'The Vampire Diaries': Julie Plec Breaks Down "Insane" Salvatore Reveal, Surprise Return, Wedding, More

 

 

As The Vampire Diaries said its goodbye to Sheriff Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre), most of the characters' turmoil came to a head Thursday.

The hour, which was directed by series co-creatorJulie Plec, featured a pregnancy reveal and engagement for Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) and Alaric (Matt Davis) as well as Jo giving up her magic to Kai (Christopher Wood). Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice Accola), meanwhile, awkwardly tried to figure out the state of their relationship. Bonnie (Kat Graham) was transported to another prison world — in 1903 — where she met a mysterious woman (Annie Wersching). Damon (Ian Somerhalder) reflected on his inability to say a proper goodbye to his mother when he was a teen and found the proper way to eulogize Sheriff Forbes in the present. Elena (Nina Dobrev) realized that Caroline was planning on shutting off her humanity to deal with her grief. Bonnie finally returned to the present day, where she reunited with Damon and showed him video footage of the woman she met in the past … and he was shocked to realize it was his mother, Lily.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Plec to break down what comes next for The CW show.

Now that we've met Damon and Stefan's mother, what can you tease about the insanity she's going to bring?

I think the key word you just used was insanity. Here's a woman they thought was long dead, having died a totally natural, human death. And there she is, what, 65 years later than they thought she died in prison world. Which means she's either wrongly victimized, or entirely deserving of her incarceration. So those are questions that are going to be asked and will start to be delivered next [episode] when we get to know more about her.

How quickly will Damon loop in Stefan about their mother being in the prison world, and how is Stefan going to react to that?

Damon has to ask himself, what do I need to learn about this person before I tell my poor little brother that has mourned her since he was 10 that she might be an evil, evil person trapped in bad places. He's got a bit of a struggle at the top of the next episode trying to figure that out.

How much will we be seeing of Lily's time in this prison world? Will there be a bigger flashback episode or will it be bits and pieces over time?

I think we'll see some flashbacks of her origins [in episode 18] -- of how she ended up there. This is not the last we've seen of this prison world.

Hypothetically, if Lily makes it to the present day and has a reunion with her sons, what would that be like?

Hypothetically, I think it will not necessarily be what it expected from a long-lost mother they loved dearly.

Interesting! Speaking of lost mothers, Caroline has now turned off her humanity thanks to her grief. What comes next for her?

I think fans can expect a surprisingly delightful and on the verge of crazy, Caroline. She really does believe when she said, "My experience will be different. I won't be basket cases like the rest of you, I'll handle myself well." So she sets out very clearly to do that. And the question is, how long will she be able to keep it together, and who might play a part in helping to unravel her.

Potentially on that note, Stefan went through a journey this episode as he tried to pinpoint his feelings for Caroline — and he was on his way to her house to share his feelings for her when she opted to turn off her humanity. How will he react to the situation, and how much blame will he place on himself?

I think he's going to hold himself very responsible. Whether his answer would have changed her mind or not remains to be seen; she had to deal with grief the way she had to deal with grief. Certainly him hemming and hawing over his feelings after that beautiful kiss on the front porch — because his big brother gave him a bad piece of advice — he's definitely going to be carrying that burden with him, very determined to do anything he can to get her back on track.

There was a scene where Stefan acknowledged to Damon after Sheriff Forbes' funeral that his relationship with Caroline could be something better than the other true loves he's had in the past. How do you and the writers see that relationship going at this point? Is this going to be a different kind of relationship than the ones the show has experienced so far?

Well, I think when you look at it like the difference between young love at first sight, and the powerful, passionate, you meet in the moment and the universe collides love, which, of course, we all grow up reading about in books and watching on vampire shows, in comparison to real-life love, which is messy, and develops over time, and rooted in friendship, first and foremost. It's a much more grown-up way of looking at a relationship, and it's a relationship that we often don't explore in these kinds of shows, and that's part of the fun of it for us: getting to see as these characters get older, can they establish true, intimate and connected relationships with each other?

That makes sense. On the human side, Alaric and Jo are engaged and pregnant. What's in store for them?

Well, I might think that means there's a wedding in our midst, which makes me, of course, so happy. I love weddings — I love TV weddings. I love Alaric and Jo together. I want to see them on their way to their own version of commitment, with all these new responsibilities and how they handle their relationship, too.

How is Kai handling his new magic?

Kai, always needs something, always wants something. He's feeling pretty good about himself right now, but he does have that lingering burden of empathy which is sneaking its way into his nasty little skull. And Bonnie is going to ultimately find herself on the receiving end of Kai's process of trying to make amends for his wrongdoings. Of course, she wants nothing to do with any of that, but he's very persistent when he puts his mind to it.