All is not well in the Salvatore family on The Vampire Diaries. And if you don’t mind being lightly spoiled with hints and tips on Thursday night’s episode, this is the post for you. (You’ve been warned!)
Both Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) have discovered that their mother Lily (Annie Wersching) is behind the two biggest heartbreaks of their lives. For Damon, it’s the fact that the love of his life Elena (Nina Dobrev) is currently in a “Sleeping Beauty” coma since Lily gave Kai (Chris Wood) the idea for the curse. For Stefan, it’s the recent realization that Lily’s boyfriend Julian (Todd Lasance) beat the first love of his life Valerie (Elizabeth Blackmore) until she was no longer pregnant with Stefan’s child. And those are only Lily’s most recent infractions.
In tonight’s episode, “Mommie Dearest,” viewers will also get to see her transgressions in the past when the show flashes back to Damon and Stefan’s troubled childhood.
“You see two young actors who are playing Stefan and Damon as eight- and 10-year-olds,” Wesley told Nerdist on set. “We flash back to see they had an abusive relationship with their father, and it’s also insight into Lily’s psyche and perhaps explains her behavior a little bit more by showing her past.”
And when Stefan and Damon learn about a dark secret that Lily has been harboring all her life, their relationship with their mother actually might improve.
“Initially it makes them hostile but it makes them more empathetic to her struggles because she reveals some key things that they didn’t really know,” Wesley says. “They thought that she was just being a selfish person and really just not a good mom when really there was a softer side to her that they were unaware of.”
But don’t expect Damon to fully come around to accepting Lily as his mother. There’s just too much history there.
“You’ll really see this character, why he is the way he is,” Somerhalder told Nerdist on set. “His mom screwed him up and he has no bones about saying it. And he never goes back on his word. ‘I hate her. You destroyed me. You broke my heart. I hate you. I don’t want you to be happy. Furthermore, not only do I not want you to be happy, I want to orchestrate how to make you the saddest you could possibly be.’ And he means it.”
Now that Stefan has brought Damon on board with his plan to kill Julian now instead of in six months like Damon originally planned, expect to see that revenge plot kick into high gear.
“Parents really screw up their kids and Stefan luckily weathered the storm so much better. Damon just never recovered,” Somerhalder says. “Without having Elena around to soften his heart and talk sense into him, he is a wild card. He is hell bent on making Lily pay.”
And helping Damon get his revenge is none other than his new BFF Bonnie (Kat Graham).
“The Lily/Damon storyline, you’ll see that evolving over the next few episodes,” Graham told Nerdist on set. “You’ll see Bonnie being a support system for Damon where I feel like the old Bonnie would never have gone along with any of his ideas. You’ll start to see Bonnie taking things into her own hands.”
Somerhalder agrees, adding, “Bonnie does end up having a lot to do with it, obviously and unfortunately at her own expense. But you’ll see Bonnie start coming back into her own and start taking less shit. It’s time for Bonnie to kick some ass.”
What do you think Lily has been hiding all these years from her sons? Hit the comments section below to weigh in with your theories now!
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Images: The CW
The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
