Thoughts: The Simple Intimacy of The Near Touch

8x09 SPOILERS

So, episode started out great, quickly slowed down though, don't really know how I feel.

The Salvatore Brothers on the road is my favorite stuff, I loved them bickering, Stefan's reaction to Sybil's phonecall, everything. Unfortunate that were not getting anymore.

Bonnie reuniting with Caroline was nice, them meeting up with Seline was funny.

Dorian and Matt teaming up is alright, I'm definitley a fan of the continuity that shows this guy is like "hey she killed my friend I want revenge" then at the end of the episode they blew it with him.

Stefan and Damon show up to Miss Mystic Falls, Bonnie gets 0 dialogue with Stefan or Damon, oh, and neither does Enzo. Cause, you know screw character relationships.

We have a million flashbacks of 1x19, I'm fine with them mentioning it, they're literally at Miss Mystic Falls, but damn I don't need to see an episode I've already seen.

Damon once again is shown to not want to do the right thing for himself but for Elena, no self-agency. I hate that.

Caroline and Damon have this dance (which if we followed any logic this episode Bonnie would've been a better choice for this) she just reminds him of the all greatest love to love an ever so loving-love, ya know?

Enzo giving Bonnie the necklace to protect her in case he can't is the best thing I've seen out of the Benzo anything, I particularly enjoyed them until their last scene, they still feel un-earned, like when she said 3 years I kinda looked at the TV with a cringe. Plus, a Kai mention. Guess who's back.

Stefan just *beep* on Delena all episode and it's pretty funny, although a little tiring, the only line I really felt new was him telling Damon if he hadn't fallen off the wagon and been there, Elena wouldn't have glanced at Damon that day.

More Siren crap, Matt finds the bell, everyone is aired to stop him, blah blah blah, WHERE TF IS CADE? I want to see the Devil dammit.

Damon knocks Sybil over the dome piece with the ball for the Bell or whatever, Damon finally resists. Stefan tells Damon he's too in touch with Humanity and he wants to be his "best self" which is like the ultimate Ripper or whatever. Cool. Stefan then "kills" Damon.

Stefan then proceeds to turn the Miss Mystics until Caroline kills and stops him. When he wakes, she tries to convince him to go only after bad people, he says he wants to work for The Devil, and she calls off the engagement.

We do get this nice scene where Caroline promises to help the Miss Mystic girl which paralleled how Stefan promised to help her in 2x02.

Seline convinces Matt and Dorian to let her in on the plan.

Damon wakes and ties Sybil up, verbally rips into her (Damn) and before he can torture her she grabs his head and flips his humanity switch, putting him in a comatose state.


3 quick thoughts:
Seriously, why can't Bonnie and Enzo interact with anyone else?

I hate to be that guy, but Elena can't be "stolen" she's to blame/makes her own choices.

Yeah Damon going after his brothers girl is wrong, but Ripper Stefan don't care, hell, regular Stefan doesn't care, can we get some brother moments, chill on the ships.

7.5/10 episode, idk if this is my lowest rated of the season yet, but man. When you mix constant shipper stuff with light character interaction and bogus plotlines (Sirens) I'm can't blindly love it.