There’s no more guaranteed way to assure a blue Christmas than by having Caroline Forbes shed many tears.
Tragically, however, that’s what viewers suffered through on The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 10, as our favorite blonde blood sucker learned who mom has an inoperable brain tumor.
Yikes. Also: major bummer.
Elsewhere on the installment, Matt tried (and failed) to kill Enzo, leading to Enzo taking his quasi nemesis hostage.
He doesn’t want to kill Matt (yet), however; he wants Matt to help him take down Stefan because Enzo is jealous of how everyone see Damon’s brother has some knight in shining armor despite what Enzo believes are some major flaws.
But the crux of this holiday episode centers on Kai, Jo, Liv, Luke and their very effed up family.
Kai, of course, is now loose in Mystic Falls. He wants to merge with Jo, but first he needs his siblings to use a locator spell in order to track down the dagger in which Jo has stored her magic.
Why would Luke and/or Liv do this? Because the alternative is for them to merge and one of them to die, per coven rules.
Soon after giving the dagger to Kai, though, Luke regrets it. He’s afraid many people will be killed and it will be all their fault (you know, because Kai is a crazy person.)
Liv is a bit more focused on just wanting to be alive, but she managed to convince Jo to accept her magic again because… hey, maybe she can actually beat Kai! Inspired, Jo agrees.
She also tells Damon and Alaric not to kill Kai after they stick a gun at his head. If they do, Luke and Liv will have to merge. She talks Alaric into simply tying Kai up while she works on her powers.
But Kai gets tied up in Mystic Falls and takes the energy of the spell the Travelers used to curse the town (thereby lifting the curse entirely). Dude is now seriously powerful!
He breaks free. He heads to the Salvatore mansion. And he knocks Elena out and kidnaps her to close the winter finale.
Oh no! Go watch The Vampire Diaries online to see how these events transpired and prepare for a long hiatus.
As teased below, The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 11 does not air until Thursday, January 22: