space
head
head head head
Home Contact RSS Feed
COMICS   •   MOVIES   •   MUSIC   •   TELEVISION   •   GAMES   •   BOOKS
TV Review: The Vampire Diaries 7.7 “Mommie Dearest”
space
Pfeff-Bot   |  

The Vampire Diaries Season 7 Episode 7 Cover

The Vampire Diaries
Season 7 Episode 7: “Mommie Dearest”
Directed by Tony Solomons
Written by Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux
Created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec
Starring Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Kat Graham, Candice Accola, Zach Roerig, Matthew Davis, Michael Malarkey, Annie Wersching, Elizabeth Blackmore, Todd Lasance, Jaiden Kaine, John Charles Meyer, Gavin Casalegno, Luke Judy
The CW
Air Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015, 8pm

Do people spell “mommy” with an “ie?” The Vampire Diaries does! In Episode 7.7 of the hit CW show, “Mommie Dearest,” the concept of motherhood is further explored. Parenthood has been a growing theme all season and it’s clear that this very human, very soul-felt connection is a complex relationship that can often be both predictable and surprising.

Today, I’m going to take a look at the storylines of TVD 7.7 with a focus on our resident TVD mothers, Caroline (Candice Accola King), Lily (Annie Wersching), and Valerie (Elizabeth Blackmore). With my weekly SPOILERS AHEAD WARNING, onward we go.

Lest I forget, our weekly flash-forward shows Damon and Ric partnering up again. This time, they drive to save Caroline and keep Stefan (Paul Wesley) from doing the same as he is in danger. Besides Damon showing up to an abandoned news studio and getting shot my tranquilizers, we learn that it is a “she” who carved the “X” on Stefan and who is causing all the mayhem? Is it Lily? Or is that too obvious?

Caroline and Valerie

Back in the here-and-now, Caroline and Alaric/Ric (Matthew Davis) go on a proverbial roller coaster ride trying to figure out if she was magically impregnated with his twins. When a pregnancy test comes back negative, the two have a quiet moment of disappointment (it seems even Caroline is a bit sad about it). Then, Caroline throws up later at the Mystic Grill and is in total denial that there’s even a possibility…but Matt (Zach Roerig) points out that he’s never seen her — or any vampire, for that matter — get sick. At this point, I’m thinking she just got a false negative; this happens!

The reason Caroline is with Matt at the Mystic Grill is that he has found dozens of people under compulsion and being fattened for use in a blood bank in various public places all over town, including the high school, courthouse, and now the restaurant. The two contact Valerie and ask if she can siphon away the compulsion to let the people go. She argues that the victims will just be replaced with others, and Caroline gets upset. After yelling at Valerie about being wrong about the pregnancy, Valerie is about to leave, but then Caroline apologizes. It’s strange, but although these two have a somewhat volatile relationship under awkward circumstances, they seem to be gradually bonding. After saving Caroline’s life from Beau (Jaiden Kaine), Valerie tells her the truth about her Stefan situation and explains that the reason she knew so much about the Gemini Coven spell to protect the babies is that she tried it on herself. “But I wasn’t strong enough,” she says tragically. Ric is obviously devastated after hoping against hope that his babies could be alive, and then having the grief crash down on him again.

Just to be absolutely sure, Ric and Caroline go in for an ultrasound and nothing shows up. Luckily, Val is just around the corner and comes in to explain that she has realized the babies must be cloaked for protection. She uncloaks them, and there the babies are, moving around, alive and healthy as can be. Caroline and Ric exchange looks and this is clearly setting things up for the future. I don’t think there was even one scene with Caroline and Stefan together this episode. Anyway, back to the babies, it’s pretty great, because after all his loss, Ric now has something for which to live. We knew the pregnancy would happen all along, especially since Accola King is pregnant in real life, but it was still valuable to watch the process, particularly for the development of the Calaric relationship.

Lily

Lily is first seen in this episode when Stefan invites her over to try to recruit her as an ally in the plot against Julian (Todd Lasance). When Stefan tells Lily the truth about Julian (with Damian looking on cynically), she immediately dismisses it as another lie from Valerie. All too quickly, Stefan agrees that she’s right and proposes a toast to “moving on.” When she drinks it, it’s clear that he’s dosed it with vervain. BOOM! Time for the brothers Salvatore to abduct mommy (or should I say “mommie?”) and talk to her until she sides with them and helps them kill her boyfriend! Duh! Normal. Throughout the episode, we saw parallels between Julian and Papa Salvatore through flashbacks to the Salvatore family adventures. These include Giuseppe Salvatore (John Charles Meyer) burning a young Damon (Gavin Casalegno) with his cigar, forcing Damon to behead his pet turkey and then eat him for dinner, and beat his wife. He’s the best. Just kidding. The only issue with Damon and Stefan trying to prove to their mother that she is easily “brainwashed” by these horrible men is that she exclaims that she knew exactly how awful Giuseppe was…everything she did was to protect her children. The games come to a swift end when Lily’s throat looks to have been slit, and she admits to her sons that she and Julian did a spell linking the two of them and that Julian must be hurt.

And hurt, he is. Momentarily. He and Lorenzo/Enzo (Michael Malarkey) are dueling over Lily. How old-fashioned! There is much macho posturing and classy sword-fighting before Enzo pulls out the sword he found in Oscar’s (Tim Kang) car, which he had overheard Julian saying he was looking for. Julian looks scared briefly, but the fighting continues. Julian has Enzo cornered when Damon saves his life and then stabs Julian with the special sword. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. When Lily arrives and realizes Damon was willing to kill her, she leaves with Julian on her arm, looking emotionally wounded.

Back at casa Salvatore, Damon enters into an impassioned monologue about how Stefan isn’t willing to see the truth about Lily, and that it’s very simple: she left her sons, she went out of her way to forget them, and she found a new family. Ironically, we see Lily in the next scene as Julian tries to pick up the pieces and act like everything’s fine. When she asks him about why he was in the woods with Lorenzo, he brushes it off as “boys being boys,” but she presses him about his brazenness, considering she could have been hurt or killed. Again, he pushes it aside as not dangerous and playful. She then confronts him about Valerie’s story and he pauses for an awkwardly long time before lying to say it wasn’t true. When he tries to wrap it all up with a neat bow, it’s clear her wheels are turning and she no longer believes him.

No sooner has Damon boldly declared that Lily will never change than she arrives at their door, telling them they were right and saying she wants to join up against Julian. I was not expecting this, however, I think any action from her should be taken carefully. Still, it’s pretty convincing when she says, “He will never hurt us.” She’s now back with her boys, like like in the 1800s against the tyrannical Giuseppe Salvatore.

Supernatural Subplots/Character Developments

Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Enzo continue their unlikely friendship as she continues telling him he’s too good for Lily. The two find Oscar’s car together and share a couple of moments gazing into each other’s eyes before snapping out of it and trying to act normally. The two share a drink at the end after Enzo decides to give up on Lily. Speaking metaphorically of his feelings for Lily, he says: “When nine Russians tell you you’re drunk, you lie down.”

Matt is angry at Bonnie for spending time with Enzo and tells her on the phone at the end that Tyler and Jeremy actually answer their phones and are going to help him with the human blood bank situation. Poor Matt can’t catch a break, and I’m not sure what’s actually happening with his character this season. He is stagnating and there’s nothing really interesting occurring with him that couldn’t be done by someone else. I hope he ends up doing something great, but for now, he’s very much the side guy.

Together, Ric and Bonnie (with most of the research done by Bonnie) discover in an ancient book that the Phoenix Stone is what gives the special sword its power. Since the stone is not currently in use, the blade has no supernatural properties and this is why it didn’t kill Julian.

What will happen to all these moms and dads and brothers and children next week? Who will align with whom and how will it play out? Only time will tell.

Videos

The Vampire Diaries | Mommie Dearest Trailer | The CW

The Vampire Diaries | Mommie Dearest Scene | The CW

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

space
space
Previous Article
space
Next Article
«
»
space
space
space
Amazon.com
space
You may have noticed that we're now AD FREE! Please support Geeks of Doom by using the Amazon Affiliate link above. All of our proceeds from the program go toward maintaining this site.
space
Geeks of Doom on Twitter Geeks of Doom on Facebook Geeks of Doom on Instagram Follow Geeks of Doom on Tumblr Geeks of Doom on YouTube Geeks of Doom Email Digest Geeks of Doom RSS Feed
space
space
space
space
The Drill Down Podcast TARDISblend Podcast Westworld Podcast
2023  ·   2022  ·   2021  ·   2020  ·   2019  ·   2018  ·   2017  ·   2016  ·   2015  ·   2014  ·  
2013  ·   2012  ·   2011  ·   2010  ·   2009  ·   2008  ·   2007  ·   2006  ·   2005
space
Geeks of Doom is proudly powered by WordPress.

Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press

Geeks of Doom is designed and maintained by our geeky webmaster
All original content copyright ©2005-2023 Geeks of Doom
All external content copyright of its respective owner, except where noted
space
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under
a Creative Commons License.
space
About | Privacy Policy | Contact
space