‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 7, episode 4 review: Stefan’s play and a surprising revival

In addition to giving us some stories when it comes to the main characters on “The Vampire Diaries,” one thing that the show has been rather effective at is taking its time to tell the stories of many members of the recurring cast.

Last week, the focus was largely on Valerie and her past with Stefan. This time around, it was more about Nora and Mary Louise, who decided to play the part of party-crashers to the Heaven & Hell Ball at Whitmore College. Their story was about them in part coming together … but interestingly, they came back together thanks to someone out to destroy or at least threaten them in Stefan. Since he knew that Valerie would not cancel out the whole no-kissing pact, he had to rely instead on convincing one of two aforementioned ladies to do so instead. Using one of them as bait was an effective way to ensure that he got what he wanted.

The good news is that Caroline and Stefan can tough each other again! The bad news? She is still paranoid about Valerie’s presence. He reassured her that all was all right, and hopefully these two will last for a long time now (though we’re sure there will be further problems).

There were also some big news in the Damon department, as he managed to finally get back Elena’s coffin as a way to have her close. Yet, at the same time he started to realize that having time stand still was not the way to go about living. He may now have to figure out who he is without her, and that could be a tough task.

There was no major flash-forward at the end of this episode, but there was another big reveal: Jo’s back! We’ll just have to see where this story leads. Episode Grade: B.

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