In The Ties That Bind Caroline’s father makes a return. Last time we saw him he took a very brutal and cold-blooded approach to trying to “save” Caroline from her vampire nature in hopes of getting her to reject the blood cravings. Now he’s using these same vile tactics on Tyler to try to get him to reject his bond to Klaus and gain his freedom. This might be the only way Tyler and Caroline could be together without the worry of what Klaus might make him do.
Mr. Forbes isn’t doing this just for the sake of getting back in his daughter’s good graces. To him, Tyler is a liability, endangering his daughter’s life with every breath he takes until he can control himself. If Tyler can’t do this, then he isn’t afraid to take his life from him altogether. This pushes Tyler to his limits, leaving him desperate and pushing the beast out more and more. Mr. Forbes is the one taunting it, begging it to come out. Jack Coleman does such a fantastic job in the role. He really brings out the intense caring father with a skewed, unrelenting, and darkly twisted mind-while thinking he’s doing the right thing. He hits all of the elements and gives us one of the most interesting non-supernatural characters the show has to offer.
I was hoping there would be more progression between Damon and Elena. Why must she act this way? She belittles Damon, afraid to acknowledge the connection and passion between them. Of course, Stefan finds out there’s something going on between Damon and Elena and the old brotherly rivalry is re-ignited between Damon and himself. For once, Bonnie actually is the one looking at it from the right perspective despite her history and hate for him.
Bonnie has been having reoccurring dreams, seeming like it is some sort of sign that she needs to find. She identifies the woman in her dreams as her birth mother who she never knew. Elena and she go to visit her. Bonnie isn’t trying to reconnect with her long lost mother. She just has to try to reach out to her if she can help them. Bonnie finds out the reason why she fled in the first place, how fighting nearly killed her and took all of her magic. So she ran and started a new life, too afraid of what she might find if she ever looked back.
Our protagonists are running out of time to stop Klaus. Between Klaus and his hybrids at work with their own plan, lurking in the shadows, waiting to set things in motion, it’s only a matter of time before he gets what he wants. Klaus is ahead of them. They can’t stop him, but they can take a little piece away from him; this piece could prove to be even more fierce, deadly, and unforgiving than even Klaus.
