The Vampire Diaries Review: One Way or Another (Season 7 Episode 18)

This week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, entitled “One Way or Another,” is just a very long look into Damon’s 12 steps to redemption.

One can argue that Damon shouldn’t even have to take these 12 steps, and to be honest, I agree!

Everyone whining and making Damon out to be some supernatural anomaly that makes everything bad happen is absolutely ridiculous. Bad things also happened in these characters’ lives when Damon was with Elena, and in theory, when he was “good.”

So Ric being all bent out of shape, telling him he doesn’t want things to go back to the way they were because he’s lived a better life without Damon, just seems like bad friendship. You can see it visibly hurts Damon and I can’t get behind that.

Because in the end, Damon honestly believes he is doing something to help his friends.

He thinks he is destructive without Elena, that he is going back to the selfish person he once was. So he decides not to be around.

In that case, I guess he is right.

Ric seems to be in a better place now… but that also just proves that Damon is right! Not to mention Ric saying, “I hate how good that felt,” proves that maybe he’s not as happy as he thinks he is. He obviously misses the intrigue and adventure of having Damon, and the supernatural, around.

I can see how it hurt Stefan and Bonnie more, though. This show is about family- especially our Salvatore Brothers. It wasn’t about Elena or a love triangle. It was about these two brothers and their bond as family.

But Damon and Stefan have lived apart for years. After Katherine, they hated each other for a while, so why Stefan takes this little sleep so personally is beyond me. I’m chalking it up to just… family.

But Bonnie – she has a point. We see Damon go from only tolerating Bonnie, to maybe not wanting her dead, to them becoming real friends over the course of 7 seasons. That’s why I’m so invested in their relationship.

Before Damon decides to take his nap Bonnie tells him how hurt she is, so slamming the door in his face seems to be a relatively nicer way to go about things. She could have hexed him… or slapped him. It will be fun to see how and when Bonnie decides to forgive Damon for leaving. It’ll just enrich their story.

Speaking of enriching stories… can we have Candice Accola-King back now?

Her absence has been duly noted and I know she needed maternity leave, but every storyline that hasn’t included her just seems like a empty and bland. I mean, is Caroline really still in New Orleans… searching for Klaus?

Along with her leave comes more of Valerie. I’m not against Stefan and Valerie. They seem to need to be with each other, since they missed their opportunity so long ago, but this way… just seemed like a plot device.

Valerie breaks up with Stefan and tells him to be happy. It’s a nice allusion to what Elena told him the last time he saw her, and a subtle way to let Val go.

I started off hating Valerie, but by this week’s episode, I was a bit sad when she stated she knew Stefan wrote to Care when he thought she wasn’t looking.

“One Way or Another,” feels like it’s setting something up. I’m not even sure what that something is at this point, but it feels like it’ll be a great big standoff, one that could be interesting to see.

With the time jump, I’m wondering if there’s a new villain in town, because I don’t really care about Raina anymore and the Armory has always taken a back seat this season.

Either way, this episode may have been a bit confusing, or even a filler, but it still has me interested to see what’s to come.

Some Things to Think About:

• I cannot care about any relationship that blossoms over the time jump. This includes Ric and Caroline as well as Bonnie and Enzo- just saying
• Is Ambrose going to stick around in another vampire body? I liked his sass.
• “You are my real life…” Every single girl needs a Stefan Salvatore. That is all.

What did you think of “One Way or Another”? Tell us in the comments below!

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The Vampire Diaries airs Fridays at 8/7c on The CW.