BWW Recap: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Says Two Heartbreaking Goodbyes

Death is never finite on a show like THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. Characters die and are resurrected on an almost weekly basis. There seems to be no consequences when it comes to living and dying, so when a character finally does pass from a very human disease, it's not only shocking, but also gut-wrenching. Tonight's episode, entitled "Stay," tapped into the very real emotions attached to death as the show said goodbye to one of its original characters.

Sheriff Forbes was packing up her office, flashing back to the traumatic time when she had received the call that Elena's parents had died. Over at Mystic Falls High School, Damon and Elena were compelling the principal to let Jeremy graduate early and over at the Mystic Grill, Alaric was feeding alcohol to two underage bros - Jeremy and Matt. Their bro-out was interrupted when Enzo sent Sarah Salvatore over to the grill to hassle Matt about some pictures.

Elena and Damon had made their way over to celebrate with Jeremy, Damon slipping him a victory joint. He wasn't just any vampire that had murdered Jeremy; he was a cool vampire that had murdered Jeremy.

Stefan and Caroline had gone out to her family's lake house to pack up some items to surprise Liz with while Liz continued to pack up her own office and look over her unsolved cases. Damon dropped by to give her a hand in solving them since most of the cold cases were his own work. Liz was happy Damon had been the murderer behind her unsolved cases, even calling him her best friend and admitting she was an awful sheriff. Except she still had one mystery left to solve: the Gilberts.

Jeremy had decided to smoke his joint when Elena crept up on him, judging him and lecturing him on drug usage, except smoking a joint was the most normal thing she could do with her brother (because drinking blood, murdering people, etc. was so much worse than smoking some marijuana.) The two enjoyed some fries when Damon called Elena over to the station to help out and left Jeremy alone, Enzo waiting in the wings.

Enzo had decided to use Jeremy as his bargaining tool against Matt since he had already been there, done that with Matt's mom. Over at the lake house, Caroline was packing things up for her mom, unable to stay calm and collected as she realized it would be the last time her mom would be able to read the books she chose. Caroline was adamant that her moms last moments were to be perfect and Stefan eased her anxiety. The two shared a sweet moment before embracing each other and finally bringing their relationship home with a kiss.

Apparently there had been luggage in the back of the Gilberts car when it drove off the road; no skid marks left in its trace, and Elena's mom had left an urgent voicemail for Liz hours before the accident. Elena was stunned at the news and decided to ask Jeremy if he knew anything that may give them answers. Matt continued to flirt with Sarah and led her over to where Enzo had forced him to meet, when Enzo promptly sped out of nowhere, hitting Matt with a car. Enzo appeared minutes later, acting like a Good Samaritan, feeding Matt his blood right in front of Sarah.

Jeremy revealed to Elena that on the night of the accident he had been caught smoking pot. In order to scare Jeremy, Miranda had made a call into Liz, pretending to be serious about reporting him to the cops. Damon relayed this information to Liz and they pieced together the rest, coming to the conclusion that the accident was just a natural, yet horrible occurrence. Relieved, Liz put down her badge and said goodbye to her office for one last time.

As Liz's health quickly began to deteriorate, Damon sat by her side. She lamented that it was okay she was dying such an ordinary death and that it was Caroline that was meant to be extraordinary. Damon went to grab Liz a drink when he turned around to find that she had slipped into a coma. Caroline rushed over the hospital, understandably devastated that she hadn't gotten to say the proper goodbye to her mother.

Alaric had taken Jeremy to the loneliest looking bus stop when he provided him with information pertaining to the real reason he was leaving town, to continue fulfilling his destiny as a vampire hunter. Alaric promised to keep their secret safe so long as Jeremy produced some actual art work during his adventure.

At the hospital, Stefan showed Caroline how to spend her final moments with her mom and Caroline jumped into the memory of Liz teaching her how to ride a bike for the first time. Caroline spent one last, happy memory with her mom before Liz passed away.

Things we need to discuss:

- Liz's passing was overshadowed by Jeremy's exit. And he's not even gone for good! The show has left a wide door open for Jeremy's return if he wants back in. Unfortunately for Liz, her death is a permanent casualty of the show and was completely and utterly heartbreaking.

- Furthermore, what kind of vampires is Jeremy going to hunt? Ones exactly like Damon, Stefan, Enzo, Elena, Caroline, etc? And if he is going after only the "bad" ones then, given TVD history, all he has to do is convince them to love, find a 'ship and they'll be redeemed. It doesn't seem so fair that Jeremy, a person who has loving relationships with vampires that have murdered and have even murdered him, gets to dictate which vamps out in the world get to live and die, destiny or not.

- I loved Damon's nonchalance about his past murders and solving Liz's cases. How about Liz's "Aw, Damon!" reaction to her bestie confessing to a bunch of cold cases? As ridiculous as it all is, this is what I love about TVD.

- "Life isn't about your final moments. It's about the moments that led up to them." - Stefan. The moments between him and Caroline were beautiful.

- Acting props to Candice Accola (Caroline) for making me sob like a baby and rushing to call my mom.

- With all the talk about Stefan and Damon's mother, there's a 90% chance she's still alive, right?

Do you need a tissue? Have you called your mom yet? Are you going to miss Jeremy and his shirtless scenes? Comment below or tweet me @enr702 or find me live-tweeting the episodes @erinrlivetweets.

Below, check out a promo for next week's episode "Let Her Go":

Photo Credit: The CW

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