Vampire Academy Episode 9 Review And Recap- Heartbreaks, Jailbreaks, And Crispy Critters

Power is a funny thing. Everyone wants it, few have it, and it almost always corrupts. The more you have, the harder you hang onto it. Few can deny its sway. It has made Victor willing to sacrifice his own family to preserve it, and by the end of the Vampire Academy Episode 9, we know the thirst for power made more than a few people into monsters. Hello, darkness, my old friend.

Nothing will ever be the same. The penultimate episode of Vampire Academy’s first season twisted the knife until it snapped. Things look bleak for everyone. Even the good guys are self-serving and cruel, and that’s before a prisoner swap with the Strigoi goes very badly. Ironic that it’s hard to say who is crueler in this new world. Is it a heartbroken but zealous father and newly minted ruler, a power-hungry judgemental woman who was raised to take advantage of others, or the literal monsters who lurk waiting for their opportunity to strike?

Victor is losing everything but still thinks he is justified in his behavior. He has sacrificed so much he can’t see that he is partly to blame. He is willing to lose the rest of his family to maintain his rule, but he is fading already. When Lissa comes to him to tell him about her power, he seizes the chance to make her heal him. She initially refuses and says she couldn’t anyway because of the suppressors, but he locks her in Sonya’s room until the meds have cleared her system. He is unable to hear his husband’s words. “Values aren’t about what you say but what you do.”

Victor can’t cherry-pick his beliefs. If he is for truth and fairness, he must always treat everyone that way. Using Sonya and Lissa flies in the face of that. Regardless of your political leaning, it is easy to see the parallels to our real-world politicians.

There is never a reason for abusing others. Victor used his own daughter and now Lissa, while Tatiana uses fear and power from the very things she is supposed to guard against. Ends never justify the means. Victor has lost sight of that fact. He needs to believe that what happened to Sonya had a purpose instead of simply being a tragedy. In some ways, he is right. Tatiana and the church exploit people. Those with Spirit Magic are experimented on and feared. They are willing to throw Guardians to the wolves to protect the Moroi. They are dispensable to her. Unfortunately, Victor fails to realize he is doing the same thing. Being less rotten than the next guy doesn’t make you not awful. It only makes you the lesser of two evils. The key word is less. You’re not pure, just less bad.

Lissa did heal Victor, but it doesn’t last forever, and although it temporarily weakened her, it provided her clarity. She understands she wasn’t giving Rose her darkness. She was taking her light. When Rose tells her she is leaving, she encourages it. Lissa now knows what she must do. After her “see you later” to Rose, she goes to the Queen with a new proposal. Lissa asks the Queen to stay on the crown until Lissa is ready to lead. She knows she will still need to marry to bolster her bloodline and will need education, but there isn’t another choice. Luckily the Queen agrees, and at the end of Vampire Academy Episode 9, Lissa has made many enemies. Victor is shocked, Tatiana is resolute, and the Strigoi are coming for her. Hopefully, Dimitri will be released so he can keep her safe.

The Guardians now know Dimitri was lying about Sasha. Although no one is talking, they know he lied. Vampire Academy Episode 9 sees him preparing to be punished for treason. He didn’t tell Rose how dire things were because the honorable man loves her. His faith in his people and humanity is touching. With Lissa taking the throne and the Guardian commander dead, his sentence should be commuted. That’s great for him but does nothing for Rose, who has gone AWOL with Mason.

This poor dumb boy in love doesn’t know his own worth. Not only is he kind and sweet, but he is beautiful. Too bad Meredith isn’t able to get through to him. He is doomed to have his heart broken. Let’s hope he doesn’t go all Ser Criston Cole on Rose when he is forced to face the truth. For now, he’s willing to take Rose in any way he can get her, even if that means he has to share her with the memory of Dimitri. When he inevitably is crushed, I hope he doesn’t take Meredith down with him. Where has she been going all those times away from the Academy? We have bigger fish to fry right now, so this is a mystery for another day.

The Strigoi aren’t feral animals. They are even worse. They are hyper-calculating and cruel. Christian’s parents kidnapped Mia to force a prisoner swap. Her for Sonya. All of this time, their plan was to get access to Lissa and the other Moroi. Everything Diane did was for them. They dangled, being turned into a Strigoi over her. Diana was so myopic she couldn’t see that parents shouldn’t hurt their children this way and transfers of power always come at a price. Unfortunately, she learned that too late.

Tatiana may think she has her dogs on a leash, but they are only using her. After she killed the Guardian and lowered the wards, Tatiana arrogantly went to Andre, who wasn’t dead after all. Why she hasn’t killed him yet, we don’t know, but this can’t be a good thing for Lissa. Hopefully, her Spirit Magic will allow her to communicate with him before it is too late. Since he was next in line to be King, I also hope he isn’t tainted by the rule that could be his.

Vampire Academy Episode 9 set up a ton of emotional wreckage. Christian torched his parents after being destroyed by them. Sonya is with the Strigoi, Mason, and Rose are on the run, and Tatiana is headed for a reckoning. Anita-Joy Uwajeh(Tatiana) is a perfect evil villain, and J. August Richard’s Victor is a tragic one. These two great complex characters play so well off each other. The episode was stolen by André Dae Kim(Christian), though. His pain was palpable as he killed his parents. Things may look bad for our crew, but they look great for another season of Peacock’s hit series. Find all our Vampire Academy coverage here.