Okay so I know that season 2 is long gone now, but I just hate leaving things unfinished, so I thought I’d continue with the recaps at least through the end of this season. 

As we start the show, Elena has just removed the dagger from Elijah’s chest and sits there, calmly waiting for him to wake up.  (I don’t think I’d be quite so calm!)  When Elijah opens his eyes for the first time, he mistakes her for Katherine (or Katarina, as he calls her) and we are transported back to England 1492 with another period flashback.  Will we get to see the elusive Klaus?  I’m assuming so from the title of the episode.  Everybody gets their silly hair of course, but when Elijah sees Katarina, he’s very taken with her as she reminds him of someone else.  Klaus makes a grand entrance, and proceeds to woo Katarina without any real interest in her; something she picks up on, even as she acknowledges that he’s very charming.  Elijah points out that many unions have been built on less but Katarina insists that she wants more.  She makes a very pretty speech about love, saying that there’s no point in living without it.  Elijah says he doesn’t believe in love and might have said more but Klaus returns and spirits her away.

Back in real time, Elijah can’t breathe because he hasn’t been invited into the house.  (interesting because vampires don’t need to breathe anyway… but I digress)  On the porch, Elena tries to convince him that he can trust her by handing over the dagger.  (No don’t do that!  Use it to kill Klaus!)  Stefan wakes to find Elena gone and immediately fears for the worst.  But Damon seems unconcerned, canoodling with Andie until they notice the door to the basement is ajar and go down to find Elijah missing. 

Elena offers Elijah her help (along with some blood bags until he is looking his usual hunky self) and in return asks for his help.  She believes that he is a noble man and follows a code of honor and that she can trust him.  Telling Stefan to back off and let her handle this on her own, she goes with him to the Lockwood Estate, (how random is that?  Were they just looking to use the pretty set again?) so that he can get a change of clothes and they can have some time to talk.  Elijah gives us the lowdown on some of his family’s past history, revealing that Klaus is his brother, and at one time he would have done anything for him.  There were seven children in his family, but they were all born human.  While they are the Original family and all vampires are descended from them, he doesn’t go into how they all ended up vampires at all.  (damn!)  He also reveals that the entire Sun and Moon curse is a load of crap!  No truth to it in any part, they made it up in order to obscure what they’re really looking for, even going so far as to draft the old Aztec legends themselves.  That way there would be an army of werewolves and vampires out there searching for the doppelganger and the moonstone for them and they can defeat the real curse which is on Klaus alone.

Damon can’t believe that Elena is playing herself right into Elijah’s hands and believes they should stop her before she gets herself killed.  But Stefan tells him to respect Elena’s wishes and back off.  They look like they might fight about it for half a second but Damon agrees to let them call the shots.  Only as soon as Stefan leaves Damon decides to break from the team and do his own thing, bringing Andie in tow. 

 Katherine gets Klaus (in Alaric’s body) to tell her that he needs to do the ritual to break the curse right there in Mystic Falls since it’s the birthplace of the Doppleganger.  Klaus compels her to stay in the apartment, effectively trapping her until he changes his mind, or dies, whichever comes first.  Bored out of her mind, she starts to look for something to do, but then Damon shows up with Andie.  He decides to give her some vervain to keep Klaus from compelling her any further, but it still doesn’t break the compulsion she’s already under and she’s still trapped in Alaric’s apartment. 

Stefan rushes over to the Gilbert house, desperate to keep Jenna from spending any time with Alaric now that he’s possessed by Klaus.  Only Alaric is already there acting super creepy.  He makes some awkward small talk while brandishing a large cooking knife.  Jenna just gets more and more pissed off while he babbles on about vampires and werewolf legends and she orders him from the house.  Stefan is revealed as a vampire when he has to use his super speed and strength to hold Alaric back.  Jenna is stunned to see Stefan all vamped out, but leaves the house when he tells her to.  The secret is out!  Stefan calls Elena to tell her about Jenna and Elijah reluctantly lets her go take care of family business.

Elena rushes back to the Salvatore place to beg Jenna’s forgiveness for keeping her in the dark this whole time.  Jenna demands to know who else knows and is livid that everyone else knew all about it, even Jeremy.  She falls apart and Elena feels terrible.  (don’t worry sister, I would have done the same thing in your shoes.  Or hmm, would I have?  I am terrible at keeping secrets!)  Elena leaves Jenna there with Stefan and goes back to Elijah after Stefan and Damon have another staring contest over who is the bigger man.  (somehow these feel manufactured to me.  I just can’t picture Stefan holding his own in a match against Damon, if only because he’d fight more honorably than Damon would)

Alaric/Klaus returns home just as his luggage arrives, including a huge box that contains his body and his own witch (Luka’s missing sister!)  More than ready to get out of Alaric’s body, they start preparations to return Klaus to his own body.

Elena surprises Elijah by returning to him and demanding to know what Klaus’ curse is all about.  Klaus was not his full brother, and from a different bloodline as their mother had taken a lover.  When Elijah’s father learned of this, he hunted down Klaus’ father and killed him, thereby starting the war between vampires and werewolves that continues to this day.  This makes Klaus both a vampire and a werewolf.  (eewh!  Somehow I find the idea a little creepy but YMMV) The curse binds the werewolf half of himself, only allowing him to access the vampire side.  Dun, dun, dun!

Last ten minutes of the show:

Elijah tells Elena that Klaus wants to break the curse in order to sire his own race of werewolf/vampires, which would threaten those on both sides.  When Elena asks why Elijah helped him to try and break the curse when he posed such a threat, Elijah reveals that he helped Klaus for so long because he loved him, but not any longer.  The only way to kill Klaus now is for a witch to channel enough power to kill him (which is really hard to do).  Elijah’s plan is to go through with the ritual and kill Klaus when he’s at his most vulnerable. 

We flash back to Elijah telling Klaus that the witches might have found a way to spare the doppleganger’s life but Klaus doesn’t seem to care.  One human’s life means nothing to him.  Elijah begs him to reconsider (seriously, did he fall in love with her?) but denies that he had any feelings for Katarina.  Klaus warns that love is a vampire’s greatest weakness.  “We do not fear and we do not care,” he says.  “We did once,” Elijah reminds him, but Klaus doesn’t care and instructs him to tell the witches not to bother trying to save her life.

Elena is surprised to hear that she might not have to die, but they weren’t able to test the theory out since Katarina took matters into her own hands, becoming a vampire.  She realizes that Elijah must have had feelings for Katherine back then, but he shrugs it off, saying it’s a common mistake or so he’s told and one he won’t make again. 

Andie tries to comfort Damon who’s upset that Elena’s out there with Elijah again, but Damon tells her to leave him alone, in too bad of a mood to deal with being fussed over.  Stefan shows up to chide Damon for keeping Andie around like a plaything, reminding him that she’s a person.  Damon replies that Stefan should be grateful that he’s keeping Andie around, it keeps him from going after what he really wants.  “You’re right, thank you, for being in love with my girlfriend,” Stefan says, and the cards are all out on the table now!  “You can be in love with Elena all you want if it means you will protect her, but I have the one thing you never have, her respect.”  Ouch!  Damon responds with a resounding punch that sends Stefan flying across the room.  (Go Damon!)  They growl and snap at each other a little while longer until Elena appears with Elijah, demanding that they stop. 

Elijah flashes back to a similar memory of fighting with Klaus after Katarina has gone missing.  Klaus threatens to kill Elijah if he had anything to do with her escape. 

Damon is pissed to see that Elena invited Elijah into the house but she tells the brothers that they have renewed the terms of their deal.  Elijah promises that neither of them will come to any harm at his hands, in exchange for one thing; an apology.  I had to laugh at the look on Damon’s face over that request.  Stefan steps forth to apologize for the part he had in Elijah’s death but that he did it for Elena and will always protect Elena.  But Damon tells them to all go to hell, he doesn’t trust Elijah at all.  They all shake their head over his behavior and Damon goes up to his room to find Andie waiting in her underwear.  “I thought I told you to leave,” he says.  “You didn’t compel me,” she grins, before adding that she wants to be there for him.  Damon isn’t amused.  He’s upset, and knows what will happen to her when he’s upset.  He yells at her to leave but she refuses.  “You need to know that someone cares about you.  I care about you Damon,” she insists.  Damon bites into her neck savagely and I thought for sure she was a goner, but instead he lets her go and compels her to leave before he kills her.  Andie grabs her clothes and stumbles out while Damon tries to get ahold of himself.

Back at Alaric’s apartment, the ritual works and Klaus is put back into his own body.  Alaric passes out with no memory of what happened while Klaus was possessing him.  Klaus steps out of the crate looking fresh as a daisy.  “Now that’s more like it,” he says; a mischievous smile on his lips. 

Random thoughts I had:

I am dying to know who the Petrova dopplegangers resemble!  One of the Originals?  But then that would make it one of Elijah’s sisters, ick! 

If you had just found out about the existence of vampires (Jenna) and saw one vamp out in front of you (Stefan), is his house the first place you would run?  I’m just saying…

Is it wrong that I cheered when Damon knocked Stefan across the room?

Am I the only one who liked Klaus better in Alaric’s body?

Boy, what a lot of revelations in this episode.  No sun and moon curse, Klaus is not only Elijah’s half brother, but half werewolf and the one the curse is really on.  Elijah had a thing for Katherine back in the day.  There might be a way for Elena to survive the ritual… it goes on and on.

Episode 2.18 – “The Last Dance”

Klaus in Alaric’s body is getting a crash course on Alaric’s life from Katherine while he looks for something to wear out of his limited wardrobe.  Katherine pleads with him to kill her and spare her the torture, but he’s not done with her yet.  He searched for her for over five hundred years and her death is going to last at least half that long if he gets his wish.  Before he leaves, he compels her to stab her own leg with a knife over and over again.  The wounds heal quickly, but still cause her considerable pain and blood loss.  The torture begins!

Elena officially signs the papers that give her ownership of the Salvatore boarding house.  She invites Stephan in right away but makes Damon promise to obey her and he does so reluctantly (why do I not believe him?).  But just as soon as she secures her safety, she and Bonnie leave to go to school despite Damon and Stephan’s protests that they didn’t give her a safe house so she could leave it.  Bonnie promises to stick by her side and since she’s the best weapon they have against Klaus, they agree to let her go. 

Klaus has a little trouble fitting into Alaric’s life when it comes to teaching about the 60’s.  All he can say about them is that they kind of sucked except for the Beatles.  Unfortunately we only get to watch him flounder his way through it for a few minutes before we’re shown the preparations for the dance.  Jeremy continues to push Bonnie to tell the others that it could kill her to harness the power of the other witches but she won’t budge.  He leaves in a snit once Elena arrives in the cafeteria.  Random girl we’ve never seen before this episode shows up to tell Elena that a totally hot guy named Klaus asked if she’s going to the dance tonight and if she’ll save him the last dance. Bonnie and Elena look suitably freaked out, but the girl doesn’t seem to notice. 

Damon and Stefan plan to go to the dance to try and spot Klaus and keep Elena safe.  In the midst of making plans with Elena and Bonnie, “Alaric” shows up, proving that Klaus needs no invitation to enter the house while in his body.  He learns that Bonnie not only has her powers but is capable of channeling the power of the witches.  There’s also a live demonstration when she easily bats down a surprise attack from Damon who wants to test how strong she is.  So much for the secret weapon!

Klaus confers with his witch and they come up with a plan to provoke Bonnie to death.  Knowing that it’ll kill her to channel that much power, his witch says he can offer Alaric’s human body some extra protection to keep him alive long enough to keep attacking her long enough for her to die. 

Elena finds enough vintage clothing in the Salvatore’s old stuff to outfit herself for the 60’s dance.  Matt has trouble acting normal around Caroline, but somehow manages to pull it together and take her to the dance.  Jeremy offers Bonnie his magical ring but she tells him that it won’t work on her because she’s supernatural, not human.  Damon overhears them talking and knows that Bonnie could die if she uses all of that power. 

Klaus dedicates a song to Elena “This is dedicated to the one I love”, which puts everyone on edge.  Damon insists that they try and blend in and let Klaus come to them so they pair off to dance while Damon goes to talk to Ric.  “I’m not impressed,” he tells him and Klaus looks affronted.  Stephan goes off to warn Caroline of what’s going on when he spots her arriving, leaving Elena in Damon’s very capable arms.  She’s surprised to see him dance so well and he brags that he has moves she’s never seen before.  It’s nice to see them share a lighter moment together.  Next Damon cuts in to dance with Bonnie and he admits that he overheard that she only has a fifty-fifty shot of surviving.  He has no plans to tell Elena, he’s just glad she’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep Elena safe like he is. 

Jeremy wanders away from the dance but Stefan goes after him and he can’t help but spill the beans that it might kill Bonnie to take on Klaus.  Of course Stefan runs right off to tell Elena before confronting Damon to see if he knew.  Elena tells Bonnie that she won’t let her go through with it.  But Bonnie asks if the situation was reversed, would Elena do it for her?  When Elena admits that she would, Bonnie says then you should know why I have to do it for you.

Jeremy gets jumped in the hallway by a bunch of teens who Klaus has compelled to attack him in order to separate Bonnie from the others and Stephan and Damon arrive in time to save him.  The teens are well armed to fight vampires, staking Damon in the shoulder but the brothers are still able to easily defeat them.  Stephan tells Damon to go find Bonnie and Elena, he’s going to take care of the boys himself.  (strange that he didn’t want to be the one to go after Elena, isn’t it?)  But while they’re dealing with this diversion, Alaric lures Bonnie and Elena to another deserted part of the school.  Before they get too far he reveals himself as Klaus.  Bonnie hits him with a couple of good solid blasts, and they run away.  Damon finds them, and asks Bonnie if she’s still willing to do whatever it takes to kill Klaus?  (My spidey senses are tingling here, what are they plotting?)

Bonnie goes hunting down Alaric, finding him by some vending machines.  She fires blow after blow at him, but soon starts to tire, her nose starting to bleed.  Elena finds Stephan and they try to go help Bonnie.  Bonnie deliberately locks Elena and Stephan out while she continues to attack Alaric until she finally collapses on the ground, unmoving.  Damon tells Stephan to get Elena home so he can take care of the body.  He pulls an inconsolable Elena away while Damon gathers up Bonnie, closing her eyelids with an air of finality.  Uh oh, doesn’t look so good for Bonnie, but I don’t really believe that she’s gone for good. 

Last ten minutes of the show:

Damon tells Jeremy that they need to have a little talk after putting Bonnie’s body in the trunk.

Elena is still a mess, sitting by the fire with Stephan, crying that it’s all her fault.  Damon comes in and she demands to know what he did with Bonnie.  He tells her to calm down, but she slaps him, incensed that he knew all along that it might cost Bonnie her life to fight Klaus.  Damon takes the slap, but tells her calmly that she needs to listen to him and prepare for what he’s about to say.  Bonnie had to die because she wasn’t prepared to fight Klaus in Alaric’s body.  Klaus wouldn’t stop attacking until he knew Bonnie was dead, he needed to believe it, so Bonnie cast a spell to make him think that she’d died. 

Cut to the old ruined mansion where the witches were killed and we see Jeremy arranging Bonnie’s body in a ring of candles and she smiles after drawing in a gasping breath.   He unpacks a computer with “MiFi” (shameless product placement!) since she’ll be there for a while. Elena and Bonnie video chat for a minute and Bonnie apologizes for putting her through that.

Stephan scolds Damon for not telling him about his plan with Bonnie, but Damon points out that he never knows when Stephan’s going to go blabbing to his girlfriend and Elena needed to believe that Bonnie was dead in order for it to look real.  Damon says he’s willing to play the bad guy and make all of the hard decisions, even get hit for it, but at the end of the day, he’ll be the one to keep her alive. 

Elena comes to see Damon later and she says that she understands why he did what he did.  “Here’s to duplicity,” he salutes her with his drink.  But she wants to get one thing straight, she doesn’t want Bonnie to die, she wants them to find another way to stop Klaus.  She apologizes for hitting him and he accepts but wants to make one thing perfectly clear to her in turn.  If it comes down to it, he’ll gladly let Bonnie die to save her, because he will always choose her life first.  Elena doesn’t argue, but goes down to the cellar and pulls the magic knife out of Elijah’s chest!   Cue the dramatic music!

Random thoughts I had:

How come there’s this new character Dana that we’ve never seen before who’s suddenly in every scene as a random student? 

Why does the idea of Damon as a chaperone at a school dance make me giggle?

How cute was Alaric dancing his way through the crowd when he first got there?

My first thought was that Damon had given Bonnie some of his blood so she’d come back as a vampire witch if she died, I wasn’t expecting the spell thing!

Okay I so did not see Elijah’s resurrection coming!  This is seriously cool, I can’t wait to see him up and around again!

Episode 2.17 – “Know Thy Enemy”

And we’re back!  After a crazy 6 week hiatus, I spent most of the day in giddy anticipation and the show definitely did not disappoint!  The episode was chockablock with “holy crap!” moments, so let’s dive right in, shall we?

Elena keeps Jenna from inviting Isobel into the house, but the damage is done when Isobel comes out swinging with “So you’re the woman dating my husband.”  Poor Jenna!  She looks like she’s having a Twin Peaks experience.  Elena slams the door in Isobel’s face, but Jenna is devastated that everyone but her knew that Ric’s wife was still alive.  Locking herself in the bedroom, Jenna refuses to talk to anyone, looking like she’s having a panic attack. 

Alaric shows up to try to talk to Jenna, but she’s already packed a bag, planning on staying at the University since she has a thesis to write and doesn’t want to stay in the house on the count of all the rage and betrayal she’s feeling at the moment.  Jenna leaves, telling them she just doesn’t have it in her to listen to any more of their lies.  John shows up, is pretty much a jerk so Alaric gets in a good solid punch to his jaw and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. 

At casa de Salvatore, Stefan is about to go see Elena and try to figure out what Isobel wanted, when Katherine (with lots of curly hair this ep) suggests that they might not want to mention to Isobel that she’s in town if they happen to run into her.  Besides, it’ll work better if they need her to swap places with Elena again if fewer people know she’s around.   

Poor Elena is freaking out with the idea that Jenna is about to find out what’s really going on, and Matt is MIA after having found out.  Just when she can’t feel any more powerless in her own home, John comes in to talk to her, after having invited Isobel in against her wishes.  He begs her and Stefan to listen to what she has to say, feeling that they can trust her.  Isobel tells them that she’s been doing everything she can to try and find Klaus.  While she hasn’t been able to find him, there are rumors going around that there is a doppelganger out there and Elena’s in more danger than ever, as vampires looking to gain favor with Klaus will come after her.  Isobel offers to take Elena to a safehouse with a deed in Elena’s name, leaving out the part where THIS IS ALL A HUGE TRAP!  Luckily, Elena isn’t buying it, and tells her to get the hell out of her house. 

Isobel doesn’t sulk for very long, leaving them behind to hole up in her new place; the nicest foreclosure in town.  In a nice “holy crap!” moment, Katherine shows up and after a little playful tussle, they embrace as friends.  Okay that’s gotta be creepy for Isobel to be huggy friends with an old vampire that looks exactly like her daughter who she doesn’t give a damn about.  I’m just saying.  Anyway, Isobel says that she’s been busy making a deal with Klaus to keep Katherine safe by delivering the moonstone and Elena.  The only reason that Isobel even went to Elena’s house was to see Jenna because she got jealous that Ric was dating “Auntie Vanilla”.  If Katherine can get the moonstone, Isobel will deliver both to one of Klaus’ witches who has negotiated Katherine’s freedom.

Damon, Jeremy and Bonnie go to Luka’s place (which still has his burnt up corpse, ick) to look for the grimoire that has the spell that will let her harness the powers of the dead witches to use to kill Klaus.  She pulls a convenient spell that leads them to the right book without having to do any searching. 

Later at the Salvatore place, Elena, Stefan and Damon all wonder if they can trust anything that Isobel has to say.  “You should just stay here,” Damon suggests.  “It’s better for us to keep an eye on you.”  Stefan disagrees since any vampire can just walk in without an invitation, her house is safer.  Damon agrees they’ll stay at her place.  “So is that the plan?” Elena asks, “neither of you let me out of your sight again?”  No one else has a better plan, so Stefan agrees to go with Elena to the Lockwood’s to pick up a check for her mother’s foundation and Damon agrees to go take Bonnie to the place where the witches were burned.  Katherine shows up, asking to be let in on the plan.  She says she’s been holding up her end of the bargain, they should show her a little trust in return.  “Don’t mistake the fact that we haven’t set fire to you in your sleep for trust.” Damon smirks. 

Once they’re all gone, Katherine starts searching for the moonstone, pocketing a wad of cash from Damon’s room before finally finding the stone in the bathroom, mixed in with a bowl of soaps.  (hilarious!)

At the Lockwood Manor, Caroline shows up asking it anyone’s seen Matt, but no one’s seen him.  Mrs. Lockwood says that no one’s heard from Tyler either.  Stefan and Elena arrive and promise to help her find Matt after she accepts the check. 

Damon leads Jeremy and Bonnie to the spot where the witches were all burned.  Bonnie wonders how he knows where the spot is?  “Because I tried to save her,” Damon replies, explaining that she was his key to bringing back Katherine, before he knew what a nasty little bitch she was.  Damon has to leave the house because the ghosts of the dead witches really don’t like having him around, so much so that they root him to the spot and render the effects of his ring useless until Bonnie releases him.  On their own, Bonnie leads Jeremy up to a room where Emily was killed and start setting up a bunch of candles to do the spell. 

Jeremy starts to have some misgivings when they both hear the ghosts whispering, but Bonnie proceeds with the spell anyway and it looks like it hurt like hell!  But she’s not bleeding or in a coma, so that’s a good sign. 

Isobel confronts Alaric on the street, telling him that she wants him to know that she loved him very, very much before she left him.  Before he can react, she says “He’s all yours” and a witch steps up and drops him like a sack of potatoes.  Holy Crap!  Next she shows up at the Lockwoods’ for a distraction by killing John!  (Not so fast, he has that ring on remember?)  But it is enough distraction for Katherine to take Elena’s place.  The sheriff sees the bite marks on John’s neck and asks people to back off.  “Elena” calls Damon to come and explain to the council why John’s not going to stay dead.  Stefan figures out it’s Katherine instead of Elena pretty quickly, but before he can do anything about it, she jabs him with a syringe of vervain. 

Damon shows up at the Lockwood’s and explains that John’s ring gives him protection against death at the hands of a supernatural identity.  He takes the “body” back to his place.  In washing up (lovely gratuitous shot of him without his shirt, let me just rewind that and watch again…) he notices that the moonstone is gone and he is Pissed with a capital P. 

Isobel has Elena in the back of her SUV.  She calls Katherine and says “I’m sorry, I had to do what I was told.  He wanted the moonstone and he wanted you.”  Before she can barely wonder “he who?”  Klaus’ witch knocks her out.  Isobel takes Elena to the cemetery, showing her the empty grave that her parents set up for her when no one could find her body.  The phone rings and Klaus’ witch tells her that he has Katherine and the moonstone.  She can let Elena go, Klaus has everything he needs and her compulsion is over.  “I’m done?”  Isobel smiles, her relief palpable.  With a tired sigh, she apologizes to Elena for being such a disappointment, and yanks off her magic pendant, burning before Elena’s eyes, right on top of her grave.  Holy Crap!

Matt confronts the Sheriff, demanding to see Vicki’s file and how she covered up her death at the hands of vampires.  She tells him to cool down, slamming him up against the hood of her car.   Later Caroline tries him on the phone again, shocked to find him waiting at her place.  He says that her mom left him there to cool down and then had to go back to work.  He asks her for some answers and she tells him EVERYTHING about what happened to Vicki, about what happened to her.  Freaking out again, he demands that she makes him forget, he doesn’t want to look at her and see what he sees anymore.   

Last nine minutes of the show:

Elena is holding Isobel’s necklace, thinking about her mother.  She and Stefan try to figure out why Klaus would have let her go.  They decide to take some precautions, by signing over the Salvatore mansion to her name so that no vampires can enter without her permission.  Although Damon will be super pissed if she locks him out.  John wakes up, contrite over his role in things. 

Jeremy is upset to learn that the spell Bonnie did to tap into the dead witches’ power is so dangerous.  If she uses too much of her powers at once it’ll kill her, and it will take all of the powers in order to kill Klaus.  She says that’s her decision to make.  That it is the reason she was born with the powers at her disposal and it’s her choice if she decides to sacrifice herself to take out Klaus. 

Matt climbs into the Sheriff’s car, reveling that he was on vervain when he got Caroline to tell him everything that was going on, so he wasn’t really compelled to forget.   Holy Crap!  Sheriff Forbes wants him to tell her everything. 

John apologizes to Elena, telling her that he really did think that Isobel wanted her to be safe.  He was there when she was born, and saw how much it tore Isobel up to give Elena up, and because she was the first girl he ever loved, so when she’d said she would help keep Elena safe, he believed her. At this point he’ll do whatever Elena wants him to do; stay or go.  Elena replies that he screws up everything he touches, but he’s the only parent she has left, so maybe she can learn not to hate him.  He looks happy to take that.

Stefan and Damon realize that neither Katherine nor Isobel knew that Bonnie got her powers back or that she’s tapped into the other witches’ powers.  That literally makes Bonnie their secret weapon.  They toast to each other over that knowledge.

Katherine wakes up to see Klaus’ witch standing over a man sitting next to some containers of blood and magical objects.  Holy Crap, it’s Alaric!  And he’s now channeling or being possessed by Klaus!  Double Holy Crap! 

Random thoughts I had:

I know Jenna’s feeling betrayed and all, but what about her responsibility to take care of Jeremy?  Sure she hasn’t seemed to care where Elena is spending her nights in a long time, but doesn’t she have the least bit of maternal feeling towards her nephew?

So um… how the hell were all these witches burned inside a house that is still standing? Even if the house was built after the first 100 witches were burned, how was Emily burned on the 2nd floor of the house with no fire damage?

I so wasn’t expecting Isobel to go out like that!  But it was an interesting ending for her, and I think she finally touched Elena with her death in a way she never did when she was alive. 

Holy Crap, now Caroline’s mom is going to know everything!  What does this bode for Damon and Stefan with the council? 

What the hell is Klaus doing in Alaric’s body?!?  I thought they cast a new actor for that?

What do you guys think, was this episode worth the wait?

Episode 2.16 – “The House Guest”

My nights have been crazy between being sick and my daughter’s birthday. (somehow she thinks she gets to celebrate ALL week, lol) Again I’m sorry this is so late, this cold has been kicking my ass for more than a week.

Here we go…

Elena is rushing around, worried about being late for school. In a rare playful moment, Stefan tries to lure her back into bed, having no problems at all being late for school. She agrees to 5 more minutes and they fall into bed. Downstairs, “Elena” walks into the room and Damon automatically attacks her, thinking that she’s Katherine. Stefan walks in and sees her, thinks that Katherine was the one he was fooling around with upstairs and goes back up and attacks her. Katherine (who was the one downstairs after all!) shows up, saying it’s getting easier to impersonate Elena. Elena demands to know what she’s doing there and Stefan admits that the moment Elijah died; Katherine was freed from the tomb. “But what is she doing here?” Elena wants to know, clearly having expected her to head for the hills. “I don’t want her here.”  Katherine insists that they need her help. She is the only one who knows where Klaus is, and what he looks like. But since no one feels like wanting her help, she’ll go down to the Grill. “Maybe Aunt Jenna is free for a bite.” She taunts.

Stefan and Elena go to school for once, speculating on why Katherine is sticking around. Stefan seems to think that they all want the same thing, Klaus dead. Elena is less convinced, and not at all happy that Katherine’s staying with them. He offers to stay at Elena’s place tonight, but she declines, they’re having a girls night with Bonnie and Caroline and jokes that maybe Katherine can join them. They share with Bonnie and Jeremy that Katherine’s out of the tomb. Jeremy goes in for a kiss once the others move off, but Bonnie’s hesitant to do so until she has a chance to talk to Elena.

Elena is busy talking to Alaric who is racked with guilt over having to lie to Jenna all the time. He tells her that he even gave John his ring to keep him from stirring up trouble between them. He wants to tell Jenna the truth because he can’t be with her and not tell her. Elena agrees it’s becoming more dangerous for her not to know but was hoping to wait til they were done dealing with Klaus, but she has no idea how to tell her. Alaric says that he wants to be with Jenna but until they are able to tell her everything, they’re done.

Matt asks Caroline if she’s heard from Tyler, and she says no, not a peep. He’s starting to clue in to the idea that Tyler’s left town. Still upset that Caroline hasn’t made a commitment to be with him, he tells her to make a decision or leave him alone.

Damon takes a flame thrower to Elijah’s corpse but it doesn’t have any effect on him. Katherine tells him he’s wasting his time trying to get the dagger back, Originals are indestructible, the only way to keep him down is to keep the dagger in his heart. (okay, I guess I forgive them for not dismembering him already). How do you have so much information on the Originals, Damon wonders? Apparently she’s been researching them for the past 500 years or so. Damon turns the flame thrower in her direction and she actually looks a little panicked, telling him to be smart, she is a useful ally and if she wasn’t being honest she’d have been long gone by now. We want the same thing, and you know I always get what I want, she says. Damon lowers the weapon and she admits that of course she knew that he’d die if he used the dagger on Elijah but she would have done anything to get out of the tomb.

Stefan and Bonnie meet with Jonas and Luka at the Grill. They tell the witches that Elijah is dead and offer to help them get his daughter back. You can trust us, I give you my word, Stefan says. Jonas doesn’t say anything one way or another.

Later, Damon is looking through the Gilbert journals, trying to ignore Katherine who keeps after him like a lost puppy. “How am I supposed to help you when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” She wonders. He asks if she knows where the witches were massacred all those years ago and she admits that she doesn’t. “Then you can’t help,” he says. In the next second, he pins her by the throat and Katherine says that she is glad that he didn’t die. She goes on to say that Emily told her all about the witches massacre, it was a big deal in witch lore. When a witch dies violently, it releases a bunch of mystical energy, marking the place of their death. They speculate as to what Elijah wanted to do on the scene. Stefan arrives and lets them know that Elijah had no weapon to kill Klaus, they believed that if a witch could channel enough power (like from the site of a hundred dead witches), they wouldn’t need one. So I guess Jonas came through with some intel after all.

Just when we think things might all start coming together for the two factions, we switch to Jonas and Luka, who are still of the mindset that their best bet for getting Greta back is to stick with Elijah, not Stefan and his crew. “Those people are our enemies; they need to be dealt with.” Jonas insists. “Are you going to kill them?” Jonas asks. “No, I’m gonna let Elijah do it.” Jonas replies. They set up a spell by where Luka astral projects himself to the Salvatore house, and starts to pull the dagger from Elijah’s body. Luckily Katherine gets wind that not everything is quite right and notices the movement on the dagger. She pounces on it and stops him from removing it just in time. The witches think that it’s Elena at first, but realize that it’s Katherine when she’s stronger than Luka is. Luka grabs a piece of wood and stabs Katherine with it but Damon is able to remove it before she dies. Luckily the flamethrower is still in the room and Damon roasts Luka.

Back in his apartment, Luka’s physical body catches fire and even though Jonas tries to save him, Luka dies. Furious, Jonas starts to pull out the bits of Elena’s things that he stole from her room several episodes back, looking like he has some serious mojo planned. Stefan arrives to stop him, but Jonas strikes him down without blinking an eye.

Damon brings Katherine some blood to help her recover from the stake, but before he hands it over, he plunges it back into her side. “That’s for not telling me the dagger would kill me,” he says. He won’t trust her until she comes clean about her real reasons for sticking around. Katherine tells him that John Gilbert and Isobel want both Damon and Stefan out of the picture. John offered her a deal, either she stay and help with Klaus or he would kill Stefan.  He was fine with Damon dying, that was part of the deal, she could only save one brother. Damon seems upset that she chose Stefan but she says at least she didn’t lie about it.

At Elena’s girl’s night, the girls are trying to decide between pizza and Chinese food, and it looks like an ad for Caroline’s tablet as they surf for the nearest restaurants online. They decide to go to the Grill since there’s a live band playing and Jenna goes with them since she’s wallowing over her situation with Ric. The Grill is packed and besides the girls, Alaric is coincidentally there and Jenna heads straight for the bar. She doesn’t want to talk to him unless he tells her what’s going on. “I think I can handle anything,” she insists.

Matt blows Caroline off and she decides that she wants to be with Matt and tell him what’s going on. Instead of trying to pull him aside, she goes up on stage and compels the band into accompanying her while she sings “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles just for him. The song works because Elena walks in on Caroline and Matt making out in the bathroom at the Grill just minutes later.

Bonnie chooses now to tell Elena about her and Jeremy. I know it’s weird, she admits, but he makes her happy. It looks like it weirds Elena out more than I thought it would, but after a moment she says he deserves to be with someone like her after all the pain he’s been through. Stefan calls Damon and lets him know that Jonas is on the way to the Grill and he’s pissed about Luka dying. Katherine offers to help Damon stop Jonas; she has an idea how to keep him from hurting Elena.

At the Grill, Bonnie tries to reason with Jonas, but he’s beyond listening and knocks her out. Alaric tries to hustle Jenna out of there before things get too crazy and right after they leave, Jonas sets the bar on fire. Matt tries to beat out the flames and helps Bonnie get to safety. Elena approaches Jonas, telling him how sorry she is that Luka died and offers to help get his daughter back but he doesn’t want to listen to them either, Stefan hustles her out of there. Caroline attacks Jonas but he deflects her easily using that brain thing that Bonnie can do. Matt sees her getting attacked and comes after Jonas who stabs him in the neck with a piece of broken glass! Caroline pulls out the glass but vamps out a little at the sight of all the blood. She bites her own wrist and forces Matt to drink her blood in order to save him.

Bonnie and Jeremy are at the Gilbert’s and she feels guilty over Luka’s death. Stefan and Elena arrive and Elena goes upstairs where Jonas is waiting to attack her. But surprise! It’s not Elena after all (duh) and Katherine does that thing where she bites him for a second and he falls over dead. Bonnie says they didn’t have to kill him, but Katherine insists that they did. 2nd surprise! Jonas reaches up and grabs Bonnie’s head (similar to the way he did when he took her powers) before they kill him off for good this time.

Last 7 minutes of the show:
Damon shows up at the Gilbert’s and tells Elena that it was Katherine’s idea to pose as her to kill Jonas. Even after the successful help, Elena doesn’t want Katherine around. Katherine admits that she doesn’t particularly like Elena either, but they should trust that she wants Klaus dead.

Alaric and Jenna are outside (ooh wouldn’t it be cool if she walked in and sees both Elena and Katherine at the same time – oh no that didn’t happen, bummer) and Ric tells her that there are things he can’t tell her about Isobel’s death but that he loves her.  Jenna seems touched at the proclamation of love but they part ways without really resolving things between them.

Jeremy accuses Bonnie of being in denial about losing her powers since the only witch that could restore them is now dead, but Bonnie kisses him and tells him that she got her powers back when Jonas grabbed her head and that he also told her how to kill Klaus.

Damon is in bed and Katherine shows up dressed in some serious lingerie but he hardly gives her a glance. She wonders why he won’t tell her where the witches’ massacre is. He says he has no clue, but she doesn’t believe him. “You hurt me today,” she accuses. “Tit for tat.” Is his reply. “You were mean and rough, and monstrous, I like this Damon,” she admits, moving in very, very close, their lips practically touching. “Katherine, there are six other bedrooms in this house, go find one,” he replies, resisting the temptation and shoving her off of his bed before he gets back to his reading. Katherine pouts and flounces away shaking her head.

Matt wakes up, freaking out at the healed wound on his neck. Caroline tells him that she is a vampire, he was dying and her blood healed him. She insists that it’s gonna be just fine because they love each other, but he looks fairly freaked out, backing away from her. Suddenly it clicks, his sister Vicki was going on about being attacked by a vampire and he didn’t believe her. “What did you do?” He demands, assuming she was somehow involved. She tries to stop him from leaving, but he shoves her away.

There is a knock on the door at the Gilbert house, it’s Isobel! “Hi, you must be Jenna I’m Elena’s mother.” Holy crap!

Random thoughts I had:

Katherine is all over Damon in this episode, what’s up with that? Is it just that she wants what she can’t have? And is Damon really not into her anymore or is he just playing hard to get, playing the player?

Boy it sure looked like she got stabbed in the heart… how come Katherine didn’t die right away? I guess maybe it was a little low.

I was not expecting Luka to die! What kind of a witch is Jonas that he couldn’t save him? I thought he was stronger than that, it feels like a plot device to me.

It was cute to see Caroline singing. I hear she’s gonna be acting more like a regular high school student in the upcoming episodes. I hope she doesn’t just become a ditz again, it was nice to see her character evolve.

So the boys are holding out on Katherine, keeping the location of the witches’ massacre to themselves. Interesting…

Of course Bonnie will have her powers back now, the question is, will she be even stronger? Did Jonas imbue her with some of his own power?

Hmm something tells me things are not gonna be rosy between Matt and Caroline for a while, he really freaked out!  Maybe she should compel him to forget and then tell him in a gentler way?

Ooh Isobel shows up right after Alaric told Jenna that she was dead! And now Jenna knows that she’s Elena’s mother too? Holy crap I can’t wait to see this play out!

Another 6 week hiatus, what are they doing to us!

Episode 2.15 – “The Dinner Party”

So many surprises in this episode!  Let’s get right to it.

Elena is reading the Gilbert journals, learning all about Stefan’s wicked past.  It feels like we’ve already tread this ground before with previous shows where the good vampire has a dark past (Buffy, True Blood, etc) but I suppose it’s a given that they have to go there.  Damon calls to let Stefan know that Tyler ran away from home.  He also shares with him his plan to get rid of Elijah with the magic dagger and ash. 

Jenna and Elijah are wandering through old ruined properties in town.  He tells her that the “founding fathers” of Mystic Falls didn’t actually found anything, the region had been settled a couple hundred years earlier by witches from Salem.  (Why do I think this is going to come into play later?)  Alaric shows up acting like a jealous boyfriend, which is making Jenna feel a little uncomfortable by the looks of it.  The moment Jenna leaves to get something from the car, Elijah mentions that Alaric is on the list that Elena gave him of loved ones to protect.  Alaric points out that Jenna is on the list too and Elijah teases that he doesn’t pursue younger women. 

Bonnie and Jeremy meet at the Grill; he invites her over to his place that night to “practice” her witchcraft to help her get stronger.  Luka shows up demanding to know what happened the night before since he can’t remember anything.  He doesn’t buy it when she denies knowing anything about it, but Jeremy gets all manly and demands that Luka back off.  (Doesn’t it seem like Luka wouldn’t be afraid of Jeremy?  Besides his powers he probably outweighs him by at least ten pounds of muscle, I’m just saying…)

When she arrives later, Jeremy has a bajillion candles lit and Bonnie freaks out a little, not having realized it was a date.  She doesn’t want to continue anything with him until she has a chance to talk to Elena first, make sure she’s cool with it.

Elena seems pretty upset about what she reads in the journal about Stefan.  Stefan takes over the storytelling about the past and we get more flashbacks into his undead life of debauchery.  (seriously, how many chicks does he need to kill in one night?)  We see Damon (with awful hair again) get fed up with him and leave after compelling some of Stefan’s intended victims to leave and never think of this place again.  Stefan promises to do better if he won’t leave, but Damon isn’t listening.  That’s what drove Stefan into switching off his emotions.  “It sounds like you were Damon,” Elena says.  “I was much worse,” Stefan admits. 

He goes on to tell her about how he would haunt the camps during the war and feed from the wounded.  There he meets a mysterious woman in a cloak who turns out to be Lexi.  He takes her home to offer shelter for the day but she balks when she sees the dead women in his parlor.  “My god, you’re a ripper…” she gasps.  But that doesn’t seem to be enough to send her packing, she just accepts it and tells him “we’re going to have to change that.”�

Damon, Andi, and Alaric are sitting at the Grill talking about Elijah when he shows up with Jenna.  At Andi’s suggestion, Damon invites them all back to his place for a dinner party that night and Alaric looks none too happy about it but Elijah seems to take it in stride.  I was surprised to see Damon turn up at the tomb next, bringing Katherine a bottle of blood and a change of clothes.  He wants to know if the dagger can really kill an Original.  She begs him not to kill Elijah or she’ll be trapped in the tomb forever, and offers to help him kill Elijah and protect Elena if he helps her get out of there first.  He takes her begging to mean that it can be done with the dagger and leaves, happy that she’s confirmed it. 

Jenna confides to Andi that she is really into Alaric, but is afraid that he’s keeping things from her.  Andi replies that she’s so grateful that Damon tells her everything.  (hee, that made me laugh!)  In the other room, Alaric says he thinks this dinner party is a bad idea.  “There’s no such thing as a bad idea,” Damon counters, “just poorly executed awesome ones.”  He promises that the dinner party is just a fact finding mission, no violence, scouts honor.  Why do I not believe him?  Maybe because the instant Alaric leaves, Damon dips the dagger in the ash and hides it in the study. 

John shows up uninvited and for some reason they let him stay.    Elijah is the last to arrive and warns that if Damon has any dishonorable intentions and crosses him, he’ll kill him and everyone in the house.  Damon insists that it’s just a get to know you kind of night and the dinner party begins!  The topic of witches settling the town comes up again.  Elijah’s looking for a location where a bunch of witches were rounded up and burned together in a field. 

Elena finds that Jonathan Gilbert researched the Originals in his journals.  There’s even a picture of the dagger in there and it mentions the ash of the old tree.  Stefan confides that they have the dagger, given to Damon by John and she reads on to see that it must be wielded by a human or it will kill any demon who wields it.  (ah you sneaky devil, so that’s what you were up to John!)  Stefan desperately tries to reach Damon on the phone but he isn’t picking up.  Instead he’s luring Elijah into the study where the dagger awaits.  Luckily, he tries calling Alaric next who manages to intercept Damon just in time, right after Elijah confirms that he needs to find that location where the witches were burned as part of the ritual. 

Jenna absents herself to finish up on the dessert and the candid talk returns since all the others present are in on Elijah’s identity.  Elijah’s in the middle of delivering a threat when Alaric stabs him from behind through the chair!!!  I was soooo not expecting that!  But a moment later he pulls the dagger out asking Damon to get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert and I’m thinking chop off his head!  Seriously, after Elijah came back before?  Dismember him and stick his parts in a blender!  But instead they just dump him in the cellar.  I found myself yelling at the screen, No, don’t do it, don’t leave him down there!

Elena is pretty pissed off that Damon and Stefan were scheming to kill Elijah behind her back.  Stefan accuses her of giving up and Lexi wouldn’t let him give up, so he’s not going to let her give up.   Lexi encouraged him to turn his emotions back on and get through the pain in order to feel love again.  He wants Elena to fight for her survival the way he did.  They go back inside and Elena reads that the dagger has to remain in place in order for the Original to stay dead.  Of course when Damon and Alaric run down to check, Elijah’s body is gone.  He shows up at his witch Jonas’ place asking him to find Elena for him.  Uh oh. 

Bonnie and Jeremy are playing with fire – literally.  That is, Bonnie’s practicing how to channel the energy from the flame and he asks her to try and channel his energy.  They move closer, she lays a hand over his heart, but before it can go any further, Jonas arrives and demands to know what she did to his son.  Tossing Jeremy aside, he recites an incantation, stealing Bonnie’s powers, threatening that if anything bad happens to Luka because of her, she’ll be sorry. 

Elijah shows up at the lakeside cabin and stoops to pick up a handful of pebbles.  Never a good sign.  Using them to demolish the front door, he approaches, saying “I might not be able to enter this house, but I’m a very patient man.  I will wait you out.”  Elena goes to talk to him, leaving Stefan hiding around the corner – I wonder what they have planned… they seemed to know he was coming. 

“The deal is off.”  Elijah declares and she asks to renegotiate, but he doesn’t seem very open to the idea, telling her she doesn’t have anything left to negotiate with.  Elena disagrees, pulling out a long knife.  His plans will fall through if she bleeds to death, she says.  Elijah isn’t buying it, knowing that Stefan won’t let her die.  Elena agrees, but says that after she has some of Stefan’s blood in her, she’ll kill herself, turning into a vampire just like Katherine did and then no more Petrova Doppleganger.  That brings a smile of admiration to his lips, but in the end he still thinks she’s bluffing.  Elena plunges the knife into her midsection and collapses.  Elijah quickly promises to honor her deal, giving his word and Elena stumbles forward to let him heal her.  Only the instant she’s close enough, she plunges the witch’s dagger into him!  Elijah dies (maybe for good this time) and Elena collapses next to him.  Stefan rushes over and feeds her some of his blood and Damon steps out from around the corner.  “Little tip, don’t pull the dagger out.” He says. 

Last six minutes of the show:

Jenna asks Alaric what happened to Isobel but he refuses to talk to her about it.  He not only doesn’t tell her anything, he doesn’t answer when she asks if he’s being honest with her.  She leaves amid tears and John steps out, offering to clear things up with Jenna about Isobel tomorrow, all he wants is his ring.  Alaric leaves the ring for him on the kitchen counter telling him after what he did to Damon, John’s going to need it more than he will. 

Stefan and Damon dump Elijah’s body in the cellar and Damon finds the moonstone in Elijah’s pocket.  Elena tells them, you want me to fight, fine I’ll fight.  But from this moment on we’re doing it my way.  Seems fair, Damon agrees and so does Stefan.  Damon goes up to his room and finds Katherine naked in his shower.  (except for perfect make up of course)  He stares at her dumbly when she asks for a robe, asking how she got out.  Little known fact?  Elijah’s compulsion over her would disappear the moment he dies, so she knew that if she begged him not to kill Elijah that would be exactly what he would do.  But she’s still there, she didn’t run, she’s going to help him protect Elena just like she promised.  “So, how about that robe?”  Katherine asks, dripping all over his floor. 

Random thoughts I had:

Didn’t Elena already have some inkling that Stefan wasn’t always a fluffy bunny vampire?  Why does she seem so shocked that he was a murderous vampire in the past?

How badass was Elena is this one?  Stabbing not only herself but Elijah too?  Awesome!

I missed Caroline in this one, but now that Tyler’s gone, I guess I can see giving her a break.

I wonder what being without her powers is going to do to Bonnie?

I wonder how long it’ll be before Klaus turns up?  And if I were them, I’d carve Elijah up into bits, burn the pieces, scatter the ashes and then get the dagger ready for when Klaus makes an appearance.

Hooray for more Katherine/Elena hijinx to ensue!

Episode 2.14 – “Crying Wolf”

Okay, here we go… The werewolves are burning their fallen comrades out in the woods and I’m thinking… wow, they really did kill more werewolves than I thought in that fight!  I thought there weren’t all that many werewolves to be found?  That’s why Katherine had to activate Tyler’s curse after Mason was gone?  But here comes wolf Stevie, who tells Jules and Brady that he should have known something was up when Mason started dating that hot vampire chick Katherine and asking about the curse.  So he’s obviously met her and she must have known there were other werewolves around.  But I digress…

Stevie tells them that the moonstone’s what’s needed to break the sun and moon curse and that the vampires must be working to break the curse.  “We can’t let them do that, even if we have to kill every last vampire in town.”  Brady says.  Um…. Yeah you and what army?  Cause it seems like you had your asses handed to you after coming up against just two of them last night… I’m just saying.

Tyler shows up and they enlist his help to try and find the moonstone.  He demands an explanation and they fill him in about the curse and the stone and the doppelganger.  Jules says if we can change at will, that means we don’t have to turn at all.  Yeah somehow I don’t think that’s their real desire to break the curse, but it catches Tyler’s attention because he never wants to turn into a wolf again.  Stevie shows him a picture of “Kathy”, Mason’s vampire girlfriend and he recognizes Elena right away. 

Elena, Caroline and Bonnie are all crammed in Caroline’s bed and clearly not early risers when Stefan calls to check in with Elena, but then again, I suppose I’d be tired after a slumber party too.  Elena (with perfect eye make up mind you) gets up for a little chat with Stefan who promises to take her away for the weekend to get away from everything that’s going on, especially John hanging around her house.

Damon compels reporter Andi Starr into not mentioning anything about the night before except for the fact that she might be falling for him.  Coincidentally, she’s going to a party with the town’s historical society for a writer working on small town histories – Elijah Smith.  Really Smith?  Damon thinks it’s a stupid fake last name too.  Alaric arrives and Damon introduces Andi as his girlfriend, a reporter for action news.  (not that it’s really action news, he just likes calling it that)  Damon shows him the dagger that John gave him that can kill Elijah.  They speculate as to whether or not they can trust John, and they’re not sure since John is obviously a weasel and can’t really be trusted in general.  Alaric mentions that he’s off to the historical society party as well and admonishes Damon to leave Elijah alone.  Damon promises not to try to kill him, he wants to know Elijah’s end game before he kills him.  But he does think that it’s time that he and Elijah officially met.  I guess staking him through the heart with a banister didn’t really count, huh?

At the historical society party, Elijah is talking to Carol Lockwood when Damon strolls up and she introduces them.  They’re civil enough out in public, but the moment they wander into an unoccupied room to talk, the kid gloves are off.  Damon demands some answers and Elijah responds by jamming a pencil into Damon’s throat.  Ouch.  I kind of think he got off light, Elijah could have hurt him a lot worse and still kept him alive.  “The moment you cease to be of use to me you’re dead.  So you should do what I say.  Keep Elena safe.”  Elijah says with a little smile on his face. 

As an aside, John threatens to tell Jenna about Alarics little extra curricular activities if he doesn’t stop spending the night at the house.  (apparently it’s a bad example for the kids)  Also, he wants Alaric’s ring for himself.  “You’re a dick.”  Seems to be Alaric’s reponse.  He goes home with Damon who’s recuperating with a sore neck and they commiserate over Elijah’s threat.  “Elijah’s one scary dude.  But with nice hair.”  Alaric comments.   I love the dialogue between Damon and Alaric here, just chilling, talking about Elijah, John, Andi.  Not enough to reproduce it here word for word, it just bears mentioning that it’s nice to see them relaxing together, talking through things. 

Bonnie and Caroline are at the grill, cooking up a witchy plan to find out just what Elijah’s up to as well.  Matt strolls by and blows off Caroline, to her confusion.  She confronts him and he admits that he knows she lied to him the night before, that she wasn’t with Bonnie when she was a no show at the grill because Bonnie was there the whole time.  Tyler shows up to try to talk to Caroline but she pushes him away.  But even as he’s apologizing and asking her to talk to him, he’s palming her phone after her purse spills out all over the floor.  Would he have really switched sides here if she’d stopped to talk to him?  I wonder…  Matt confronts Tyler, saying that if the two of them want to get together that’s fine, but do him a favor and stop lying about it. 

Bonnie approaches Luka with a coffee drink to bury the hatchet and I’m immediately thinking she’s trying to slip him a mickey.  Sure enough, after just a couple of sips he’s all wonky and about to pass out.  Good thing she called Jeremy to assist with the plan and with his and Caroline’s help, they get Luka out of there and over to Caroline’s place.  While they’re setting up, Caroline calls Bonnie on the attraction between her and Jeremy and Bonnie tries to deny it, but Caroline tells her that they’ve all changed, he’s not just Elena’s little brother anymore.  There’s no reason not to go after him if she wants to. 

Jeremy rejoins them and Bonnie works a little witchy mojo to get Luka to tell her why they’re helping Elijah.  Luka tells her that they’re helping Elijah in order to free his sister who is being held by Klaus to work magic for him in an effort to break the curse without the moonstone.  He also tells them that Elijah intends to kill Klaus AFTER the sacrifice that kills Elena, when Klaus will be vulnerable.  Uh oh. 

Tyler uses Caroline’s phone to text Elena and find out where she is.  Elena texts back that she’s just about to leave for the lake house with Stefan, and now the werewolves know where she’s going to be.  Easy pickings.  Stefan and Elena arrive at the lake house and Elena’s a little weirded out since she hasn’t been back there since her parents died.  But after a little nostalgic looking around, she’s fine, teasing Stefan before inviting him into the house. 

Elena stands looking out over the lake, thinking about her childhood memories when Stefan comes out to join her.  She asks if he ever thinks about their future together.  “There are a lot of conversations to be had about our future, what kind of life we could have together.”  He says.  Wow, that’s a wordy response for ‘I’m not sure I want to talk about it.’  Elena acknowledges that it’s a box they probably shouldn’t open but Stefan encourages her to talk about it if she wants to.  She declines, saying she wants to live in the now.�
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Later,  Stefan is making dinner up at the cabin so Elena offers to get more wood for the fire.  Venturing into her parents old room for a jacket, she stops to smell her mother’s perfume, and more nostalgia ensues.  While looking through the closet, Stefan finds a hollow section of the wall and they discover a secret room filled with a cache of weapons and more old Gilbert journals like the one Jeremy has.  Sweet!  Stefan leaves her there to go through it, going out to get some wood.  While out there, he’s brought down by Brady and his wooden bullets (can someone explain the physics of wooden bullets to me?) in the woodshed.  Passing the gun and a stake on to Tyler, Brady goes after Elena.  What follows is another teen slasher movie rip off where he chases her through the house and she cleverly avoids him. (yawn)

Apparently Tyler is just fine with Stefan dying in this scenario as long as he gets to break the curse.  He shoots Stefan in the leg trying to keep him down.  Stefan tells him that they’ll have to kill Elena in order to break the curse.  That’s the deciding factor for Tyler, who breaks faith with the werewolves and lets Stefan go just in time for him to kill Brady.  Tyler apologizes to Elena, saying he didn’t know what they were going to do to her.  Elena gives him a sympathetic hug as Stefan looks on.  She’s very huggy lately, no?

John tries to tell Jenna that Alaric’s a liar (right after telling her she’s an unfit guardian) and she doesn’t buy it until he starts talking about what happened to Ric’s wife Isobel.  You can see the tiny kernel of doubt in there that I’m thinking will come into play soon.  I hope so at least, it’s time for Jenna to learn some things, don’t you think? 

Alaric says he finally has to go pick up Jenna, but before he can leave, the werewolves attack!  They stab him in the gut, and I’m thinking they must not worry a whole lot about collateral damage.  Or maybe they figure that since he’s a vampire sympathizer it’s okay to kill him?  I dunno, but they didn’t have a problem “killing” Alaric, thank god for that magic ring!  Damon puts up a pretty good fight but a syringe of vervain later he’s pretty much subdued, and ready for the torture.  They rig Damon with a collar lined with wooden stakes and start to ask him where the moonstone is.  “If you only knew the irony of this moment right now.”  He laughs as he sits in the same chair before the same fireplace he tortured Mason over the moonstone for.  Damon seems pretty unconcerned with their threats and torture, vowing never to tell where the moonstone is.

“You looking for this?”  Elijah shows up with the moonstone in hand.  Without batting an eye, all of the werewolves are dead, (tearing out of the hearts seems to be their favorite trick) except for Jules who runs off and Elijah breaks Damon’s chains.  “Do you realize this is the third time I’ve saved your life now?”  Elijah mentions, picking up the moonstone as he leaves.�
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Last seven minutes of the show:

Damon sets the room to rights while he’s on the phone with Bonnie and she lets him know that Elijah intends to go through with the sacrifice.  Alaric wakes up from his mortal wounds, and has to lie to Jenna on the phone about where he’s been.  (talk about awful timing for him to give her any doubts!)  Damon passes the word along to Stefan about Elijah’s intentions and when he tells Elena, she admits that she assumed she’d die all along.  She still thinks it’s better to sacrifice herself instead of all of her loved ones.  (no wonder she didn’t want to talk to him about the future earlier!)  Stefan is pretty upset about her acting like a martyr.  Elena asks him how it’s any different from him being willing to die to protect her and he responds that it’s because he’s already lived for 162 years and she hasn’t had a chance to live her life yet, that’s not heroic, it’s tragic.  (I can kinda see the point there)

Bonnie and Jeremy are leaving Caroline’s place after she left to take Luka home and Bonnie tells him that she’s been there through all of the awkward phases of his life and somehow he turned into a hot guy overnight and before she can finish her train of thought, Jeremy steps up and kisses her.  It’s a pretty good kiss apparently because the first thing out of her mouth when they come up for air is “Wow.”

Tyler leaves his mother a goodbye letter and then stops by the grill to say goodbye to Matt.  Tyler admits that he did fall for Caroline, but that she really loves Matt and that he should be good to her.  He says “see you around” but gets into the car with Jules and a great big duffel bag.  Jules promises him “No more lies.” And they drive off into the night.
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Random thoughts I had:

I kind of feel sorry for Andi here because with that little compulsion he’s making her invest her feelings for him instead of just the acknowledged booty call of the night before.  But then again, I feel sorry for Damon for having to compel a woman into accepting him for what he is.  Either way, this whole relationship, if you can call it that, is just setting up to be a train wreck waiting to happen. 

Boy Caroline really doesn’t spend much time with her mother.  I mean we’ve known they have a less than perfect relationship already but damn, that woman is Never home. 

Any one else think it was really stupid of Damon to challenge Elijah like that?  I mean come on, the guy’s an Original.  Did he really think he could threaten him?  Hopefully he’s got it through his pretty little head just how much more powerful Elijah is and treads a bit more carefully.

You know, I wasn’t really happy with Tyler’s going back and forth between factions so much lately, but I have to say I’m sorry to see him go.  I hope he turns up again sometime because they really made him into an interesting character, and I really liked seeing Caroline’s protective and caring side come out whenever she was around him.

Let’s hear what you thought about the episode!

Also, if anyone is interested in following me on twitter, I do post there when I have the recap completed or other updates to the site.  You can find me under Mystewitch.

Episode 2.13 – “Daddy Issues”

This episode was jam packed with goodies!  Soooo much better than last week in my opinion.

Tyler pays Caroline a visit, looking very intense when he tells her they need to talk.  Oblivious, Caroline tells him that they can’t “go there” meaning the kiss they shared.  He’s a little more concerned with the fact that she’s been lying to him about there being no other vampires in town and that she’s known all along that they killed his uncle Mason.  She tries to explain, but he flips out, pressing her against her car.  “I trusted you!” He yells before stalking off.

Cut to Damon in the shower, never a bad place to begin! (thanks TVD for answering my request for a shirtless Damon!)  It seems like everyone in town is watching the news which is covering the slew of murders, thanks to Rose, Jules and Damon’s recent activities.  The Mayor announces they will be holding a memorial service at the town square.  John is watching as well at the Gilbert household but turns it off when Elena emerges looking cute in a ponytail.  But that’s the only thing cute and cuddly about Elena today as she comes out swinging, demanding to know what John’s doing in town.  He insists that he’s there to protect her.  Elena gets some great lines in this episode, basically getting to tell John off at every opportunity, all those things that I shout out to my TV on her behalf in the past.  He has no right to be in her life, she neither wants nor needs him there, etc.; it’s glorious.  Jenna and Alaric come down and she demands to know what John’s doing there too.  Oops, guess they forgot to tell her about his arrival the night before.  She demands that he leaves, but John points out that it’s not up to her because despite her being Elena’s legal guardian, he is her biological father.  She looks suitably stunned. 

Stefan seems to be the only one who is happy about John’s return to Mystic Falls.  Not so for Damon who wonders if Stefan has blown a mental gasket for trusting him.  Stefan defends his decision, listing out all the ways they’re currently screwed, they can use all the help they can get.  He believes that John knows how to keep Elena safe – even though he refuses to divulge how to any of them.  Damon is less trusting, more ticked off about the new development than anything else.  “As if I didn’t have enough problems.” He grumbles, heading straight to Elena’s house.

Damon and Elena bond over mistrusting John, regardless of what Stefan says.  When Elena asks what they’re going to do, Damon responds by saying they’re going to kill him – but that he’s not serious – well, okay a little serious.  He promises not to hurt him because he’s a good guy now.  Elena comes with him just to be sure all he does is talk to her father. 

Caroline texts Stefan 911 to come over, revealing that Tyler knows about them being vampires and that they killed Mason.  We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid, she insists. 

Jules goes to see Tyler, wanting him to join up with her werewolf pack.  She wants him to leave Mystic Falls because it’s not safe with so many vampires around.  “We live by a code of loyalty, we take care of each other.  It’s my duty and honor to help you, please let me.” She beseeches him.  Tyler continues to look skeptical and Jules leaves.  But before he can make up his mind Stefan shows up, getting to act positively Grr again as he tries to explain to Tyler the way things are.  Nice demonstration that except for on a full moon, werewolves are no match for the strength of a vampire.  Stefan tells him that they don’t have to have this kind of rivalry, they can all share the town together and that Caroline is his friend, so he should stop being a dick to her. 

Jules isn’t giving up so easily.  She goes back to a motor home in the woods where Brady is waiting, and he looks ready to go vampire hunting.  Jules says that she wants the boy more than she wants vengeance but he says, let’s get both.  She tries calling Tyler but when Stefan keeps him from talking, she figures out that something’s up.  In retaliation they kidnap Caroline just after she makes plans to meet up with Matt later to hash things out between them, with a gunshot to the head.  Though we all know she’s not really dead, that’s gotta be painful!  Sure enough, she wakes up in a cage and has to dig the bullet out of her head. (ow!)  Brady shoots her again and again with wooden bullets, watching her suffer dispassionately.  Man I hope this guy dies painfully…

Jules calls Stefan and demands that he bring Tyler to her in exchange for Caroline or they’ll kill her.  When he asks for proof that they really have Caroline, they torture her some more.  Oh yeah, these guys have gotta die… 

At the memorial service, Jeremy isn’t happy to see Uncle John and offers to give him the ring back if he’ll leave town.  John refuses to accept it, inviting him to lunch but Jeremy gives it a pass.  Bonnie arrives and Jonas approaches her but she has nothing to say to him.  Jonas insists that they aren’t enemies just because they are allied with Elijah.  That they are all on the same side and Elijah will keep his word and protect them all, but Bonnie isn’t convinced.  She sidles up to Jeremy and the pair seem pretty cozy.   

At the Grill, Jenna is still reeling over the news about Elena’s parents and Alaric looks pretty uncomfortable for having kept that secret from her all this time.  John moves to join them, but Jenna is less than welcoming.  Just then, Damon and Elena show up and she pleads with Damon not to do anything stupid.  “But stupid is so much more fun.”  He teases before promising to be good when she asks him to be the better man. 

Damon confronts John, asking him to tell him what he’s up to or he’ll kill him in his sleep now that he doesn’t have the ring anymore.  But John holds strong, telling him that he can’t tell him until he’s sure he can trust him.  Damon adjourns to the bar where Andi Star, the news reporter and apparently a friend of Jenna’s asks to meet him.  Elena seems more than a little interested in the exchange, eavesdropping nearby.  He pretty much blows her off, in fact he’s steering clear of all women for the moment he says.  Stefan calls to tell them what’s going on with Caroline and Damon wants to know why he’s been kept out of the loop about Tyler knowing about them.  Elena begs him not to kill Tyler when Damon says that’s what needs to happen and Damon tells her she needs to stop assuming that he’s going to do the right thing just because it’s her that’s asking.  John busts in wanting to know what’s going on but Damon tells him that trust works both ways, so get out.  Damon leaves and John keeps Elena from rushing after him.   John admits that he’s made mistakes, but they’re family and he wants to help her. “You may be my father but I’m never going to be your daughter.”  She spits back at him.  (You go girl!)

Brady continues to torture Caroline with vervain in a squirt gun and little shards of wood from a blow gun; it seems like he came prepared to get some information out of her before he kills her.  Jules balks a little, but as long as he’s helping her get Tyler, she goes along with it.  Stefan shows up with Tyler in hand, and I’m thinking that they’re working together because there’s no way Tyler would stand for Caroline being tortured, right?  “It doesn’t have to get any messier than it already has.” Stefan tells her, but Jules makes no move to release Caroline.  Damon arrives, letting Stefan make his pitch for a peaceful resolution before he tries his methods which are a little bloodier he says.  Without a full moon it’s not an even contest.  Jules whistles and werewolves come crawling out of the woodwork, surrounding them and brandishing everything from stakes to flamethrowers.

Okay, here we go cause the action starts flying faster than I can type.  Stefan pretty quickly overpowers the guy with the flamethrower, turning it against them.  Damon rips out someone’s heart so easily and casually it’s like it cost him no effort at all.  (is it wrong that I thought that was really cool?)  Tyler rushes into the motor home to release Caroline from the cage.  Stefan breaks another’s neck and then catches not one, but two stakes shot from crossbows out of midair, staking one of the Weres with one and hurling one of them back into the shooter’s throat.  How cool was that?  (and my bloodthirsty admiration expands to include both brothers) But uh oh, the tide starts to turn!  Stefan gets staked in the back and Damon gets shot with a wooden bullet!  Just as both brothers look like they’re gonna get killed the werewolves (except for Tyler) start clutching their heads and falling to the ground.  Jonas steps out of the woods, reminding them that Elijah keeps his promises and will continue to protect them.  They take Caroline and go, leaving Tyler there among the werewolves.  Jonas tells them that he had a message for them, they need to get the hell out of this town. 

 Stefan takes Caroline home and asks her if she wants him to hang out for a little while.  She insists that she’s okay and just wants to take a shower and go to bed.  Caroline puts on a brave face, but why do I think she’s going to start weeping the moment he’s gone?  Poor thing.  It turns out she’s still got a bunch of wood shards in her from that blowgun, and she has to dig them out one by one.  While she’s still doing this, Matt calls, wondering where she is.  Not up to dealing with him, she blows him off, telling him that she’s doing girly things with Bonnie.  Matt acts casual on the phone, but the camera pulls back to show Bonnie and Jeremy all cozy in a booth together at the Grill so he knows she’s lying.   Still pulling out the wood chunks, Tyler shows up again, apologizing for what happened to her, but he isn’t sure who to trust.  Caroline doesn’t accept his apology, angry because he just stood there and let it all happen.  She tells him that they’re not friends any more and to run back to his little werewolf friends. 

John shows up at Damon’s door apparently decided that both Stefan and Damon can be trusted where Elena’s safety is involved.  (duh, thanks for finally joining the class big guy, we could have told you that last season!)  He shows Damon a special dagger that when dipped in the ashes of an old oak tree from the time of the Originals and plunged into their heart can kill one.  (why does that sound too good to be true?)  He claims to know this from Isobel, who’s off attempting to accomplish something to keep Klaus from ever setting foot in Mystic Falls. 

Last nine minutes of the show:

John approaches Elena in the kitchen while she’s getting something from the fridge (shades of when Katherine tried to kill him, posing as Elena).  He tells her that he’s not there to fight with her, and gives her a bracelet that her mother Miranda had when she was young.  It was in a box of things that his brother left to him.  He knows that Miranda and Grayson were her parents and he’s nothing to her, but reminds her that when she lost her parents, he also lost his brother and he lost his way.  He’s going to do everything he can to protect her and the family.  Damn, I think he’s getting through to her because she gets all teary over it.  Stefan shows up and the music swells as they hug and she insists that she still doesn’t believe John.  Interesting.  Instead she changes the subject, asking how Caroline is.  Stefan tells her that he needs her help.

Tyler goes back to the motorhome to see Jules and Brady who might be the only survivors of the pack.  Tyler says he’s sorry about their friends.  Brady offers him a drink (yeah, throw some alcohol on the volatile temper, smart move), and they tell him that it’s not always like this, he’s just living among too many vampires.  They wonder why Mason wanted to stick around after his brother died.  Tyler volunteers that he was after the moonstone and their eyes light up in recognition, asking if he ever found it.  Confirming that Mason did find it but that he has no idea where the stone is now, Tyler looks like he’s got a whole new bunch of questions for these guys.

Stefan shows up at Caroline’s house again, and she insists that she’s fine, but he steps back having brought reinforcements; Elena and Bonnie.  He figured that Caroline could use a little girls night sleepover and the three girls hug.  (awww)  Elena looks up and trades whispered “I love yous” with Stefan.  (double awww)

And we’re back in Damon’s bathroom again and I got my wish, he’s in the tub!  A bubble bath no less with the plucky girl reporter Andi Star.  And while I hate her pretty much on principle, it’s interesting to see him talking to her, more or less admitting that she’s a distraction because he’s in love with someone else and her accepting it and inviting him to booty call her any time.  More interesting still, is his admission that he kills people, compelling her when she starts to freak out.  Thanks to that compulsion, the conversation continues calmly as she’s able to accept it and move on.  Damon admits that he kills people because he likes it, it’s in his nature, it’s who he is.  And Elena wants him to be the better man which means he can’t be who he is, ever.  Wow, what a revelation, no wonder he’s all tortured inside.  But tiring of going over it again and again, Damon decides there’s been enough talking and takes her for the distraction she is, first with a little kissing and then with a little feeding.  Andi looks like it’s painful for half a sec before she starts to enjoy it. 

Ready for our cliffhanger?  We cut to Katherine in the tomb, reading by lantern light and looking like she’s in pretty good shape for starving to death.  In walks John of all people, because Isobel was busy.  She wants out of the tomb.  “I’m already on it,” he replies.  (dun, dun, dun!)

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Random thoughts I had:

I’m not sure why, but it was nice to see Elena in a ponytail this episode.  I’m not sure if it means something or not, but it seemed like she was much more her old self if that makes sense. 

So I know that John is Elena’s biological father, but what difference would that make in Jenna’s ability to order him from the house?  Legally she is their guardian, and therefore the legal owner of the house I would think.  He has no legal basis to demand to stay there without a protracted court battle that would likely give him custody of Elena only, but not any rights to the house.  It seems like a thin argument to me to keep him around.  They have these things called motels… I’m just saying.

Did I miss an episode somewhere?  How did Bonnie know that Luka betrayed her?  Any why was she so cozy with Jeremy all of a sudden?  The last thing I remember was her giving him the brush off.  Maybe it’s because of the long hiatus, but I felt like I was missing something. 

Yes I know that Caroline and Tyler are awesome together, but did anyone else see a little something something between Stefan and Caroline again when he took her home?  I just think there is a spark there, but you guys know that.

How come no one considers good old fashioned decapitation for destroying an original?  I know they’re tough, but come on, if Damon was able to stake one, couldn’t he follow up with lopping off his head?  I’m pretty sure that’ll be hard to recover from, even for Klaus.  Hell, put his body parts in a blender and scatter them to the four corners of the earth if he’s paranoid about it.  Hmm, I think my bloodthirsty side is showing again…

So what do you think?  Did you enjoy “Daddy Issues” as much as I did?

Episode 2.12 – “The Descent”

And we’re back!

Thank goodness for the recap at the beginning of the episode as I’d forgotten just where we left off!

We begin with Jules waking up naked in the woods; her mouth artfully smeared with dirt and dried blood.  How lucky that she stumbles upon some campers… well, what’s left of them after she tore them apart the night before.  Is it just me or wouldn’t there be less parts if they’d been savaged by wolves?  Why would a wolf need to chop them into so many pieces anyway?  But there are body parts galore as she piles them onto the campfire.  Jules whips up some fast crocodile tears when the law shows up, and before he can call it in, she beats him to death with a handy piece of wood. 

Elena comes to see Stefan and we’re treated to a gratuitous shot of his bare torso.  (psst, where’s our shot of Damon with his shirt off?  It’s been a long hiatus!)  The couple seems just as lovey dovey as usual.  She doesn’t want them to be apart anymore, ever.  (where is this girl’s parental supervision?  Doesn’t Jenna care that she’s out all hours of the night?)  Stefan feels like he should talk to Isobel to ask her about Klaus, but Elena isn’t sure it’s a good idea.  Next on the bad idea list is Stefan chugging back some vervain dosed water to try and build up a tolerance to it.  It looks painful, but he seems to recover pretty quickly after all.  It’s nice to see Elena take a sip as well, hopefully affording her a small modicum of protection herself. 

Rose looks like crap.  They did a great job making her look like she’s weak and dying.  Damon has no sympathy for her depressing talk, telling her in typical fashion, “You know if you’re going to be maudlin, I might as well just kill you myself, to put me out of your misery.”  He tries to lift her spirits, intimating that she might not be dying after all, but as he takes a look at her wound, it’s obviously much, much worse.  Damon lies and tells her it’s definitely looking better, enlisting Elena to reassure her as well.  He asks Elena to play nursemaid to Rose for a while so he can go out and run some errands, knowing that she won’t say no.  Elena asks if Rose is going to die.  Damon replies that she probably will, explaining about the infection that seems to be spreading from the werewolf bite.  “The sooner she dies the better, it’s gloomy as hell in here.”  He adds.  We all know that just means he’s repressing his emotions as he tends to do when he’s being that glib, which also means that he actually cares about Rose on some level.  Interesting.

Elena tucks rose into Damon’s bed and we get our first real look at his bedroom.  Nice.  Especially the bathroom, I hope they show him taking a bath at some point… okay I’m back now.    He’s reading Gone With the Wind, not what Elena expected, she was thinking he was a silk sheets kind of guy.  Rose tells Elena she’s lucky, no one has ever loved her the way that Elena is loved.  She’s always been on the move, running away from Elijah and Klaus, not putting down roots anywhere.   They chat a bit about how Rose thinks she’s giving up by making her deal with Elijah, but then she starts raving about getting the horses ready and I’m thinking… delusional vampire… not where a helpless human wants to be!  But of course Elena sticks it out, even when Rose starts choking up blood.  The moment we see Rose has disappeared from the bed, I knew she was gonna attack Elena.  Yep, right on cue, Rose pins her to the wall, all vamped out, calling her Katerina.  Good time for a commercial break. 

Elena pretty easily talks her down, only having to say she’s not Katherine once before Rose comes to her senses.  (Good time to get out of the house now Elena!)  But instead, she walks Rose back to the bed, tucking her back in.  Rose is in and out of reality, forgetting where she is but she tells Elena about her home in the English countryside.  Elena goes out to get some clean sheets and by the time she gets back, Rose has gone missing again.  Finding her in the basement surrounded by a whole slew of empty blood packets, Elena panics and runs.  What follows is a little game of chase through the house as Rose stalks her.  Why she doesn’t run outside into the sunlight is beyond me.  Instead she runs deeper into the house, only escaping by digging her fingernails into the wound on Rose’s back. (eewh!)  After barricading and arming herself with a stake, Elena does the genius thing by waiting until it gets dark before she ventures out.  (Can you tell I’m not loving this plotline?) 

At the high school (which almost seems like a different show.  When was the last time we saw either Elena or Stefan at school?  Does she even still go?) Caroline is telling Tyler that they had a victory last night in his surviving his first transformation and they should just enjoy it.  These two are so cute together, but the longer she talks, the more I find myself talking to the screen – shut up Caroline… stop talking… don’t… aw man, she had to go and tell him that a werewolf bite is lethal to vampire!  Why, why, why would she do that?  Matt steps in before Tyler can get much of a reaction to that and kisses Caroline right outta nowhere.  She lets herself enjoy it for half a minute before she pulls away, telling him she can’t.  Matt chases her down asking her why she ran away.  Caroline admits that she loves him, but runs away again before she tells him why they can’t be together. 

Jules shows up at the grill talking to the sheriff to ask if there is any news on Mason’s disappearance.  Alaric puts in a cameo appearance (bring more Alaric!) to spot her and call Damon to tell him that she’s at the grill, and to give Stefan a phone number that could put him into touch with Isobel.  Stefan calls it, leaving a message for her that he wants to talk to her about Elena. (this so reminds me of when Elena was trying to get ahold of Isobel in my Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down! But I digress…)  Damon shows up and Stefan cautions him to be careful before he goes to talk to Jules as there are a lot of people around.  Damon replies, “Damn, there goes my plan to rip her spleen through her back.”  He wants to know why everyone thinks he’s so upset about Rose dying?  He goes on to threaten Jules that he’ll kill her unless she tells him how to cure a werewolf bite.  Instead she says “Bite me; I’m not afraid of you.”  The only cure she says, is to take a stake and drive it through Rose’s heart.  

Elena is tiptoeing through the house, jumping at shadows until Damon surprises her asking where Rose is.  Rose is long gone, at the high school, still barfing up blood and then attacking a poor janitor while the rest of the school is at a pep rally.  Luckily Liz calls Damon the moment she finds the body with signs of a vampire attack and he and Elena rush down to the school to try and catch Rose.  While the manhunt is on, Rose kills another two people, (maybe they’re alumni, cause they look kinda old to be high school students) in the parking lot.  Damon manages to pin Rose down and restrain her, even though she’s supposed to be a lot stronger than him, maybe it’s the wolfbite making her weak?  She pleads with him to make it stop, she hates that she’s been killing again.  Instead of just staking her and handing her over to the sheriff, instead he scoops her up into his arms and takes her home.  “You went on a murderous rampage, [it] happens.”  He gives a dismissive shrug when she apologizes for her behavior. 

Rose says her goodbyes to Elena, apologizing, before convulsing in pain.  Damon shoos Elena out before holding onto Rose in the bed, comforting her while she lays dying.  We cut to Rose’s dreams of the past mingled with the present.  She’s wearing a flowing dress with long hair, and comes upon Damon sitting on the hillside, both of them in the sunlight.  (I had almost forgotten his ability to enter dreams)  “This was my favorite place to come as a girl,” she tells him.  They sit there together, much in the same position they’re in on the bed in reality, the pain is gone and she’s thinking about her family.  She tells him she’s not afraid anymore, maybe she’ll see her family soon and Trevor.  Damon stakes her, tears falling down his cheeks as she dies in his arms. 

Tyler is waiting for Caroline when she gets home, wanting to understand why she risked helping him if a bite would kill her.  “Because you needed help.”  She replies.  He doesn’t understand why she’d risk it and she goes off on him, saying she doesn’t understand why he won’t let anyone care about him because she does whether he likes it or not.  Instead of arguing, he steps up and kisses her, and it’s a really good kiss until Caroline freaks out a little.  “You can’t do that.  Everyone just needs to stop kissing me!” She wails in frustration as she pulls back into her house.

Last seven minutes of the show:

Damon meets with Liz, showing her Rose’s staked body in his trunk.  Once again the town is safe, thanks to Damon, and Liz is properly grateful.  The trouble is… I recognize that look… this is unstable Damon we’re dealing with.  Uh oh.

Jules meets with Tyler, asking to be his friend.  She has quite a lot to say:
Mason is dead and that Caroline and her vampire friends were the ones to murder him.�
Not only is the town crawling with vampires, there are more werewolves on the way.

Damon comes home and Elena is waiting with a drink all ready for him (she knows him well!)  He urges her to go home, but she wants to be there, because she’s his friend.  He tries to push her away.  “What do you want to hear, that I cared about Rose, that I’m upset?  Well I didn’t, and I’m not!”  He insists.  Elena calls him on pretending not to feel.  Damon admits that he feels plenty and it sucks.  What makes it worse is feeling guilty that it was supposed to be him that Jules was after when Rose was attacked.  He asks her again to go home and this time she relents, but not before wrapping her arms around him in a hug and not letting go while he wrestles with his emotions.  (awww)

Elena goes home and Stefan is there not with Isobel, but with John.  (dun, dun dun!  I didn’t see that one coming!)

Final scene of the night.  Damon’s lying in the middle of the road when a girl gets out of her car to check and see if he’s alright.  (serious déjà vu here to the beginning of last season)  He’s drunk and confused and in need of help that has nothing to do with being injured, but she panics and runs away once she figures out he’s not wounded.  In a flash Damon compels her not to move, and she’s frozen in one place while he rants about keeping secrets and not being able to be what Elena wants him to be.  “Are you going to hurt me?” she asks.  “I’m not sure,” he replies in a beautiful, poignant moment as we see the struggle within him.  He misses being human more than anything in the world; and it’s tearing him apart.  Damon releases her from the compulsion, and for just a moment I thought he might let her go, but instead he chases after her and kills her.  Bad boy Damon is back.  I wonder how long he’ll last?

Random thoughts I had:

How many deputies does this town have left?  That’s gotta be the crappiest job around with their death rate.  Or rather, their disappearance rate because you have to think that their deaths would be covered up for the most part. 

Why didn’t Stefan call Elena back after her multiple calls trying to reach him?  Her messages were pretty urgent.  He seriously couldn’t get away?

Maybe I’m just expecting too much, but I didn’t LOVE this episode like I wanted to.  It felt more like a bad teen horror/slasher film for a lot of it when Elena was running through the house to get away from Rose.  And while I enjoy bad Damon, I hope they’ll make it more about accepting that he’s not making much progress with Elena in trying to be what she wants him to be and deciding to have a little fun for a change and not make it about him wallowing in grief over Rose for too long.   Hopefully they’ll pick up their stride again in the coming episodes. 

What do you guys think?  Am I wrong?  Was it the best episode ever?

Episode 2.11 – “By the Light of the Moon”

The episode opens with Tyler getting some supplies together, mostly chains, into a duffel bag while the video of Mason writhing in agony is running on his computer.  He calls Mason’s home number, leaving a voicemail about how it’s the full moon tonight and how he’s freaking out.  Cut to a girl in Mason’s apartment listening in to the message, and I’m thinking… werewolf girlfriend? 

Just as Tyler is leaving the house, the mystery girl shows up at the Lockwood mansion introducing herself as Jules, a friend of Mason’s.  She lets them know that he never returned to Florida and Tyler’s mom calls the sheriff to report him missing.   Jules seems awfully interested in Tyler and calls someone to report that not only is Mason missing but there’s another werewolf; his nephew.   (I’m thinking Elijah, what do you guys think?)

Jeremy, Elena and Bonnie are talking about how to try and de-spell the moonstone now that they’ve got it.  Elena flunks the test they’ve set out for her by stealing the moonstone to try and sneak out with it the first chance she gets.  But Bonnie’s already anticipated that she would try this and spelled the house; Elena can’t leave, just like the vamps in the tomb. 

Damon brings Stefan a care package with candles, lanterns and blood but Stefan refuses the blood, not wanting to have to share it with Katherine.  Once again Stefan says not to worry about trying to get him out of the tomb; just worry about keeping Elena safe and the moonstone.  I have to think – he sure is calm about being trapped in the tomb with Katherine!  Maybe the promo will really be about a steamy moment between them?

At the Mystic Grill, Jenna and Alaric are having a nice, quiet lunch together and Jenna mentions casually that she’s been roped into some duty with the historical society to help a writer who’s researching small towns in Virginia.  Just as Jenna leaves, Tyler arrives to meet with Caroline.  He tells her that Mason’s missing but before she has time to do more than trade looks with Alaric, they leave to go get him ready for the full moon. Tyler takes her out to the woods to the old slave quarters where Mason tried to chain himself up a while ago. 

They start setting up the chains for Tyler and I’m thinking… you’re only as strong as that carabiner… shouldn’t you have something more solid?  Caroline’s brought some wolfsbane for him to drink and try to diminish his strength, and it burns him to the touch, so that’s not gonna be much fun to drink.  Caroline turns a surprising prude when Tyler takes his shirt off, suddenly worried that he’s gonna strip down completely (anyone else remember when she was kinda slutty the first season?) but he keeps his pants on. 

Tyler and Caroline are sitting around with him in chains, waiting for the moon to reach its apex.  He drinks some of the wolfsbane water, but doesn’t get much of it down and it looks painful as hell.  Caroline rushes over to comfort him, but there’s not a whole lot she can do to take away the pain.  Tyler starts freaking out when the pain kicks up a notch and asks Caroline to leave but she refuses.  She keeps trying to get him to look at her and breathe through the pain (why haven’t they thought of tranquilizers!)  Even when the bones start crunching and shifting, she refuses to leave, getting a lot closer to a transforming wolf than I would have the guts to do.  When he starts to really lose it, she retreats behind not one but two barred doors, understandably upset at hearing him go through the agonizing changes inside.  We got to see some interesting changes, and I like how they shot it without showing too much.  The next thing we know Tyler’s busted through the first barred door and almost through the second one but Caroline snaps another bar in place to keep him in before running out of there into the forest. 

Damon stops by to see Elena, teasing her about being trapped in the house.  Elena is very pouty and annoyed at being stuck in the house.  “Do you think this is funny?” she demands.  “Yes Elena, I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to to repeatedly save your life.”  He quips.  It seems he’s on Elena patrol, Bonnie’s on moonstone duty, Vampire Barbie’s seeing to Tyler, so all of the bases are covered.  Elena seems surprised to learn that it’s a full moon out that night but Damon reminds her that she would have known if she wasn’t so absorbed in her suicidal tendencies.  Ouch. 

But Alaric calls to tell them that Mason’s been declared a missing person and there’s a strange new girl in town asking questions about his disappearance, so Damon goes down to the Grill, leaving Jeremy to babysit Elena.   Jules shows up at the Grill asking questions about Mason and Tyler.  Damon’s plan is to slip some wolfsbane into her drink to see if she’s a werewolf.  Alaric approaches Jules, pretending to be tipsy and buying her a drink.  Damon then swoops in like the hero to chase off the drunk and chat her up.  Man it was good to see these two in action again, even if their attempts to get the wolfsbane into her drink did seem a little clumsy.  All the secretive looks they were exchanging… I kept waiting for her to call them out on it, but she played oblivious pretty well. 

Jules doesn’t fall for it, telling Damon that she sniffed him out the moment he entered the bar.  Damon threatens her to leave town.  “You’re threatening me on the night of the full moon?  How stupid are you?”  She wonders aloud and I have to agree.  The gloves are off now and Jules says Damon’s been marked.  Uh oh.  I hope Damon has the good sense to take her threat seriously!  But nope, he just looks pissed off.  “You’ve been marked, what the hell kind of wolf throwdown crap is that supposed to be anyway?”  He demands.  Alaric manages to calm him down a little, urging him to go home and just lay low for the night, pick things up in the morning when it’s safe.  For once Damon listens, going home and actually locking his door. 

Rose is there, apologizing for her role in leading Elena to Slater’s place and admits she has no other place to go.  Damon tries to tell her there’s nothing left in Mystic Falls for her, but just then the werewolf attacks through a window.  Damon grabs a sword but Rose shoves him out of the way getting a nasty bite on the shoulder.  The wolf runs away after Damon stabs it with the sword and Rose weeps with relief when the bite starts to heal while Damon comforts her.�
Bonnie goes to see Luka, who’s upset that she almost killed him in drawing him into the spell at the tomb last episode.  Only she doesn’t even get halfway through her apology when he forgives her and invites her into his apartment.  He shows her a room filled with Grimoires that his father collects.  He says that all witches are bonded together as family by a code of honor, to help each other out.  Uh huh, sure they are.  “So that’s why you’ve been so nice to me.”  Bonnie smiles.   “That’s one reason.”  He replies, hinting that it’s cause she’s a hot witch but I’m just thinking… because your dad told you to get close to her, you jerk.  Bonnie asks him if he knows how to break the spell binding the moonstone without coming right out and telling him anything specific about it. 

Luka takes her to a rooftop and lights a bunch of candles.  Bonnie hands over the moonstone and they work a spell together that culminates with a shower of pretty fireworks.  Impressive looking; but was it really that simple?  Luka goes home and hands over the moonstone to his father “She fell for the whole show and didn’t suspect a thing.”  He reports.  But before he goes to bed, his father says there’s one more thing Elijah needs them to do before they lose the full moon. 

In the tomb, Katherine asks Stefan just how long he’s gone without blood.  He does a pretty good job not letting her get to him for a while, even after she strips out of her clothes to a sexy black bra and panty set.  She comes on pretty strong, telling him that since Damon is likely putting the moves on Elena he’s within his rights to fool around with her and nobody would ever know.  Stefan pulls away when she kisses him for about a heartbeat but then he’s kissing her back, stripping his shirt off and pressing her up against the tomb wall. (here’s where we got that promo from last week!)  But no, the tricksy minds behind TVD have messed with our heads yet again and Stefan wakes up panting from the dream he’s been having; Katherine’s satisfied smile reminding us that she has the ability to get into his dreams.  “Maybe I can do eternity in here after all.”  She smirks.

At Elena’s house, Jenna is bringing cartons of old archives out of the closet for the writer she’s helping out.  Elena comes down the stairs, stunned to come face to face with Elijah, the “writer” that Jenna has invited into the house.  Elijah leaves peacefully but reappears upstairs just moments later demanding a little private talk with Elena.  He offers her a deal.  His goal is not to break the curse.  Klaus doesn’t trust him any more and he needs her to lure him out.  He will keep her loved ones safe with the power of his witches if she’ll agree to lay low and do nothing until the time comes that he wants to present her to Klaus – in an effort to kill him.  Elena’s not quite sure if she can trust him, but it’s the best deal she’s heard so far, so she agrees on one condition… that we don’t get to hear just yet. 

The last ten minutes of the show. 

Stefan asks Katherine to give him some sign that there’s a part of her worth trusting inside.  Katherine suspects that he’s playing her but tells Stefan that if they want to find Klaus, they should start with Isobel.  She was a research expert and she can help them.  Elijah shows up at the tomb with the best line “Hello Katerina, thank you for having the good sense to be frightened.”  He informs them that the spell has been lifted from the tomb and Stefan is free to go. (Aha, must be what the witches needed the full moon for) Katherine however, he compels to remain in the tomb until he says so.  Stefan leaves, confused at hearing that Elena has bargained for his release.   Katherine pleads for Stefan not to leave her there but he just tells her Goodbye. 

Now here’s where Caroline loses me.  Acting like the dumb heroine in nearly every slasher film, Caroline goes back down there to check on Tyler.  What is she thinking?  But it seems that Tyler never completely breached the 2nd door and is apparently over the transition already.  At hearing him speak she rushes in and holds him, telling him he’s okay.  “No I’m not.”  He replies, still in tears over the ordeal.

At Elena’s house, Stefan shows and all of a sudden things are back on between them.  They start making out, all smiles and rainbows. 

Damon apologizes to Rose for putting her in harms way since he picked a fight with Jules.   She offers to stay and help him save Elena, protect Elena, pretty much all things Elena because she likes him and she believes in friendship.  She has a vacancy in that department and he can use all the friends he can get.  Damon wonders aloud if they’ll be just friends, his hands already starting to roam, but she tells him she doesn’t love men who love other women, but it doesn’t mean she can’t be his ‘special’ friend.  They start to kiss but her shoulder wound starts to pain her.  Damon pulls back her robe to reveal the shoulder that the werewolf bit is now all infected and gross looking.  Dun, dun, dun… looks like the legends were true after all!

Random thoughts I had:

Elena is the worst liar ever.  That’s probably a good thing about her, but boy she sucks at keeping the fact that she stole the moonstone a secret. 

I think it’s interesting how easily Jeremy interacts with and accepts Damon, given that he tried to kill him.  Don’t get me wrong, I like it; but interesting just the same when Elena can’t let it go.

Is it weird that werewolves can sniff vampires out right away but vamps can’t tell if someone’s a Were?  Maybe not, I guess their sense of smell would be stronger. 

How funny was drunk Alaric?  Holy crap I was giggling so hard!

Oh those sneaky bastards, making the Stefan/Katherine make-out session all a dream!  Why don’t I know better by now?  Will I ever learn?  *stomps off to get a cup of cocoa and chill out*

Okay all better now.  It was cute to see our cocky Damon a little concerned about being attacked by a werewolf, locking his front door as if that would keep her out! 

Didn’t that seem like a short transformation for Tyler?  I thought Mason said the first one lasted for hours and hours?  The moon’s still up and he’s back to normal?

Um… did anyone else think that Elena and Stefan ended up all kissyface pretty quickly?  There wasn’t even any dramatic “I was so worried about you” speech, it was just “Hi” and then on with the kiss-olympics.

Call me crazy… but I think the introduction of the idea that it takes a while for the werewolf bite to kill a vampire will come into play with Damon at some point, so that they have time to save him.  What do you guys think?

Good God, no new episode until January 27th?

How will we live?

Episode 2.10 – “The Sacrifice”

We’re back with another episode!  We start with Elena waking up in her bedroom to some strange noises coming from the hallway.  Suspenseful music plays, and we see a flash of Jonas (Luka’s dad, remember?) stalking her.  Elena gets up to see who it is but after a few tense moments she runs into Alaric and Jenna on the way back from the kitchen with some Chunky Monkey ice cream.  Assuming that they’re the ones making all the racket, they stand out in the hallway making awkward conversation long enough for Jonas to steal some very personal items from Elena’s bedroom like hair from her brush and jewelry.  Uh oh… this does not bode well in the hands of a warlock.  (Can I just mention again how much I hate the use of that word?)

The next morning Stefan and Damon pay Katherine a visit in the tomb to ask for the moonstone back.  Did they really think this would work?  Katherine wants out of the tomb now because she’s bored out of her mind in there.  She offers to give them the moonstone in exchange for her freedom and her promise to leave Mystic Falls forever?  Anyone else not believe her?  I didn’t think so.

They tell the plan to Elena to release the spell from the moonstone which they figure will keep Elena from being sacrificed.  Elena doesn’t believe that Katherine will just give it up.  “We will pry it from her cold dead hand.”  Damon tries to reassure her.  They want Bonnie to release the seal long enough to get the moonstone and get out, leaving Katherine trapped inside. 

The only problem is… Elena wants no part of this plan.  She isn’t ready to risk Klaus’ wrath and possibly get everyone she loves killed in the bargain.  Interesting to note that she is definitely including Damon in that group of people she loves.  Damon looks a little stunned by the admission.

Bonnie admits to Luka that it’s become a lot harder physically to work spells lately.  He tells her that it’s because she’s not drawing power from the available resources around her.  Luka shows Bonnie how to channel their energy together.  They exchange personal trinkets and raise up a little wind at school and Bonnie looks almost giddy with the rush of power.  Luka leaves just as Jeremy walks up, but before they can talk much, she gets a text from Damon.

Elena shows up at the Salvatore mansion and lets herself in just in time to see Rose emerge, tugging on a short silky robe.  “It’s not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning.”  Rose calls out, thinking it’s Damon.  Or did she?  With vampire hearing, shouldn’t she have been able to tell it wasn’t Damon at the door?  I guess the cat’s out of the bag now though about them sleeping together.  Elena looks suitably mortified, but they get through the awkward moment as Elena announces that she came to see her, not the brothers. 

Using the distraction that the others have in trying to get the moonstone from Katherine, Elena talks Rose into helping her find out more info on Klaus by going to see her friend Slater.  Rose thinks it’s a bad idea, but agrees to help her in exchange for the promise of a ring that will let her walk in the sunlight.  Something tells me that Bonnie isn’t going to be so willing to make another of these babies up, but apparently Rose believes her. 

As soon as they get there it’s apparent that Slater isn’t home but Elena insists on breaking in.  (why were the doors chained shut by the way?)  Almost immediately they find Slater’s body.  While Rose is taking care of the mess, Elena goes through his desk but there isn’t much there.  They find Slater’s girlfriend Alice hiding in the apartment.  Alice arrived just before they did (so why was the front door chained?) and seems very broken up about Slater’s death.  Rose insists it’s all an act, because Alice just wanted Slater to turn her and didn’t actually care about him at all.  A little light goes on behind Elena’s eyes and she offers to have Rose turn her if she is able to help them break into Slater’s computer.  Rose looks appalled at the offer. “You know she’s not going anywhere near my blood right?”  She whispers to Elena.  “I know… she doesn’t.”  Elena replies.  Oh… Rose, now you’ve gotta be wondering if the promise Elena made to get you your very own magic ring was made in the same vein right? 

Luckily the computer was backed up on a remote server, and they’re able to find his files.  Elena tells Alice to call one of Slater’s contacts, a Cody Webber and to tell him that she has a message for Klaus.  “The doppelganger is alive and she’s ready to surrender.”  Rose is stunned, but Alice just looks excited to havemet the doppelganger.  “What are you doing?”  Rose demands.  “I’m getting Klaus’ attention.”  Elena explains.  She intends to sacrifice herself in order to save her family and friends. 

Back at school, Matt is having a hard time coming to terms with the guilt for having attacked Tyler at the party under Katherine’s compulsion.  He apologizes to Tyler, who takes it in stride.  Is it just me or is Tyler a lot more even keeled in this episode?  Caroline talks to Matt just long enough to remind us that she still misses him.  It’s not lost on Tyler who gets it, understanding that she just wants to keep Matt safe.  Pushing that aside for the moment, Caroline tries to focus on Tyler’s problem; the upcoming full moon.  He’s surprised that she wants to take on his problems, but she insists. 

Tyler takes her to the old slave quarters on the Lockwood property.  He thinks that’s what the chambers were really used for, the chains and shackles to keep his ancestors secure during full moons.  There they find Mason’s journal and a memory card for a video camera.  Mason chronicled all of the changes he went through including a video of him writhing around in agony for hours and hours the first night he changed into a wolf.  Tyler starts to freak out, knowing that the change will be so painful and drawn out.  According to the journal the change grows easier with time, but he can’t imagine how he’ll survive the first one.

Caroline tries to soothe him that if he can just get through the first one it’ll get better.  Tyler wants to know why she’s helping him since they’ve never been particularly close before.  Caroline explains, “I don’t know, you just seem like you kind of need it. I was alone when I turned.  I had no control over my body or my urges and I killed somebody.  I don’t want that to happen to you.  I don’t want you to be alone.”  Tyler looks suitably moved, but the mood is killed when the doorbell rings.  It’s Matt, telling her that he’s missed her.  Caroline looks really tempted but Tyler opens the door, giving Matt the impression that he’s there with Caroline as more than just friends.  Smart move Tyler, keep that up and pretty soon it’ll be true. 

While Elena and Rose are on their jaunt to see Slater, Damon, Stefan, Bonnie and Jeremy are all having a pow wow at the boarding house.  Bonnie agrees to drop the tomb spell long enough to get them in and out.  Jeremy instantly objects that she’s not strong enough to pull it off on her own.  “It took both you and your Grams last time and look what happened to her.”  He insists.  “I’m well aware of what happened, but I’ve learned a few new tricks since then.”  Bonnie insists.    Jeremy offers to go in with his ring, no spell needed, but is quickly shot down. 

Using a picture of Katherine’s, Bonnie does a spell, incinerating it in the process.  The ashes that result will incapacitate Katherine for a minute or two.  Jeremy confronts Bonnie about not being strong enough to drop the tomb spell one more time but she insists she’ll be fine.  When she won’t back down, he steals some of the magical powder and takes off for the tomb. 

Jeremy shows up at the tomb and demands the moonstone.  He stakes Katherine with a nifty projectile weapon, but she pulls it out, even in her weakened state.  Throwing the powder at her, Jeremy rushes into the tomb and pats her down but can’t find the moonstone anywhere.  Venturing deeper into the catacombs, he finds the moonstone, but before he can get out, Katherine recovers and attacks.  He’s able to toss the moonstone out of the tomb doorway but is trapped in there with her now.  Replenished with fresh blood that will never run out thanks to his magic ring, she has a new playmate. 

Damon, Stefan and Bonnie arrive at the tomb, but before he goes down, Damon gets a call from Rose, letting him know what Elena’s up to so he takes off without a word.  Stefan and Bonnie find the moonstone lying out in the open, but before they can start guessing how it got there, Katherine dangles Jeremy for them to see.  “Don’t worry I know that he’s wearing his ring.  So no matter how many times I kill him, he’ll just come back for more.  So… I’m gonna be in the back playing with my new little toy, you guys just give me a holler when you get the tomb open.”  Katherine taunts them.

Bonnie starts to work the spell, drawing power from Luka to add to her own, but it’s not enough.  The spell fails and Bonnie passes out.  “That’s too bad, I’m still hungry.”  Katherine picks up Jeremy and starts to feed from him again.  Stefan rushes into the tomb, shoving Jeremy out of the opening and Katherine gives a very self satisfied smile at finding herself trapped in there with Stefan.

Jonas uses the personal items he stole from Elena’s room to do a spell for Elijah that shows him where Elena is. 

Damon shows up at Slater’s apartment, shocking the hell out of Elena and giving Alice another cheap thrill for having spotted the Damon Salvatore.  (I really don’t like that girl by the way)  Damon tries to get her to leave, but Elena refuses to go.  He grabs her to manhandle her out of there and she actually takes a swing at him which he catches easily.  Showing her just how strong he is as he overcomes her struggles, he brings his face very, very close to hers.  “Don’t ever… do that again.”  His voice is soft, almost a whisper.  (I may swoon here at seeing Grrr Damon)

Two vampires show up to meet Elena, but before they can so much as say hello, Elijah shows up.  Rose immediately bolts from the room.  “I killed you, you were dead.”  Damon blinks.  After Elijah ascertains that no one else knows about the doppelganger beyond who’s in the room, he rips the hearts out of the two random vampires.  Elena looks as shocked as I am but Damon looks like he’s getting himself ready to take Elijah on.  Only Elijah immediately turns and takes off, leaving them alone. 

The last six minutes of the show. 

Elijah tells Jonas that his shadow spell was successful and he was able to track Elena but that he had a run in with Damon.  He spared Damon because he would die before he let anything happen to Elena; she’ll be kept safe, which is precisely what they need her to be.

Bonnie takes Jeremy home and she scolds him for having gone into the tomb.  He tells her that he got involved because he didn’t want her to get hurt.  She protests that he can’t feel that way about her.  Jeremy pleads with her not to act like it’s all one sided, like he’s just a kid with a crush on his sister’s friend and Bonnie looks torn.  He moves in to kiss her but she says she can’t and that she’s sorry, leaving him alone. 

Damon brings Elena home.  They can’t figure out why Elijah let them go.  “If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me…”  Damon says.  Before she can go inside Damon grabs her arm.  “What you did today was incredibly stupid.”  He tells her.  “I don’t question why you and Stefan and every one else try so hard to save me.  You shouldn’t question why I would try to save all of you.” Elena replies.  Again Damon looks interested to hear her lumping him in with those she’s trying to save.  But before he can say anything Jeremy opens the door, letting her know about Stefan being in the tomb with Katherine. 

Elena rushes down to the tomb with Damon hot on her heels.  “Don’t you dare.”  Damon physically stops her from going into the tomb after Stefan who is conspicuously absent for this exchange.  Holding onto Elena while she struggles to break free, Damon waits for her to settle down and eventually leave.  Now Stefan comes forward to talk to Damon who vows to get him out.  “That’s alright, I’ll handle myself.”  Stefan replies.  (um… what?)  Instead he wants Damon to focus on releasing the spell on the moonstone with Bonnie.  Stefan asks Damon to promise him that no matter what happens he’ll protect Elena, which of course Damon agrees to do.  Katherine emerges to taunt Stefan, “That right there is the biggest mistake you ever made.”  She smiles.

Random thoughts I had:

It’s nice to see Jenna and Alaric’s relationship taking things to the next level.  They both deserve a bit of happiness. 

Instead of messing with opening the tomb to send vampires in, why didn’t they just send Bonnie in to retrieve the moonstone herself?  With Katherine in her weakened condition and the magic dust, it seems like she could have kept her weakened with the little brain aneurysms if she woke up to cause trouble and breezed in and out of there. 

Has Elena completely blown off school these days?  She seems to be missing an awful lot of it lately.  When’s the last time we had a scene of her there?

When did Elena get so cold and calculating, willing to use others?  I know she used Damon on the trip to Isobel’s office that one episode, but she’s not pulling any punches in this episode.  I guess she is more like Katherine than we thought…

I am really liking this thing between Tyler and Caroline.  She seems to calm him down and it’s nice to see her as the one giving sage advice instead of being an emotional wreck.

Why didn’t Stefan come out to talk to Elena when she showed up at the tomb?

If they wanted to keep Elena away from the tomb why not just put the cover stone back on?  But then again maybe that leaves it open for her to show up and observe Katherine and Stefan together?

Holy crap the promo for next week had me sitting here stunned.  Was that what I thought it was?  Stefan and Katherine going at it?  It didn’t look like that could possibly have been a flashback.  Please let Elena walk in on it, please, please please…