Michael A.
Allowitz’s direction in the teaser, or perhaps more credit is due to the editor
of “Promised Land,” was effectively jarring. The Travelers took Stefan and
Elena at the end of last week’s episode to drain more of the blood to use in
the spell that’d break the magic spell and eliminate witches’ powers, the
vampire magic, the hybrid magic, and all that fun. Markos cuts Elena deeply in
the wrist, four days into the blood-letting, because she wants her to bleed
until she can’t speak. The woman from last week that tried to kill Jeremy in
act to save her boyfriend’s life frees Stefan and Elena. The teaser of the
episode, before their freedom, sets the tone and atmosphere of the episode.
Nina Dobrev impressively portrays Elena’s dizziness, increasing weakness, etc.
The sound of blood dripping from vein down arm into the bucket below where she
stands (and where Stefan lays, in another room) adds to the ‘off-ness’ of the
scene, because TVD’s not notable for its sound editing. The slow dripping of
their blood matches their slower ability to react, and to be what they are when
full of blood. So, all around, it effectively established the tone and the
tenor and the mood of “Promised Land.”
And “Promised
Lands” includes fulfilled promises. Markos promised to re-balance the magic, to
find his Travelers a home, and to kill the vampires, along with stripping the
witches and any other supernatural folk of their magic. Markos succeeds in
getting two full buckets of doppelganger blood. He finds his Travelers a
home—the Salvatore home. Damon’s plan to lure him in with the bodies of those
body hijackers under threat of burning them all turns into a house tour for
Markos. Markos is more interested in remodeling the home than he is in losing
his Travelers’ original bodies. The cosmopolitan-looking bearded villain of the
fifth season puts a knife in his own guy’s neck to show Damon his master plan
does not require his people returning to their bodies. Damon grimaces and then
proceeds with the house tour, which was kind of great.
Markos exudes
control and power. The spell begins with him at Damon’s and continues during
his tour of the Salvatore wine basement. The other characters feel desperate
and hopeless. The twin witches feel desperate and hopeless. So, the twin
witches try to murder the doppelgangers. Killing one doppelganger stops the
spell. The twins, and the coven, keep their magic. Nothing changes. The twins
kill Maria—the doppelganger’s rescuer and also the hope of the other side until
the black void sucks her in—and fail to kill the doppelgangers. Elena hurts
Liv’s wrist. She quickly leaves with Stefan because outrunning the spell keeps
them alive longer. Stefan understands the situation well. He’s self-aware, empathetic,
and even empathic. He senses what ails his brother and Elena. A staple of a
soapy teen drama—supernatural or not supernatural—when two
destined-to-be-together character separate, when one wants to be with another,
the opposite soul mate gives his or her—usually his—blessing to the woman he
loves to follow her heart. Stefan encourages Elena to be with Damon, explaining
to her that she and Damon are miserable without each other. Elena receives
unnecessary permission from her soul mate, which is important because of later
stuff. The spell reaches Elena, Stefan, and Damon. Each experience dying all
over again once the magic disappears around them.
Caroline freaks
out while packing for the summer’s move away from the dorm, lest the girls stay
too late and receive a fine from the college for staying too long. The girls
could’ve applied for extended housing. Caroline insists a fine matters less
than saving Bonnie’s life. Bonnie can’t focus on how to fix the other side.
She’s down, but she also thinks. Of course, the plans of the gang fall apart.
Damon’s body-burning threat didn’t cause a flinch from Markos, and Bonnie’s
idea to use Maria’s memory of the spell that brought Markos back fails because
of the aforementioned black void suck hole. The Mytic Falls crew are vulnerable
for the first time in the series. In past seasons, the crew have been weakened
and at a disadvantage; however, the existence of magic in any series results in
a reliance on magic. Over-plotting characters into impossible situations can resolve
through magical magic, that magically convenient and cheap device. The gang
can’t fight what’s happening with a spell or something else Bonnie pulls out of
the air. For a fifteen minute stretch, the Travelers’ win.
Of course, the
penultimate episode is penultimate episode. The avalanche of snow speeding down
the mountain without anything to stop it will stop in the season finale when a
magical wall drops from the sky to stop the snow. Happy ends are the norm on
network television. If the writers opt against a totally happy ending,
stability, instead, or a measure of stability, is restored to the show. Things
must re-set, somewhat. Incoherence coheres. Julian rips Stefan’s heart out at
the end of the episode, stopping the spell. Sad Stefan approaches Bonnie on the
other side, hopeful she found a way to bring everyone back from the other side.
She didn’t, and Stefan remains sad. Death means less than a Damon/Elena
breakup. Order will restore. The Travelers will burn. The brief disorder and
chaos of a magic-less world, with the dead dying, and the witches looking like
idiots with their hand placed in a 90-degree angle instead of powerful, was
terrific fun. Oh well, it’s over--now onto the finale.
Other Thoughts
-Rebecca
Sonnenshine wrote the episode. Michael A. Allowitz directed it.
-The best Damon
line was his reaction Markos’ description of the Travelers as sad, weary, and
in need of home: “You just described the homeless, aging hipsters, and Matt
Donovan.”
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