Tonight on the CW The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley continues with an all new Thursday March 12, season 6 episode 16 called “The Downward Spiral,” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Caroline [Candice Accola] gives her friends an unexpected ultimatum. Stefan tries to intervene and sets off a dangerous chain of events. Meanwhile, Damon [Ian Somerhalder] learns some devastating news about his mother; Enzo [Michael Malarkey] becomes intrigued by Sarah Salvatore; and Bonnie [Kat Graham] begins to struggle with the effects of being back in the real world.
On the last episode, Elena became concerned when she noticed a strange change in Caroline’s behavior; Alaric got wary when Kai turned to Jo for help; Matt and Tyler contemplated a major life change; Damon deals with painful memories involving his mother; Bonnie found herself in an unfamiliar situation. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we recapped it all right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CW synopsis, “after shutting off her humanity following the death of her mother, Caroline (Candice Accola) gives her friends an unexpected ultimatum. Not knowing how to handle the new Caroline, Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) attempt to intervene sets off a dangerous chain of events, leaving him and Elena (Nina Dobrev) in a race against the clock. Meanwhile, after seeking answers from Kai (guest star Chris Wood) about the prison world, Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) world is turned upside when he learns some devastating news about his mother Lily (guest star Annie Wersching). Elsewhere, Enzo (Michael Malarkey) finds himself becoming increasingly intrigued by Sarah Salvatore (guest star Tristan Mays), and Bonnie (Kat Graham) begins to struggle with the effects of being back in the real world. Ian Somerhalder directed the episode written by Brian Young and Caroline Dries.”
You’re not going to want to miss any of the action tonight, so tune in at 8PM EST to the CW to catch the latest. We’ll be live recapping the season 6 episode 16 for you right here and in the meantime, hit up our comments section and tell us your thoughts on this new season!
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#VampireDiaries starts at Scull Bar with Caroline boozing. The bartender tells her she’s had too much and he offers to call her a cab. She tells her mom just died of horrible cancer and she buried her four horus ago. She says the tequila is the only thing helping. He pours her another. Liam, a neighborhood guy sidles over and says she’s sexy. She says he’s drunk and says he’s cute. She mentions that her mom just died and she asks if he wants to get out of there.
She tells him nothing matters and flirt hard with him. Outside she throws him against a car and makes out with him. Then he starts kissing her neck and that sets her off because she can hear his blood. He sees her hunger face just before she digs in and snacks on him. Elena checks the dorms and every sign of Caroline is gone. Stefan checks her house and finds nothing there either. Stefan gets short with Elena and they agree to keep looking and check in later.
Bonnie shows up and stuns Elena. They hug and Elena is thrilled. Kai is with Damon who’s digging up his mother. Kai tells him digging up his mom’s grave is both dark and unnecessary. Damon says his mom died of consumption in 1858 and can’t be in a 1903 time prison. Kai asks why he called him over to answer questions if he was just going to deny what he told him. Kai says maybe his mother is like Damon but Kai says maybe she’s a vamp.
Damon rants at him and Kai asks if he’s so sure why he hasn’t opened the coffin. There’s nothing there and Kai says everything Damon thought he knew about his mom was wrong. Sarah sits in the bar snapping photos of Enzo who’s up in the balcony. He sneaks up on her and says to shoot his left side from now on. She asks about his blood and he offers to have a cup of tea with her.
Bonnie is so happy to have her clothes back and then flinches when Elena pops the cork on champagne. They toast and Bonnie says all that matters is that she’s back. She asks if she drove Jeremy away to art school and asks Elena not to tell Jer that she’s back yet. She says she wants him to have a shot at school before he comes running back to see her. Caroline shows up loaded down with shopping bags and surprises them both.
Caroline says she’s starting over and got new everything then she notices Bonnie. She’s not excited but just takes it in stride. Caroline tells them she ran into Liam at the bar. She tells Elena that she ate him. She says cute guys just naturally taste better. Bonnie asks if she killed Elena’s ex. Caroline says to let her tell the story. She says the little voice in her head that tells her when to stop never piped up so she ate more. She stops and says she’s not in the mood to drag his corpse into the woods wearing heels.
She decided not to kill him because it would be inconvenient. She says she turned off her humanity but didn’t turn into an idiot. Bonnie says it’s like Caroline but it’s not. She tells them she’ll behave as long as they let her have a year to live like she wants. She says she won’t kill anyone but if anyone tries anything to flip her switch back on, she’ll become their worst nightmare. She smiles and says she’s going to go get a latte and heads out.
Damon and Stefan talk about Caroline’s humanity switch. Stefan worries she’ll kill someone but Damon says it’s not his fault that he figured out too late that he cared for her. Kai is with Damon and asks why he didn’t mention to Stefan that their mom is alive and some sort of psycho which is why she’s in a time prison. Damon asks him to send him to the 1903 prison and Kai says they need that particular ascendant. Damon says as head witch he should know where it is. Kai says he does.
Damon asks what he wants and Kai says he can’t stop thinking about Bonnie and what he did to her and says he wants to see and apologize to her and tells Damon to make it happen. Sarah is annoyed that Enzo is being cryptic and will only give his first name. She says she has photos of his weird vein thing and wants to know more about him. Enzo zips over and snatches the card and says he’s fast. Then he snaps it and says he’s strong. She complains that it was $70 and he says he’s rich and tosses her some cash.
She asks what he is and he says he’s a vampire you know Anne Rice and the dreadful Twilight thing. Caroline walks over and says vampires are so over anyway. Caroline asks if that’s Stefan’s Sarah then Enzo compels her to the bar to get a drink. Caroline says she doesn’t really care what he’s doing with Sarah and he realizes she flipped her humanity. She invited him to a party and left. Stefan finds Liam and compels him to answer some questions honestly.
He asks if he saw Caroline last night. Liam says they made out hard core and Stefan asks if there was any biting and Liam says he nibbled her bottom lip a little. Stefan asks if she bit him and Liam asks if Stefan is into her and he says he’s not and she’s single. Liam says he’s late for a party and Stefan is weirding him out. He says he’s going to a party with Caroline later if he wants to show up and watch. Stefan calls Elena and ask if she wants to go to a rave.
Elena and Bonnie split up at the party to look for Caroline. Elena works her way through the crowd then sees Caroline hanging all over a guy and dancing. She then looks at Elena and vamps out and starts to bite him then stops and whispers “I’m fine” so that Elena can hear her. Bonnie walks around the other side of the party and a guy hits on her and she says she’s looking for someone. He tells her it’s a party and to have fun. He grabs her and she says – down boy.
The guy says she’s hot and she uses her magic to steam his hands so he’ll get his hands off her then walks away. Stefan tells Elena that Caroline seems to have healed Liam and compelled him. Elena says Caroline is covering her tracks and just restocked her blood bags. She says Caroline hasn’t actually hurt anyone and may actually have this under control. Stefan says Caroline is going to snap and this year won’t go well and neither will her turning that switch back on.
Stefan says this is his fault and says he could have stopped it if he just told her how he felt about her. Elena asks what his plan is. Bonnie gets a call from Damon and says she’s glad he called. He asks if Caroline is off the rails. He says their relationship only exists back in 1994 then jokes and says he’s like a fever she can’t shake and she calls him a disease. He asks if she’s okay and she says she slammed some guy with her magic and asks if he slid back into his life.
He reminds her when he came back his brother was an auto mechanic and his GF forgot him. He tells her that Kai is now a warmer fuzzier Kai. She says she never wants to hear his name again. She asks what favor he wanted and he says he’ll figure it out for himself. Kai asks what’s going on and Damon says Bonnie doesn’t believe there’s a new him. Damon says it’s not going to happen and Kai says that’s a shame then says the Mama Salvatore story is pretty fantastic.
He says he checked the Gemini Archives and says Lily was captured on the docks in New York in 1903 and was picked up there. Kai says maybe mom was coming for him. He says she just came back from Europe. Damon asks what else and Kai stops then says he needs a lozenge and says maybe Bonnie will change her mind by the time he finds a cough drop. Caroline is boozing at the bar with Stefan who smiles at her. She says he’s hot for a babysitter.
He says he’s not there to babysit her. She says they don’t think she can live a normal no-humanity existence. Stefan says he came to tell her how he felt about her but she was gone. She tells him she doesn’t care. He says he wants to be more than friends but it scared him so he pushed it away. She says it only took a couple of years, cancer to devour her mom and then he finally spit it out. He tells her to let it in and promises to be there for her and to give him a chance. He touches her face and says please.
He asks her to come back to him. Caroline looks at him and says he shouldn’t have done that. Then she’s gone. Caroline finds Liam and she asks where he’s been. Then she says he’s boring and that’s why Elena dumped him. She asks how he is at surgery and he says a sophomore in pre-med so terrible. She says that’s perfect and tells him to come with her. Outside, Enzo pulls up and she asks where his date is and he says Sarah didn’t find him as fascinating as he does.
She laughs at him and says Stefan will protect Sarah at all costs. She tells him that if she didn’t want anyone getting in trouble with vampires what would she do. Enzo realize she’s telling him what Stefan did – he compelled Sarah to be totally disinterested in anything to do with vampires. Then Caroline offers to show Enzo some of her other talents but he says it wouldn’t be any fun when she’s not really herself. She stole his phone and looks up Sarah’s number.
Bonnie is uncomfortable at the party. Damon shows up and she asks why he’s there. He tells her not to freak out then Kai walks out. He says hi and Damon says to get it over with. Kai is nervous and Damon tells him to spit it out. He says he wants to apologize for anything he did that hurt her. Bonnie thinks about all the many things he did to hurt her including shooting her with a crossbow bolt. She says if she sees his face again she will melt it off. She leaves.
Kai says he imagined that going differently. Stefan tells Elena that he saw it in Caroline’s eyes that she’s still in there and he’s the emotional trigger. She says Caroline told her that she would retaliate if they pushed her. Stefan says they need to find her and lock her up until he can get her back. Caroline calls Stefan from Enzo’s phone and says she stole the phone and he needs to ask himself where Sarah Salvatore is and what she’s going to do to her.
Sarah shows up and Stefan asks what she’s doing. Caroline tells Stefan she’s going to kill her then drops the phone. Damon follows an angry Bonnie and tells her it’s just him. He says this is about his mom. Bonnie says she told him she didn’t want to see Kai again and made it clear. She uses her magic to inflict on Damon all of the hurts that Kai inflicted on her. She say she lied, stabbed her, shot her with a cross bolt and shoved her in a trunk. She says then he left her there alone. She says she can’t show him what that feels like. She lets go of her magic and Damon gasps.
Bonnie tells him to get out. Damon says he’s sorry but she screams at him to get out. He goes. Elena and Stefan find Caroline at the bar making margaritas. She says Sarah is with Liam helping with his surgical skills. Liam screams that he doesn’t want to do this. Stefan tells Caroline he’s sorry for pushing her. She’s compelled Liam to do horrible surgical things to Sarah. Elena tells her once this over she will regret this forever like Elena did after flipping her switch.
Caroline says she compelled a student to perform surgery on Stefan’s niece and Elena managed to make this about her. Stefan begs Caroline and says he’ll leave town or do what he wants. She says it doesn’t matter how far away he is, he’ll still be Stefan. She says she knows he can bring her back and she can’t have that so the only solution is to change him. She tells Stefan to flip his switch if he wants to save his niece. Elena says no way and Caroline says Stefan can think for himself.
Stefan says it won’t happen and Caroline tells Liam to cut out Sarah’s spleen. Caroline says she can live without it. Liam cuts into Sarah’s body and she screams. Stefan reminds Liam that he compelled him to tell the truth and asks where he is. Liam says he’s at Whitmore Medical and Stefan sends Elena racing to save Sarah. Caroline says she won’t make it in time and tells Liam to take out her heart. Stefan attacks Caroline but she gets the better of him and puts a stake through his back. She grabs her phone and asks Liam if he’s still there.
Damon sits drinking when Kai comes in. Kai says he can’t bring his mom back. Damon says it sounds like Kai is asking him to kill him. Kai says there are only two witch prisons ever created. The one to house him in 1994 and the one in 1903 to hold Mrs Salvatore and all her crazy pants. Damon rants at him and says he told him they could get her back. Kai says he’s telling him as a semi-sane person, he really doesn’t want her back.
Kai says he’s trying to save his life. He tells Damon that his mom is a ripper. He says she turned in 1858, faked her death and went to Europe where she went nuts and bodies piled up then she moved and moved. He says she killed more than 3,000 and the coven made it their job for some reason to lock her up. He says she killed a ship full of people when they found her in the harbor and they had to burn it to destroy evidence of the carnage. Damon tells him that’s enough. Kai leaves.
Bonnie leaves Jeremy a message saying she’s back and was planning to drive out to school to see him but says she’s not sure if she’s the Bonnie he wants to be with. She says she’s going to figure herself out then will come visit him. She says she’s not sure if she likes who she is or not. She looks at the crossbow bolt scar on her abdomen. Elena is at the hospital looking for Liam and Sarah. It’s chaotic and she’s straining to hear them.
She heads onto the stairs as Liam gets out a bone saw. He tells her he’s never used one before and is sorry. Sarah screams. Caroline tells Stefan it hurts her to watch him. Caroline asks Liam why Sarah stopped screaming. He says she passed out. She tells him to kill her then call her when it’s done. Caroline gets a call from Elena on Stefan’s phone and Elena asks where they are. Elena says she can’t find them anywhere. Stefan tells Elena to remember to bring him back. He’s going to flip.
Elena says no but it’s too late. He did it. Caroline smiles. Elena hears a sound and goes running. She finds Liam covered in blood and he tells Elena he’s sorry. She bites her wrist and feeds Sarah. Liam says he has to take out her heart and reaches for Sarah but she snaps both his wrists so he can’t. Elena calls Stefan and says she found Sarah and she’s going to be okay. He’s pouring a margarita and she asks if he’ll be okay. He says he’ll be okay in one second then takes a sip.
Elena says not to tell him that he shut it off. He says he won’t then hands the phone to Caroline who’s lying on the bar. Caroline says – he shut it off. Fun! Can’t wait to see what these two get up to – hopefully it will involve tormenting Enzo.
THE END!
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