CWCan we just take a minute to obsess over The Vampire Diaries' latest and greatest villain, Kai (Christopher Wood)?!
Ever since we met this psychopathic, serial-killing "abomination" of a witch at the beginning of this season, we have not been able to get enough of his dated humor (he's been stuck in 1994 for decades!), his sarcastic cracks and his inability to filter any thought he has.
Even the way he kills is hilarious! We're actually having nightmares about iPhone earbuds. Thanks for that, Kai!
So when The Vampire Diaries executive producer Caroline Dries told us that Kai was going to be a major part of tonight's midseason finale, we wept tears of joy.
"Kai is now loose in Mystic Falls and he's going to recruit Tyler [Michael Trevino] to take on his mission," Dries told E! Online. "He and Tyler have a lot in common because neither of them want Liv [Penelope Mitchell] and Luke [Chris Brochu] to merge. Kai has made it clear that he wants to merge with his twin sister Jo [Jodi Lyn O'Keefe] so he can become the leader of the Gemini coven, assuming he were to win the merge, which is what everyone is assuming."
When we asked why everyone is assuming that both Kai and Luke would "win" their twin merge over their twin sisters—Is it a gender thing? Something in the mythology?—Dries cleared up our confusion.
"Liv and Luke haven't assumed that Luke is going to win," Dries said. "For them, it's 50/50. But in Liv's mind, if she were to win she would still be killing Luke so that's just as bad as dying herself. So it's not like it's necessarily the boy who's going to win. But with Kai, he is powerful. He's like a siphon and he's been using magic longer, since Jo put hers away so she kind of ceased to become a witch. That's why everyone thinks he's going to win and overwhelm his sister."
But in order for that merge to even happen, Jo needs to be at full power.
"Kai's goal in this episode is to reunite Jo with her magic," Dries said. "In the flashback episode we learned that Jo deposited her magic into this knife and left it in Portland in 1994, so he needs his sister to become a magical witch again so she's strong enough to do the merge with him. It's a pretty clear drive but what happens is he's also going up against Damon [Ian Somerhalder] and Alaric [Matt Davis] and Elena [Nina Dobrev] so things aren't going to go smoothly for him."
Fine by us, because seeing as how Kai stranded Bonnie (Kat Graham) all alone in the 1994 prison world, he definitely needs to be punished. We may love Kai, but we love Bonnie more!
"That was such a sad scene, right?" Dries said, recalling the moment when Bonnie arrived at Elena's porch only to realize her two BFFs were no longer in the prison world waiting to take her home with them. "When we were watching it, we were like, ‘Oh man, I can't believe we're putting Bonnie through this!'"
Unfortunately for Bonnie, things are going to get worse before they can get better.
"In this episode, it's all about Christmas and family and being around your friends for the holidays, and this is Bonnie's favorite time of year," Dries said. "She loved being around Caroline [Candice Accola] and Elena during the holidays, which we'll see in flashbacks. So instead of crying and feeling sorry for herself, she's going to make the best out of a bad situation and celebrate Christmas with herself."
Dries was excited at the creative opportunities that storyline presented the writers with.
"We've never done a storyline like this on the show before, where we isolate one character and show them living their day," Dries said. "So we'll see how Bonnie handles this, and we'll see her reminiscing and missing her girlfriends and how much fun she used to have during the holidays, and it becomes more depressing for her. But at the same time, as she's stuck over there, she's going to harden and become a stronger version of herself and become a badass."
A badass Bonnie? We are here. For. This!
Something else Dries revealed that has us cheering? A Steroline relationship update!
"Caroline is going to continue to have this rocky relationship with Stefan [Paul Wesley] in this episode, but that's going to change," Dries said. "The ball is in Stefan's court now to try and mend their friendship. His drive in this episode is going to be making things right with Caroline. But in this episode, she's going to be going through something major that she's going to need support and a shoulder to cry on and Stefan's going to step up to the challenge and be there for her. Over the next chunk of episodes, their relationship is really going to mature and grow into something that may be more intense than friendship, and they will be closer than they've ever been before."
Another relationship that is going to evolve in major ways is Damon and Elena's.
"Well, there's mistletoe and Damon and Elena...it's going to be a highly-anticipated moment, for sure!" Dries said. "Elena's already told Damon that she can't shake the feelings she has for him, and they're coming back to her. She goes through something in this episode that makes her realize that even as an immortal, her time on this earth is not guaranteed, and to waste a second of it would be tragic. So she says, 'Maybe it's time I come face-to-face with Damon and just tell him how I feel.'"
And since this is the midseason finale, expect something major to go down in the final moments that will probably leave you screaming at your TV.
"It's going to leave us with a huge cliffhanger that, when we return, we'll pick up immediately where we left off in this episode," Dries teased. "The mythology drive this season is the Gemini coven and this twin merge so that will finally culminate with an actual twin merge, and we'll see the fallout from that. I am most excited for fans to see the twists we pull off with the Kai storyline, and how his actions have a ripple effect on Mystic Falls and the rest of the season."
The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8 pm on the CW.