‘Vampire Diaries’: Caroline and Tyler Unable to ‘Hold Up a Relationship,’ Candice Accola Says

It’s wintertime in Mystic Falls, but all won’t be well on The Vampire Diaries.

With Caroline and Stefan’s sire bond theory thrown out the window, Thursday’s holiday episode, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” will find the dynamic duo at odds with new alpha male Tyler over his hatched plan for Klaus’ demise. It won’t be an easy fix as Tyler’s friend Hayley — and Caroline’s unofficial nemesis — goes to dramatic lengths to vocalize her disdain for Caroline and Stefan’s grand plan.

At the end of the day, all of it comes down to Caroline and Tyler’s struggles to maintain a healthy relationship, actress Candice Accola tells The Hollywood Reporter, as witnessed by the pair’s inability to hold a meaningful conversation in recent weeks. “I don’t want the straw to break the camel’s back but I don’t think they know necessarily how to hold up a relationship right just yet,” she said.

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Accola spoke to THR about celebrating the holiday season in Mystic Falls, Caroline and Tyler’s massive relationship struggles and hints at trouble brewing.

The Hollywood Reporter: It’s the holidays in Mystic Falls in this week’s episode. Four seasons in and we finally get to see the town celebrate in a significant way.

Candice Accola: I know! We’ve had so many event-based episodes so I love that this one in particular revolves around the holidays. There’s fake snow, the decorations are beautiful, the lights, the trees, it was a beautiful place to go to work that week.

THR: A lot has been going going on with Caroline: She was vocal about the Damon-Elena pairing and she’s been dealing with a complex love square with Klaus, Tyler and Hayley. What kind of trouble is she going to find herself in this week?

Accola: This episode in particular reveals ultimately that Caroline and Tyler aren’t communiicating very well with all the crazy things going on with the cure, the mythology, Klaus, hybrids being unsired. That’s what’s been so beautiful about the scenes with Caroline and Klaus, and Caroline and Stefan is that she’s actually communicating well with others; it’s a very realistic thing for Caroline and Tyler to be going through right now. I think it’s the reality of their romance because they’re very much still in the “No, we’re in love. Let’s run away together and we can fight the world and all this supernatural stuff will go away” phase. There are a lot of things that can ruin a relationship, like communication. When you disagree about something you can’t just say “I love you” and that’s swept under the rug. There needs to be compromise and that’s what Caroline and Tyler are starting to realize.

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THR: In a way, this began as a ruse to throw off Klaus but as the weeks have gone on, we’ve seen Tyler and Hayley grow closer while Caroline and Klaus have drifted toward each other. Where are they headed, though it already sounds like Caroline and Tyler will have major issues?

Accola: Ultimately it’s not OK that Tyler ran away and had a relationship with another woman he completely neglected to tell Caroline about. It’s not OK. Caroline wasn’t necessary very open about her ways of manipulating Klaus and she had every reason to be upset when she said, “Well I told him I’d go out with him.” They’re very upset and they’re not talking about it. They’re just sweeping it under the rug. I don’t want the straw to break the camel’s back but I don’t think they know necessarily how to hold up a relationship right just yet. That’s a very young thing to do. The first time Caroline laughed in a while was when she was laughing with Klaus last week. The first time that she had an idea and could talk about it was with Stefan — she’s not trying to impress him. She misses that with Tyler and the attention she got from him.

THR: Speaking of Stefan, the scenes between Caroline and Stefan are always a highlight. Will those continue?

Accola: We’ll definitely see more of that in upcoming episodes. I love those scenes too. I never would have thought that those two would have anything in common. The dynamic between them is genuine and there’s a comfortability for Caroline that’s so opposite but for some reason it works. They work in their friendship. They’re both inherently good and they know that about the other person and they’re both actually quite selfless — Caroline at least has grown to be very selfless. I love that it’s taking on its own dynamic and it’s going to grow into a wonderful friendship that will continue.

THR: Is there a scene that stuck out for you from this week’s episode?

Accola: Caroline is very strong in her character right now and sometimes when you say “I feel great!” and “This looks right!” you can’t implement your moral code onto someone else’s life so she’ll be at odds on what to do because it’s the right thing — even though it’s betraying a certain amount of trust. We’ll see that at some point. It’s going to set up some interesting dynamics for the future.

The Vampire Diaries airs 8 p.m. Thursdays on The CW.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
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