EP Explains Bonnie's New Relationship, Damon's Dark Plan, the Latest 'Steroline' Crisis and más 

saw the birth of a new romance, the rekindling of an old flame and the twisted promise of murder — a typical Thursday in Mystic Falls, really.

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Executive producer Caroline Dries spoke with the press about this week’s biggest twists (#Benzo?!) and how they’ll affect the show’s future. But first, a quick recap:

* The latest flash-forward revealed Bonnie’s future love interest to be none other than… wait for it… Enzo!

* Valerie told Stefan the truth about their almost-baby, a fact he neglected to relay to Caroline before offering to let Valerie live with him.

* Alaric learned that “Jo” isn’t really Jo, as the Phoenix Stone actually holds other vampires’ souls.

* And Damon, upon learning that Lily suggested Kai put Elena under the sleeping spell, decided to let her bring back Julian… so she can watch him die at Damon’s hands.

BONNIE’S NEW MAN | The idea for a Bonnie/Enzo pairing began in Episode 21 of Season 6 when Enzo visited came to visit Lily at the Salvatore Mansion, where he was met at the door by Bonnie. “Kat [Graham] and Michael [Malarkey] had such … chemistry in that really short scene,” Dries recalls. “We were like, ‘Huh … Let’s explore that relationship.’ Of course, they have no reason to like each other; in the present day, we’ve been telling their hate story. So the whole point is that, when you see them in the future, you’re supposed to be like, ‘Wait, how did they get to there?’ Hopefully it created enough intrigue to keep [fans] guessing.”

TYLER’S SECOND COMING | As TVLine previously reported, fans have 

seen the last of Tyler Lockwood. Now, Dries is ready to tease a little more about what she calls the “mythology arc” in which Tyler will find himself: “He’s going to have sort of a side story that will help us later in the season to introduce us to this new world.”

JULIAN VS. ENZO | Is Mystic Falls’ next Big Bad everything we expect him to be? Not so much, as it turns out. “Hopefully you’ll be presently surprised when you meet him,” Dries says. “He’s fun and full of life and charming and incredibly attractive. … The fun will be trying to make him reveal his true self.” And speaking of Lily’s suitors, Enzo 

be invited to next week’s homecoming party for Julian. “He’ll show up and judge the competition,” Dries teases. “He’s not out [of the family] completely yet.”

JO NO! | If you’re worried about the future of “Jo” and Alaric, I’d like to congratulate you on having a healthy sense of fear. “We have this mythology with the Phoenix Stone and what it actually does, so the mystery for the next episodes will be how Faux-Jo — or whatever you want to call her — can integrate into the world we’ve created at Mystic Falls and at Whitmore,” Dries explains. Meanwhile, Alaric will struggle with how to “handle somebody who looks exactly like your dead wife, but isn’t.”

As for those twins we saw in last week’s episode, Dries says we’ll get “some pretty good info” during the “teaser, so to speak, of the next episode. So don’t come in late to that episode.” (And in case you’re wondering, it’s “possible” that the spirit inside Jo’s body is someone we know, but Dries says she “wouldn’t start writing fan fiction” about it if she were us.)

STEROLINE’S PLOT THICKENS | As more information is revealed about Stefan and Valerie’s past, “it will start to make [Caroline] feel insecure about where she stands with him,” Dries says. “She’s not an insecure character, [but] these little things keep chipping away at her. … Stefan will struggle with how to be a good guy to validate his relationship with Valerie and also feel like he’s not leaving Caroline in the dust. … In Episode 6, he’ll admit how this affects him, even in present day. [Meanwhile, Caroline is] going to find an inner strength she didn’t know she had.”

X MARKS THE PLOT | Lastly, let’s talk about those weird X-shaped scars that keep popping up, both in the present day

in flash-forwards. “We saw in the future that Stefan has that scar, and we saw that Bo has one that’s healed,” Dries notes, promising that “right when you think you understand how Stefan got his in the future, you’re going to be thrown for a loop. It will be a recurring theme throughout the rest of the season.”

developments? Hopes and fears for the future? Drop ’em all in a comment below.

Ugh.. Just let Steroline be.. Their scene at the beginning was so cute.. Stefan deserves to be happy & he’s so cute with her.. I dont thnk Stefan/Valerie wil bel a thing though.. Just the kid situation will cause troubles.. Dont know how i feel abt Bonnie/Enzo.. Still hoping for Bamon..

The flash forwards are the most entertaining parts and the mystery of the vampire hunter, now the twist of the marks. I wonder if Tyler’s link with mythology has anything to do with Stefan’s hell? I hope this does put a damper on the SC. Not everyone enjoys them and I for one can’t wait to see how things develop with him and Valerie, even if it’s for a little while. They need to have Stefan mix it up because not everyone is on board the SC train and this gives a nice break from that. SV scenes were really heartbreaking, Stefan saying he lost something he didn’t know he had. Then telling Valerie yes he did want the baby. ahhh! Not sure about Bonnie and Enzo yet I’ll have to keep watching. I feel like they should let Elena rest and let Damon move on he’s got a lot on his plate right now and the show constantly bringing her up is boring. She’s not on the show anymore please move on! Does anyone know when exactly Lily met Julian? That could be an interesting piece if she ‘knew’ him before having children.

Bonnie and Enzo? Really? Everything with the Phoenix stone, Valerie, the ff’s, was so good and then they decide to make that dumb move. Oh dries, please, just quit tvd

Let me put it this way, Damon & Bonnie would’ve been intriguing. Enzo and Bonnie is just contrived. I’m not watchinng ti.

I started watching again this season hoping for a Bamon pairing but alas another wasted opportunity. I will be tuning out again. As if Bonnie would ever go for someone like Enzo talk about unrealistic. I could understand if it was Alaric or Matt but Enzo what the h*ll are they thinking.

Hmm I sense a theme in the cw. The Phoenix stone and the Lazarus pit both contain souls of other people and basically has the character thats been brought back go crazy and not be themselves (Jo, Sara). Just an observation I have :D

They mentioned that the spirit inside of Jo could be someone that we know. I’m wondering if it’s possible for it to Vicky. I thought about maybe Lexi too, but she ended up crossing to the otherside peacefully. It would be really interesting if it was Jenna but I don’t think that they would do that.

Jenna crossed my mind too as did Katherine (that would be really interesting) but the “soul” said they didn’t know this world. Interested to see who it is.

while I think the actress who plays Valerie has settled in and is doing an excellent job, i could do without the manufactured steroline drama and the rest of the heretics or boring as hell. i am intrigued by Lily, the flash forwards, the x scars and what Julian’s part is going to be. I also found Jolaric to be kind of tragic and heartbreaking when I never felt anything about them in the past so great job to Matt Davis and Jodi Lyn O’keefe. Enzo and Bonnie are an interesting twist with surprising chemistry. it’s nice to see that they’re going to continue to flesh out Bonnie’s character after several years of stagnation.

they seemed to be more interested in their little twists than they are in telling a coherent story.

I don’t know how I feel about Bonnie and Enzo but they had scenes together back in season 5 and the chemistry was obvious. So it’s a shame the show-runners didn’t notice it until a season later. They could’ve been slowly building up to their relationship/Enzo’s redemption all this time. It would’ve been much better than what they actually did with Enzo last season.

I knew they would go with Bonnie and Enzo. Seriously, some fans were insulting Delena fans and calling them delusional. HAHAHA!!!

I knew Steroline weren’t gonna last. They aren’t endgame material. Never were

Bonnie and Enzo isn’t interesting to me at all. I can’t stand Enzo and I love Bonnie and this just falls flat for me. I don’t understand why Enzo is even still here.

I can’t believe they destroyed Bonnie/Kai for Bonnie and Enzo. Such a waste.

They ‘destroyed’ Bonnie/Kai because he got another show and wanted to go out a villain rather than overstay his welcome

Okay so bonenzo (benzo)? Bonnie and Enzo are very lackluster. Bonkai should have happened. Bonnie and Kai had all the chemistry and potential storyline in the world. People were legit excited about it.

Ok, so I’m a little skeptical about how they play benzo out… well because I’m all for BAMON, anyway, I don’t know why people are saying Kai should be with Bonnie when he’s clearly DEAD… soo yea. Also if we don’t know how bonnie and enzo got there then we can’t automatically say that the ship is all wrong.. just my opinion. Again still skeptical

If they didn’t want the Bonnie/Enzo thing to be a twist, they shouldn’t have given the most obvious clues on the planet. Boring. At least it’s better than Jeremy.

Not only that but spoilers came out about BE at the start of the season not to mention extras on the set said there were scenes of them kissing. So a lot of people already knew so it really wasn’t a big reveal.

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