The Vampire Diaries Season 4 Finale: 4x23: Graduation

Epic Season Finale!

Warning!: The following post contains many spoilers from the season four finale of The Vampire Diaries.

What really happened?

• Stefan has a doppelgänger - Silas!
• Katherine is now human
• Elena chose to be with Damon, for now
• Klaus lets Tyler return to Mystic Falls
• Jeremy is ALIVE
• Bonnie is dead for good it seems

What a finale you guys! I can not begin to explain how much I wasn't expecting most of what happened. Some of it made sense while other parts did not. What are we waiting for, lets get started shall we?

The intro starts off with a very non-enthusiastic speech from Kol who seems bent on revenge. He's joined by the twelve witches and hybrids that were killed 'in vain' for Silas.

He doesn't look too happy does he?

Next we see Stefan and Lexi rocking out to Bon Jovi. Can I just say how much I adore their friendship? I wish Damon never killed Lexi, she would have made a great regular on the show! And check out her hair! This is one of the rare moments we see Stefan genuinely happy. After Elena became a vampire [and got sired to Damon] its been quite uncommon to see Stefan enjoying his vampire life! Stefan's attitude towards Damon is hilarious 'I don't know, Mom am I?' haha. Also I loved it when Lexi strangled Damon for killing her, she should have done a lot worse. I'll never forgive him for killing her. I wonder if Lexi ever visited her boyfriend that we saw in season one - you know, the one that turned into a vampire for her. Hmm.

Check out the hair! 

Bonnie talks on the phone to Caroline about graduation and the veil no-go. She doesn't inform her of her recent demise. The thing with Bonnie is she's always looking out for others, putting her friends and family before her. She'd rather be dead if it meant knowing the ones she cares about are okay. She's an amazing person and is so underrated in my opinion! I hope she's alive next season. Grams tells Bonnie to say her goodbyes. I wonder what it's really like on the other side. Also, if it's a purgatory for the supernatural why do they all need to be punished? How does that make sense? Anyway, moving on...

Elena spends some quality time with her ghost 'father figure' Alaric and brother Jeremy. Does anyone else think it's weird that Elena is involved with Alaric's best friend? Or is it just me? Elena's happy after a long season of grief, which is nice to see.

 

Elena gets a phone call from Connor, who's still bent as ever on ending the plague of vampirism, so to speak. He tells her that he wants the cure or else.. cut to the next scene we see another vampire hunter, Vaughan who's working with Connor as the witch Qetsiyah asked them to get the cure to kill Silas for good. Alexander is also working with them on getting the cure to 'fulfil his destiny.' What I want to know is why do they care if Silas is dead or not? Both of them are willing to kill humans so they can't have that much regard for human life? And why would they listen to Qetsiyah anyway?

Poor Matt is also, as always, caught in the middle. Those skateboard looking devices have come back and for once Rebekah is going to make a completely selfless move. I love how she is when she's around Matt. It seems completely authentic and its a joy to watch! I don't know whats going to happen to Mabekah once she leaves for The Originals spin off show. I like them together.

Connor threatens to blow up the Mystic Grill and everyone in it which again just shows his lack of remorse for the very few humans left in this town! Vaughan seems to be upset that Damon didn't save him from starvation in the woods - how does this even make sense? Vaughan hates vampires and kills them for a living, and he nearly killed Damon with intent! This show confuses me so much. 

Alaric tries to defend his bar from being blown up, I really like this scene. I sometimes forget Alaric is a vampire. I think it was very selfish of the original witch Esther to force Alaric to be an original vampire-vampire hunter and go completely dark and emotionless! These witches talk about the balance of nature yet they kill people without even thinking! Apart from Bonnie of course. I love Bonnie.

Connor packing C4.. lol

 Rebekah and Matt make plans to travel across Europe, reminding Alexander that they can do anything they want because theyr'e alive. This obviously ticks him off and he throws a knife at them. Katherine comes to see Bon Bon - I mean Bonnie because she misses her? Nope, turns out she's still after that immortality upgrade. I don't know why she fears death so much when she's an over 400 year old vampire. I doubt Klaus is actually actively looking for her now anyway.

Damon tells Elena to take the cure, but being back to her normal compassionate self she doesn't want to be selfish by taking it, especially since there are three vampire hunters after it too. Jeremy tells Elena that he loves her no matter what she chooses. Aw.

Lexi makes a funny yet interesting point about Vaughan. Stefan ripped his heart out and now he's gone back to the other side for a while and then comes back to himself? It's all very confusing. Stefan asks Lexi about a rulebook on the other side - this would actually prove to be useful! lol. The next bit is even more hilarious - Stefan says how they're busy discussing how to save the world when theres a bigger problem at stake.. the dilemma of who will Elena choose! haha. Now that the sirebond is gone, Elena decides not to remain single but to choose one brother who she'll be with for at least a few episodes.

Vaughan and Damon decide to go fishing.. or rather find Silas in the ocean. Turns out Damon thought he was gonna die so he took Vaughan there as a distraction. Luckily, Alaric comes to the rescue and tries to persuade Damon to take the cure.

Obviously, he doesn't listen lol. The next scene was one of my favourites as Matt and Rebekah continue to mentally book their holiday across the pond. Just kidding! Rebekah does a selfless act by going on the skateboard detonator, replacing Matt. And they share a tender moment as well. Aw. What I don't get is why Rebekah didn't act sooner knowing she couldn't die? Hm.

Jeremy persuades Elena to go to her graduation and that Lexi will keep him company, probably cause everyone at school thinks he's dead, which he is. Bonnie sheds a few tears as she knows this is the last moment she will get with her friends. They'll all go off to college while Bonnie suffers in purgatory. It's so sad, everything Bonnie has done is for her loved ones and it'll all backfire as we see toward the end. Group hug for now!

Bonnie's dad reads out the names of the graduates with a special announcement to his daughter Bonnie, it's almost as if he knew something was seriously wrong. This is probably the last moment they'll get together too. 

Kol interupts a happy Bonnie by telling her that he doesn't want the veil to go up. His theory is that they were sacrificed and deserve to live, even though Kol was the one against hell on earth. Who's to say he won't keep on trying to kill Elena? Obviously Bonnie would kill him for it.

Kol doesn't look like a creep at all...

Bonnie shows Kol her dead body and explains to him that she wants a normal life and wants to go college with her friends.. but we don't always get what we want. Kol is obviously very selfish, even though he was in a box for a long time, he's lived a lengthy life and he needs to move on. I love how they've brought back Nate Buzolic a lot because of his popularity with fans. Whatever happened to.. whats his name? Oh yeah, Finn! Maybe he's in heaven.

The twelve witches do their mind witchy juju on the local vampires, with the lead vampire (I forgot her name) says 'do you remember us Caroline'... to be fair they were never formally introduced! Anyway, the amazing Klaus swoops in and saves the day. The anti-hero. This is my favourite bit of the whole episode! What's even more is that Klaus uses a graduation cap to decapitate the witch! Awesome! I love the way Caroline looks at Klaus and then he smiles at her. *swoons* It's funny to imagine he once wanted to kill them all. He's definitely grown as a person!

 Cool CGI!

Who's a badass! Klaus smiling at Caroline. Awww.

Next follows one of the many topless scenes of Damon. I wonder why Stefan has stopped doing these? Elena slaps Damon and argues with him about why he wouldn't take the cure. He says that he'd rather die than grow old while she remains young. So basically he doesn't want to get old..

Lexi and Alaric have a heart to heart. I reckon they'd make good friends. Lexi tells Alaric that she thinks that once they're done serving their time for all the bad things they did as vampires, that it's then just a matter of letting go and moving on. I hope this is true.

Elena gives the cure to Stefan hoping that he will take it, but he tells her that everything he's done to get the cure was for her and that it would be her choice forever. I love Stefan. Elena points out that the only person worse at being a vampire than her is Stefan. Human blood is his downfall. Personally I think Stefan should have taken the cure.

*Stelena feels* 

This next scene is pretty epic. I don't ship Klaroline because of the type of person Klaus has shown himself to be (killing Jenna, killing Elena) but he proved himself tonight to Caroline and he's also growing as a person which is lovely to see! He tells Caroline that Tyler is free to return to Mystic Falls, that Tyler is her first love and that he intends to be her last. This is my second favourite scene of the finale!

*tingle*

Elena confesses her love to Damon and as a Stelena fan myself I'm not particularly happy about this scene. But it's more to do with how it happened. I don't feel they built up Damon and Elena that well in this season. In death he made her feel most alive? - since she's become a vampire, Damon has kind of taken advantage, he made her feed on his blood knowing that she was with Stefan at the time and this was a major betrayal to him. To make matters worse he taunts him about it afterwards. He also tells Elena to kill Connor, knowing that killing anyone would cause her grief and guilt. Then when he finds out about the sirebond, he doesn't set her free. Instead, he makes her turn her humanity off which proves to be the worst thing he could've done, just because he wouldn't be able to deal with Elena's turmoil and grief over her dead brother. I'd be happy for them if they made it more realistic. What really got my heart was Stefan's reaction overhearing Elena's declaration to Damon. I feel so bad for him, this has definitely not been his season. I'm so glad Lexi was with him.

My poor baby!

Stefan packs his bags and is ready to leave town. He tells Damon that he's not not happy for him, which is very big of him as Damon has said the opposite to him in the past. It's sad because Damon should have never gone after Elena in the first place. He should have chosen his brother over a girl.

I'm really happy that Lexi was able to give Stefan advice and be his friend in his time of need. She tells Stefan that he needs to move on and live his life and gives a very true and inspiring message:

"Contrary to popular belief there are actually multiple ones, especially for a vampire."

I hope Stefan finds true love again.

Lexi spends her final moments with Stefan and they discuss where he should go next. Kol pays a final visit hoping to get rid of some unfinished business with Elena but then he becomes an incorporeal ghost again.

Doesn't he look scary?

Katherine has a face off with Elena and Bonnie has a moment with Jeremy. This scene is so sad you guys! Jeremy and Bonnie kiss, the veil is put back up and Jeremy realises he can't feel Bonnie.. this is because he has been brought back to life. As a human he can see but not feel ghosts. Kat Graham's acting here is amazing, those tears made me cry!

 *Beremy feels*

*tears*

It looks like Bonnie will remain permanently dead, which is a real shame because her character was used so much as a plot device. She's so underated, she's helped save a lot of people's lives. All her friends would be dead if it weren't for her. I hope they bring her back next season. Word is there's gonna be a new witch in town.. no, just no.

Bonnie tells Jeremy to tell Elena and Caroline that she's spending the summer with her Mum, just so they don't have to grieve over her death and can be happy. She's always looking out for others.

This scene between Rebekah and Matt is so cute. She's trying so hard to change and be good and it's actually working. She looks so happy when Matt takes her offer of Europe, saying he's never been out of this town. I hope they get to travel across Europe together, but it might not last that long as Rebekah is set to go on The Originals. 

"That little wedding town in Italy, don't get any ideas about turning me into a vampire so we can live etnerally ever after." haha.

Elena and Katherine have a showdown and Elena appears to win, I think? Katherine tells Elena that she stole her happiness and that she's living a better life than her. I don't know how this even makes sense because Katherine has lived for over 400 years, using people as she pleases. While its true that Katherine killed Elena's brother, Damon did too. It's just that the Gilbert ring didn't work the second time. I'd feel bad for Katherine but even as a human she used people, it'll be great to see how Katherine handles being a human as Elena just shoved the cure down her throat! I still think Stefan was more deserving. Before that though, Elena has a flashback to her conversation with Stefan. It's interesting that she's thinking of Stefan before her supposedly final moments. Here he reminds her that everything he did to get the cure was for her and that it would always be her CHOICE. There's that word again.

Stefan parks up by the ocean/river to put Silas at the bottom of it. He opens the bag only to find pieces of stone.. then Silas appears behind him! Only he takes the form of Elena. It turns out Silas is a doppelgänger.. but not of the Petrova line.. Stefan is Silas' doppelgänger!! I wasn't expecting this at all. It makes sense now why he wouldn't show his face, he's one of the regulars. At least now we know why doppelgängers exist; to create a version of oneself that can die.

Silas' true face!!

I am not particularly fond of this next part as it is a DIRECT rip off of Angel. Plec & co have always taken bits out of the Buffyverse but this was just too direct and it was kind of annoying. I'd be semi-okay with it if Plec gave Angel some credit. In the season finale of Angel season 3, he is also buried alive in a box that goes to the bottom of the ocean, so it's sad to see The Vampire Diaries directly copying that.

 I made a parellel of this in this youtube video clip! Check it out here> 

I'm not sure how I feel about the Stefan doppelgänger storyline or another season of Silas but it might work out. If Paul Wesley can make it work through his amazing acting then it should turn out good! Unlike Nina Dobrev, Paul can't differentiate Silas from Stefan with more make-up and long curly hair; it's going to be completely down to his acting talent. As long as they don't copy anymore Buffyverse storylines or scenes then it should be okay. I hope they don't copy Angel and make Stefan have flashbacks and dreams about Elena while he's deep at sea. There's only so much I can take lol.

Overall this has been a very strange season with some good and bad points. Without going into too much detail, I didn't like the idea of the sirebond, it was silly and didn't allow Damon and Elena to develop their love for each other naturally, it didn't make sense that she chose Damon at the end in my opinion. I'm not happy with the amount of deaths either. I was hoping Stefan would have a better season but that doesn't look like it's going to happen for a while, although I'm happy Paul Wesley will get to play the bad guy in the form of Silas. Also I've been thinking a lot and do you guys think it's possible that Silas could be one of the reasons Stefan finds it so hard to cope as a vampire? When Silas tells Stefan "Do you have any idea what it's like to starve for 2000 years." It made him sound like a worse version of ripper Stefan. I'm glad Bonnie got more involved this season but I felt she was being used and they certainly could have gone further with her expression magic. Caroline and Klaus had some interesting moments this season, even though I shouldn't condone them. I think Tyler is right for her right now though. I'm also hoping Matt gets some good storylines next season, being the only human main character left!

What did you make of the season finale?

•  Now that Katherine’s human, would Damon fall for her again?
• Will Klaus find out about Katherine and re-start up his human blood-bag business? (Making his hybrid army)
•  Is Silas going to pretend to be Stefan for the summer?
• Will anyone find Stefan in the ocean?
• Is Bonnie permanently dead?
• Will the gang find out Bonnie’s dead?
• What is Silas’ agenda now that the cure is nomore?
•  Is there a future for Matt and Rebekah?
• Do you reckon TVD should pay homage to the Buffyverse?
• Is there hope for Stefan and Elena?

Please leave your comments down bellow, let me know what you thought of the season in general and the season finale! Make sure you subscribe to me so you don't miss any of my updates. Thanks so much for reading this recap/review!