The Vampire Diaries series finale recap: 'I Was Feeling Epic' 3

Stefan's Big Decision

After this season brought us our first “I love you”s from the Salvatores, the finale gives us our first “I love you” exchange from them. Damon says, “I love you, little brother,” before Stefan can say it back. But here’s where it gets tricky. Stefan is human… which means Damon can compel him.

With tears in his eyes, Damon compels Stefan to walk out of the tunnels and not stop until Damon’s death breaks the compulsion. “I am the big brother,” he tells Stefan. “Sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.” Stefan then turns and walks out.

Two weeks ago, I talked about how I always felt like Damon had to sacrifice everything to save his brother in order to achieve the redemption that the show had been working toward. And for the second time in two weeks, he’s proven that he’s gone from the man who once promised his brother an eternity of misery to the one who’s willing to do anything to let his brother live. And if I’m being honest, because of that, there’s a part of me that was going to be okay if Damon was the death that ended this show. But that’s not what happened…

Back at the bell tower, Matt brings his father to see Vicki — not to talk her out of what she’s doing but simply to let him see his daughter one last time. (Also, major props to this show for bringing back Tiki’s grandfather, the very man who recognized Stefan in season 1, thereby causing Elena to look into his past and discover that he was a vampire.)

After one final hug, Matt and Peter head to the town square, leaving Vicki to ring the bell for the twelfth time. But before she does, Ric tells Caroline Stefan’s plan — to sacrifice himself to save everyone — and she does the only thing she can do: She has Ric pull the car over so that she can call Stefan.

She leaves him a voicemail, and just when I thought I could handle this conversation, Caroline says the best thing she could say in this situation (and also the thing that will make me cry the hardest): “I need you to know that I understand.” She tells him that she will love him forever before reiterating that, above all else, she understands. And how amazing is that? Seriously.

Just then, Vicki rings the bell for the final time, and as hellfire explodes, Bonnie is able to take control of it and direct it through the tunnels all the way to the Armory. But needless to say, this is the most difficult thing Bonnie’s ever done — and arguably the coolest thing a witch had done with fire behind season 2’s “sun and moon” ceremony — and she needs help. Luckily, Enzo is there… along with all the Bennett witches, including Grams and Lucy! It only took six seasons, but Lucy finally came through on her promise that Bonnie would see her again!

Together, the badass Bennett women send the hellfire back to hell. As Bonnie says before she collapses, “I did it.”

Suddenly, we’re inside the high school, where Elena is awake, and we hear soundbites from earlier seasons, including Stefan asking “Is this the Men’s Room?” Just as Elena rounds the corner, she once again bumps into Stefan.

Elena, naturally confused, asks for an explanation. Stefan tells her that he’s not sure if Bonnie’s okay, but what he does know is that Damon wanted to sacrifice everything to save Elena and save the town. He was ready. Stefan explains, “I’m human now. He compelled me to leave.” But Damon should’ve known better: Stefan would never spend a day as a human without ingesting vervaine.

We flash back to the moment before the hellfire came back through the tunnels, when Stefan returned and injected Damon with his blood, thereby giving his brother the cure, undoing the very thing that caused Damon to promise him an eternity of misery all those years before. Just as Stefan forced his brother into vampirism, now he forces him back into the life he wants: a human one with Elena.

In that moment, Stefan knew his brother wouldn’t do something stupid. Without the cure, Stefan would age and die, so there was no longer any reason to save his life. So, with Damon out of the way, Stefan held Katherine in place and just before he daggered her, told her one last time to, quite literally, burn in hell.

Then, just before he closed his eyes and accepted his fate, Stefan turned to Damon and said, “Goodbye, brother.” OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY EMOTIONS.