BWW Recap: Emotions Take the Cake on THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

If there is one thing THE VAMPIRE DIARIES exceeds in, it's eliciting emotions. Whether it's making your heart break into pieces as you watch a character cry over the death of their parent or making you feel like rushing over to your TV and shaking it until your favorite character pairing kisses, the vampire show has that special knack. This week's episode, entitled "The Day I Tried to Live," took all our emotions and merged them into a psychotic witch recently back from his successful attempt at murdering his brother and becoming head of a crazy witch coven.

"Happy Birthday, Bonnie." The witch uttered to herself as she made a nice birthday breakfast, still trapped in 1994 prison. In the present, Elena had decided to throw a birthday party for Bonnie sans the actual guest of honor; she also confessed she had found Jeremy's art school application in the trash, which he tried to play off.

Caroline was setting up for the party at the House of Hunks with the magical Ms. Cuddles overseeing the event planning when she suddenly decided that a party wasn't enough, she was going to spend the day trying to find the original Ms. Cuddles, which she had buried out in the forest as a kid.

Damon and Elena were making cupcake-eating look like the sexiest activity in history when they finally defined their current relationship, but Kai had shown up to help eat some cupcakes and deliver a letter to Jo, who was MIA since the merge. Kai admitted to being a complete sociopath, but was having a small problem with a little thing called empathy; he couldn't understand the alien-secreting fluid coming out of his eyes AKA tears and he wanted Elena's good-hearted help to process what was happening. Elena decided that since did have a thing for finding the best in murderers that she would get Kai to help fix the Ascendant and break Bonnie out of 1994.

Enzo had recruited Matt to help with his Sarah Salvatore mission and Tyler was begging Liv to leave town with him like the rest of her family. She was distraught and regretted not following through with the merge ceremony herself, but she did know one thing: she wanted to kill Kai.

Elena and Damon were disputing places where Bonnie would be able to track down some magic when they remembered that Nova Scotia was full of untapped magic via Qetsiyah's tomb. At the same time, Liv was preforming a spell to find Kai when she tracked him down at the Salvatore's. Tyler was unwilling to let her go, but being a witch and everything made Liv just a tad more powerful than her human boyfriend.

Kai had come up with a spell a la GHOST to appear to Bonnie. Kai, Damon, Elena, and Jeremy were able to see and hear Bonnie, but not vice versa when they witnessed Bonnie about to end her own life. Kai wasn't strong enough to keep all four of them stable, but he did admit to being able to send Jeremy and himself back to drop her an atlas to point her towards Nova Scotia (after rudely and condescendingly suggesting to Elena that he bring back her dead parents for a tea party.)

Stefan was drinking and making fun of Caroline's mission and she was growing even more annoyed that Stefan decided to follow her just to taunt her. But Stefan's jerkiness was just a ploy to rile her up. The two had a little tussle, which ended up with both of them on the ground, inches away from each other's faces. Over on Matt and Enzo's end, Matt was flirting up a storm with Sarah, Enzo acting as wingman as part of his greater plan.

Damon and Elena were sharing a drink when he admitted that the two probably wouldn't be together if Elena were still human, a fact Kai had previously brought up, which angered Elena. Kai had successfully transported him and Jeremy into 1994, but it didn't last long as Liv had shown up and attempted to murder Kai. Kai was able to overpower Liv and was excited at the prospect of lighting his little sister on fire, candle in hand, but couldn't follow through as his feelings of love had once again overcome him. Jeremy stepped in, averting Liv, and dragged Kai away to try the spell again to send him back to Bonnie.

Out in the forest, Caroline had finally found the tattered Ms. Cuddles and Stefan comforted her as she was finally able to let her emotions out. In 1994 prison, Jeremy had followed Bonnie into the garage and she was heartbreakingly going through with her plan to end her life. Jeremy pleaded with her, but he was powerless. As she recorded a last video as a suicide note, Bonnie suddenly changed her mind, opting to stay strong in the last seconds and miraculously Jeremy was able to free her from the smoke-filled garage.

Back in the present, Jeremy had had an epiphany and Elena agreed that it was time for him to move on and go to art school. Thankfully, this decision to move on was entirely Jeremy's and not compelled by a vampire.

Tyler was livid with Liv and revealed he never wanted to see her again. At the same time, Matt was coming back from his date with Sarah when Enzo finally let him in on his plan to creep into Sarah's life and toy with her until she begged him to become a vampire.

At the House of Hunks, Elena and Damon once again cemented their relationship with a lot of shirtless hugs, Jeremy began his art school application, and Caroline and Stefan shared a friendly drink. In 1994 prison, Bonnie had found the atlas Jeremy had dropped that pointed towards Nova Scotia; the witch packed up the car and headed to Canada.

Things we need to discuss:

- The TVD suicide trope has become overplayed and really bothers me when used on a show with such a young and impressionable fan base. Plus, would Bonnie actually be able to kill herself? Her and Damon had attempted to kill Kai previously, but to no avail. Although heartbreaking, I didn't feel a real pull towards Bonnie's life-ending actions and more of a hindrance on her character and the story as a whole. I am glad she decided to stay strong and save herself. The real question will be what kind of person she comes back to the present as.

- It was nice to see Jeremy finally making a decision of his own to move on. Though he's been sent away, killed, and ignored heavily in the past few seasons, this move will probably be a more permanent stick as no vampire is compelling his actions, and besides the return of Bonnie he really has no reason to stick around in Mystic Falls.

- Kai's reaction to his sudden influx of emotions was the perfect comedy relief. It will be intriguing to watch how this affects the story moving forward. I would also gladly take a full episode of Kai Googling and road tripping and figuring out all his new feelings while watching THE NOTEBOOK.

- Caroline and Stefan's chemistry is palpable. As much as I try to stay away from ships and involving myself too deeply in a character pairing, I am on team Steroline.

Do you suddenly have a craving for cupcakes? Are you excited for more emotional Kai? What has Alaric been up to? Are you happy that Nova Scotia is in driving distance for Bonnie? Commet below or tweet me @enr702 or find me live-tweeting all the TVD episodes @erinrlivetweets.

Below, check out a promo for next week's all-new episode, "Stay":

Photo Credit: The CW

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