[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday's midseason finale of The Vampire Diaries, "Christmas Through Your Eyes."]
The non-human residents of Mystic Falls got a bit of a Christmas miracle during The Vampire Diaries' midseason finale: the border that had kept them out of town all season has been destroyed.
Unfortunately for them, that freedom came at the cost of Kai (Christopher Wood) absorbing all of the Travelers' spell powers and getting a supercharge. And with that supercharge, Kai decided to use his new powers to cloak Elena (Nina Dobrev) and kidnap her … right when she was about to meet with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) to talk out some of their issues.
So what comes next when the show returns? The Vampire Diaries executive producer Caroline Dries spoke withThe Hollywood Reporter to tease Kai's supercharge, Enzo's (Michael Malarkey) plan for revenge, Caroline's (Candice Accola) heartbreaking struggle and more.
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What can you say about where the show picks up when it returns in 2015?
It's pretty much going to be a direct pick up when we come back, even though in our real-life, a month or so has passed. Kai is supercharged now, with the spell that covered an entire town, so he has magic bubbling in his veins. And Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) is also reunited with her magic, but she's more of a novice, because she hasn't done magic in many, many years. She's not going to be as strong as Kai, so she has her work cut out from her. And she has to reconnect with who she used to be as a witch. So, that'll be an interesting dynamic to watch. Kai's sucking up all that magic doesn't come without consequence for people, but also for him as well; he sucked up a lot of magic, so he's going to have some growing pains that come along with that.
The sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) is probably one of our more interesting storylines that's happening in Mystic Falls, as she's dealing with this very human illness. And poor Caroline is trying to do everything in her power to fix her. But it's one of those things where there's not really a solution. She's not going to give up, though. That will actually bond her a little bit closer to Stefan (Paul Wesley), and I'm looking forward to the audience seeing their relationship grow a little bit, too.
Meanwhile, Elena and Damon have a lot of stuff [on the table] — they've yet to see each other, still, so they have a lot to talk about when they get the chance.
You touched on Kai's supercharge, but what will that impact on him be? Will he be struggling physically or emotionally with that surge?
It's going to be more of a physical working out the kinks sort of thing — in the same way Jo, who is working out her magic, has a working out the kinks [issue]. It's on two ends of the witch magic spectrum. But he has so much channeling through him, it's not going to be an [easy] transition for him to because this powerful witch; it's a lot of magic to harness.
Kai is not fond of Damon, but is there a deeper motivation for taking Elena?
He does have a deeper reason for it. It's a slightly more selfish reason than revenge. Damon did leave him in the prison world, and he has it out for Damon. But he has a more specific reason he's keeping Elena for. It has to do with him sucking up all that magic, and it being a lot to handle.
Is there anyone else he's put under this cloaking spell that we've yet to discover?
In that moment, she was his only target, but he does like to use that cloaking spell, let's put it that way.
There was a hint in the preview for the 2015 episode (above) that Damon realizes Elena's gone. How will everyone react when they realize she's disappeared?
It becomes an all-hands on deck situation, for sure. The people who find out about it, definitely, call to arms. And so the question becomes, how do we free Elena from basically the most powerful creature in Mystic Falls, and probably the world … minus, you know, the Originals in New Orleans.
Alaric (Matt Davis) unintentionally set Kai's power in motion when he opted to not kill him. How will he be dealing with Kai's new power?
Alaric is going to be stressing out, because the reason he didn't kill Kai was because Jo said, "Look, I can beat him in a merge." And what he's going to come to find out is, oh, this girl I put my faith in? She's not that great at magic. She hasn't done magic in a long time. And now she's going up against this supercharged crazy person who is clearly going to win the merge if Jo doesn't get her act together. So he's stressing out. And he wants to believe in her. But at the same time, it's like, oy, you know? "I hope I made the right choice, because she's going to die."
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Is he shouldering the responsibility for any of Kai's future victims? Or is he solely concerned about Jo at this point?
I think he's just focusing on the Jo of it. I'm trying to remember if that's a storyline at all … I think Damon will always believe we should have just killed Kai and been done with it, but Alaric is more like, I'm Team Jo, we're going to do things my way.
Enzo did point out that if you're going to kill an enemy, you make it fast, and fittingly, he's now alive as well after Matt's (Zach Roerig) attempt to kill him got botched … and planning on a great revenge for Stefan. What's next in his arc?
I can tease that he needs to employ Matt to get what he wants. And he's going to come at Stefan from an unexpected angle. And, ultimately, he and Matt are going to have an interesting relationship. And it's going to reveal a couple extra layers of Stefan we haven't seen before.
Does Matt have the ability to speak out and warn Stefan about what's going on, or is something going to be preventing him?
He does have that ability, but there's a cost attached to it.
How much will the emphasis be on Enzo's revenge storyline versus Kai's supercharged power when the show returns?
In the one Paul Wesley directed, in episode 11, we're going to see Enzo make his first move. But that's kind of our B/C -story, and Kai is our A-story, to put it in writing terms. It's going to be there right when we come back. And it'll progress, slowly but surely.
On a sadder note, you touched a bit on Sheriff Forbes' very human disease. What was the discussion like when the writers opted to give her cancer, versus any of the supernatural deaths or attacks we've seen on the show thus far?
That was the main reason we were doing it — it felt fresh, even though we're 100-some odd episodes in. We've never seen someone who has cancer. We've never seen these vampires not have a solution — there's not a spell you can do. There's not tchotchke they can dig up on an island. What do you do? That's what we liked about it.
Caroline is so proactive and a go-getter, but this is something so out of her control. What new sides will this bring out in her?
Caroline's heart, as lovable as she is, she's a control freak. She's going to try and take matters in her own hands, only to realize, some things there is no cure for.
That's going to be rough. On a lighter note, what can fans expect from the characters now that everyone is allowed back in town?
They're going to be able to go to the Mystic Grill, which has been renovated since it exploded in the finale. (Laughs.) Damon's going to have his bedroom back, cook dinner in his kitchen, the mundane things they've missed. Caroline can go home again and be in her old room, which is a thing she was missing from the get-go. And with her mom being sick, she can actually be by her side and take care of her. So that's a big thing for her.
Any final teases about what's in store when the show returns in 2015?
I'm excited about Caroline and Stefan's relationship evolving as she's trying to cope with her mom's illness. I'm excited about the Matt/Enzo storyline — just seeing them on-screen together is fun. We're ultimately going to get to reveal a bit more about who Enzo is as we get deeper into the season. Damon and Elena are finally going to come face-to-face, which we kind of took from the audience at the end of this episode. They're going to be able to work out what their deal is, and I'm excited about that.
What did you think of The Vampire Diaries' midseason finale? Hit the comments below with your thoughts. The series returns Jan. 22 on The CW.
Twitter: @marisaroffman
