‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 7, episode 11 review: Damon plays with fire

“The Vampire Diaries” really likes to torment us … especially when it comes to Elena. Just in case Nina Dobrev leaving the show was not enough, the producers this week also decided that it would be a good idea to have Damon, completely in his haunted, messed-up state, set the poor girl’s body on fire.

What we’re trying to say here is that we are starting to understand why the guy went to sleep before the events of the flash-forward. He’s a menace to himself, and also a menace to almost everyone around him. Just in case that was not dark enough for you, how about Stefan’s nightmares of Damon drowning, and him telling Caroline that he cannot be happy so long as Damon is in his life? He loves him, and yet he’s an albatross. Occasionally a blessing, but often a curse.

This may be the darkest episode we’ve seen in some time, with even Matt Donovan starting to even turn a little bit crazy and violent in the future. No one is safe! The smartest person in the room for now may be Alaric, who realizes that at this point, the best thing that he can do is take a walk away from Mystic Falls, Whitmore College, and all of the craziness there. Maybe this is what makes Caroline start to see him in a different light, and ideally we have no earthly idea why in the world these people haven’t left before now. Clearly, there is no fathomable reason as to why these people should continue to be around so much constant sky-is-falling chaos.

For us viewers, though, it’s riveting. Don’t ever change, “TVD.” Grade: B.

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