With Episode 5, it seems like Vampire Academy is starting to find its rhythm, to really settle into what it’s going to be moving forward. This episode also seemed a little more traditionally written in the spirit of teen dramas. So far, the show has kind of moved in a straight line, which is the case for most streaming shows, by which I mean every episode has led right into the next and been key to the overall stories. Episode 5 was much more episodic — not in the sense that it’s completely independent, but that the episode was sort of a complete package with an intro, conflict, and conclusion. Now these occurred within the larger story of the show, but it was much more self-contained than the episodes have been so far.
We open with a selection of Dhampirs, the ones who had success in the previous test, who are going to have to undergo a field test of sorts. If they succeed, they will be fast tracked to becoming a Guardian and join the "Royal Tour." It's still unclear what exactly that means or looks like, but we know there is some interprovincial travel involved. All of this is an extension of the motion from an earlier episode to lower the age at which Dhampirs can begin to serve, and our group of talented Guardians-to-be is the guinea pigs.
Rose (Sisi Stringer) is awarded the role of leader for the mission (although it's honestly not very relevant to how the episode actually plays out). The field test, we’re informed, will consist of them leaving the boundaries of the city, setting up a base, and needing to keep a proxy Moroi safe from the Guardians that will be coming to play pretend Strigoi. As this is happening, we move over to the council room where we find out that the council has approved to release a live Strigoi into the wild near them in order to properly test them. Once again, Victor (J. August Richards) seems to be the only one in that room with a heart or brain. As he angrily tries to stop this from happening it becomes clear that he just simply doesn’t have the votes. Meanwhile, the Strigoi in question has inadvertently turned one of its handles, so now there are two Strigoi running around out there. Great job, everyone!
Victor then goes to the Queen (Pik-Sen Lim) in order to try and convince her that this is insanity which she needs to stop. She tells Victor that if he’s so concerned with what’s happening, he should run for the position of Monarch. We also learned at the beginning of the episode that Victor has a terminal illness; this is what caused him to collapse in an earlier episode, this is likely what’s holding him back from running, and he doesn’t have much time left to live.
Back with our teenage cast, Lissa (Daniela Nieves) finds out from Tatiana (Anita-Joy Uwajeh) that the council agreed to release a real Strigoi on the Rose and the gang to test them. Lissa, of course, becomes extremely concerned and gathers together a group of other Moroi and Mason (Andrew Liner) to try and warn/save them. Our gang outside the gates ends up having their hands full when Mikhail (Max Parker) gets attacked and turned by the Strigoi that no one told him was released. So much for my theory from last episode that he was going to be important.
In the end, our two gangs unite, Rose kills Mikhail (a scarring event that I’m sure will have importance moving forward), and the episodic portion of the episode closes nicely. But there are still some other major character developments that we need to go over. First, Lissa discovers she can heal people with her powers. At first, this excites her, and out of a desire to learn more about her powers she decides she needs to go on the Royal Tour in order to meet someone who can help her understand them. This, however, requires her to find a husband so she can once again regain her quorum. She chooses Jesse Zeklos (Joseph Ollman) for some ungodly reason, but she also then tells Christian (Andre Dae Kim) about the marriage for status before they sleep together for the first time.
Victor also had some big developments. Besides finding out that he has a terminal illness, we also then see him get healed (but not cured apparently) by Sonya (Jonetta Kaiser). He closes the episode by declaring to the council that he will be running for Monarch. It's a fun twist for our political plot. On Sonya’s end, there wasn’t much except that after finding out that Mikhail had been Strigoied and killed, she healed Victor against his will and then… jumped off a balcony, only to be caught by a swarm of birds? It's not quite clear what was happening in that scene, or why. Either way, it looked kind of cool.
One of our most interesting characters remains Tatiana Vogel, who keeps playing this sort of double agent position on the council. In theory, this is a really cool and fun part of the story because it's not exactly clear what her endgame is and why she’s doing what she does (for instance, she attempts to turn Lissa on Victor and blame him for the Strigoi). There’s a part of me that is scared that when it is all revealed it won’t make any sense, that all the random things she does really are just the writers making her do random things in an attempt to hint at a double agent type of story that they haven’t fully fleshed-out yet, but I’m gonna hope for the best.
Overall, it was another solid episode for a show that I’m enjoying more with every watch. Rose kind of continues to be a bore, and her bourgeoning relationship with Dimitri still bothers me. Lissa still feels mostly uninteresting, but the other characters (particularly Victor, Sonya, Mia, and Tatiana) have begun to grow on me over the process of their storylines.
Vampire Academy premieres new episodes every Thursday on Peacock.