The Vampire Diaries 7.10 "Hell is Other People" Review

                                         
Fall 1863
Confederate Front Line

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) wakes during the battle as a soldier calls out to him for help, he rescues Henry (Evan Gamble) from under the wagon and then he wakes up again back at the camp.  With Henry asking him how he's doing and calling him a hero.  Mail call and he receives a letter from Stefan (Paul Wesley) telling him of their father's drinking and of Valerie leaving him.  Damon needs to get home for Stefan and he asks for two weeks leave and he'll do anything.  Which means getting back two deserters hiding out at a farmhouse.  Henry accompanies him as he wants to see his girl, Olive and asks if Damon has a sweetheart.  At the farmhouse events go awry and Damon has to shoot the three women and the deserters too.  He then sees Lily (Annie Wersching) in the basement who tells him this isn't about remorse, it's about punishment.

He then wakes up back at Mystic Falls and Bonnie (Kat Graham) brought him back with a spell.  It took her three months as she had to go solo as it took three Heretics bought back Julian (Todd Lasance).  Stefan is in his room and she brought Damon back first.  When they get there they find a note mentioning a barbecue.  Matt (Zach Roerig) doesn't know where Stefan is and tells them he'll check the surveillance footage, but Damon wants her to do a locator spell.  She's too weak and her nose bleeds but he still wants it done.  Caroline (Candace King) tells him they bought him back first cos the longer he's in the stone, the more he loses his humanity.  There were lots of clues though as to why Damon wasn't really back, like asking if she wants a drink when she's pregnant.  He wouldn't ask her that cos he wouldn't want to hurt Alaric's babies.

Bonnie locates Julian on I29 and he wants Damon to join him for food as he questions him about what happened in the stone.  He's poured gas over Stefan so he can light him up.  Julian telling him of how he was affected by Lily and he had to kill her over and over for centuries.  He then sets Stefan on fire. As Lily appears and Damon finds himself back at the battlefield.  What follows are plenty of versions of Damon's hellish groundhog day and in each one the people at the farmhouse always die. He must stop this and each time he tries to stop a scenario, it doesn't make any difference.  Finally he gives up and says he's heading straight home and deserting too, leaving a grenade behind and killing Henry most likely.  However the compass leads him back at the farmhouse, no matter which way he travels the woods.

Lily opens the door and tells him she's been waiting for him and he should hide in the basement since they're looking for him.  Here he sees Stefan and he tells him this is about Damon not accepting his emotions and how he doesn't feel anything for innocent people dying.  He unveils Elena's coffin and asks what Elena would think of him doing all of this.  He's not doing this in Elena's name but he's bad when she's not around.  That he shouldn't need to ask what Elena would want him to do, but should already know.  Upstairs Lily is shot and Damon still doesn't feel sorry for her.

He wakes up at the battle again and this time Lily's stuck under the wagon and begs for help.  He tells her he lost her three times, once to consumption, once to his other family and when she died again. He hates her cos she left him for her other family.  He wanted to tell her how he really feels but she was too weak to leave their father.  He just wanted a chance to tell her everything he wanted and that he loves her.  She dies and he wakes up, saying he needs to go back.  That this isn't real.  Damon loses it in wanting to go back to her and stakes Stefan and Caroline, killing Matt and Bonnie too.  But he doesn't go back.

I enjoyed this episode and it probably was the best one so far of this season, maybe the Heretics not being in there made it more so, but probably cos it was Damon-centric and focused on his shortcomings still and his humanity.  He was right to have such feelings for Lily and he was right, she did leave them and didn't come back when she could, that she was weak in not leaving their father and he shouldn't feel guilt in having these emotions.  But deep down he is sad for losing her and he won't admit it cos well, he's just Damon.  It'll show his weakness when he says all he ever wanted was his mother.  She should've been more of a mother and not find herself a new family, even if she was trapped in that other time and place.  Though they had to mention Elena again.

I have to say Damon is his own person and shouldn't and doesn't need Elena to make him whole or better, he has a mind of his own, which shouldn't revolve around needing other people, or for Elena to be his conscience.  The title being correct of course, hell is other people and what they put him through.  Let's have some more Damon eps!  Oh but that wig Damon!! ha.  Kind of strange that Damon fought for the Confederates back then, I know they were in the South and everything but he didn't have to, cos they're not into that belief system of slavery etc.  Though he did say he only joined to make their father proud, but still.  He could've got revenge on his father by joining the Union instead.