‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 6, episode 12 review: Is Luke, Kai, or Sheriff Forbes dead?

“Prayer for the Dying” is the title of Thursday night’s new episode of “The Vampire Diaries,” and we knew going into this one that there would be a very good chance that we would see the departure of at least one notable character.

Was it Sheriff Forbes? Despite all of the buildup surrounding her character and her cancer, she did manage to make it through the entire hour. However, that does not exactly mean that she is in good shape for the future. She has basically now realized that there is no supernatural cure that is seemingly apparent for her, and that means that she has to prepare for the worst.

The moment during this episode when we got the most teary-eyed was when we saw Caroline’s mother tell Stefan that he needs to take care of her, and make sure that she has a happy and successful future. For ‘shippers of Caroline and Stefan, this is probably a major step in a good direction.

It’s almost interesting in a way how, even in spite of it being the end of the episode, the departure of Luke after Kai won out at the merge felt still like an afterthought. It is sad that we’ve lost a key recurring player for the show and left Liv alone in that sense, but we never fully liked these two characters in the first place. We also would have been sad to see Kai gone, given that the man is pure evil, and a very different sort of villain that who we’ve seen on the show in some time.

Overall, we’d consider this episode to be a positive step for a show that has struggled often this season with cohesion. Grade:B-.

What did you think about this “Vampire Diaries” episode? Share right now with a comment, and be sure to preview the next installment. Also, sign up now if you want to bite into some further TV updates on all we cover via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: The CW.)