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Welcome back! We've been on hiatus since November 10th, and I'm trying to put the let back in recaplet, so let's dig right into "The New Deal." You ready? Okay.
I hope you had a better time over the holidays than our poor Mystic Falls misfits, and that you're finding 2012 a bit gentler. Ever since Stefan sabotaged Operation Kill Klaus, Elena has felt like everyone is out to get her, because...yeah they are. And Bonnie's been having these dreams that the abandoned mansion is full of caskets, because yeah it is. Meanwhile Jeremy, who has been fired from the Grill, is failing at school and taking in a little drunken target practice, with sire-bound hybrid Tyler -- using a crossbow nicked from Alaric, no less. Clearly, we cannot turn our back on these kids for a minute, never mind a two-month hiatus.
Stefan and the dead witches who haunt the abandoned mansion (except for when they're in a snit) appeal to Bonnie to help them mystically cloak the caskets of the Originals. Bonnie complies, without consulting with Elena, first. To me, this seems out of character, given Bonnie's conflicted feelings where vampires are concerned. From the mythology angle, it also seems unnecessary to require Bonnie's services, since the witches are apparently capable of casting spells on their own, despite their extreme deadness. Mumble mumble messy mythology grumble. I'll get to that in the full weecap.
Klaus wants those caskets back, and he knows Stefan has them, but he can't find Stefan, so he wages a full-on assault on the Gilberts. He gets Tyler to get Jeremy off vervain and compels Jeremy to stand in the middle of the road and get run down by an SUV, driven by a new hybrid. Alaric rushes to the rescue and takes the hit, himself. He's wearing his protect-o ring, though, so since the car is driven by a hybrid (i.e. a supernatural creature), Alaric is only a little dead.
When Alaric finally wakes, he's not all better, like he usually is when Damon kills him. It seems his ring is on the fritz. Mumble mumble messy mythology grumble. Alaric coughs up blood and passes out, so Elena calls an ambulance, but New Hybrid shows up on the porch of Gilbert Gables, and compels the EMTs to leave without their patient. New Hybrid then tries to manipulate Elena into inviting him in the house, so he can feed Alaric his healing blood, but Jeremy shoots him with the crossbow and then chops off New Hybrid's head -- with a meat cleaver. I start plotting Buffy/Jeremy crossover fan fiction. Let's thank heaven I'm too busy to bring that little fantasy to fruition, and move on. Elena gets Alaric to the hospital where he meets a beautiful doctor, Meredith Fell (which is probably driving the book fans crazy). And although we don't see it happen, and I'm not sure how he managed to squeeze in a visit, Damon apparently goes to the hospital and gives Alaric some blood so he'll get better.
I'm not sure how Damon manages to squeeze in that visit to Alaric, because he spends most of the episode talking to, fighting with, and staking Stefan, over and over. Stefan eventually tells Damon why he double-crossed the Fellowship of the Falls in Operation Kill Klaus. If you'll recall when it all went down two months ago, Klaus told his baby hybrids that should the Fellowship succeed in Operation Kill Klaus, they were to kill Damon, as their final act of obeisance. Since hybrids share a powerful bond with their sire, they would have carried out Klaus's wish, even after his death. So yeah, Stefan saved Klaus to save Damon. He then took the Originals' coffins, to torment Klaus -- what I'll be calling the Coffin Contrivance. Eventually, Stefan and Damon decide to work together (without Elena's involvement or knowledge) on some new plan to kill the unkillable Satan Klaus, whom they decide must be killable after all, they just have to figure out how. Mumble mumble messy mythology grumble.
Since the beautiful Brothers Salvatore do not involve Elena in Club Coffin Contrivance, and Satan Klaus keeps threatening her loved ones, Elena goes rogue (again) and strikes her own deal with the devil. She's gives him the en-daggered Rebekah, in exchange for Jeremy's life. Klaus removes the dagger from Rebekah's corpse. Elena warns him that Rebekah will want to kill her, since she's the one who inserted the dagger. Klaus believes he needs Elena if he's going to persuade Stefan to return the other Originals, so he assures her he can control Rebekah. Somewhere in there, Elena tells Klaus that Stefan no longer cares about her, so she may not be all that helpful in persuading Stefan to do anything, which seems like a profoundly stupid admission to make to the monster who has been menacing you for the past...however long. She also tells Klaus that Rebekah will be gunning for him, too, because before Elena en-daggered her, little sister learned the truth. Mikael the Vampire Vampire Slayer (MtVVS) didn't kill their mother, Klaus did. Once Klaus has Rebekah back at whatever property he's taken over, he decides to re-en-dagger her, just as she starts to show signs of life.
When Damon gets to Gilbert Gables, he finds Elena covered in New Beheaded Hybrid's blood, since she's been scrubbing it off the porch. She tells him about trading Rebekah for Jeremy's life. Damon is horrified, because he knows Becky will want to kill Elena, but Elena brushes off his concerns, more deftly than she washes all that blood off her hands. She then tells him what's been up with Jeremy -- from being compelled, to messing up at the school none of them ever attend, ever, to getting fired from the Grill. Together with Alaric, they visit Jeremy in his room, and Damon compels Jeremy to forget everything, put Mystic Falls out of his mind, and go to Colorado (I think) to stay with family friends, and live like a normal teenager. Wait. What? Just when he's getting all badass? I object. I hope McQueen is just getting some down time for a film or something. Remind me to Google that.
Anyhow, Elena sees Damon out. She's second-guessing her decision to compel Jeremy, as well she should, but Damon tells her that even if the Germ finds out and gets pissed off again, "...estranged is better than dead." Damon then informs Elena that Stefan saved Klaus to save Damon (although he doesn't share the details). Damon admits he kind of hates knowing that, because now he has to feel guilty for wanting what he wants. Elena, who knows she is what Damon wants, takes this in, but doesn't object. Damon starts off down the front steps, but soon stops and turns back to Elena. "No. You know what? If I am going to feel guilty about something, I'm going to feel guilty about this." He takes her head in his hands and kisses her! His hands slide under her shiny, shiny hair. Elena raises one of her hands to Damon's, but doesn't pull it off her neck and she doesn't pull away. She yields to his slow gentle kiss. When he pulls back and looks in her eyes, I'm pretty sure he must see that she while Elena is not going to instigate more kissing, neither would she resist it. He starts to eye-thing at her, stops himself and whispers, "Good night," leaving Elena nearly as breathless as the Damon/Elena 'shippers (and some of us non-shippers, too).
Once again, I've failed at putting the let back in recaplet, but once again, I feel like I've barely skimmed the story. This was a strong return. The only reason I've given the episode a B is because I have a strong distrust of/distaste for the magic aspects of this show's mythology. I'll hit that in the full weecap, which will be up ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode up top and join us in the forum, where there are plenty of good reasons to feel guilty.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open on Bonnie walking to the Abandoned Mansion of 100 Dead Witches. Yeah, that's not a clever name. I'm not feeling too clever these days. Inside, she hears the witches whispering. She makes her way to the basement, where she finds four caskets. Approaching the one that's set off on its own, she opens it to reveal Klaus is inside. Draped over one of his hands is Elena's necklace, the very same necklace that once belonged to Klaus's mommy-who-he-killed, aka the Original Witch, who we all know is really a creature far more frightening -- because she's truly Eloise Hawking. As Bonnie reaches for the necklace, she is startled by someone behind her. As she turns, she wakes up, ending one of the more obvious dream sequences I can remember on this show. Thank you, Bonnie. Title Card.
Mystic Falls, Exterior, Day: Elena is jogging along. She stops to catch her breath and looks likes she's going to reverse course, but a hooded man is running toward her, so she heads off in the same way she was going, and takes a few fast turns. Thinking she's lost him, she stops again to catch her breath. So of course he pops up out of nowhere and bumps into her. He then apologizes for bumping into her, and goes on his way. Elena tells him not to worry about it. She looks like she'll do all the worrying.
Grill: Elena and Bonnie have a little friendship time. I like when the girls on this show hang together and act like the friends the show is always telling us they are. Elena confesses she's paranoid all the time now. Bonnie says that makes sense, since she tried to kill Klaus, he ought to be trying to kill her back any second now. Bonnie then tells Elena about her recurring nightmare about Klaus and the four coffins. Elena suggests it could be a prophetic dream, but Bonnie writes it off as stress and asks if there's been any news of Stefan. Elena shakes her head. "He betrayed us, Bonnie. The Stefan that we know is gone." Bonnie asks how Damon's handling it. Elena: "Damon is...Damon."
Damon is being Damon over at the bar, where he's got several bottles of booze and mixers. He invites Alaric to join him in his "brunch in a bottle" saying, "I can't drink all this by myself. I mean I can, but...someone's getting naked." He eye-things at the pretty blonde bartender, but I think that's only because Alaric won't flirt back with him. Alaric is waiting to see Jeremy, who is an hour late for work and who just failed his history mid-term paper, by copying it straight off the Internet without even trying to disguise his plagiarism. The bartender overhears the guys talking and informs them Jeremy got fired, a week ago. Oh, Germ.
Germ is out in the woods with Tyler, getting hammered and taking target practice with Alaric's crossbow. Teenaged boys, weapons and alcohol. All they need now are some girls and a car! Tyler seems pretty obviously up to something as he asks Jeremy if Alaric is acting as the Gilberts' guardian, now, but Jeremy is too up in his own head (and maybe too far in his cups) to see it. Tyler prods a little more, and then laughs when Jeremy asks him to move out of the way so he can continue with his target practice. He's a hybrid, after all. "You can't kill me unless you cut off my head or rip out my heart, and you're not going to do it with that lame ass crossbow. Go ahead; take a shot, unless you don't think that you can hit me." Germ's aim is true, but Tyler's hands are quicker. He deftly catches the arrow.
Back at the Grill, Elena tells Damon that Germ is spiraling out of control. Damon tries to chalk it up to teenaged angst, but Elena reminds Damon how much Jeremy has lost, and how much he's gone through. Damon reminds her that Jeremy hasn't quite lost everyone. "He still has you." Elena, realizing Damon is still agonizing over Stefan's betrayal, asks if he's okay. She also points out that he's day drunk. "It's not exactly your most attractive look." No, that would be the one where he was covered in bubbles. (You're welcome.) Damon stands uncomfortably close and eye-things her. "Oh. What is my most attractive look?" Elena can't hide her smile, but she tries to control the conversation. "I'm not saying you have any attractive look, I'm just saying that this is my least favorite one." Damon: "Well then, I'll see if I can make any improvements."
Klaus surprises them and Damon asks if he's really going to "do this" in such a public place. Klaus plays obtuse and says he's just at his local, for a drink with his new mate, Tony. Tony isn't just Klaus's drinking buddy, he's a hybrid. He's also the jogger who was tailing Elena. Klaus is looking for Rebekah. He and Damon spar a little with words, and then Klaus says he might settle down in Mystic Falls. He tells them they can go on living their lives, as long as he gets what he wants. Klaus says for starters, he'd like to know where Stefan is. Damon tells him that Stefan took off as soon as he betrayed them, by saving Klaus's life. Klaus tells them Stefan stole from him and he intends to get back what's his. Elena makes me smile when she says, "That sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem," because...yeah. Klaus glares and her and starts to move in on her, in a menacing way. Damon positions himself between the two. Klaus laughs at Damon's devotion to Elena and then tells her, "Well, this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart."
Bonnie's not dreaming when she enters the abandoned mansion this time, and she can hear whispers, but finds there are no coffins in the cellar. She turns when she hears a deep, "Hello, Bonnie." It's Stefan. Commercial. Stefan wants Bonnie's help. She points out she's not inclined to help him, given how he betrayed the Fellowship of the Falls in Operation Kill Klaus. Stefan tells her about Klaus's daggered family members. He has the coffins and needs Bonnie to help keep them hidden. Bonnie points out that Stefan is just going to further enrage Klaus and thank you Bonnie, because it feels like when Klaus freed Stefan from compulsion, he maybe also freed him from his sense of...common sense. Stefan: "His family is his one weakness. As long as I have that, I can ruin him." Bonnie says she doesn't have enough power to hide four Originals. How would she know unless she tried? Stefan says she's a witch who hates Klaus. She can probably figure something out.
Gilbert Gables: Elena and Alaric are cooking together as she frets about Jeremy, who picks just that time to walk in. Alaric encourages Jeremy to stick around so they can have, "...a meal together, like a typical atypical family." When Germ wonders what this is all about, Elena tells him they know he got fired and didn't tell them. Germ asks for a rain check, because he has plans with Tyler, who is waiting outside. Alaric and Elena are alarmed because of Tyler's sire-bond with Klaus. When tries to leave, Alaric and Elena insist he stay, so in a lovely, reckless fit of teenaged pique, Jeremy issues a loud invitation to Tyler.
Mossy Manse: Damon is pouring himself a drink. My Twitter friend, Lucia tweets: "Really, the most deadly drinking game for this show would just be to drink when the characters drink." Klaus lets himself in and says it's time for the two of them to have a drink. Damon says they're overdue. Klaus snarks how busy Damon's been with all his plotting and scheming. Damon: "You know me, never miss a chance to plan an epic failure." Klaus smiles as he taunts Damon about his own brother betraying him. Damon shoots back about how he enjoyed watching when Rebekah lied to Klaus (to lure him back to town). Klaus asks where Rebekah is. Damon: "That's the thing with younger siblings, you just never know what they're going to do."
Gilbert Gables: Elena is a little uncomfortable having Tyler in the house, given that he's a hybrid and all, and she makes no secret of it. When things turn awkward, Alaric decides that now might be a better time to question the hybrid who now has a standing invitation to the house, rather than berate him, and asks Tyler what the difference is between compulsion and the sire-bond. Tyler says compulsion is mind-control akin to hypnosis, whereas the sire-bond is like faith. "You do something because you believe it's the right thing." He insists he doesn't serve Klaus, but does say he owes him, for releasing him from the werewolf curse that was ruining his life. When Alaric asks what Ty would do if Klaus asked him to jump off a bridge, Ty is all He wouldn't, plus, I'm a hybrid, duh. I'd survive. Elena ups the stakes and asks what Tyler would do if Klaus asked him to rip out his own heart. Tyler is agitated as he insists Klaus wouldn't do that. Elena: "But what if he did?" Tyler raises his voice. "I don't know. Then I'd rip out my own heart." Jeremy, Alaric and Elena exchange YIKES looks at that, but Tyler is in his own little world and complains that they sound like Caroline, freaking out over something they don't understand. Elena reminds Tyler how Klaus has terrorized them all, so no, she doesn't understand Tyler's blind loyalty to this monster. Tyler: "You're over-thinking it. I can still make my own decisions." Like about the proper attire when ripping out one's own heart, maybe? Um.
Mossy Manse: While Klaus and Damon are drinking, Damon learns that Stefan stole the Originals' coffins. Damon would be up for finding Stefan, but points out he sure as hell doesn't work for Klaus. Klaus smirks as he notes Damon's drink is laced with vervain, so he knows he can't compel him. "And there'd be no point in killing you, because you're actually the one with the most hope of getting me what I need, and yet it would seem a demonstration is in order. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough when I told you to find Stefan. Oh well, it seems you people respond best to displays of violence. Why don't you take this as an example of my reach." At that, he whips out his cellphone says, "There he is. So...that thing I told you to do, why don't you go ahead and get on with it."
Gilbert Gables: Tyler is not on the phone when we cut back to Elena's kitchen, but Germ is just ending a call. Oh, no! When Elena asks what it was about, Germ lies, "It was nothing." Tyler decides it's time to go. When he leaves, Elena and Alaric talk about the sire-bond thing, and how it's like cult-logic. Elena turns to point out to Jeremy that Tyler isn't perhaps the best company, but he's gone, and he's left his protect-o ring on his plate. Elena grabs it and they walk out in search of the Germ, who is standing in the middle of the road. An SUV comes screaming around the corner. Alaric, who is wearing his own ring (which was once John's and then John gave it to Isobel, who gave it to Alaric, who had to give it back to John, who left it to Elena, who gave it back to Alaric -- you got that?) rushes out into the road, pushes Jeremy out of the way, and takes the hit from the SUV, himself. Upon impact, his body flies into the air, then smashes into the SUV's windshield, before landing on the street with a splat. We go to commercial, so Elena can catch her breath.
Elena runs to Alaric's side. The SUV returns, more slowly this time. The driver lowers the window. It is, to no one's surprise, Tony, who says, "There I go again, bumping into people." When he drives off, Jeremy rushes over to Elena and Alaric's corpse. When Jeremy is confused by what happened, Elena asks him who was on the phone. It takes Jeremy a moment to remember it was Klaus. Elena realizes Jeremy was compelled and insists they get Alaric inside.
Klaus Haus: Klaus has either purchased or is squatting in an enormous mansion. Inside, he gives instructions to one of his hybrids about compelling the construction workers to gut this and open up that. When Tyler arrives, Klaus tells him that Tony ran over Alaric rather than the Germ, but it's all the same to him, the message has been sent. Tyler recoils. "You said you were sending them a warning." Klaus: "And I did. An effective one. Elena's family suffers. She's motivated to get me what I want." Tyler wasn't expecting they'd have to kill anyone. Klaus instructs Tyler to get over the remnants of his human guilty conscience (and I just typed "guilty chocolate" -- which I, right now, high hosey -- for future use as a book title, blog, band name or religion). "At the end of the day, human life is just a means to an end -- our means to our end. You'd do well to remember that." Tyler looks like he both likes and loathes this idea, which lets me hold out some hope for him.
Gilbert Gables: Alaric's corpse is laid out on the Gilberts' couch, when Damon arrives. Elena fills him in on what's happened. Damon then turns to Jeremy and asks why he wasn't wearing vervain. "Where's your bracelet?" You know, by now, these characters ought to have a daily vervain inspection. It should also be laced in everything they eat or drink, and they should add it to their laundry, shampoo and deodorant, too. Elena realizes Tyler must have been hanging with the Germ to get him off the vervain. Damon tells Elena about Stefan and the big Coffin Contrivance. Jeremy suggests that getting the hell out of Dodge might be a better plan, because...well, what he's really saying is all their plans suck. After Jeremy stomps off, Elena suggests giving Rebekah back to Klaus. Damon says this isn't an option. Elena then says, "Klaus's coffins? How many did you say there were..." and we cut to...
Bonnie's Bedroom: When Bonnie answers the phone, Elena tells her that much like her dream, Klaus is looking for four coffins. Bonnie warns Elena not to get involved, but Elena explains Klaus won't let her stay out of it, and that Klaus tried to kill Jeremy. Elena wonders if Bonnie could once again try a locator spell. Bonnie admits they don't need one.
Elena and Damon exposit about the dead witches' reasons for re-haunting the abandoned mansion. Elena says that while the witches were angry at Bonnie before, now they have something they want her to know. Damon: "That's why I hate witches. So fickle. Passive-aggressive." When they enter the mansion, the witches prove Damon's point by burning him with the scant bit of sunlight filtering through the windows. Damon: "They used their juju to screw with my daylight ring." Elena tells Damon to wait outside, because she's not leaving 'til she knows if Stefan is there.
Sidebar: The witches' ability to screw with Damon's daylight ring is one of those mythology moments that chaps my arse. Okay, Bonnie goes to the mansion (where, at least during her meeting with Stefan, no coffins are visible anyhow) and is told by Stefan that the witches need her help to cloak the coffins (which again, aren't visible, but maybe Stefan just has them in a closet, okay). So, the dead witches can provide power to a living witch to do their bidding, but can't really wield it on their own, right? Wrong -- because they can screw with Damon's daylight ring, and we've seen them do stuff like this, before.
In the forum, reader Neka nitpicks my nitpick, saying, "I think Bonnie is necessary as the conduit between the living and the dead. Stefan needs Bonnie's help to hide the coffins. The Witches are gonna allow Bonnie to do this in the house and they'll help. They can do petty things (injure Damon) but they haven't just killed him and if they really had the power to just kill him, they would have. I think The Witches respect 'The Rules' because that's their job."
Neka's argument is a well enough reasoned one. The part that doesn't sit well with me (I'm not picking on Neka, she just sees this differently than I do, and she probably sees it the way the writers intend) is this idea that screwing with Damon's magical ring, while he is in possession of it, is somehow pettier mojo than cloaking a few coffins. Sure, the witches respect "The Rules" but it feels like the logic of magical rules in this show needs some beefing up. Right now, it's more like... It's time for Bonnie to be in an episode again, so we'll create a magical need for her presence, and let her tip off Elena to Stefan's whereabouts, while she's at it.
I often think this show lacks a solid grasp on how to treat magic in its stories. I feel the same way about the human protect-o rings that Alaric and Jeremy have. You know this song. I've sung it before. I think they got too specific and too broad at the same time, when it defined the scope of the protect-o rings' powers. Okay, they protect humans from a supernatural death. No. Wait. It protects them from any sort of death (even a mundane one like being pushed off a balcony, or now, getting run over by a car) if and only if a supernatural creature is the one trying to kill the human. Oh an Elena isn't really human, because she's the doppelganger, even though, back when Stefan had to develop a tolerance for drinking human blood, Elena's blood served the purpose just fine. The human protect-o ring mythology will get more muddled by episode's end, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get back to Elena's search for Stefan. Thank you for tolerating my digression. Or perhaps you didn't. Perhaps you've already stopped reading in which case I'm sorry for sucking, but you'll never know that, because you left me. End sidebar/diatribe.
When Elena reaches the basement, Stefan appears out of deep lurk and tells her to go away. Outside, Damon uses his vamponic hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation. Elena tells Stefan she needs his help. She asks him to give Klaus his family back, and explains that Klaus compelled the Germ to let himself get run over. When Stefan doesn't respond, Elena's tone grows more heated. Stefan voice is cold. "Elena, stop talking. I'm not giving Klaus anything." Elena says, "Are you listening to me? He's going to kill Jeremy." Stefan: "Not really my problem." Wow. You just gave her license to forget your sorry Beige-Angel-Arc ass, Stef. Elena slaps Stefan across the face, tells him to go to hell, and...Commercial.
When Elena gets outside, Damon tells her he'll talk to Stefan. Elena reminds him the witches won't let him enter the house. Damon hands her the keys to his car and says, "You deal with your brother. I'll deal with mine." He Stealth Salvatores his way through the house, sizzling all the way down to the basement. Stefan smirks. "Wow. That was impressive, but the coffins aren't here, so you can go away now." Damon doesn't care about the coffins and says they need to talk. When he starts sizzling again, he swoops in on Stefan and Stealth Salvatores him outside. Once he has Stefan pinned to the ground, Damon breaks a stick off a tree and stakes Stefan in the stomach. "That is for screwing up my plan. You stop me from killing Klaus and you steal his family. Why? It doesn't make sense!" He stakes Stefan again. Stefan groans that Klaus stripped him of everything, so now he's doing the same to him. Damon stakes him yet again and demands to know why Stefan screwed up Operation Kill Klaus. Stefan finally admits what we've known for some time. "I did it to save you."
Damon is surprised enough by little bro's confession that Stefan is able to throw him off and pull the stake out of his body. He explains that the hybrids were compelled (sire-bound, ordered, whatever) to kill Damon if Klaus died. Damon rises to his feet. "When are you gonna get it through your head..." He stakes Stefan in the gut again. "Stop saving me." Damon walks off and leaves Stefan struggling on the ground.
Woods: Tyler is sitting alone on a log, drinking straight from the bottle. Behind him, Jeremy lurks with the crossbow, but Tyler has his wolfy sense of smell and his vamponic hearing, so without even turning around, he says, "Don't do it, Jeremy." Jeremy: "Why not? You stab my back. I stab yours." Tyler admits that yes, Klaus asked him to get Jeremy off the vervain, but he never though he was going to kill Jeremy. Jeremy's all, Duh, it's Klaus. Tyler insists Klaus doesn't have grand designs to kill the Germ, all he wants to do is get his family back. Jeremy shoots an arrow at Tyler, but Tyler catches it and yells, "What the hell?!" Jeremy: "Whenever Klaus wants something, someone ends up dead. You think about that time, before you blindly do whatever he says." As Jeremy leaves, Tyler warns him that he should get home and stay inside. "Klaus isn't going to stop until he gets all those coffins back. He's not done with you." And that's who you invited into your home in a fit of pique, Jeremy.
Gilbert Gables, Night: Elena arrives home just as Alaric is getting back on his feet. While she fills him in on Jeremy, she realizes Alaric doesn't look well. When she asks if he's okay, Alaric coughs up blood and falls to the floor, so that'd be a big, "No." After a quick cut, EMTs arrive at the door. Elena informs them Alaric was hit by a car and then started coughing up blood. She leaves out the part where he was dead half the day, like you do, and...
Sidebar: Okay, here's where the human protect-o ring mythology is going to get even more muddied, because now it's not working. Sure there are a few reasons that might be. For one thing, it's changed hands many times. John to Isobel to Alaric, back to John, to Elena, and back to Alaric again. Maybe the poor ring is just damned confused. It's also been used a lot. I don't even bother keeping track of how many times that ring has saved Alaric's life (and John's before him). My favorite suggestion I read (maybe on TWoP, but I can't remember) is a joking one that the ring is bound to some poor cat that has just about used up its nine lives. It could be the dead witches interfering, a living witch we don't know about, or the ghost of the Original Witch screwing with it. It could be a lot of these things, but at this point, I wish the damned rings would just get destroyed, because my eyes are tired of rolling back in my head. End of nitpick.
Anyhow, the EMTs are ready to transport Alaric, when Tony the Hybrid (who I keep wanting to call Tony the Tiger) shows up and compels the EMTs to leave without their patient. Tony offers his blood to heal Alaric, but Elena will have to invite him in, to get it -- or at least, that's what Tony thinks, but then Jeremy shows up, and shoots Tony in the back, with the crossbow. Woo hoo, Germ!
Jeremy is all business as he stands over Tony. "He's not dead yet." I think Germ is heading toward the kitchen to get a glass or something to take some of Tony's blood for Alaric, but no. When he gets there, he grabs a meat cleaver. I rationalize that the arrow wound is probably an awkward spot from which to juice hybrid blood, and so maybe Jeremy's going to cut Tony's wrist or something. He should have gotten a glass, too, to put the blood in. BUT WAIT, THEN JEREMY GILBERT TAKES THAT MEAT CLEAVER AND CUTS OFF TONY'S HEAD! Elena screams. Jeremy's breath is heavy, but his voice is calm as he says, "Now he's dead." When I see his face speckled with the blood that spurted from the hybrid's arteries, I want to write Buffy/Jeremy crossover fan fiction, but I won't, because no good would ever come from that, Mr. Plot-bunny. Do you hear me? No good! Jeremy stands, drops the cleaver and says they have to get Alaric to the hospital now. He brushes past Elena who is still paralyzed in the doorway. Commercial.
Damon returns to the abandoned mansion and finds Stefan just out front. Damon can't figure out why Stefan would save him. "Is it brotherly love? A guilty conscience? Is the switch on? Is the switch off?" When Stefan asks Damon if he doesn't have somewhere else to be, Damon says, "Ah, deflection. That's not going to work on me. I invented that." He says he won't go away until Stefan tells him why he saved him. Stefan's not playing. Damon moves on to his question. "Why did you steal the coffins?" Stefan says Klaus's family is the one weakness he can use against him. Damon wants to know what use is that. "You're not going to kill him. You know how I know -- 'cause there was only one way to kill him, and you blew that to save me." Stefan says, "You're wrong, Damon. Klaus doesn't just get to live forever. There's another way. There has to be." Damon says, "Fair enough. Whatever you do, I want in." Stefan says he doesn't need his help. Damon points out that right now, his big strategy seems to be hiding out in a haunted house. Heh. Damon says, "If you go after Klaus, you're going to need to be cutthroat and devious. I'm so much better at that, than you." Um, not at all, considering Stefan was able to thwart you in Operation Kill Klaus, Damon. Sorry. Just sayin'... Damon tells Stefan if he's going to keep saving his life, he might as well make it for a good reason. Finally Stefan relents. "But it's just me and you. Elena stays out of it." Damon's good with that. Stefan walks towards the house and tells Damon to follow him. Damon reminds Stefan that he doesn't seem so welcome in the mansion. Stefan says it's okay now, because "We all want the same thing." An end to this Klaus storyline? I mean really.
Sidebar: Someone should have been yelling all along that there has to be another way to kill Klaus. I have lost patience with this part of the Original mythology too, because it makes no sense for a show of this nature to include a truly unkillable villain, and so I've never thought he would be one. Were he to be truly unkillable, the series would (arguably) end with Klaus being all alone in the world, for all eternity, and that's hardly where this show is going. So we've had to sit through this pretense that there's just the one way to kill him, and then lose that one way to kill him, so now we can sit through the search for the double-secret other way to kill him. I'm bored.
Inside the mansion, Stefan tells Damon to have a look. There are no coffins there. Then Stefan says, "Have another look," and voila, coffins! "The Witch Spirits hate Klaus as much as we do. They're using their powers to hide the coffins." So did Bonnie help or not?
Hospital: Alaric is sitting up, looking down at his ring, when Dr. Meredith Fell (played by Paul Wesley's real-life wife, Torrey DeVitto) enters and reminds him he should be resting. In the book series, Meredith (different last name) is one of Elena's best friends. In the show, our Bonnie is sort of combination of book Bonnie and book Meredith. My daughter, who read the books, hates that they've brought in Meredith as an adult. I noticed on Twitter, though, that a lot of adult viewers, who read the book as teens, have been moved to tears by Meredith's inclusion. I never read the books. I tried and just couldn't do it, so I leave it up to people with a dog in this fight, and just hope they do a good job with this character.
Anyhow, Alaric says he's a "walk-it-off kind of guy." Dr. Fell reads from his medical record: "Internal hemorrhaging, three broken ribs and a severe concussion. I have no idea how you're on your feet right now, but I need to run some tests." Alaric: "Actually, I have someplace I need to be, but thank you, Dr..." Dr. Fell finishes for him. "...Fell. But the patients who follow my advice get to call me Meredith." Alaric appreciates it, but he'll be leaving just the same. Dr. Fell: "Mr. Saltzman, what is your secret? Guardian angel -- or did you sell your soul to the devil?" Alaric smiles. "A little of both."
Mossy Manse: When there's a knock on the door, Elena answers it to find Klaus on the stoop. She thanks him for coming. While she doesn't have news of Stefan, she does have something else -- Rebekah. Elena will give Klaus the re-en-daggered Rebekah, in exchange for Jeremy's life. Elena warns him that Rebekah will want to kill her, since she's the one who inserted the dagger, this time. Klaus believes he needs Elena if he's going to persuade Stefan to return the other Originals, so he assures her he can control Rebekah, and removes the dagger from her corpse. Elena reminds Klaus that she doesn't know where Stefan is. Klaus says she's lying, and she'd better ask herself which of her other loved ones is going to die , if he doesn't get his family back in a hurry. Klaus then lists them all and says, "It's only a matter of time before he gives me what I want." Elena says of Stefan, "He doesn't care about me, any more. You made sure of that. You turned him into a monster. Now he's your problem, and just so you know, I'm not the only one Rebekah wants dead. She knows what you did to your mother. She knows that you killed her." Elena walks away, telling Klaus he can let himself out.
Hospital Parking Lot: Jeremy asks Alaric what's up with the newest kink in the protect-o ring. Alaric doesn't know, either, and says, "I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking." Jeremy laughs. "Yeah, he said to say you owe him a drink." Alaric: "That's funny. I'd rather have head trauma." Alaric waits a beat and asks Jeremy if he's okay. Jeremy: "Why wouldn't I be? I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. Typical Sunday, huh?" Alaric says he can always come to him, to talk. Jeremy: "What could you tell me that I don't already know? This is the way things are. It sucks, but I've just got to get used to it."
Gilbert Gables: Elena is ringing out a bloody cloth into the sink when Damon returns from getting rid of Tony the Hybrid's corpse and getting his blood to Alaric (either directly or via Jeremy, I'm not quite sure how he had time for either). When Damon asks Elena how she is, her voice is weak as she answers that she got most of the blood off the porch. Damon tells her to look at him. "It's going to be okay." Elena lies with her nod, and then rubs her eye with the heel of her still blood stained hand. "I have to tell you something. I made a deal with Klaus. I gave him Rebekah." Damon is all no, no, no because he's afraid Rebekah will return and kill Elena. Elena says, "Klaus won't let her, because he needs me." Damon: "And suddenly you trust him?" Elena doesn't trust him, but she was out of options and she doesn't trust Stefan, either. "Do you think he's gonna just give up the coffins?" Damon winces as he covers his own tracks. "My brother's sort of running his own show, right now." Elena: "Yeah and my brother just chopped off someone's head. It's not right. It's not fair. He's 16 years old. He shouldn't have to live like this. There has to be another way. We have to fix it." She's back at the sink, scrubbing the blood off her hands when Damon comes up behind her and assures her they will.
Klaus Haus: Klaus talks to Rebekah's corpse about how he'd been counting on her being with him, but that's all ruined now. Just then, her hand moves, and some of the corroded mottling disappears from her skin. Klaus leans over her, caresses her cheek and says, "I'm so sorry, sister. We'll meet again, one day." He reinserts the dagger into her chest and blinks back his tears.
Gilbert Gables: Alaric and Elena go up to Jeremy's room. She says, "I've been thinking about what you said earlier, about how we should pack up and go. [...] Well you were right. You shouldn't have to give up a normal life, just because of me." When Damon appears at the doorway, Jeremy says, "Hey, what's going on?" Damon: "Your sister thinks we should have another one of our talks." Jeremy, instead of immediately rubbing vervain all over his body and then swallowing some more whole, looks at Elena like dude, really? Is he giving tacit approval of his own compulsion or does he really not get what is going on, here?
Damon sits down and faces his patient. "Here's the thing, Jeremy. You're gonna go out of town for a while, a long while..." Damon turns on his compulsion eyes, and then continues. "You're going to stay with some nice, family friends in Denver. You're gonna be at a new school. You're gonna meet new girls -- living girls. You're gonna drink a few beers, take an art class. You can do whatever you want." Alaric adds, "Tell him he's gonna leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it." Damon turns to Elena who closes her eyes as she nods in agreement. Damon: "You're going to leave Mystic Falls behind, and never think twice about it." Elena tears up. Damon finishes: "You're going to have a better life, Jeremy." When Damon closes his own eyes, Jeremy snaps out of his little trance. Now he's not all badass anymore. Rip off.
Abandoned Mansion: Stefan brings Bonnie into the room with the coffins that are now visible again. She walks to the one that is set apart. "This is the one that I've dreamt of." It almost feels like this scene is out of sequence. Should this be her first time seeing them, if she helped make them invisible? And if it isn't her first time, wouldn't she have mentioned that before? And if she didn't help, how were the dead witches able to make the coffins invisible and then visible, when Stefan showed them to Damon? Ugh!
Anyhow, Stefan tells Bonnie the casket won't open. He's tried everything. He can't even scratch the finish. Bonnie figures it must be closed via a magical spell. Bonnie figures the witches led her there for a reason, and whatever is inside that coffin is the answer. So, is it the original Petrova, or Mama Original, or hell, maybe chock full of new, charged up protect-o rings?
Elena sees Damon out. She's second-guessing her decision to compel Jeremy, as well she should, but Damon tells her that even if the Germ finds out and gets pissed off again, "...estranged is bad, dead is worse." When Elena thanks Damon and tells him she doesn't know what she'd do, were he not there, Damon swallows hard. He then tells Elena that she should know Stefan didn't screw them over. He then corrects: "He screwed us over, but he had a good reason." Stefan saved Klaus to save Damon (although he doesn't share the details) and then stole the coffins to get even with Klaus. Elena doesn't understand what it even means that Stefan still cares about protecting Damon.
Damon says, "What does it mean? It means I'm an idiot, because I thought, for one second, that I wouldn't have to feel guilty anymore." Elena: "Guilty for what?" Damon: "For wanting what I want." Elena, who knows she is what Damon wants, takes this in, but doesn't object; she just whispers, "Damon." Damon says, "I know believe me, I get it. My brother's girl, and all..."
Damon starts off down the front steps, but soon stops and turns back to Elena. "No. You know what? If I am going to feel guilty about something, I'm going to feel guilty about this." He takes her head in his hands and kisses her! His hands slide under her shiny, shiny hair. Elena raises one of her hands to Damon's, but doesn't pull it off her neck and she doesn't pull away. She yields to his slow gentle kiss. When he pulls back and looks in her eyes, I'm pretty sure he must see that while Elena is not going to instigate more kissing, neither would she resist it. He starts to eye-thing at her, stops himself and whispers, "Good night," leaving Elena nearly as breathless as the Damon/Elena 'shippers (and some of us non-shippers, too).
Of course, the kiss has some people in an uproar -- because they feel Stefan has been betrayed. In a show with bloody deaths every week, and compulsion and whatever other fresh hell rushing through town, I just don't think this kiss is a huge betrayal. At this point, I wouldn't find a relationship between Elena and Damon a big betrayal. And I expect someday it will end and there will be the possibility of a romantic reunion for Stefan and Elena. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. This moment had to come. It's what the show is about -- the love between these three characters, in all directions. There's one thing I'd love to see, and soon, but I'm not sure I will. I would love to see Damon be upfront with Stefan, tell him he's more in love with Elena than ever, and that he kissed her.
What do you think about the compulsion of Jeremy? I know a lot of people are mad about that, too. I think it's wrong, but it doesn't anger me, because first of all, I feel like Germ had some inkling of why Damon was coming into his room and he didn't make a stink or ask questions, or heck, just close his eyes. Secondly, I think Elena, Alaric and Damon did this thing out of a place of love and concern. Their intentions will make great pavement on this new road to hell. I know it's wrong, but it's the right kind of wrong.
I'll be back Friday with a recaplet of the episode. In the meantime, please grade the episode up top and join us in the forum, where there are plenty of good reasons to feel guilty.