Caroline Forbes has one day left to spend with her fiancé before he has to spend the rest of eternity serving Cade and narrowly escaping hell. She also has to wrestle with the idea that her daughters are safer when they’re away from her. And to top it all off, it’s Christmas in Mystic Falls, so suffice it to say, Vampire Diaries fans are in for a very emotional mid-season finale.
“The day changes a couple times,” Candice King says of Caroline’s Christmas Eve. “Once Caroline thinks the day is going to go one way, it changes. It’s going to be a lot of twists and turns and a lot of really big moments.”
When it comes to her daughters, Caroline does get to spend at least one more day with them before Alaric takes them somewhere safe. “Caroline just wants her daughters to be safe, even if that means sacrificing what she wants,” King says. “Obviously that’s not an easy decision. We will see her with the girls this week, and as it is the Christmas episode, there’s going to be a whole bunch of emotions coming out. What the holidays bring out in real life, it brings out just as many emotions in Mystic Falls.”
Those emotions are also running high with Stefan, who we know will come face-to-face with Cade at one point during the hour. “Stefan is Caroline’s priority, as are her daughters, so now that she knows her daughters will be safe, she’s 100 percent going to try to take care of Stefan,” King says. “She’s also going to have to figure out how to take care of herself, which is not going to be very easy. It’s always easier to want to take care of other people when you should be taking care of yourself. That’s what Caroline’s going to be struggling with after the holidays. For now, she’s just trying to enjoy her last day with Stefan and is kind of in denial about what’s coming.”
And yet, King says fans might be surprised with how much fun Caroline also manages to have during this emotional time. “We’re definitely going to see a different side of the way that she handles things this week, and it’s actually kind of funny,” she says. “She gets to have fun a little bit. We’ve seen her hold it together the best she can, and we’re going to see her let loose in a different way than we’re used to seeing her deal with the chaos that Mystic Falls brings.”
But Caroline isn’t the only one having big moments in the finale. According to King, we will hear a little bit of everybody’s story. “Stefan and Damon are going to have some moments, Caroline and Stefan are going to have some moments, Alaric and Caroline are going to have some moments, Bonnie and Enzo, and even Seline and Sybil,” she says. “We, across the board, get to see how everyone’s doing this holiday season.”
The Vampire Diaries airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.