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Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.9

Episode 2.9 – “Katerina”

So many reveals in this episode!  That almost makes up for the fact that we have to wait a while till the next episode.  Almost.

We start off the show with a flashback to Bulgaria 1490 where Katherine or should we say Katerina, is giving birth to a baby girl.  Her father immediately gives orders to have the baby taken away, not even letting her hold it despite Katherine sobbing and pleading to her mother.  I guess that explains how the Petrova line has continued over the years. 

Back in the present, Elena comes to see Stefan at his request, because Rose has some truths she wants to share.  Elena seems very uncomfortable to be confronted by her former kidnapper (I’m betting she’s got some lingering issues over that backhand Rose gave her that knocked her out, but maybe I’m just the petty type?), but sits down to listen to what she has to say.  Rose goes on to tell her about Klaus and the Originals and how they’ll stop at nothing to get her since she’s the Petrova doppelganger.  Apparently Elijah is the Easter Bunny compared to this Klaus.  The short and the skinny of it is, the oldest vampire in history in time is after her and if she’s not afraid of him than she’s an idiot. 

Elena takes the news fairly well, no histrionics; instead she just grabs her bag and heads off to school – sans Stefan by the way.  Where has the love gone?  Stefan looks as baffled as I am.  But instead of going to school, she drags Caroline out to the tomb to get her to move the giant stone so she can talk to Katherine.  Elena swears Caroline to secrecy, but I think we all know how that’s going to turn out; even Caroline admits that she’s horrible at lying.  But Elena pulls out the big guns and asks her to keep the secret as her friend.  Caroline reluctantly promises to keep her visit to the tomb a secret from Stefan.

Elena’s got a heavy bag of tricks with her, and I can’t wait to see what’s in it.  Katherine emerges from the tomb looking pretty worn down and I’m trying to do the math in my head… how long has she been down there?  A couple of days?  Elena produces a pillow, a lantern and the Petrova family history but nothing draws Katherine’s attention like the bottle of blood she pulls out next.  Elena pours a little shot of blood into a plastic cup and pushes it across the threshold with a stick.

Now Katherine begins to talk.  She reveals that she was disowned and run out of Bulgaria for having a baby out of wedlock.  She was banished to England and caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus.  He wants to break the curse by spilling the blood of the Petrova Doppleganger. It turns out the curse was bound by Petrova blood back in the day, and that’s what’ll help break it.  That, the moonstone, a vampire, a witch and a werewolf.  Katherine’s scheming starts to make sense.  She wanted to be the one to hand over the whole lock stock and barrel to Klaus to get him to stop chasing after her.  “Better you die than I.”  Katherine says with no remorse as she steps back into the shadows of the tomb.

Flash back to Katherine being chased by Elijah and some other vamps through the woods of England.  Trevor leads them off into a different direction, allowing her to escape.  He directs her to a cottage where he says she’ll be safe.  She gets to the cottage and Rose is inside with a servant.  Rose refuses help her, she’s too afraid of Klaus.  Instead she’ll bring her back to Klaus at nightfall and beg him to show mercy, throwing her into a bedroom. In a bid to escape her fate, Katherine stabbed herself to keep from going back to Klaus.  Rose feeds her some of her blood to try and heal the damage.  Trevor arrives and while Rose is distracted, Katherine hangs herself with a bit of rope, knowing that Klaus couldn’t use a vampire doppelganger.   Oh you sneaky, sneaky Katerina!

Damon gets Rose to help him find Klaus, going to the contact she had that put her in touch with Elijah.  They go on a road trip to a vampire café.  Apparently double paned and tempered glass is all vampires need to sit by the window and enjoy the sunshine.  (I think I like Angel’s Necro-tempered glass better)  There they meet her friend Slater, a scholar of sorts who tells them that their best bet for reaching Klaus is Craig’s list.  Seriously. 

Unfortunately for everyone in the café, we see Elijah scoop up a handful of change as he stares at the café window.  I’m thinking projectile weapons in the hands of a vampire, and then no more protective glass… okay actually my husband said it first, but I agree; things aren’t looking good for Rose and Slater.

Slater goes on to say that Klaus wants to be the one to break the curse just so that the werewolves can’t.  Apparently if the wolves break it then they get to shift whenever they want and the vampires are still bound by the sun and vice versa.  If they destroy the moonstone, then the curse can never be broken by either side.  Before they can get much farther, Elijah throws the handful of change at the windows, shattering them. (yes, you’re very smart honey)  Rose and Slater fall to the ground, writhing and burning in the sun.  Damon grabs Rose and gets her out of there, carrying her back to the parking garage.  By the time she’s back in the car, her burns are already fading and gone.  She starts to weep, saying that it’s Klaus that’s after them and they’re all dead.

Caroline distracts Stefan by revealing that she accidentally told Tyler that she is a vampire.  She drags him down to the Grill for something to eat (so she can keep her more dangerous urges under control, which eating takes the edge off of).  While Stefan is angry that she let such a thing slip to a potential enemy, he seems to get over it pretty quickly, and promises to keep the revelation from Damon.  She asks him why he’s always looking out for her and he shares that she reminds him of Lexi, his best friend. 

Stefan catches onto the fact that Caroline’s deliberately trying to distract him when she keeps calling him back when he wants to leave and asks her to come clean.  Caroline holds strong and refuses to tell him what’s going on with Elena.  “She’s with Damon isn’t she?”  He asks, looking a little sick.  “Eewh no!  Caroline squeals, looking disgusted.  He tries to pull the friend card on her too, but she doesn’t tell him where Elena is.  You go girl! 

Bonnie and Jeremy are thrust together again and he asks her out to go shoot some pool after school.  Bonnie seems confused by the invitation, still having trouble with the idea of hanging out with Elena’s little brother for fun, but then relents and accepts.  Enter the new character Luka, in fact he’s new to the school altogether and Jeremy shows him where the office is while Bonnie makes puppy dog eyes at him.  Uh oh, so much for her and Jeremy now, huh?

Luka and his dad are at the grill when Bonnie arrives to play pool with Jeremy and she sits with them while she’s waiting.  His father says he knew some Bennetts when he lived in Massachusetts, does she have any family from Salem?  Bonnie admits that she does, but looks pained at the question.  Is it a dig about witches?  Jeremy arrives then and she takes that excuse to get away from answering any more questions.  As she rises to leave, she touches Luka’s shoulder and we can tell that she’s sensing something not so good from him.

Horning in on Bonnie and Jeremy’s pool game (not cool dude) Luka gets Bonnie alone and reveals that he and his father are witches too (warlocks actually – and I can’t tell you how much I hate the use of that word over witches).  Suddenly Bonnie is fascinated by him again.  Sorry Jeremy.

Stefan shows up at the tomb and confronts Elena.  “Whatever she said to you is a lie.”  He insists.  Katherine shows up again at the sound of Stefan’s voice, telling him that there’s nothing he can do.  Klaus murdered her entire family in retribution for her turning into a vampire and depriving him of the means to end the curse.  She warns that Klaus will get his vengeance on her friends, family, anyone she ever loved.  “Even you must realize that she’s doomed, that there’s nothing you can do to stop it, unless you have this.”  She holds up the moonstone.  Stefan accuses her of trying to use the moonstone as a bargaining chip to get out of the tomb, but Katherine laughs at the idea.  When Klaus comes to town she’s right where she wants to be, safe in the tomb where he can’t get to her.

Last ten minutes of the show:

Rose and Damon bond over things that they’ve lost.  He reminds her of Trevor because he always talked a big game and was always working an angle, but underneath he was a good friend.  But she almost died because of him.  “If you want to survive you need to not care about anyone.”  She says.  Caring gets you dead.  She suggests it’s time to turn of the switch on his emotions.  “I will if you will.”  He says, and they start making out.  I think we can all see where this is going, and again I’m just glad that Elena is nowhere near to see this. 

Jeremy looks up to see Bonnie and Luka bonding over the witch thing.  Of course he doesn’t know about this shared bond, all he sees is a couple of people into each other and pretty much ignoring him.  He gets a look of resignation on his face as he picks up his backpack to leave.

Stefan takes Elena home and she breaks down because everyone she’s in danger because of her.  Not because he or Damon came to town or they fell in love, or even because Katherine is psycho, everyone is in danger because of her.  Stefan holds her tight and she weeps.

Katherine looks through her family’s history, finding a drawing of herself with her parents, she traces over their faces with a faint smile before the tears come. 

Final shot of Rose and Damon beside the fireplace and she says “It’s a lie you know, there is no switch you can turn off.  Sure when you’re a newbie, but after a couple hundred years, you just have to pretend.”  Damon looks a little disturbed to hear this, but before he can say anything the phone rings.  It’s Slater on the line, he says he wants no part in this, but he did some digging.  They can destroy the curse, but need the moonstone and a witch.  As soon as he started to ask if they could get their hands on the moonstone my spidey senses started tingling.  After hanging up, the camera pulls back to show Elijah standing there.  Apparently Elijah, and possibly the other Originals, have the ability to compel other vampires.  He further demonstrates this by compelling Slater into killing himself with a stake.  In a neat twist, Luka’s father Jonas steps out of the kitchen, he’s in cahoots with Elijah!  I soooo did not see that one coming…
Random thoughts I had:

Stefan and Damon sure seem eager to forgive and forget where Rose is involved, aren’t they?  Does it mean nothing to them that she helped kidnap Elena with the intent of trading her to Elijah for her freedom? 

What is the deal with Elena being so cold to Stefan in the beginning of the episode?  She’s acting like someone flipped off her emotions switch.  Not that I think she belongs with him, but I thought she was so in love with him that she could never even begin to think of Damon in that light? 

Okay I know I’ve been pretty vocal in how much they’ve been throwing Jeremy and Bonnie together, so that it almost seems forced.  But I admit, the moment they started throwing Luka into the mix and Jeremy had that realization that he’d lost Bonnie already, I felt like someone just took away my shiny new toy.  Is it bad that I hope they reveal that his dad is a sleaze sooner than later?

Am I the only one who thought it was interesting that Stefan assumed that Elena was with Damon when Caroline wouldn’t tell him where she was?  I wish!

If Klaus’ sole reason for breaking the curse is to keep the werewolves from doing it first, why was he so bent out of shape when Katherine got herself turned into a vamp?  Seems like that would have accomplished the same thing; keeping the werewolves from breaking it.  So why kill her entire family in a rage? 

I think they’re doing a better job of humanizing Katherine a bit.  She’s still self serving and remorseless, but at least she’s not evil for evil’s sake.  There is a reason behind what she’s doing, and I think that makes a difference… oh god… I might be actually starting to like her…

I’m still wondering – if Katherine’s the first Petrova doppelganger… does that mean there’s an Original wandering around somewhere with her face?

It’s gonna be a long wait til the next episode on December 2nd!

12 Responses to Vampire Diaries Recap – Episode 2.9

  1. Heidi says:

    Nice to see the back-story on Katherine and exactly how Elena fits into the story. Although, I was surprised at how easy Damon and Stefan ‘forgave’ Rose for Elena’s kidnapping, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they ‘disposed’ of her quickly in a few episodes down the road as payback. They just don’t seem like the type to let something like that just go.

    The Jeremy/Bonnie thing just doesn’t work for me. Bonnie has a sucky history with the guys(ala the vampire last season who kidnapped her and Elena that was working with Anna) and this storyline seems to be a little bit of a rehash of that one, in my opinion.

    But the previews for 2.10 look amazing. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks until Dec. 2. But I read online that the CW is having a week-long marathon Dec 13-17 of the first ten episodes(2 episodes per night). Yeah!!! A week of vampires-it’s an early Christmas present to us.

  2. Rachel says:

    I think Elena’s coldness to Stefan is because she does remember Damon’s declaration of love and is completely avoiding any of its consequences. By closing herself off to Stefan as she processes what it really means for her, she makes it less likely that Stefan will figure out her issue (though it should be noted that he does suspect she’s with Damon while Caroline is distracting him…). And if Stefan found out Elena was having any Damon-related uncertainty, we can be sure he’d confront Damon and then Damon would know (or at least strongly suspect) that Elena remembers. And Elena REALLY doesn’t want Damon pressing her for her feelings or anything at the moment. So coldness to Stefan it is.

    As for Rose… I dislike her. She seems like a waffling sadsack with basically no loyalty (except to now-dead Trevor). And within like two days of meeting Damon, she manipulates him to sleep with her… But I think she’s a short-term character. She’s had the Originals after her for 500 years, and her running buddy just got killed. She’s next. She also lacks a daylight ring, and having injured herself rescuing Elena from her, there is NO WAY Bonnie will make her one.

    Now I’m at odds about the real purpose of Rose to the plot, assuming that she will die before Winter Break, which I am. She does introduce the idea of the Originals, which is important. And I think she also forces Damon to look at his feelings for Elena in a different way, which is that he can’t turn them off; he just has to live with them. I’m also expecting a faceoff for the next episode where Rose (or Damon, or maybe Elijah?–I think most likely Rose) gloats to Elena about her tryst with Damon. Wonder how Elena would react to that news?

    I wasn’t crazy about this episode, but then some of them have to be history lessons. I do like Jeremy and Bonnie together; high hopes! (and where did Matt go in all of this?)

  3. Annie says:

    Oh the wait will be torturous! Especially with the preview they left us.
    I also am surprised at how quickly our brothers warmed up to Rose, especially Damon. I wonder how far their little tryst will go…oh well, I don’t think she’ll make it too long without getting a stake.
    And I really don’t like Bonnie too much, but I want Jeremy to be happy, poor thing. And I’m not feeling this Luka.
    Now that we know so much about this doppelgänger/Originals shindig, I can’t even begin to see how everyone will escape this. Poor Elena! Definitely seeing more casualties coming about.
    And the Stelena relationship is feeling more lukewarm than ever…dare we hope?
    Oh how I hate waiting 3 weeks!
    Also, nothing on if Elena was actually compelled. There’s always the chance that she wasn’t, but doesn’t know how to handle the situation, so is keeping quiet. Time will tell.

  4. Annie says:

    One more thing: anyone else missing Alaric? I like his bromance with Damon way more than whatever Rose and Damon have. Bleh.

  5. Heidi says:

    This is a little off-episode question, but is vervain real or just made up for tv? A friend at work and I were debating this idea.

    • Lisa Olsen says:

      Yes! Vervain is a real herb! Though I had never heard of it in conjuction with vampires before this show.
      Magical uses: Ritual cleansing or sacred space, magical cleansing baths, purification incenses. Hang over the bed to prevent nightmares. Love and protection charms, Vervain is also an excellent for use in prosperity charms and spells as it brings good luck and inspiration.

  6. Brittany says:

    I wasn’t loving this episode as much as I have loved the others, but I did like the flashbacks and getting more insight to Katherine. Was it just me or was anyone else finally happy that Elena and Katherine came face to face again and someone else actually witnessing it?? Well two others (Stefan and Caroline), I’m still waiting for Damon to see them side by side…I don’t know, maybe it’s just me…

    Definitely not liking this new guy, Luka, whatsoever!

    This whole situation Elena is in seems absolutely hopeless, doesn’t it? I can’t see a way out of it, and it doesn’t seem like it will end well (even though it has to, because if EVERYONE died, then there wouldn’t be a show!) But I can’t wait to see how and when they are going to get out of it…

    I think the whole thing with Rose is off…I mean she and Trevor spent over 500+ years running and wanting their freedom back, and when she finally gets it back (granted, Trevor is now dead, but still…) she jumps right back into a situation where she is betraying The Originals…again…which, if she happens to make it out alive, she will probably still be on the run for helping Elena, just like what happened with Katherine all those years ago…so I wonder, why would she do that? I don’t think it’s ONLY because her best friend died…

    • Lisa Olsen says:

      Yeah really good point. Why wouldn’t Rose have just delivered her warning if she felt morally obligated to and pushed on? Seems like she would like the chance to stop living in fear of the Originals.

  7. Rach says:

    I totally agree with you on a lot of points, first off even though i was like young when these show came on (i’m like 20)but thank gosh for Dvd box sets I got to full understand the shows. We know this shows is like this decades Dawsons Creek/Buffy (yea kevin w wrote for dawsons creek.Also buffy was on the wb too!!The Frog!!)But the whole Stefan asking Damon to watch over Elena is almost like the whole Dawson asking Pacey to look after Joey…and thats how the epic romance began;and the show ended perfectly.Okay enough about that.

    But any ways there’s more to this whole Klaus thing, and the curse involves something more or less than what Katherine said. Come on Katherine, love her character hope they have her leave then kill her off.But come on she had to twist some things up and half the truth on things, guess we have to wait.

    And Agree with the whole Elena having Katherine qualities, I actually wasn’t annoyed by it shows that her character is strong and is willing to do anything for the people she cares about.Bigger question is this the Real Elena? I read somewhere and assumed that her adopted parents death changed her outlook on life.Even in season one Caroline said Elena “use to be more fun” (Episode where Caroline and Damon crash the dinner in season one) Or maybe its just a family trait or there’s more to the whole doppelganger thing.

    And I’m loving Caroline and Tyler.Sorry Matt :( .

    And yea there has to be some background and history to the original Katherine/Elena. She probably knew Klaus like way way back?She could of been his lover or something and she was sacrificed or something.IDK, there’s more about this curse then meets the confused eye.

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