I’ve always loved how The Vampire Diaries universe uses historical fiction. The flashback in “One Day You Will Understand” added a new twist to the Malivore story.

Spoilers Below

Once again, Alaric (Matthew Davis) was quick to send one of his troubled students away. Instead of getting Cleo’s(Omono Okojie) backstory, he just wanted to put her back in the artifact. Luckily, we got her story. It was inspiring.

Cleo shares her past with Kaleb, Josie and Alaric. (The CW)

As a young girl, her grandmother was going to go with Malivore to protect her village. Cleo took her place instead. He had her create friends who were actually monsters that he could eat. Eventually, she was able to overpower him to get away. That’s when she headed to Italy and met Leonardo da Vinci. They fell in love, but their time together was cut short. He put her in the artifact to keep her safe. She hoped that Malivore would be gone one day and she could live her life.

It’s a heartbreaking story that brought tears to Kaleb (Chris Lee), made Josie (Kaylee Bryant) take off the rose-colored glasses and made Alric rethink his previous methods. As Josie said, he and Caroline built the school to help supernaturals.

As upsetting as it was that Cleo tried to kill Hope (Danielle Rose Russell), now that we have her story, it makes sense. She was desperate and scared. That makes people go to extremes. Hope forced Josie to do black magic again to save Landon (Aria Shahghasemi).

In some ways, it was clear that Hope would have to become full tribrid to defeat Malivore, but no one is ready for that step quite yet. Does this mean we will be dealing with Malivore for the entirety of the series?

Handon had one last battle before they broke up. (The CW)

Another clear outcome was that Hope and Landon were doomed. I mean, he turned to black goo when they had sex and was trapped in darkness and then a prison world. And as he said, she’s meant to kill his father. How could it be anything else but doomed?

It turns out Hope, Josie and Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) did bring Landon back that night, but Cleo had already given Hope the fake Landon. She seemed happy, so the real one stayed away. He was watching from afar, though.

After that time away, Landon is different. He has some serious PTSD. That was clear when he was beating up the kid at the high school. But his fighting skills have improved immensely. He ultimately took down the latest monster that looked like the creature that Cleo made Malivore into.

Is it wrong that I like the damaged Landon more than the original one?

We never like to see Hope in any pain after all that she’s been through, but Landon couldn’t be in the relationship anymore, not just because he was trapped for so long but also because Hope was happier with the ideal version of him. That had to hurt.

It’s time Hope broke the cycle of saving loved ones at any cost. She’s 15. There will be other boys. Now she can work on herself, which is something fans have been wanting.

As heartbreaking as it was to see Landon break up with her. They both did an incredible job. You felt what both of them were feeling at that moment. Hope was feeling pain and desperation not to let him go that she would do anything for him. He was more than ready to let go of a relationship that’s left him in pain.

And now he’s going off with Cleo to find another way to kill Malivore.

How do you feel about the Handon breakup? Tweet us @Fandomopolis or comment below.