They talked all night.
(Yes I did.)
The action starts with Bonnie’s collapse.
Bob Mahoney/The CW
Stefan’s trying CPR to resuscitate her, but it’s not working.
I’m ready."
But Enzo’s not.
After hugging Caroline, Bonnie turns to Stefan and tells him, “I saw her.
I saw Elena.”
Damon, desperate to disprove that, throws Vicki off of the bell tower.
(He’s always had a thing for killing her.)
All Vicki knows is that she can’t go back to hell.
Him saying, “Yes … Poor Mystic Falls and its gas leaks.
Back at the Salvatore mansion, Stefan and Damon are trying to figure out their next move.
As Damon puts it, Katherine “played the long game and finally beat us.”
And when Elena rounds the corner, Damon gets his reunion…
… sort of.
Damon rushes to Elena and picks her up in a hug before realizing something.
In an instant, he drops Elena, mostly because she’s Katherine.
Ugh, I have missed her so much.
After a “hello, brothers,” Katherine explains that Elena is still in her spiritual coma.
“He wanted you because I wanted you,” Katherine says.
And now, she gets her perfect revenge.
At 10 p.m., all of Mystic Falls, including Elena’s body, will burn.
“And I’m guessing one of your two Salvatores is going down with her,” Katherine says.
But the question is: Which one?
With that, they set out to find Elena.
He’s getting the girls out of town, and he wants Caroline to come along.
Yeah, Ric’s not pulling any punches at this point, guys.
Apparently, Kai helped Katherine spell that room so Elena can’t get out.
But two can play that game.
Let’s not forget that Katherine knows where to hit the Salvatores so it hurts.
Stefan is the better man.”
Done with this conversation, Damon stabs Katherine.
Stefan begs Bonnie to help.
But Ric is done saving the day.
He then hangs up before Bonnie can fully make up her mind.
At the high school, Stefan tells Caroline that he has to talk to Damon.
He at least has to give a shot to convince his brother to leave.
But Caroline promised Ric that the girls wouldn’t grow up without a mother, and Stefan understands.
“Family first,” he tells her.
But as Caroline reminds him, they’re a family now.
“He’s my brother,” he tells her.
And as he said, family first.
When Bonnie sees the research that Ric and Dorian had started for “Project Hail Mary,” a.k.a.
finding a way to destroy Cade’s hell, she gets an idea.
As Damon tells her, he’s looking forward to dying at her side.
At least, that’s Damon’s plan.
But Stefan has something else in mind.
But Stefan has mistakes to pay for as well: He owes it to Bonnie and Enzo.
He owes it to a lot of people.
He’ll be dead in 60 years.
Damon, meanwhile, has an eternity with Elena ahead of him.
“You think I want this?
I just got married,” Stefan tells his brother.
But Damon’s still not budging.
So Stefan follows that with: “Then let me do this for me.”
And this is where I take a break because I’m crying writing this.
Damon says, “I love you, little brother,” before Stefan can say it back.
But here’s where it gets tricky.
Stefan is human… which means Damon can compel him.
“I am the big brother,” he tells Stefan.
“Sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.”
Stefan then turns and walks out.
She tells him that she will love him forever before reiterating that, above all else, she understands.
And how amazing is that?
Luckily, Enzo is there… along with all the Bennett witches, including Grams and Lucy!
Together, the badass Bennett women send the hellfire back to hell.
As Bonnie says before she collapses, “I did it.”
Just as Elena rounds the corner, she once again bumps into Stefan.
Elena, naturally confused, asks for an explanation.
Stefan explains, “I’m human now.
He compelled me to leave.”
But Damon should’ve known better: Stefan would never spend a day as a human without ingesting vervain.
At that moment, Stefan knew his brother wouldn’t do something stupid.
OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY EMOTIONS.
Damon is fine, but Stefa … he did what he had to do, he tells her.
He’s the right man."
He became a “villain” when his brother forced him to become a vampire.
And now, finally, she’s going to get to know that guy.
One last time."
The two of them hug before he whispers one final message in her ear.
They’ve finally come to the end of their love story.
And that’s one of the things I love most about this moment.
We’ll never know.
But now, because of Stefan’s decision, he’s ended their story.
But he’s also the reason their story began.
I also just have to tip my hat to both actors in this scene.
I feel like there’s so much they’re juggling here.
And now, it marks the (also epic) end of their love story.
And waiting for him is none other than Lexi, leaning against his Porsche.
Cutting from Lexi and Stefan’s reunion, we get Elena’s final “Dear Diary.”
Just then, Elena wakes up to find Bonnie watching over her.
In death comes peace, but pain is the cost of living.
Like love, it’s how we know we’re alive."
Stefan then told her the same after Alaric died.
But this time, it’s about losing Stefan.
“We’ll see him again,” she tells Damon, but he’s not so sure.
He’s pretty sure they’ll reopen hell for Damon Salvatore.
Somehow, Damon has won over Caroline Forbes, and that’s saying a lot.
“And I will love her forever too.”
He got her message!!!
(And now I’m crying again.
I never stopped.)
As a final goodbye, everyone pays their respects to Stefan.
After all, Damon’s human now, and it’s all thanks to Stefan.
Also on the grave?
If you look closely, Elena left her necklace.
The first real thing he did to protect her all those years ago.
As for Tyler and Vicki, they watch Matt with pride before turning and walking off to their peace.
There, Jo looks over her daughters just as Liz looks over hers.
And then there’s Jeremy Gilbert, who’s returned to teach children?
That doesn’t sound like the best idea.
(What does he teach?
How to chop wood while in a super tight tank?)
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
After it opened, the school received a $3 million donation from… KLAUS MIKAELSON!
just accept this contribution to your virtuous cause.
I do look forward to thanking you in person, someday.
However long it takes.
Yours, Klaus."
HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES.
Guys, I can’t.
I CANNOT with this.
And according to Ric’s voiceover, “That is the beginning of another story.”
BUT IS IT A STORY THEY’RE GOING TO TELL?!
She went to med school, after which she returned home to Mystic Falls.
And I owe it all to Stefan.
When I met him, I had lost my parents and I was dead inside.
Joining hands with Damon, we see that Elena’s wearing a wedding ring.
“But he’s wrong, because I know peace exists,” she says.
“It lives in everyone we hold dear.
(I guess Jeremy was busy at school.)
Standing at the Salvatore house, Stefan opens the door, and there stands Damon.
I have a lot of feelings about this finale.
And that’s not a small feat.
