The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 2 Recap: Stuck In The Twilight Zone?

Some fans of The Vampire Diaries said they were disappointed by the season 6 premiere last week for its lack of action in helping move the plot along. I feel like the critics are going to enjoy this episode a lot more because it left me with a lot of mixed emotions.

The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 2, “Yellow Ledbetter,” starts off with Damon and Bonnie four months back when they had just died and arrived to some other place than the other side, after its destruction. They’re unsure ofThe Vampire Diaries Damon and Bonnie Alone their whereabouts but notice some strange things going on. For one, they seem to be the only two people walking around the town. It’s not the same as when Bonnie was on the other side and could see the living walking around in their daily lives. It may have something to do with the fact that The Mystic Grill that Damon and Elena had just blown up, is still standing. It’s like they’re the only two on a private Universal Studios tour of the set.

While Damon tries to figure out where he is, Elena is on her way to try and forget Damon. Ouch! Elena is in her dorm room packing all the pictures, clothes, and anything else that could help trigger her memory of Damon. She’ll need everyone’s help with mission “Forget Damon” so she asks Matt and Jeremy to keep quiet about Elena’s romantic past with Damon.

Alaric talks with Caroline to inform her that Stefan hasn’t been looking for any help in finding a way to get Damon and Bonnie back. It seems like he was in the beginning but now he’s been lying to Alaric about sticking with the leads he gives Stefan. Caroline is furious because she feels like everyone has given up hope. Luckily, Alaric tells her that Enzo has been trying to find his own leads. I’m not too excited to see Enzo again, but if he’s truly trying to help get Damon and Bonnie back, then I’m okay with him joining.

Elena meets up with Alaric to try and finally get rid of Damon from her memory along with all the pain she’s feeling. Alaric tries to use a type of hypnotherapy by asking Elena a series The Vampire Diaries Elena Therapyof questions to get inside her brain. I love Alaric and completely trust him with helping Elena. That’s why I don’t think she feels too worried about him prying around in her romantic memories. He needs her to tell him the moment she fell in love with Damon. Once this happens, he’ll be able to compel her to remember a different memory which will change her thoughts on who Damon is. The first time they meet is on the road and Damon is questioning Elena about herself. Unfortunately, this isn’t the right memory because even with Alaric’s compulsion, Elena remembers Damon as her boyfriend.

Damon and Bonnie aren’t having much luck on figuring out where the heck the universe left them. They continue to walk around the town and notice that the cars parked on the streets look a bit outdated. Damon points out another building that should be in ashes, Elena’s house. In the front yard, Bonnie picks up a newspaper which is dated to the year 1994. The front yard has younger-aged children toys which may have been Jeremy and Elena’s. Now Damon and Bonnie need to be questioning when they are versus where they are. Although, I could help them out on where they might be; in the Twilight Zone.

Enzo takes an odd road trip with Caroline who isn’t exactly his number one fan. At this point, she’s just hoping that she can use him for getting to the answers on how to bring Damon and Bonnie back. Somehow, they end up at Stefan’s new place and stay for dinner that was meant to be for just Stefan and his new girl Ivy. It’s painful to watch this awkward dinner since Caroline is furious with Stefan for never returning something as simple as her calls, and Enzo is the type of person who can snap at any given moment. Stefan explains that he and Ivy met while her car was in the shop where he works. Caroline can’t believe he has such a job or the fact that he even has a job. Caroline does a fantastic job at making things super awkward when she mentions to Ivy that she knows Stefan from him dating her best friend in high school. Of course she has to drop the hint that he’s able to date but didn’t think he’d be able to move on so quickly.

While I’m loving Caroline at this moment for all the shade she’s throwing at Stefan, it’s Enzo that starts to stir things up. The Vampire Diaries Season 6 ep2 Stefan ForkHe decides things are moving too slowly so he stabs Stefan in the hand with a fork. At first I wanted to grab the fork out of the TV and stab Enzo’s hand. Eventually, my feelings for Stefan and Enzo switched. Caroline quickly takes Ivy with her so she can compel her to forget. A short scuffle between Enzo and Stefan begins and ends with Stefan winning as he snaps Enzo’s neck. Stefan was sick of hearing Enzo telling him how bad of a brother he is to Damon for giving up on him.

Someone else who seems to be giving up hope is Elena. She’s finally deciding to get rid of Damon from her memories and now it’s too hard for her to do. Alaric’s hypnotherapy isn’t working and Elena can’t seem to understand why it wouldn’t be working. She feels like she’s being an open book to Alaric and something should have worked by now. This is when Alaric calls Caroline for some backup help. He tells her the situation and Caroline knows exactly why nothing is working. Elena simply doesn’t want to admit that she fell in love with Damon while she was with Stefan. As Caroline is telling this to Alaric over the phone, Stefan appears in the background, listening the entire time. Oops!

Back to Damon and Bonnie’s situation, it seems that Bonnie may have a way to get them out of this weird Twilight Zone. She says that she thinks her Grams brought her to this scene for a reason and since it involved magic they would need magic to reverse it. Only problem is that Bonnie doesn’t have her powers. Everything around them exists in the world of 1994 so Bonnie was able to find her Gram’s old grim war. She hopes she can use it to teach herself how to use magic again and get them out of this scary place. Oh yeah, every time it seems to get dark out, it’s not a new day forming. Bonnie was doing a newspaper crossword puzzle when she saw that the date had gone back to yesterday’s date. It’s as if they’re stuck in an eternal Hell on repeat of the same day in a different year all alone.

Back at Stefan’s house, he tells Caroline that he’s already worked out every lead that Alaric has given him. He’s come back empty handed every single time and is tired of being disappointed. When Caroline tires telling him that Enzo has a new lead, Stefan tells her The Vampire Diaries Stefan Carolinethat he’s already visited that lead with no results. He’s come to realize that Damon and Bonnie are dead and everyone else needs to realize this too. Caroline then gets upset and asks him why he hasn’t even returned her phone calls because her voicemails clearly are a cry for help. Stefan hesitates to answer and Caroline understands why. He hasn’t listened to any of her voicemails. He admits that he erases all the messages and has erased everything connecting him to Mystic Falls. I was debating whether or not I should drink from my Stefan mug tomorrow morning from the way he’s acting at this moment. Caroline is so furious and upset that she’s crying uncontrollably like they were together.

After seeing Stefan’s true colors, Caroline storms out of his house and waits for Enzo to wake up in the car. When Enzo gets in the car, he notices how upset Caroline is and tells her to wait for him again. I had an idea of what was going to happen next, but this is Enzo we’re talking about. I didn’t think Enzo had a heart and was capable of what he was about to do next. He rushes into Stefan’s house and grabs Ivy, ready to snap her neck. He tells Stefan how upset Caroline is in the car and doesn’t understand why she’d be crying so much over a guy like Stefan. Someone who can’t step up for their brother isn’t worthy of being happy. So, Enzo snaps Ivy’s neck. Enzo promises that he’ll always be there to torture Stefan before snapping his neck. I think I might be team Enzo now, because that was amazing!

Alaric is still trying to help Elena and after getting help from Caroline, confronts Elena about not being truthful. She obviously can’t see how she hasn’t been truthful with Alaric but he tells her that she hasn’t been truthful with herself. Conveniently, Elena needs to listen to the words of her evil doppelganger, Katherine, that it’s okay to love both Salvatore brothers. I also agree with Katherine because it’s so hard to pick just one! After thinking about it for a little, Elena knows the exact moment she fell in love with Damon.

The story is truly heartwarming because it showcases one of Damon’s few acts of true selflessness. She says it was right before Elena was about to go to her birthday party she didn’t really want to attend that Caroline threw for her. They were looking for Stefan and Damon had comThe Vampire Diaries Elena Damon Necklacee to give Elena a birthday gift. It was the necklace that Stefan gave Elena which was a sign of hope for Stefan and Elena’s love. Somehow, Damon was able to give the necklace to Elena even though he knew what it meant to her. It’s because of how much it meant to her that he gave it to her even if it meant that it gave up all hope for Damon. Elena explains that she fell in love with him at that exact moment despite the fact that she didn’t want to and felt terrified for feeling that way.

Now having the story he needs, Alaric changes the story for Elena while compelling her. He tells her that Damon never came into the room or gave her the necklace. Instead, Elena went to the horrible party and afterwards sat at home to watch movies with Jeremy. Right after he mentions Jeremy’s name, Elena has a vision of Damon killing Jeremy and tells Alaric that Damon was the one who killed Jeremy. Noticing a different reaction, Alaric tests out his work. He asks who Damon Salvatore is and Elena answers by saying he’s Stefan’s jerk of a brother who just died. Just like that she’s forgotten the love of her life. Let’s hope she won’t regret it like Caroline warned.

Jeremy seems to have taken a liking to the girl Elena attacked in the last episode. He even offers to have her stay with him at the Salvatore residence when Matt tries kicking her out. I don’t blame Matt for doing so because it turns out she’s a car thief. You never know what else she could be hiding and Matt has been through enough. Let’s hope Jeremy turns his attitude around soon because so far, it’s crap. Matt’s safety patrol friend Trip was the one who tipped him off about the little thief. Turns out he’s got a few secrets of his own. He’s a founding family member and hides the fact that he knows all the secrets. He’s shown driving a truck filled with vampires past the border to burn in the sun. I can only imagine his interest in this girl isn’t going to end well for Jeremy.

Right before the episode ends, Damon and Bonnie find out that they might have been The-Vampire-Diaries-Season6-Damon-Bonnie-Creepwrong about being the only ones in this town. Bonnie couldn’t answer a certain question on the crossword puzzle and somehow it’s now filled out. So if Bonnie didn’t fill it in and neither did Damon, who could’ve done it? I’m guessing it’s someone older since they’re into crossword puzzles and know everything up until the 90s.

In the next episode, looks like Stefan has one thing on his mind — revenge. The entire episode looks like it’ll focus on Stefan’s plans to get revenge on Enzo for killing Ivy. Stefan can tone it down a few notches because it’s not like Enzo killed Elena. He acts like he really cared for this girl. He was basically kicking her out in the morning for sticking around and trying to make them breakfast. At this point, I don’t understand who Stefan is anymore. He might even put up more of a fight for this random girl than for Elena. I’m just hoping now that Elena doesn’t remember Damon that she and Stefan can get along better. Yes, I mean get back together because I’m a hopeless Stelena fan. Let’s face it, looks like Stefan could use some help from Elena on humanity skills.

So did you think this episode was better than last week’s? Were you upset when Enzo killed Ivy or do you see her as a regular casualty? Do you think there’s any hope for Stefan and Elena to get back together? I’m like Caroline in this situation. I’ll always hold onto hope while everyone tells me otherwise. Do you think Elena did the right thing by having Alaric compel her to forget Damon? Are you just as pissed at Jeremy as I am? I really think something bad is going to happen if he continues to hang out with this Sarah chick. Comment below.

New episodes of The Vampire Diaries premiere Thursdays at 8pm ET on The CW

Photos: The CW