Ep 11. Woke Up With a Monster

After a mid-season break, The Vampire Diaries season 6 episode 11 begins with a focus on the terrible consequences of Kai's return. Besides the obvious fact that this powerful witch has caused trouble for the good vampires of Mystic Falls before, his most recent offence involves being the reason behind Elena and Bonnie switching places.

In episode 10, viewers were left on a major cliffhanger with Bonnie trapped in the prison world and Damon stuck with Kai's hatchet as his sister now resides inside a magical forcefield in the land that even Kai couldn't break through. The new episode opens with Damon sitting in Sheriff Forbes office, having given himself up for the attack on Kai rather than admitting to his friends what had really happened.

Meanwhile, Tyler and Liv are still pretty tense in the aftermath of Tyler turning into a werewolf and essentially killing Liv's brother back in episode 9. The pair head to Howler's Bar, a favorite werewolf hangout for Tyler's dad's stag party, where things quickly go south. Enzo and Matt also pop up there, and after a quick encounter with Julian – an affiliate of Kai – a bar fight breaks out.

Even when viewers get back to Sarah Salvatore discovering her true lineage after Stefan's admission at the end of episode 10, she isn't entirely safe from the chaos around her. Stefan gets chomped on by Enzo while trying to interrogate him about his whereabouts for the past 60 years. Meanwhile, Bonnie has managed to take a day trip from her prison world into the real world and pays a visit to Jeremy, who is in the middle of flirting with his art teacher – Sarah.

Back in the Sheriff’s office, Caroline is determined to get Damon out of the trouble he's landed himself in. She reveals the truth about Kai as well as the location of Jo's spare magic-suppressing knife – something that Damon needs to deal with Kai after he’s been released from jail. However, through this all, Elena deals with an unexpected situation – she has Kai trapped within her subconscious mind.

The Vampire Diaries season 6 episode 11 plays on the idea of being a monster in different ways. Kai might be the most obvious, with his rampage through Mystic Falls, but the episode also deals with the various supernatural creatures’ own monster inside them. Stefan’s quandary over his ripper side resurfaces when he is forced to drink Caroline’s blood to help him recover from Enzo’s attack; Tyler grapples with his werewolf curse, which brought harm on Liv’s family; and Elena with her humanity switch off.

“Woke Up With a Monster” is a compelling episode that brings viewers back into the fold of The Vampire Diaries with strong performances from the cast and plenty of action. It also elicits mixed emotions from fans by setting up for more story arcs. Overall, the episode indicates that the second half of the season will be a roller coaster ride with no brakes in sight.