the answer to Bonnie’s new huntress personality lie inside the Armory, let’s not forget the evil sealed inside the Armory. Something’s telling me shit is about to get real!

Questions, Comments & Concerns:

• Nice surprise that Matt is the one that saved Damon’s life in the woods.It’s good that he could table his resentment of vampires to help his longtime friend.
• Matt always gets hurt. Oh, what irony it would be if Bonnie kills Matt. He just saved her from killing Damon because she’d never forgive herself only to turn around and kill Matt. Something again she’d never be able to forgive herself from. He better be okay! Poor Matty Blue Eyes.
• On another note, how many freaking supernatural entities can Bonnie Bennett embody?
• Stefan told Caroline he loves her! Squee, Hopefully, we learn more about al those letters he wrote her from his three years on the run.
• I will say it again: Bonnie and Enzo are adorable,
• Totally unfair to tease us with Elena. One can only hope she or Katherine makes an appearance in the finale. *fingers crossed*

THE SEASON 7 FINALE OF VAMPIRE DIARIES airs FRIDAY, MAY 13 at 8|7c. on The CW