Tonight on the CW The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley premieres with an all new Friday, December 9, 2016 season 8 episode 7 fall finale and we have your The Vampire Diaries recap below. On tonight’s Vampire Diaries episode as per the CW synopsis, “Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) Christmas Eve dinner with Caroline (Candice King) is crashed by Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Sybil, (Nathalie Kelley) and things quickly take a dark and twisted turn. Meanwhile, in a series of flashbacks to Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) past, Cade’s (Wolé Parks) attempt to entice him with his mysterious agenda leaves Stefan faced with an unimaginable decision.”
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The Vampire Diaries (TVD) begins in Monterey in 1917 where there is Christmas music in the background and two young children are pretending to sleep when they believe they hear Santa. They peer out of their tent and see Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) ripping people’s throats out.
Back to present day, Stefan is writing in the journal for Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). He tells her this is his last entry. He says that for Christmas he is giving himself a present: today!! He continues to explains that in order to get the twins back, he made a deal with the devil. At midnight he has to leave his life behind, even though he just pledged it to Caroline Forbes (Candice King) forever. He begs Elena to reminds Caroline that if he doesn’t make it back to her, he did everything he could.
Caroline wakes up and is surprised Stefan is busy cooking in the kitchen. He says that if thsi is going to be his last day, he wants it to be a normal day like normal people. Alaric “Ric” Saltzman (Matthew Davis) arrives with the twins Lizzie (Tierney Mumford) and Josie (Lily Rose Mumford), but tells Caroline they can’t stay long.
Ric asks if she has spoken to Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig), before she can answer the twins ask if Seline (Kristen Gutoskie) was coming. Stefan scoops them up in his arms and tells them he has presents for them, leaving Caroline to talk to Ric. Caroline is upset that the girls are asking for Seline, and that they need to know she is not a safe person. Caroline asks Ric what else has happened, that they cannot stay for dinner?
Just as Ric tells Caroline to sit down, so they can talk, the front door opens and in walks Damon Salvatore (Ina Somerhalder) and Sybil (Nathalie Kelley). When Damon says “Merry Christmas”, Ric is shocked and says, I killed you. Caroline is surprised when Damon continues telling her that Ric and Matt killed him and even buried him, but Christmas just got Merry.
Meanwhile, Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) and Lorenzo “Enzo” St. John (Michael Malarkey) are enjoying the morning, where after Bonnie opens a silly gift, he tells her he is taking her to Paris. She squeals and hugs him. He tells her to say the word and they are off. She giggles and her phone begins to ring.
Bonnie answers and apologizes that they are late. Caroline tells them not to come, that Damon is there with that “psycho American Idol reject”, and Enzo cannot be around her. Caroline tells her not to get her started on what Matt and Ric did. Bonnie and Enzo are thinking about finding the tuning fork, and Caroline says she will work on it.
She shares drinks with Damon and Sybil as Stefan comes down and says Ric is going to stay with the girls for a while. Damon says there is no need to hide the girls since he is honoring their deal with Cade. Sybil even has the nerve to ask for a thank you for trading the twins for the brothers. Caroline says thank you, and that you cannot fault one sibling for the faults of another. Damon asks Stefan to come with him to get the old family ornaments.
Damon and Stefan go find the ornaments, where Stefan asks Damon to leave him alone, since after midnight Damon will have him for eternity. Damon says that when Ric killed him, it gave him a chance to spend time with Cade. He admits that Cade is an interesting guy, and Damon asks Stefan if he wants to spend some time with him. Stefan says no, but Damon stabs him anyways saying Cade said the opposite about him.
Stefan wakes up believing he is in his house with all the Christmas stuff up. He calls for Caroline, but Cade appears instead. Cade explains that he is just on the other side of the veil. Cade says he just wanted to discuss their new partnership. Meanwhile, Caroline is plying Sybil with tons of alcohol in hopes of her revealing where the tuning fork is.
When Caroline struggles to cut the turkey, Sybil takes over, first asking about her ring and the wedding they were supposed to have. Sybil tells Caroline that Stefan will be great with Cade, and probably be able to kill like 12 people in 10 seconds. Sybil tells Caroline where she is staying, where there is huge mansions, and she can entice the men with just a little song.
Caroline tells Bonnie where Sybil is staying, and then says she needs another gift box. As she hangs up with Bonnie, she sees Stefan gray and dead on the floor. Damon comes in and tells her to relax because he isn’t dead, and if it were Ric holding up dinner. Caroline tries to attack Damon, but he grabs her by the throat instead. He explains that Cade requested a meeting with Stefan. Damon then gives her the star he stabbed Stefan with and suggests that if she washes it off, it may still work.
Ric is upstairs with the twins when he is done reading the book, they want him to read more. He says they need to nap in order for Santa to come. The girls then say, Uncle Stefan told them their palace is the safest place in the whole world, and he told them not to open the palace doors for anyone; Ric reminds them to only open the doors for daddy, mommy, and Uncle Stefan.
Sybil is hanging the ornaments on the tree, Caroline admits she hates them. Matt and his dad walk in, Caroline is happy to see them but Damon confronts Matt’s father. Sybil tells him they have been waiting for him. Caroline says, “Damon’s alive. Bonnie and Enzo are late and Stefan’s dead. Merry Christmas! I’ve got gifts!”
Cade brings Stefan back to the scene in 1917, and tells him if death is his canvas, this is his masterpiece. Nothing but evil could produce this. Stefan doesn’t care that he is evil and reminded that he is the Ripper, but he swears he would never do such a thing on Christmas.
Back at the mansion, Caroline is handing out Christmas gifts, even to Sybil and Damon. Damon stands up and says they are probably all wondering why he is there tonight. He announces that he has a gift too, for one person. He is going to send one straight to hell, then cheers and says, “Let’s eat!”
Enzo and Bonnie are outside one of the mansions where he is sure she is staying. Enzo cannot enter because the owner is still alive. As Bonnie walks into the house, Seline says she knows she is there and asks the owner to invite in their other guest. Seline lets them in and then says are they going to leave without the weapon? Seline orders Bonnie to hand over her phone.
At the Salvatore mansion, Damon is becoming impatient, Caroline tells him he is not going to kill Ric or anyone else, they are going to sit there and enjoy dinner just like Stefan wanted. Damon uses his blade to stab into the bread, everyone is a little jumpy. Sybil says Damon is just doing his job. Matt’s dad, Peter asks him if his job is to kill innocent people? When Damon suggests Matt killed his girlfriend, Matt gets angry and tells him he never murdered anyone. Caroline tells Matt to sit down.
Damon says that at least Ric looked torn up when he stabbed him the other night. He then admits that yes he would like to kill Ric, but that is personal. The person he is going to kill is on principle. Caroline cuts him off telling him this all is personal. Sybil asks about this Peter person, Matt jumps up and tells her to back off.
Seline calls Ric from Bonnie’s phone. Seline says that his children need her help, that she needs to fix what she started. She admits that she needs to remove the psychic imprint she left in them. Ric tells her to give Bonnie and Enzo what they came for, and to drop dead. He hangs up the phone.
Seline sits back down and continues on with her list of names. Bonnie asks her what the list is, and she says its the people she killed. Enzo asked her where she picked up that habit, she says back in Monterey; where Stefan and Cade are right now. Stefan sees Seline, as an adult, in the woods.
Cade continues the journey with Stefan, asking if any of it jogs his memory. Seline asks him who they are, as Stefan (in 1917) is etching the names of all his victims in the wall. Stefan tells her to leave, or she will go up their next. She tells him he is too exhausted to hurt her. She begins to sing to him, and tells him to rest now and her master has claimed his soul.
Seline tells Bonnie the whole story too. Enzo asks Seline why she spared Stefan. She says when she looked into his mind, she didn’t see evil, that she only saw anguish. Stefan begs Seline to kill him, but she says all she saw was a man who was innocent and loved but had to become a monster to survive. Seline says it was a story she knew too well and didn’t want to make the decision.
Cade tells Stefan that Seline altered his memory so he forgot that moment and made his best servant almost feel remorse. Cade says he wants Stefan and is glad to hear he finally owns the Ripper as his servant. Cade tells him they have one more stop.
Seline tells Bonnie and Enzo that all she wanted was to be free, but now when she dies, Cade will torture her soul in hell because her sister sold her out. Redemption is the only chance she has. She takes out the tuning fork and as Enzo takes it, she begs for Alaric to bring her his daughters, and to come see her. Enzo promises to relay the message. Bonnie thanks her.
Damon is asking Peter the worst things he has ever done when Ric joins them and says his only regret was not making sure Damon was permanently dead. Damon taunts him about his misdeeds, saying he bailed on his family. Peter says he was just a kid. Damon says unless your last name is Pan, you haven’t been a kid in a very long time, so explain to me what you have been doing the last 20+ years.
Caroline tells Peter he doesn’t have to answer him. Damon lunges at Peter, and with the blade to his throat, he tells Peter to tell everyone what has kept him away the past 20 years. Peter admits that Kelly was pregnant again, and he couldn’t just be a toilet scrubber in this town, he had to leave and get out. Damon says it is worse than he thought, Peter had no reason at all. Damon announces that they have a winner. Matt doesn’t even stand up to defend his father.
Cade brings Stefan to school, where it was moments before he met Elena. Stefan says this is where he was good and he loved her. Cade tells him that she had already suffered enough tragedy; that he took a good girl who was headed down the right path and he veered her right into the median. Stefan says that was never his intention, saying he tried to protect her. Cade continues to tell him, never meeting her would have been protecting her, but instead he chose a total stranger and turned her into something dark.
Stefan says he cannot take that back. Cade says he do it again, take people who are close to getting into the pearly gates by an inch, and make them into folks who will miss it by a mile, like Elena. He wants him to help gather them. Stefan asks Cade that he thought he was looking for evil people. Cade tells him that he is looking for good people who can be made wicked. They are evil at their core, their souls are usually potent and those are the ones he wants to feed on the most.
Sybil helps clean the blood on Peter’s face, admitting that she prefers to catch them with honey. She tells him she came here to get something, and where is it? Peter tells her whatever she wants, he has no idea what she needs. She then goes into his mind, as he screams he tells Matt and Ric not to go in there.
Enzo rushes in and rings the tuning fork, which causes Sybil to drop, but so does Bonnie. Enzo attends to Bonnie and Sybil vanishes. Stefan and Cade are back in his living room, and Stefan asks what would happen if he refuses, Cade tells him he can wait until those kids upstairs become of age. Stefan says what if he doesn’t have to be patient, and if Stefan turns off his humanity for a short time, that Cade will then let him and Damon go.
Stefan says when he was the Ripper, he was one of a kind and no one could do what he did. Cade tells him “one year!” but goes on to tell him that the beast he saw in Monterey will not tire of this work. He bets that a year with him, Stefan will not want to leave. Stefan says he is wrong, and Cade said that is what makes this a great wager.
Sybil and Damon are enjoying an intimate moment, people are carolling around them and Damon hands Sybil the gift he got from Caroline. Sybil opens it, and its the necklace Damon found for Elena. He has a few flashbacks, but places it around Sybil’s neck. Damon rips her heart out and tears the necklace off her neck and walks away.
Enzo and Bonnie are driving as Bonnie holds the tuning fork. Ric told her that it hurt the twin’s ears too. Bonnie tells Enzo that her grams taught her all witchcraft is rooted in psychic energy, and before she knew she could do magic, she thought she was psychic. Bonnie figures its gross that she is connected to the Sirens and Cade.
She then makes Enzo laugh when she says she bought him t-shirts. He is taking her to Paris and all she bought were t-shirts. She says she sucks. Enzo turns to her and tells her she is the gift he has always wanted.
Caroline stays by Stefan until he wakes up. He asks where Damon is, she tells him everyone is gone. Stefan brings her under the mistletoe and kisses her before he tells her what Cade told him. He tells her he loves her and she tells him to stop stalling. Stefan says that they made a deal for Stefan to serve him for one year and then he is done. Caroline says why would Cade agree to that. Stefan says that what he is going to do makes it worth it for him. Caroline asks him what he is going to do. Stefan begs her to let it go for now, because in seven minutes Christmas is over and everything changes. He asks her to just let him enjoy this.
Ric is with the girls and agrees to me..
[2016-12-09, 10:49:28 PM] Cristie Geroux: Ric is with the girls and agrees to meet Seline. They meet in the back of the Salvatore mansion. He agrees to do this for them and no one else. The twins hug Seline who tells them they are going to play a game and after they will no longer remember her, but it’s okay because they have so many people who love them.
Matt drives his father home without a word. As Peter gets out, they exchange looks and Matt is heartbroken. Caroline is with the twins and Ric to open Christmas gifts. Ric says they need to get going soon, Caroline says she knows but is cherishing the moments with the girls.
Stefan is walking down the street when Damon pulls up and tells him to hop in. Stefan gets in the car, and Damon spins his wheels out of town. Damon tells Stefan to flip that switch so it won’t be so painful. Stefan says not yet. Damon says that the Salvatore Brothers are on the road again, and they need a theme song. Stefan turns off his humanity. Damon says, “There he is. Merry Christmas Brother!”
THE END!