Your Thanksgiving, or Friendsgiving, definitely won’t be as exciting as this one… no matter what. 

A lot went down on this weeks episode of The Vampire Diaries, especially concerning Jo, Liv and Luke. Honestly, all this time, I didn’t really understand why we still cared about the twin, but now, their existence has a whole new meaning. Did anyone actually see that twin bombshell coming? 

It turns out Jo is Kai’s twin sister. Kai murdered his whole family after he found out that his mother gave birth to another set of twins, so that Kai could never become the leader of the Gemini coven. A leader is chosen after the twins 22nd birthday. While it seems like it might be a time to celebrate, it’s actually the opposite. Choosing a leader means the twins have to merge their powers, with the stronger one surviving. You can see why this would mean Liv is pretty upset and angry during Friendsgiving, which is also her and Luke’s 22nd birthday.

We got a glimpse into the night that Kai lost it and murdered his whole family. Now we know why he spared Jo… he thought maybe his murderous ways would finally convince someone to allow him to merge. Although I don’t know why they all thought Kai would overpower Jo considering he didn’t even have his own magic.. Anyways, Jo saved her youngest siblings Luke and Liv by throwing them under a cloaking spell. Then, she put all of her magic into a blade, hid it in a tree bark and told Kai she would merge. The night of the merging, Kai was stoked, until he realized the spell she was doing, wasn’t giving him powers. His father came out of the shadows, surrounded by the coven, and that’s how Kai ended up in 1994 Mystic Falls.

Back at Friendsgiving, Jo makes the connection to Liv and Luke, which makes for a really awkward dinner. How did they all end up here? Well, they had a family friend, Sheila Bennett that took Jo in. Yes, Jo knew Bonnie’s grams. Isn’t it crazy how all the pieces start fitting together. Grams helped put Kai away, which is why a Bennett witch is needed to do the spell to escape. The atmosphere gets even more intense when they realize Alaric, Damon and Stefan are actually in Portland at Jo’s home.

Their impromptu guys weekend happened after Damon found Bonnie’s bear. It gave him hope that his favorite little witch was still alive. He remembered Kai said he found the ascendant back at his family home in Portland, so that’s where they came. Upon arriving, all they saw was a field of nothing. When Stefan kicked the bear, it went through a magical forcefield, revealing the house. Alaric went inside, since he’s the only non-vampire, who doesn’t need to be invited inside. Family pictures revealed that Jo knew Kai. Josh Parker, Kai’s dad, comes out of nowhere, but when he shakes hands with Damon, he does the cloaking spell again. When Alaric and Stefan can’t see him anymore, he does the witchy head thing to him, knocking him unconscious.

Since Ric and Stefan don’t have magic, they call Jo to see if she can help them. She explains that if her father even thinks for a second that they want to bring Kai back, he’ll do anything to prevent it from happening. Once Damon awakes, Josh tells him that if Kai were to return, he would automatically go for Jo and the coven would be lead by a mad men. When he finds out that Kai knows how to get out of his own personal hell, he tries to kill Jo. All of this could have just been avoided if Alaric was honest with Jo, whose had the ascendant the whole time.

As Josh does the spell, Jo begins to fall to the ground, dying. Unfortunately, human Liam is the only one around to help along with Elena and he begins spewing out medical terms. Just shut up Liam, this is way above the whole “doctor” thing. The stuff that’s happening is supernatural. Jo tells Ric and Stefan to go to the tree bark and get her knife, which is where she dumped all of her magic. When they throw it through the forcefield, the house comes back up. Since she’s invited Stefan in, he’s able to go and stop Josh from completing the spell and killing Damon in the process. Josh uses his magic to disappear into thin air, while Elena feeds Jo her blood to bring her back to life. This obviously leaves Liam really confused. The dinner has been quite dramatic for him as he overheard people talking about covens, twin leaders, saw Jo dying and saying her father was killing her. Elena eventually had to come clean to him. “I’m a vampire,” she said, which wasn’t as O-M-G as when Stefan originally told her in season 1, when he was in love with her. And that’s because she wasn’t in love with Liam. She liked him, she wanted to be with him and pursue this medical, normal life, but it just wasn’t what the cards had in store for her. With a heavy heart, compelled Liam to forget about the dinner and the fact that they even dated. Thank god, I was getting kind of sick of him to be quite honest. Normal, uninformed individuals do not belong in this. 

Meanwhile, back in 1994, Bonnie and Kai were having their last meal together. He flew her over unconscious to his Portland home where he loved spending Thanksgiving. When she tried to convince him that she didn’t have anymore magic and it would be best to just go their separate ways, he agreed, even promising to give her the car after they eat. As usual, he lied. Kai caught onto something when Bonnie sent her magic away in a teddy bear. He remembered the night he murdered his whole family, walked over to the tree bark and took out the knife that Jo hid. She dumped all of her magic into it, and he sucked it all out, stabbing Bonnie in the process. When she woke up, Kai, the car, Jo’s magic and the ascendant were all gone. How was she going to get out of here? Find Kai? Stop him? He even knew the spell now, so the next eclipse would be his opportunity to escape. 

On the relationship front, Tyler is completely smitten with Liv. When she left Friendsgiving after being angered by Caroline, he followed her, eventually bringing her over to his house. Since Mystic Falls is a no magic zone, she would be safe there, not having to merge. If her coven wanted to force her, they’d have to get through Tyler first…and you know no one wants to mess with Tyler. The whole situation is quite sad. Why can’t Tyler just fall in love with someone normal for a change? 

Stefan came back from the trip and rushed to Caroline’s dorm. Even though he wasn’t invited to dinner, she still brought him some leftovers because Caroline has the biggest heart in the world. All of the mockery from Damon and Alaric about how Stefan didn’t realize this girl was into him finally got to him. He tried to tell the guys he just didn’t see her that way, but I think even he knew he was lying to himself. He’s just scared to feel something real again. He finally gave her the apology she deserved, explaining that he only distanced himself from her because he knew she would let him cry it out and he didn’t want to cry anymore. It was a big moment for Steroline. He wanted to kiss her, but she just appreciated that he finally said sorry and meant it. She’s not giving in so easily, which is good because it will make Stefan want her that much more! 

And finally, Elena broke up with Liam and found comfort in the arms of Damon. I’m telling you, just because she doesn’t remember the good times doesn’t mean she can stay away from him. She sees the good in him now, especially after finding out that Bonnie was alive this whole time and spent the past four months becoming close to Damon. She realized that she could live her life the way she always wanted to, or risk all of that for the little feeling inside she couldn’t shake off. We all know that feeling. It’s the worst. She chose the feeling, asking Damon to help her get her best friend back, so that she might have a chance at finally getting her old life back. It’s a beautiful moment, with Elena just embracing her fate and giving Damon so much hope. With this at stake, he won’t let anyone get in the way of bringing Bonnie back or getting that ascendant. Sorry Alaric… also sorry Jo but you might end up collateral damage. It’s nothing personal. 

I really wonder if Kai can do the spell on his own and return. If he does, can he still merge with Jo and become the leader, despite having Liv and Luke alive. I guess it would make sense, only if the twins don’t merge before he does. Do you think Jo would be willing to do the spell to bring Bonnie back? I feel like despite not wanting to bring Kai back, she would feel like she owes it to Sheila to save her granddaughter. What did you think of this weeks episode? I love this season. I can honestly say, it’s one of the best so far. 

Photos: Bob Mahoney & Daniel McFadden/The CW Network