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What a crazy episode! It's so crazy, it feels like old-school TVD. I still have a headache from trying not to cry. Let me 'splain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up. Our beautiful Brothers Salvatore decide they're going to torture Elena into feeling. Well, at first, Damon makes a final appeal to her by infiltrating her dreams, but in said dreams, he sends her back to school, not realizing any self-respecting senior learned to turn off her emotions at the school door two years prior. , Damon and Stefan get rough with her. The boys steal her daywalker ring, open the curtains and let her burn. The problem is, Elena has never been suicide-averse. Regardless (and perhaps, because of that) their treatment of her is hateful, but I'm not dwelling on it now so that I'll have something to rant about in the full recap.
Because Caroline is Queen Unclear on the Concept, she tries to appeal to Elena's better angels, as if they actually exist. Epic failure abounds. Finally, Katherine shows up and makes everything all better. Okay, no. She makes everything all worse in that way only Katherine has -- the way that's better than all the other ways. She sets Elena free from the Mossy Manse dungeon on the theory that if Elena doesn't have the Salvatores swanning over her, she'll totally crack. I, for one, think that's not the worst plan, but no one ever listens to me.
In the end, it takes Matt's "death" to restore Elena's humanity. Because I never lost my humanity, you'll note I put the word death in scare quotes straightaway so that you won't catch this headache I've been nursing, since I stopped myself from crying over what is about to unfold.
Matt catches up to Free Elena. She drains him of too much blood, but he's still alive. As she's going in for another feed, Stefan arrives and stops her. , Damon appears and tells Elena that if she doesn't turn on her humanity, he'll kill Matt. When Elena's recalcitrance continues unabated, Damon snaps Matt's neck. Right. Yes. Let that sink in for a moment. I'll make a paragraph break, to give you your space.
I swear to Plec, when I thought Matt dead, I had my own little "drops the mic" moment, but not in a cool way. Rather it was in that, "Dear Tubey, I'm glad you upgraded this show to full recaps, but I'm never writing another syllable about it. I'm free to cover anything that Julie Plec has never touched. Love you bunches..." sort of way. Don't get me wrong, I don't actually expect Matt to survive the series -- at least not as a human (although he should). That said, had Damon killed Matt to "save" Elena's "humanity"… well, such an act would have wiped out three of my favorite characters and perhaps, my three favorite characters (if you get the distinction). He didn't. And? He knew Matt was wearing the ring, so I'm happy to walk away not hating anyone.
While I'm sweating out Matt's fate, it also seems that Silas has managed to kill Liz Forbes, in an attempt to bully Caroline into revealing Bonnie's whereabouts, even though Caroline can't find Bonnie. Thank heavens, Liz lives, because I can't -- we can't -- they can't do that. If there are no actual grownups on the show, it suffers. No, I mean this, Julie Plec. God, I wish I knew your middle name, because right now you need the three name treatment. Please, my dearest, get your head out of The CW world for a moment. Killing both Jenna and Alaric was… er… overkill. Killing both Carol and [Daddy] Lockwood was overkill. Matt and Bonnie having no (meaningful) parents is overkill. Julie, my friend, I know you too are a big Buffy fan, so let me speak plainly: there's a reason Giles remains one of the more favorably remembered characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His stabilizing presence, clear head, sound character and strength was needed. Always. Nitpick: Since Silas seems to be an Original-Original vampire, who invited him into Fortress Forbes, i.e., how did he gain access. Show, when you make certain characters (see: The Originals) too invulnerable and way too powerful, you actually make them weaker.
In other news, Bonnie plans to take down Silas. It's too complicated to explain -- and also a little too vague -- in a recaplet. She enlists Katherine's support, by waving an invulnerability carrot in front of her. Katherine's going to need that carrot, not for her eyesight, but for her very life. Once Elena's feelings reemerge, it's only her hatred of Katherine that keeps her grounded, so Katherine's death is now her fondest wish. Elena, my love, the fandom already hates your whiny guts. If you kill Katherine, you'll kill your show.
I appreciate that the episode didn't plant either Damon or Stefan at the root of Elena's emotional grounding. Caroline, Matt, Rebekah, Bonnie and (of course) Katherine, are fairly awesome in this episode. Truly, Rebekah's character arc this season (and maybe beyond) is a thing of beauty. Elena worries me. I don't care about what happened when her switch was in the off position. What concerns me is that it looks like she's going to be an "emopire" (hat tip to my Twitter friend, Brian) for the rest of the series. Also, I REALLY don't want Katherine dead. I'm less worried about that than some, because I don't think Julie Plec is a mental patient who would squander future Katherine hijinks. Still, I am a little nervous.
In conclusion, if you ever again make me think Matt is dead, Julie, I will sue you for my resulting stroke. And if you ever actually kill him off, I think the tweet I sent you right after the episode sums it up: "I just can't even..."
What I can "even" do is say how much I enjoyed this episode. I was sad when I got to our episode thread, only to realize just one person had posted and it was a negative comment from a person who found it boring and long. I found this episode riveting -- riveting in the way I found Seasons 1 and 2. For me, it seemed to pass in about 15 minutes. I couldn't be sure what was happening. I wasn't sure what to root for. I just held my breath and grabbed the reins 'til my knuckles were white. Were I Turk from Scrubs, the headline of this recaplet would read: "That's what I'm talking 'bout."
I'll be back with the full recap, ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode at the top of the page and then come on over to the forum, where you call can just step off our Pudding Pop.
Think you've got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games -- all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts. Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on The Vampire Diaries, Elena cried. In their basement is where the boys have her tied. Silas blathers about the other side. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Currently, on The Vampire Diaries, as Elena heads toward school, Caroline, Bonnie and Matt meet up with her. It's all well and good until Elena realizes, "Wait. Something's not right. I don't want to be here." Oh, I remember Acute Senioritis. Damon appears and reminds Elena she should think hanging with her friends at the end of senior year is the bee's knees. Given his age, I'm guess I'm not surprised he didn't use that phrase because he's too old for it. Elena realizes she's not in control of her own head. The last thing she remembers is that after the prom, Damon and Stefan locked her up and starved her because they know how to romance a girl. When Elena tells Damon this mind manipulation isn't going to work, he is confident there are other ways in which to provoke an emotional response. I sorta wish I'd headlined this episode as, "I Get So Emotional, Baby," but age before beauty and Barry before Whitney. We cut to...
Mossy Manse. Stefan confers with Damon about their prisoner girlfriend. Damon never admits defeat, but when he checks on Elena (who has been locked in a basement safe, which is a downgrade from dungeon cell) it's clear she has yet to spank her inner moppet or turn on her humanity switch, but needs to, stat. Through the safe door, he warns that they can do this the nice way or the "other" way. Title card.
Caroline arrives at Mossy Manse and demands to see Elena, regardless of what her one true mood is. Stefan tries to talk down Caroline, but our girl will have none of that. He insists he and Damon have to invoke fear or other negative emotions to get Elena to flip her humanity switch. Caroline begs for the opportunity to try something different. Our Ripper is reluctant, but eventually agrees. I hate the premise of this episode so very much, I don't want to watch it again, never mind talk about it. Don't get me wrong, it's an effective episode -- one of this season's better -- it just makes me sick.
Anyhow, Caroline presents Elena with a vial of blood which she swears is vervain-free. As Elena chugs it down, Caroline makes our point that the Salvatores are being abusive. She wants Elena to reclaim her humanity but thinks there are better approaches than causing her to suffer. She says won't give up on Elena, even though Elena hits below the belt, calls her clingy and reminds Care Bear that two of her suitors have skipped town. Tyler said he's running for his life, but maybe he's running from Care. Similarly, while Klaus is off to a new show, maybe he's just had it with Caroline's teasing. Is anyone else vomiting at the sexual politics of this episode, yet? Elena insists she's not judging Caroline and offers that it might be nice to have a bad boy ruffle Care's perfect feathers. Yeah, that's it. Get me a bucket. Leave it right by my desk. Ta. When Caroline rises to leave, Elena brings it home, vamps out and tries to attack Caroline. Caroline tries to talk sense to her forever friend, but Elena mocks her and says she's pathetic. Eventually, Caroline has had enough. When she rises to leave, Elena rushes her, so Caroline snaps Elena's neck. Seeing Stefan at the doorway, Caroline tells him to do whatever it takes. With that she walks upstairs. So much for not giving up.
At the Mystic Grill Matt finds Rebekah downing shots. There's a bunch of exposition about Becky and her brothers, both in Mystic Falls and the Big Easy, and some more about the Bore, and Elena's current circumstances. Matt's off to meet Caroline. Becky gets in a parting shot about how she prefers unfeeling Elena. Matt will not let that stand because he's Matt like that. He wonders why Beckster stays in Mystic Falls when, unlike him, she's not stuck there. Somewhere in there he vents a little about how he's in trouble at school. We cut to...
Mossy Manse. Exterior. Caroline's on the phone with Bonnie who lies that she's been studying for finals. Caroline knows that like the fandom, Bonnie has had it up to her crazy eyeballs with Elena, but says things are about to get real and Caroline needs her. Bonnie knows Caroline wants to check up on her, too. Bonnie tells Caroline she's now free from Silas's control, and since Elena tried to kill her, she's not ready to forgive and forget. I'd like to return to some of the times Bonnie has betrayed Elena's trust or otherwise screwed the pooch, but that would run counter to my goal of whipping out this recap as soon as possible.
After the phone call, Katherine joins Bonnie. They're in some diner that isn't the Mystic Grill. Katherine gets off a few cracks about Bonnie lying, scheming and being un-Bonnie-like. Being this season's voice of the disgruntled segment of the fandom, Katherine makes sure to snark on Elena, too. Once that's out of her system (temporarily because this is Katherine, after all), Katherine notes that Bonnie said she was going to make her an offer she couldn't refuse. I missed the episode where Bonnie joined the Corleone family, but at least now she has her own life, so good for her. We cut to...
Mossy Manse. Elena's tied to a chair in the Salvatore's parlor. Damon joins her and drops a fire extinguisher nearby. Between that and the drawn curtains which serve as their backdrop, the entire scene has already been telegraphed, even before Stefan comes into view. Damon says they figured Elena could use a little sunshine. As Stefan opens the curtains a peek, Damon dangles Elena's daywalker ring in front of her and notes that bad girls don't get nice jewelry. Wow, this really is fantasy genre. There's some bickering between the threesome. Elena warns that if they do manage to torture the humanity back into her, she'll hate them for it. Damon pronounces it worth the risk. Stefan parts the curtains a little more. When the sunlight hits Elena's hand, her flesh starts to sizzle. She screams in pain. We cut to commercial so I can give my hatred a break.
Elena's still screaming when we return. Damon extinguishes her flamey flesh with a fire extinguisher. As Stefan did in the prior scene, Damon spells out that they're trying to torture the feeling back into her, and I can't help but think spelling it out is not the best idea. I mean, if someone has shut off her feelings, and you want her to turn them back on, maybe you don't remind her of that every two seconds. You're clear that I hate everything about their approach, right? Okay, thanks for being cool like that and saving me from myself. When Elena mutters that she'll kill the boys, Damon pounds it in our heads that she must be feeling some rage. Is he trying to give her the opportunity to shut it off? No matter, Stefan tries to play good cop. Elena laughs at him and rubs it in his face that she dumped him. After some more back and forth that I'll spare you, Stefan opens the curtains wide. The sunlight hits Elena's face. We cut to the...
Exterior. Caroline tells Matt they have to keep talking so she can ignore their friend screaming in pain. She tries to make some small talk about graduation, but Matt knows she's just distracting herself and tells her all this is going to work. "We're going to get Elena back." Soon, they spot Rebekah inside Mossy Manse. We cut to the...
Inside. Rebekah has brought burgers as a peace offering. Matt eagerly accepts them, but Caroline tries to give Becky the bum's rush. Rebekah spills the beans. Matt is in danger of failing, so she figured he might need a study buddy. I love how this ancient creature is so into high school. Matt's poor performance is news to Caroline. When she grills him on it, he admits he's behind in History, Italian and Math. Kids, if you're in the States and can only study one foreign language, study Spanish. If you want to add Italian, French or German to it, be my guest, but an American not studying Spanish is like a Canadian not studying French. You're ignoring a large segment of your fellow citizens.
Rebekah says both women can help Matt. "All hands on deck. That's the motto around here, right?" Caroline snarls at her, and then tells Matt she'll run home and get her flash cards and some energy bars. "This is gonna be good." When she leaves, Rebekah raises her eyebrows at Matt. "You dated that?" Matt shrugs. "She likes projects." We cut...
Outside. Caroline walks to her product placement. After dropping her keys, she crouches to retrieve them, but pauses when she hears a rustling in the nearby brush. She calls out, "Who's there," then turns to find Klaus, but actually, it's just "Klaus," i.e. Silas. I guess we don't find that out until the scene though because now, we cut to the...
Diner. Bonnie wants Katherine to hand over Silas's tombstone. In two days there will be a full moon. Silas wants Bonnie to harness its power, drop the veil between them and the Other Side. He'll then take the cure, die, and join his lovah on a completely different other side -- the one that existed before Qetsiyah (Q) created the up-capped Other Side. Bonnie's been hiding from him ever since he laid out his plan. She's trying to buy time, but she won't share her reason or intent with Katherine because the less Kiki knows, the better, since all minds are ripe for Silas to pick. After some back and forth about why Katherine shouldn't think Bonnie is Silas, and how Bonnie can be sure Katherine isn't Silas (since Bonnie's seen Silas's true face, this is no longer an issue for her), Katherine asks what Katherine always asks: "What's in it for me?" Bonnie tells her to hand over the tombstone and she will make it worth Katherine's while. Oh Bonnie, you're going to have to do better than that. We cut back to...
Mossy Manse. The torture continues. First, Elena is the victim. We're the collateral damage. We feel the burn as soon as she mentions the sire bond. I suppose Damon is a victim too, but since he and Stefan are willing to torture the second love of their unnaturally long lives, I am about as emotionally detached as humanity-free Elena. She's not just free of her humanity, though. Since the ropes that have been binding her to the chair have been weakened by her flaming flesh, she breaks through them, flies to the window and opens wide the curtains. Her entire body bursts into flames. The boys rush her. Stefan knocks her down into a relatively shady spot. Damon douses her with the fire extinguisher. Elena's skin is bright red and blistered at first, but heals before our eyes. She coughs and looks up at her boyfriends. "I am the girl you love. You wouldn't do anything actually hurt me. You just proved that. So what do I really have to be afraid of?" Ending a sentence in a preposition? Commercial.
Outside Mossy Manse, the beautiful Brothers Salvatore discuss their stunning lack of progress. There's exposition about the humanity switch and Elena's now-empty life. They finally realize she's too smart to be scared of them, and decide they'll invite Katherine to handle the job. Since she's the fandom's iconic Elena hater, surely, she'll jump at the chance.
Caroline and Silas-as-Klaus stroll the manse adjacent woods. Caroline says she thought Klaus was gone. He says he never meant to leave without saying goodbye. Caroline reminds him he owes her no explanation. He invites her to join him in New Orleans. When Caroline is agitated at this suggestion, "Klaus" asks her what she's afraid of. Caroline and the audience answer him in unison. "You!" Silas has mostly been aping a corporeal First Evil, but right now, he's taking a page out of Season Six Spike's script, and starts talking about Buffy's the dark aspect of Caroline's nature.
Silas finally tips his hand when he tells her Elena was right about Caroline longing to have her perfect feathers ruffled. Once Caroline realizes she's dealing with Silas, he gets rough with her, shoves her against a tree and demands to know Bonnie's whereabouts. Caroline hasn't the foggiest idea where Bonnie is. Silas tells her to get Bonnie to come out of the shadows and then stakes Caroline in the gut, or maybe even that's a head game. I have so many issues with Silas's characterization, but I covered them in the recaplet, so it would be better for all of us if I just ignored them. When Silas leaves, Caroline slumps to the ground and passes out. We cut back to...
Mossy Manse. Interior. Matt and his phone have a very special product placement moment, featuring some language translation application. Rebekah says the app is handy, but wonders if it isn't a cheat. They tease back and forth for a moment, but Rebekah assures him she can help. Matt's voice is choked when he admits he doesn't want to be left behind and be the only repeat senior while his friends traipse off to college. Oh Matt, if they're not failing too, they're compelling their teachers. Rebekah backs me up by offering to compel his teachers to give him good grades and a scholarship. The first time I watched, my daughter watched with me. My children are all good students -- better students than I am a mom -- because I admitted to her that if in the last gasps of senior year, had I been presented with this deal, I would have jumped at the chance. Not our Matty, though. He resists Rebekah's offer of being his advantage in life. Harkening back to when he convinced her to save April's life at prom, Rebekah explains she's grateful that he showed her she can be a better person. She begs Matt to take advantage of what she's offering him. "Make something of yourself. And for the record, anyone who leaves you behind is a fool... I wouldn't."
Ignoring Billy Joel's advice to leave a tender moment alone, Katherine barges in and mocks Rebekah. Damon appears and is all, "Seriously? You can't knock?" Katherine and Rebekah trade barbs, then Kiki announces she's there to torture the humanity back into Elena. Oh, she doesn't call it torture, but Matt knows the score, and voices his objections. Damon would never admit it, but he's as jealous of Matt as Rebekah is covetous. "Do you have a better idea, Prom King? Unless you want me to lock you up in there with her, I suggest you shut up, and let the adults handle this." With that, Damon leads Katherine out of the room. Rebekah turns to Matt and says the lunatics have taken over the asylum, but Matt doesn't respond. Instead, he starts out the door. When Rebekah asks where he's going, he says, "I'm calling Caroline. There's no way we're letting that psycho in there with Elena." We cut...
Outside. It's dark, now. Caroline's phone rings. She finally wakes. There's no stake in her gut, and her shirt looks okay, so I guess even the staking was a mirage, which makes me wonder how and why she passed out. Apparently Silas can do everything, which makes him the most boring villain ever to have twirled a mustache. Caroline grabs her phone and runs back toward Mossy Manse. Matt pops out of nowhere, but he's not Matt; he's Silas. He throttles Caroline and again orders her to get him Bonnie, or he'll kill someone, and maybe he'll start with Caroline's mother. Caroline runs to the manse. She's intercepted by Klaus, who is also Silas. He again demands she produce Bonnie, threatens to kill the person Caroline most loves, then tosses her down an outside staircase.
Caroline runs to her product placement. As she gets in the driver's seat, she calls Liz and orders her to go home and lock all the doors, and not to let anyone in, even Care (because after all, she has a key). What she doesn't do is take five seconds to say, "There's a monster who can impersonate everyone, Mom. He can read minds too, so do what I say." I'm not going to continue to recap the product placement, unless Ford pays me. Suffice it to say Silas is behind Caroline's car, then to it. When she sees his true face, she speeds off. We cut to the...
Mossy Manse basement. Katherine opens the safe, tells Elena she looks awful and then forcefully whips her out of the safe. Elena asks what Katherine's doing there. Kiki says, "Your boyfriends invited me." I am deluding myself into thinking that's a shout-out. Katherine says the boys want to know if Elena still has a heart, then to remind us that that is Season Gore, every bit as much as it's been Season Cure Bore, she plunges her hand into Elena's chest and grabs her heart. At least Katherine has some manners. When she pulls her hand back out, she manages to wipe her bloody hand. I commend you for that, Kiki. You should really give this girl some etiquette lessons.
Katherine asks Elena what she said to Elijah, back in "American Gothic." Elena realizes this means Elijah has dumped Katherine. Katherine says, "Tell me what you said to turn him against me, or I will feed you your own eyeballs." I am so glad I have this bucket to me. Elena says she didn't have to say anything. "Look at you. Self-obsessed egomaniac. On the run for five centuries. What good would you be to anyone? You're the definition of damaged goods. No wonder Elijah left you."
Katherine admits she's done horrible things to survive, but unlike the delicate Elena, she doesn't turn "it" off. Katherine deals. "You wouldn't last a week as a vampire, without everyone fawning over you." If I haven't been saying that, I've been thinking it. When Elena first turned off her humanity, her friends and lovers should have killed her with kindness (because they love her, not because it would work). When that failed, they should have ignored her. They should have let her go to prom alone. They should have let her dig herself out of any trouble she encountered. They should have frozen her out completely. Instead of torturing Elena some more, Katherine tosses her back in the safe, but when she goes to latch the door, she thinks better of it. Leaving the door unlocked, Katherine walks off. Commercial.
Commercial. I know I just complained about the show's product placements, but I have to say, I love this AT&T commercial with the guy talking to the little kids, and the timing of this one is so perfect. When the guy asks the kids if being faster is better, a little girl answers, "It's better to be fast, to not be bitten by a werewolf and then you'll be turned into one..." Hey, she's like six, she shouldn't have mastered this show's mythology. She shouldn't even know it's on. She continues: "And you'll have to stay in, and then you'll have to get shaved because you'll be too hot, and then you're like... grr grr grr grr grr grr grr, which means, 'I wish I was back to a human'." I mean, replace werewolf with vampire and you have the first half of Elena's Season 4 arc. Beautiful.
After the break, Katherine finds Damon in the parlor and pours herself a drink. Damon listened in on the torture session, so he mocks Katherine's recent boy trouble. Katherine asks Damon if he's ever considered Elena would be better off had she never met him. Of course she would be. Everyone in this town would be better off if the Salvatores had kept their distance. Damon laughs at Kiki trying to get a rise out of him. "My emotions are fine. I love Elena. I despise you."
Katherine hits the same solitary note everyone in the show has been singing to Damon. "As soon as she goes back to her old self, she'll go straight to Stefan. That's the tragedy of you. You never get the girl." Just then, Stefan enters and announces Elena is gone. He's going to check the grounds and tells Damon to find out what Katherine did. Katherine says, "Oops! Did I forget to lock her in?" Damon rises and glares at her, like that's effective. Katherine says, "Let's just say I've lost interest in Elena's recovery. I'd rather watch her tear through an orphanage. Imagine trying to come back from a spiral like that." Can I just note here that Stefan and Damon are supposed to have super hearing, but neither of them heard Elena leave? Thank you.
Matt and Rebekah enter. Our Pudding Pop is upset that Elena is gone and wants to know what happened. Damon non-answers, "Donavan, you're coming with me." Rebekah and I ask, "Why should he?" Damon says, "Because Elena's hungry and missing. For once, his life might actually have purpose." At my prompting, Rebekah stakes Damon. Show's over. We hope you enjoyed it.
Okay, the show's not over, darn the luck. Caroline arrives home. As she enters Fortress Forbes, she's leaving an expository voice mail for Bonnie. Liz is already home, unless she's Silas. Even after having watched this episode more than once, I'm not certain this is Liz. I mean going on what happens later, I guess it is. This is probably just my Silas issues rearing their ugly heads. I'll decapitate them and get back to the matter at hand. Caroline tests the situation by calling Liz on her phone, but who's to say that Silas isn't just making her think she's doing that, and that she isn't hallucinating seeing Liz answer the phone? At any rate, Caroline trusts the results of her test, and hugs Liz. We cut to the...
Woods. Elena is staggering in the dark when she sees a truck. She weakly flags it down, then falls to the ground. Matt gets out. Elena is grateful he found her because now she can gobble him up. Matt manages to stall her for a moment, with talk of their lifelong friendship, and his love for her. He knows he still means something to Elena. She acknowledges that deep down, he probably does mean something, but she's really hungry. Commercial.
Caroline and Liz are sitting together when Bonnie arrives at the door. Caroline can't be sure that Bonnie is Bonnie, though, so she won't let her in. Liz comes out of the room and into the front hall, but Bonnie can see it's really Silas. She frantically tries to open the door. Why she doesn't magic it open, or magically break the glass is beyond me. Instead, she just says, "Caroline, that is not your mother." Finally, Bonnie magics open the door. Caroline turns back to where she just saw Liz and sees Silas for real. He chides Bonnie's attempt to hide from him. Bonnie asks where Liz is. Silas says, "She's right where [Caroline] left her." This leaves me to wonder when and how Silas got into Fortress Forbes, but that question will remain unanswered. Caroline rushes into the living room and finds Liz lying on the floor.
Back in the hallway, Silas says to Bonnie, "I thought you and I were on the same side." Bonnie says since the full moon is still two days off, she's been gathering her strength. Silas knows he needs Bonnie to do the spell, so he can't hurt her, but he can hurt those she loves. Bonnie says she understands. She'll do his spell, drop the veil, and help him die. "Just don't hurt my friends."
In the living room, Caroline opens a vein and tries to feed her blood to an unconscious Liz. In the hall, Silas tells Bonnie her promise is binding. "If you break it, you have to answer to me." Bonnie says she won't break it. Silas tells her to leave Fortress Forbes immediately. The time he comes looking for her, she'd better be waiting. Bonnie hesitates. She can see (or at least hear) Caroline struggling to revive Liz. When it appears Liz is dead, Bonnie turns and walks out. Why? No, seriously, why? Silas has already acknowledged Bonnie has some leverage. Why doesn't she at least say, "Let me help my friends. It's not going to interfere with your goal." Missed opportunities like this are one of the reasons people complain that Bonnie is nothing but the ghost in TVD's machine. Bonnie leaves. Silas follows her out. Caroline cries. We cut to the...
Woods. Matt is so weak from blood loss that he's lying on the ground. Elena doesn't care. She's still hungry. When Matt asks her to stop, she says, "But you're so good." Aw. I bet he is. What? That's sick. Season Gore is affecting my sensibilities. Elena stands Matt up and tries to take another bite, but Stefan appears out of nowhere and stops her. Damon arrives, gets Matt to his feet and yells at Elena that they've had enough of the spoiled brat act. While he can't seem to punish her, he can surely punish Matt. See. Wasn't my ending of Rebekah staking him much better? Damon tells her to flick her switch or he'll kill Matt right in front of her.
Stefan tries to talk down his brother with a stern, but lame, "Damon." Damon's all, "Don't 'Damon' me. She doesn't love anyone? Fine. Prove it. And if I'm wrong, what difference does it make? Once less bus boy." It makes the difference of me not hating you, Elena and this entire show, forever, Damon. Weakened and pale, Matt can only say, "Elena." Elena considers him, then turns her attention to Damon and says, "You're bluffing." In response, Damon snaps Matt's neck. I die a little inside.
As Damon's actions sink in, Elena gasps in horror. Damon tosses Matt's lifeless body back to the ground. Stefan recoils in shock. Near tears, Elena approaches Matt. Damon says, "How about now? Do you feel anything, now? Are you angry I just turned your buddy into road kill?" I am! Elena covers her mouth. Damon adds, "Or are you sad that the guy everybody loves is just a bag of bones? Remember when he was a little kid, huh? Warm heart. Big goofy smile. His whole life ahead of him." Oh my heart.
Elena looks down at Matt and shakes her head. Damon crouches beside his victim and says, "I guess it was a good idea he was wearing this." He lifts Matt's hand so we can see he's wearing the Gilbert Protect-o ring. I'll say it was a good thing he was wearing it. I'm not sure it was a good idea. That is to say, my fourteen year old was sure Matt must be wearing the ring, but I thought the show was more hardcore. Whatever. I can't pick on this because I totally believed this death, and like Elena, I am overcome with relief that Matt will live to die another day. Elena drops to her knees, takes Matt's hand and cries. She strokes his cheek. Damon coaches her through all her emotions and reminds her those feelings are her humanity. A tear rolls down Elena's cheek. Our sponsors want a word, and I'm willing to let them have it, so I can shake off my residual hatred of Damon and Elena.
After the break, Damon tries to tell a sobbing Elena that it's going to be okay. It's hitting her now that she's tried to kill Matt, Bonnie and Caroline and succeeded in killing the waitress. In full meltdown mode, she smashes the passenger side window of Matt's truck. Hey! Is it not enough that you drained him of blood? Is it not enough that Damon snapped his neck? Now you've got to abuse his ride. The boys manhandle Elena. Stefan tells her to find the one thing inside of her that makes her strong and channel all her feelings into that one thing that makes her want to live. As he encourages her to let it in, Elena calms down. Damon makes sure to sidle up to Stefan, just in case Elena's latching on to her love of Salvatores. It's really pretty hilarious (but character-appropriate) blocking. The emotional music begins. Elena sobs, so we know she's really back to her old self. When she composes herself again, Damon asks if she's okay. Elena says, "No. I'm not okay. But I'll get better." The boys watch as she walks off.
Over at Fortress Forbes, Caroline has found some sort of medical kit. She takes out a hypo and draws her own blood, then plunges the needle into her mother's chest, like Liz is Uma Thurman or something. There's no response so Caroline pleads with her mother to wake up. She invokes her upcoming graduation and promises to get Liz out of Mystic Falls and find her a nice man. Still no response. Caroline holds her mother's hand and cries. Finally, Liz wakes with a cough. Caroline laugh-cries as she holds her mother. I get a little disgusted that that was so drawn out. I feel as abused as Act 1 Elena. Speaking of abuse survivors, we cut to...
Mossy Manse. Matt wakes to find Rebekah watching over him. He groans in pain from both the neck snap and the resurrection. When Matt asks if the plan worked, Rebekah says, "It looks like Elena's emotional floodgates have burst wide open, so she'll be back to her dull, sympathetic self in no time." She gives Matt a drink and praises his bravery. Matt says, "She saved me from drowning at the bottom of that river. I'm just doing what I can to pay her back." Rebekah knows she cannot apologize enough for her part in all this. She tells him if he won't let her cheat him into college, she's willing to help him the hard way. "Matt, I will spend every day until graduation, trying to find a way to pay you back." Matt smiles at her. Rebekah and I smile back. We cut to the...
Diner. Katherine joins Bonnie and starts talking about Silas's tombstone. She knows it's filled with Q's blood. Taking another one for the fans, Katherine botches Q's name, but Bonnie corrects her. I stick with calling the ancestor Q because I'm lazy like that. Katherine figures the tombstone can provide Bonnie with enough juice that she won't even need to wait 'til the full moon to drop the veil to the Other Side. Katherine just can't figure out why Bonnie wants to drop the veil at all. Bonnie will only say she has her reasons. Katherine gets back to her raison d'être: "What's in it for me?" Bonnie says that while the veil is down, she will ask Q to make Katherine invulnerable, just like Silas is. She'll never again have to run from anything. Katherine says it's a deal. So that we don't have time to think about what a horrible idea that is, we cut to...
Mossy Manse. Damon brings Elena a drink and asks how she's doing. She's wallowing in grief, pain, and shame. She gets that shutting off her humanity is but a cheat. She's done things that can't be undone. Now she knows what she needs to do . Stefan suggests she needs to rest for a couple of days or years. Elena is done with resting. She has so much to do. Damon asks what she's talking about. Elena tells him to think about it. There's one person who has ruined their lives. "Look at you two. Everything that's happened to you -- she did that. She brought Klaus to Mystic Falls. She turned Caroline into a vampire. She killed my brother. It all comes down to her. Katherine." It seems that when Stefan told Elena to focus on the one thing that makes her strong, she chose her hatred of Katherine. I can't tell you how happy I am that she chose that, instead of her love for either boy. Stefan tells Elena that Katherine isn't worth her time. "Even if you spend ten minutes of your life hating her, she wins." Elena's face contorts with loathing. "Not if I kill her." Dun dun dun!
I feel like I should opine further on the revolting elements of torture and control, but I don't have it in me. That's what this season has been about and I'm done hitting the same note. I hear you. I even agree with you. I'm just tired of wearing my ranty pants. Despite my distaste for it, I don't think the writers are blind to it. I think they meant to explore these nasty corners this season. I think they very much want us recoiling from how sick the Salvatore's treatment of Elena has been. This is senior year. Graduation is around the corner. Growing up is messy and no one gets out unblemished. "She's Come Undone" is a gripping episode that isn't afraid to get its hands dirty. Thank goodness that at least Katherine knows how to tidy up after.
I'll be back with coverage of "The Walking Dead," which makes it sound like I'm switching shows, but I'm not. In the meantime, please grade the episode at the top of the page and then come on over to the forum, where you call can just step off our Pudding Pop.