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In 1953, Damon returns to the then-Salvatore Boarding House. Joseph Salvatore welcomes him home with a vervain injection, so Damon thanks him with a glass to the carotid. As Joseph dies, Dr. Whitmore (we learn his name later) appears and rejoices in the fact that now he doesn't have to pay his pawn. He injects Damon with more vervain, and experiments on him and keeps him for at least five years. The only thing that helps Damon is the friendship he cultivates with a vampire named Enzo. Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" plays over their scene and makes me forget which show I'm covering. Regardless, Enzo teaches Damon to keep his eyes on the prize and that prize is revenge. Focusing on pretty girls is not the worst way to forget your worries. Enzo even gives himself up to Whitmore's torture in Damon's place.
Presently, Damon wakes up in the Whitmore dungeon. Dr. Maxfield injects him with more vervain to keep him calm. Damon asks why he's there. Maxfield says, "I lost a test subject last night and you're going to replace him." He brags about how he's trained Augustine vampires to crave vampire blood rather than human blood. Now he's ready to take it to the level.
Elena catches up with Aaron. She mentions that it's weird that both Jesse and Megan killed themselves before the term was up. She admits she's found Megan's body. "She was murdered and Wes [Maxfield] forged her death certificate." He's part of something much bigger. Aaron says he needs to hear Wes's side of the story. Thanks to Aaron, Elena gets an invite into Whitmore House. He's Aaron Whitmore and inherited a huge trust when his folks died.
Elena notices a faculty photo in the Whitmore House foyer and identifies her father. Maxfield appears, sings Grayson's praises and then injects vervain into Elena's neck. While Elena is passed out, Maxfield admits to Aaron that he studies vampires and his work has been going on for generations. The Whitmores pioneered it. By way of disclosure, Maxfield hands Aaron a huge dossier.
Meanwhile, Elena wakes up in the Whitmore dungeon in the cell to Damon. She's trying to deal with how her father could have been part of this society. Damon promises to get her out of there. Elena is optimistic that Stefan will save them, at least until Damon admits he never told his brother what happened there.
Damon is afraid Elena will judge him once she learns what he did to escape. She assures him she loves him. Following his plan with Enzo, Enzo drank only enough of his rations to prevent desiccation, while Damon drank the lion's share. In 1958, Dr. Whitmore uses Damon as a display at one of his secret society parties, but Damon has been well fed. He attacks Whitmore. The partygoers flee. Well, Damon feeds on some of them first -- but you get the picture. Damon tries to save Enzo, but he can't. Vervain and fire are to blame. Damon flicks off his humanity switch, flees and lives with his regret ever after. Elena lets this all sink in.
Back in Mystic Falls, Katherine has summoned Caroline to help Stefan deal with his PTSD. Caroline shows up with Stefan's summer home, i.e. the safe. There's bitchery about what Elena had to do versus what she thought she had to do. And then Caroline, the drama major, pretends she's a Psychology major. She locks poor Stefan up in the safe, and then rifles through her textbooks for information on Prolonged Exposure Therapy. Katherine decides that while Stefan can't always come through for himself, he always comes through for someone else. While Stefan is unconscious, Caroline locks Human Katherine in the safe with him. Stefan says he can't be in there with her. Katherine says, "You're Stefan Salvatore. Suck it up." Katherine tries to bring him back to the present and get him the hell over Elena. And so say all of us. Other stuff happens, but their scenes end in smoochies.
The episode ends with Stefan mostly cured, and Aaron rescuing Damon and Elena. Well, "rescuing" might be an oversell. He has a loaded gun and isn't afraid to use it. Aaron is ready to take out Elena as the vamp who (couldn't have) killed his parents. Damon admits, "That was all me." Damon says that in 1958, after the fire, Enzo was dead. Damon flew Air Revenge solo for generations of Whitmores. Aaron asks how many Whitmores he's killed. Damon says he's lost count. Elena demands to know when he killed the last one. Damon says, "It was a few months ago. Her name was Sarah. I had to go all the way to Charleston to find her. It was a weekend trip." Elena realizes Damon undertook this revenge mission during the summer of their lives. "I had no idea." Damon says, "I told you it wasn't pretty." Aaron fires his gun and shoots Damon, who falls. Elena screams out, "No!" Later she wakes in a lab, to Enzo.
I'm finishing one of the worst, non-deadly weeks of my life. If I screwed up anything, I heartfully apologize. I just want to go to bed. I'll be back with the recap, ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode at the top of the page, and then come on over to the forum, where we go out walkin', after midnight.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Front-loaded Commentary:
I'm not sure when I flipped my switch, but I know it was because of "The Cell," specifically Damon's revelations. Oh, I don't care what he did to Enzo in the 1950s. Damon did what he had to do to survive -- what he had to do, that is, once the script stipulated that Damon would be too stupid to grab the keys off Dr. Whitmore's corpse and set Enzo free.
I do care, however, about Damon's revenge-inspired murder of Sarah Whitmore -- a murder we now know took place this past summer, i.e. Damon and Elena's supposedly perfect summer. I won't pretend it is out of character for Damon to perpetrate a decades' long revenge campaign. This is the sucker who waited a century and a half for a comet so he could rescue Katherine from desiccating in the old tomb. Damon has stick-to-it-iveness. I can't argue with that, Show.
Even surrounded as he is by moral relativists, Damon morals are arguably more relativistic than those of any other member of the Fellowship of the Falls. I get that while Damon will try to act nobly or at least ethically, where Stefan or Elena are concerned (or where those who matter to Stefan and Elena are concerned), he doesn't give a damn about how he treats anyone who doesn't matter to him or his pet Velveteen Rabbits. Fair enough.
My objection lies in this: Damon cares terribly about how Elena sees him. He knows her to be less of a relativist than he is -- at least in the abstract. He's spent the better part of this season (and last) struggling (often against himself) to do whatever it takes to be good to and for Elena. And he's spent the better part of the last few seasons (particularly once Klaus grabbed Stefan and sent him off into Ripperdom) trying to be better overall.
Now we find out that during their personal summer of love, Damon left Elena for a weekend in Charleston (or took her with him and snuck away), where he murdered an utter stranger -- one who probably hadn't even been born at the time that the Dr. Whitmore used Damon in his Augustine Vampire experiments. The Damon I thought I'd come to know over 4+ seasons of intense coverage, would not have given a damn about murdering someone who was so far removed from the person who hurt him, particularly since the person who hurt him has been dead for more than half a century -- at least not while he was happily in requited love with Elena.
Now, had Elena spurned him for a half a moment all bets would be off; but for eight prior episodes, we've heard how it was the summer of their lives. That's why they forgot to worry about Stefan's protracted silence. Are you telling me Damon's generations removed vengeance quest is more important to him than Stefan? Balderdash. I mean, I guess it's true of this Damon, but if that's the case this is not the Damon I thought I'd come to know.
Similarly, the Damon I thought I'd come to know over 4+ seasons would have been a little bit more on the ball regarding the college at which the (second) love of his life was planning to matriculate, particularly since he was held and abused as a lab rat for five years at the very same school.
Some argue if perhaps Damon had put 1953 to 1958 out of his mind, he mightn't have worried quite so much about Whitmore. I can't buy that. Even if only Bonnie or Caroline attended Whitmore, I can't buy that (for Elena's sake) he wouldn't have warned them of his past there. When I say "he" I'm speaking of the Damon I thought I had come to know.
The Damon I thought I had come to know certainly would have warned Caroline or Bonnie -- never mind his beloved Elena -- about Whitmore's dark past once Megan was murdered by a vampire, and campus security covered up her murder and labeled it a suicide. The Damon I thought I had come to know would have moved heaven and earth to warn Elena (or even just Caroline or Bonnie, for Elena's sake) once he learned there was a secret vampire society at Whitmore and especially once Dr. Wes Maxfield warned Elena that the society knew about her and her fang gang, and that she'd better high-tail it out of town.
The only way the Damon I thought I had come to know would not have warned Elena (or even her friends, who hardly matter to him except that they matter to her) about Whitmore's dark past with vampire experiments, is if the Damon I had come to know had been compelled (or otherwise forced) to forget all that happened to him at Whitmore between 1953 and 1958. The problem is, if the Damon I had come to know was compelled to forget his past at Whitmore, what was behind his continued revenge against the Whitmore family?
I suppose there could be answers. Perhaps Enzo isn't as much of a prisoner as he appears to be. Perhaps Enzo has some power to compel other vampires, like Damon, to forget their horrible pasts while still exacting revenge against everyone related to his original tormentor. Maybe Enzo has nothing to do with that part of it. Hell, maybe there's a microchip in this Damon's head. And maybe there are certain things that trigger Damon's sudden memory of a hypothetically forgotten past. Maybe the First Evil is in league with the Initiative of which the Augustine Society is a secret offshoot. Why not? It's not like this show hasn't been derivative of Whedon's vampire tales for quite some time now.
The only problem is, I no longer care. Earlier this season, I enjoyed watching and was just weary to watch it at recap-level detail. Now though, I'd rather watch something else on Thursday nights. I'm sick of all this. I'm sick of compulsion and other sorts of mind control. I'm sick of watching these characters change. I like change when it comes in the form of growth. Were that the case, I'd be cheering. So many of these characters, though, are devolving into unlikable wretches. Right now, I'm ready for them all to be staked. With that caveat lector in mind, here's the recap… such that it is. Are you ready? Okay.
Recap:
Previously on The Vampire Diaries, who cares what happened? This show is no longer about the characters we first met.
Now, on The Vampire Diaries, we open at Mossy Manse, on the night of June 11, 1953. Damon returns to the then-Salvatore Boarding House at Joseph Salvatore's invitation. Apparently, Stefan has also been invited but hasn't shown up. Joseph welcomes Damon home with a vervain injection, so Damon thanks him with a glass to the carotid (or possibly the jugular). As Joseph dies, Dr. Whitmore (Trevor St. John) appears, gives Damon a second injection and is thrilled he no longer has to pay Joseph for the assist. We flash forward to...
Whitmore College. Present. Damon wakes in his Augustine Society cell just as Dr. Wes Maxfield is about to administer another vervain injection, to keep Damon calm. Damon asks what he's doing there. Wes says he lost a test subject last night (that would be Jesse), "...and you're going to replace him." Title card.
Sidebar: is it just me or do vampires' reactions to vervain make no bloody sense? If you splash it on their skin or shove it down their throats, it burns them. If you inject it into their bloodstreams, it calms them? This stuff is also why I don't care.
We return to Mossy Manse in the present day. In one of the truly enjoyable scenes in the episode, we find a human, deteriorating and bitter Katherine giving us the old DIARY-Ahhh. Even before she says so, I can tell this is part of Stefan's plan for Katherine's suicide watch. Since Katherine cares as little about what she's writing as I do, I'll just quote her last line. "Deep thoughts. Mortal coil. Blah blah blah."
Katherine groans about her hand being tired, lays down her pen, rips out the page, crumples it up, tosses it over her shoulder and asks Stefan what kind of sentimental idiot does this. Before the sentimental idiot can answer though, Katherine asks, "Is this what the prophecy meant, when it said that all the doppelgängers were drawn together like magnets, because if it is I want my money back."
PROPHECY? I cannot deal with the rest of what Katherine is saying, because since when did Q-Tessa's jealous, psychotic raving ascend to prophecy? You want your money back, Kiki? Get in line. I'm younger and have better insurance. Katherine wonders how the panic beleaguered Stefan is going to help her stay alive, when he can't help himself. To that end, she has called for backup and it's knocking at the front door.
Stefan opens the door to find Caroline, who has brought with her the Pierce & Franklin safe that served as Stefan's... summer home. It's totally cool, because even though it served as Stefan's months-long torture chamber, Care Bear sanitized it. We cut to...
Whitmore College. Elena shows up uninvited at Aaron's dorm room, you know -- the one he used to share with Jesse, who is now dead… just like everyone in Aaron's life, except the bad Dr. Wes Maxfield. Elena tries to act shocked and saddened, even though she's the one who did in Jesse. Aaron says Jesse reportedly killed himself. Elena says she's so sorry and I suppose she is.
Aaron and Elena commiserate about having everyone you love die. The angst wafts off the screen and tries to strangle me, so I hit it with some vervain. FUN FACT: In the Cindy-verse, vervain turns angst into rainbows and puppies. Well, that's if it's applied topically. Should you inject vervain into the angst, it turns into Polonium 220. Weird, huh? Anyhow, Elena is there to make it all about Elena. She knows Damon went to talk to Wes last night, and now nobody has seen or heard from either of them. Aaron has an idea where they might be. Well, Virginia is for lovers. We cut to the...
Whitmore House Dungeon. Damon warns Wes that "it" didn't end well for the last Augustines. After Wes asks if that's what Damon told Dr. Whitmore, we flash back to...
1953. Dr. Whitmore examines Damon, who tries to compel the doctor to free him, but Whitmore laughs it off, since he's wearing vervain. The beginning of Whitmore's spiel sounds humane enough. This is for science. You're a vampire. Your blood heals others. Your body heals itself. It takes a hairpin turn as Whitmore explains Damon will regenerate parts of his internal organs after Whitmore removes them. Whitmore ignores Damon's banter and sticks a scalpel in our Evil Pixie Monster's eye. I think he removes part of the eyeball, but I can't will myself to look. As Damon screams, Whitmore flips the side of the exam table and dumps a bleeding-from-the-eye Damon to the floor. We flash forward to...
Damon's Cell. Damon's memory ends and he asks Maxfield if the Augustine freaks are still all about "eye exams" and what not. Wes crows that his research is loftier; training Jesse to crave vampire blood over human blood is proof of that. He's ready to take his research to the level. Damon is so traumatized, he can't even properly flash an eye-thing at the camera.
Outside, Aaron tells Elena it makes no sense that Jesse would kill himself. Elena suggests he should doubt campus security's story about Megan, too. She confesses she found Megan's body. "She was murdered, and Wes forged her death certificate. "Wes is part of something much bigger than anyone realizes." Aaron wants to find Wes and hear his side of the story.
When they arrive at Whitmore House, Elena hesitates at the door until Aaron invites her in. Gingerly, she crosses the threshold and asks who owns the place. Technically, Aaron does. His name is Aaron Whitmore and he inherited it. Looking around, Elena notices a group photo labeled "Whitmore House 50th Anniversary Commemoration." Noticing the tall gentleman in the center of the second row, Elena says, "That's my dad." Wes appears out of nowhere. "Grayson Gilbert was one of the best doctors the Augustines ever had," then jabs a syringe into Elena's neck. She groans and collapses. Aaron says, "What the hell?" Maxfield looks from the photo to an unconscious Elena. "I'm glad he didn't live to see this." He's a lucky bastard. I agree.
Back at Mossy Manse, Stefan is less than thrilled to have the safe in his home. Caroline insists it's time to get to the root of his PTSD. Stefan says she's trying to sublimate her feelings about Jesse's death. Caroline spews some venom about Elena killing Jesse. Stefan reminds Caroline Elena did what she had to. Caroline doesn't accept that. Screw you, Caroline. Or perhaps I should leave that to the dozen witches you wiped out. After she bitches about Damon, Caroline tells Stefan that since he hasn't dealt with his PTSD, they're going to do it her way. At that, she opens the safe. Stefan, sticks her in it and goes to the bar with Katherine. Oh wait, I was dreaming. We cut to...
Whitmore House. Maxfield admits to an agitated Aaron that he studies vampires, and Elena is one of them. The Whitmore family pioneered this work, which has been going on for generations. Aaron's father trained Maxfield and the Whitmore trust has continued to fund the research. By way of disclosure, Maxfield hands Aaron a huge dossier, explains the use of vervain and shows the boy a cache of weapons.
I have to give both Rick Cosnett (Maxfield) and Shaun Sipos (Aaron) their due. Throughout the episode (and really, his run this season), Cosnett has delivered a deliciously creepy character, who is clearly bright, but also already ensconced in nearly giddy mad-scientist territory. It's not an easy part to play with a modern edge and he does well. Now that Sipos's Aaron is no longer perfecting his mournful pout, I'm paying more attention to his performance. He delivers an Aaron who is every bit as freaked out as he should be. Well played, gentlemen.
Down in the dungeon, Damon whispers at Elena to wake up. He explains Wes dosed her with vervain and tells her that Maxfield is part of the grand Augustine tradition of vampire torture. Elena asks if Maxfield told him that. Damon says, "He didn't have to. I've been here before." And that's when he stops being the Damon I thought I'd come to know. We flash back to...
1953. We're "treated" to a series of quick cuts, during which Dr. Whitmore tortures Damon with all manner of "medical experiments." This time, I don't miss him cutting out a piece of eyeball. Thanks, Show. Over the choppy montage, Damon narrates, but it's not worth transcribing.
Back in the present, Damon says that Dr. Whitmore, "...kept me in this very cell. And don't think I haven't appreciated the irony." As defined by Alanis? When Elena asks, Damon says he was held there for about five years. Elena says, "Damon, how did you not go crazy?" Elena, what makes you think he didn't? Damon ignores me and answers, "Believe it or not, I made a friend." We flash back to...
1953. Dungeon. Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" plays as Dr. Whitmore tosses Damon into his cell. In the cell (which in the present day is occupied by Elena) is a handsome guy played by Michael Malarkey. "Welcome. Dr. Whitmore never gets tired of watching us vampires heal, but he gives us one glass of blood per day, just enough to keep us alive. Pick yourself up, soldier. My name is Enzo." Enzo reaches his hand through the small barred window between his cell and Damon's. We flash forward to the...
Present. Damon tells Elena that Enzo was a soldier in Europe, during WWII. Dr. Whitmore found Enzo in a battlefield hospital and discovered Enzo was a vampire. Whitmore drugged Enzo, locked him in a coffin and shipped him stateside. Now assuming Enzo was glad to see a doctor take an interest in him, having that same doctor drug him, trap him in a coffin and ship him off to Virginia to torture him -- that's ironic, Damon. Being in the same cell twice, not so much. Besides which, since when do vampires need hospitalization?
1953. Enzo schools Damon on living for the future rather than the moment. He confesses his future involves killing Whitmore's dog and mailing the carcass to him, postage due. He asks Damon his revenge scenario. As Damon scratches his initials into the rock wall, he tells Enzo he can picture it, but that's all we get for now.
Back in the present, Elena tells Damon that Wes knew her father. Maxfield says they worked together and that Grayson Gilbert was also an Augustine. While Elena knew Grayson was a vampire hunter, he was also the town doctor and a caring, compassionate man. "He wouldn't be part of a place that would cut your eyes out." Damon says, "People are full of surprises." When Elena starts to cry, Damon apologizes for getting her caught up in all this. "But I promise you I will get you out of here, okay?" They hold hands through the bars. Elena manages to nod and smile.
Over at Mossy Manse, Stefan is now locked in the safe while Caroline pores over her Intro to Psych text book. Katherine has less academic ideas on the brain, so she asks Caroline if she and Stefan have ever hooked up. Caroline says they're friends. Katherine: "Your loss. He's great in bed." Then why were you sleeping with Damon, concurrently, Kiki? I know, I know. He's probably great in bed, too. Caroline ignores the whole vulgar topic in favor of her textbook's entry on "Prolonged Exposure Therapy." Neither Katherine nor I have the patience to listen to Caroline read and not just because she pronounces every comma, aloud.
Inside the safe, Stefan has already had enough. He repeatedly calls out for Caroline. He also fixates on something inside the safe, but I don't know if its blood Caroline failed to clean up when she supposedly sanitized the safe or if it's just corrosion or a shadow. Stefan pants that he can't breathe and passes out.
Outside the safe, Katherine thinks the main question is, "How do you help the guy who always comes to the rescue? Stefan's a hero. That's who he is at his core. He can't always come through for himself, but he can always come through for everyone else. I've got an idea." It's gotta be better than Caroline reading every, "Comma," so let's have it, Kiki. Not yet? Okay. Then let's cut to the...
Whitmore Dungeon. This scene cuts back and forth between Damon's flashbacks and the present. If I have to cover every blipvert, I'll be in no better shape than Stefan. Let's compress. Damon survived thanks to Enzo's friendship. Enzo tried to draw Damon out with talk of sports and cars, and then finally turned to girls. Damon admits the girl he was trying to impress was more of the horse and carriage era. Enzo says, "Just one girl?" Damon: "I never met another one like her." I'd let that gross me out in regards to Damon and Elena's relationship, but it's nothing that wasn't introduced regarding both Stefan and Damon in the very first season.
Damon asks Enzo about his love life. Enzo says that while he's had too many to count, there was one kind, stunningly beautiful girl, Maggie, who used to work for Dr. Whitmore. She wasn't part of the torture or experiments. Maggie thought Whitmore was only observing Enzo's behavior and he didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise. Enzo was just grateful for her company. Once she realized what was going on there, she left. If she ends up looking just like Nina Dobrev, I'm gonna scream.
Damon offers that it never would have worked between a vampire and human, anyhow. Enzo mocks Damon's positive outlook. The men share a smile until Whitmore comes in and asks who is . He chooses Damon (#), because he seems to have more energy. Enzo decides to take that as an insult and says he's far more energetic in an obvious ploy to spare his new friend. After Whitmore leads Enzo down the hall, we and Damon hear the vampire groan in pain. Damon paces, sits, paces, sits, paces and sits until the lights go out.
After a time cut, Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" plays again. This is either the second or third time and I don't expect it's the last. To me, even upon first watch, the song seems like a pretty big textual clue that Enzo is the vampire who killed Megan and that he's not what he appears to be. Whitmore returns Enzo to his cell. Damon growls, "Why are you doing this to us?" Whitmore says, "...Once I can understand you from a cellular level, I can put you to use." We flash forward to the...
Present. Elena Oh my gods at Damon's story, but says once Stefan realizes they're missing, he will find them. Oh really, Elena… like you and Damon noticed Stefan was missing? Damon gives her points for optimism, but says Stefan doesn't even know this place exists. Elena reminds Damon he was there for five years. Damon says for the first year, he thought Stefan would rescue him. "He didn't. Once I escaped, there was no point in giving him more to feel guilty about, so I never told him what happened here. I never told anyone." Elena asks Damon how he escaped. Damon says, "They let us out of the basement once a year." We flash back to...
New Year's Eve, 1957. The Augustines host a party so Whitmore can show off his research. A caged Damon and Enzo serve as I don't know -- decoration. You think someone would have washed their faces. Dr. Whitmore takes Enzo out of the cage, slices his palm and captures his blood in a goblet. A Mrs. Fell volunteers as Whitmore's human guinea pig. You can keep the founding families out of Mystic Falls, but you can't keep them out of Events O' the Week. Whitmore slices Fell's hand then gives her the goblet of Enzo's blood. After drinking it, she instantly heals. From the cage, Enzo and Damon watch as Whitmore shows off the results to his applauding guests. Not one of them hurls.
The party inspires Enzo to come up with an escape plan. Enzo says their daily ration of blood is just enough to survive, but if one vampire were to drink two rations a day, year on New Year's Eve that one vampire will be strong enough to fight back. Enzo -- who really is pretty appealing -- suggests they play, "Scissor, paper, stone, to decide," at which point I yell, "You're in America. Speak American!" Damon wins at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Enzo gives Damon his ration, with a "Cheers." In the present, Elena asks if it worked. Damon's answer is vague. All that matters is he got strong and got out. We cut...
Upstairs. Wes gives Aaron another birthday present. It's an old watch that once belonged to his great-grandfather. "It's a safety precaution for use in vampire research." So, does it double as an actual vampire compass, or is it stuffed with vervain, or does it shoot mini-stakes out of the stem? What? What? What is it?
Aaron considers the watch for a moment, until something in the dossier catches his eye. It's a newspaper article about his parents' death at the Anna Ruby campground. Beneath it are crime scene photos of his dead parents. Aaron realizes it wasn't an animal that did them in. Maxfield says, "I found them, Aaron. I found you to their bodies. As soon as I saw them I knew vampires attacked them. That's why I continued your father's work, so this would never happen again. I hope you'll join me." Aaron turns and applies a left hook to Maxfield's smug face. With the bad doctor down for the count, Aaron grabs a gun and some ammo from the weapons cache. On his way out of the room, he also grabs the watch. Shoot them all, Aaron. I hope those are wooden bullets. Commercial.
When Stefan wakes in the safe, Katherine is to him. Stefan looks from whatever that unidentifiable substance is to Kiki. I'd guess that it's old blood, but Caroline said she sanitized the safe, so I don't know what to think. I can't figure out why the camera keeps focusing on it. Why am I letting myself bother with it? Katherine says she and Caroline deciding locking Katherine in there with him was the only way.
Katherine tells Stefan not to get mad at her, because when he gets mad, he gets violent and rips off people's heads. God, Katherine… I hope you left your cell phone in Caroline's care. Stefan bangs on the safe and demands to be let out. Katherine keeps talking and tells him to get over his PTSD triggers so he doesn't kill her. Stefan tells her she's risking her life. Katherine reminds him she's already dying. Stefan pants. "I can't be in here, please." Katherine grins. "You're Stefan Salvatore. Suck it up." That's another bright moment in this episode of irk. Stefan's pants bloom into hyperventilation. We cut to the...
Whitmore Dungeon. With her sense of urgency rising, Elena begs Damon to tell her how he escaped. When he says she doesn't want to know, Elena says, "Why? Do you think that I'm going to judge you? Damon, I love you. I love you and these people tortured you for five years. Whatever you had to do, I don't care." Damon mulls this over. "All right, all right… the Augustine's party was in 1958." We cut to...
1958. Present-day Damon narrates that while Enzo would drink a few drops to keep from desiccating, for the most part, Damon consumed both of their blood rations for the entire year. As Enzo predicted, Damon grew stronger from the extra blood. At the party, the caged vamps watch as Dr. Whitmore entertains his ghoulish guests. This time, it's Damon that Whitmore releases from the cage. Once out, Damon is strong enough to break his own bones, so that he can squeeze his hand out of its shackles. He holds up the broken mess, cracks his bones back into place, and waggles his fingers at Whitmore. "Now you see it..." Whitmore's eyes are wide with amazement, at least until Damon jams his thumbs into them.
As party guests start to scurry, Damon keeps the pressure on the screaming Whitmore's eyes, until he builds up a powerful thirst, and then sinks his fangs into his tormentor's throat. Lifeless, Whitmore falls to the floor. Guest scream and flee. One knocks over a large candelabra. The carpet catches fire. Damon bites some more party guests and snaps the neck of others. As the fire spreads, Enzo calls out to remind Damon they've got to get out of there. Damon rushes to the cage, but can't force it open. The Damon I thought I'd grown to know would have at least looked for Whitmore's keys, but this Damon doesn't.
In the present, Damon rationalizes his actions to Elena. Well, he rationalizes all his actions, except for his failure to look for Whitmore's keys. I mean, he dropped the doctor right in front of the damned cage. In the flashback, Damon again grabs at the cell bars, but hisses that they're coated with vervain.
In the present, Damon tells Elena, "Enzo trusted me with his life. The fire was getting out of control. I would have burned up, or they would have captured me again. There's no way I would have ever gotten another chance to escape, so I chose to save myself." I originally typed "safe myself" which makes me wonder how Stefan and Katherine are doing, but it's not time for them, yet.
1958. Surrounded by flames, Damon struggles with the bars one more time. To be fair to the guy who I thought was the Damon I'd come to know, the Enzo I've hardly met doesn't suggest getting Whitmore's keys, either. When Damon stops struggling with the bars, he and Enzo share a look. Finally Damon says, "I'm sorry, Enzo." Enzo pleads for his life.
In the present, Damon tells Elena he knew the only way to save himself was to stop caring about Enzo, "...so I turned off my emotions." Elena winces. I've seen a lot of people criticize Elena for this. They think she's judging Damon. In this instance, I don't. I take her expression to acknowledge her shame at turning off her emotions last season. I don't know. I think it's in the way she closes her eyes. I don't see judgment. I see empathy and it's painful for her. We flash back to...
1958. Again, Enzo pleads with Damon not to leave him. I know we like to tease Somerhalder for his eye-thing super-power, but he uses that power well to show us the moment he flicks off his humanity switch. As Damon strolls out and shuts the door, Enzo screams for Damon to come back.
In the present, Damon admits, "After that, everything was fine." I still don't read judgment in Elena's expression. I read horror and again empathy, but I don't think she thinks Damon is terrible for doing what he did. I think she's realizing what a terrible thing he had to do in order to survive. There's a difference. Commercial.
Oh great… an ad for The Tomorrow People. I was trying to forget.
After the break, Caroline shouts at the safe. "How's it going in there?" Stefan still struggles to breathe as he croaks that he feels like he's dying. Katherine is as cool as a cucumber. I'm about to quote her, because she's a bright light in this bleak episode, but then she refers to the non-existent "Doppelgänger prophecy," and makes me want to hurl things at my TV. Katherine thinks Stefan desperately wants to leave his love for Elena behind, and get away from her, Damon and Mystic Falls, but the doppelgänger attraction won't let him, so he's using Katherine as his latest excuse to remain.
Stefan turns toward Katherine and says, "I'm gonna kill you." Heh. Katherine's chipper encouragement is just mocking enough to make it cromulent Kiki. "Good. Yeah. Get it all out, Stefan. I think this is healthy." When he tightens his grip on her neck, she has second thoughts, and reminds him not to forget he loved her before he hated her.
Stefan asks, "Is there any reason you chose to have this conversation with me, locked in a safe?" Katherine says she did it to prove the safe isn't his problem. His problem is that he isn't facing his real issues. It's easier for him to focus on the physical pain of his summer of drowning, than on his emotional pain stemming from the fact that Elena left him. She tries to ease him back to the present moment. She asks now if he's going to feed on her or save her life. He vamps out, but hesitates. Katherine encourages him to fight it. As his vampiric features fade, Katherine grabs Stefan's face in her hands and tells him she's there with him. It gets kind of sexy very quickly. Katherine whispers, "We're together," and just as she's about to kiss him, Caroline opens the safe.
Katherine and Stefan pull apart before Caroline gets an eyeful. She says it was so quiet she got worried. I guess her vampiric hearing is on the fritz today, because she was standing right over the safe. Hell, I've seen these people stand outside and run motors to distract from vamp audio when the vampire was down in the Salvatore dungeon. This is ridiculous. Once they're out of the safe, Caroline gives Stefan a big hug. Over her shoulder, Stefan can't take his eyes off Katherine. We cut to...
Whitmore Dungeon. Aaron arrives on the scene. Damon is less thrilled than Elena is to see, "Mini-Wes." Aaron says he has no idea what Wes was doing down there, but when Elena asks for his help, Aaron says he needs to know the truth. "When you met me at Megan's memorial, you asked me a bunch of questions."
As he's talking, Aaron struggles to load the gun. When he drops some ammo, Damon can't resist. "Slick hands, cowboy." Aaron says, "Yeah, well I've never used a gun before and I've never killed anyone either." Aaron assumes Elena is the vampire who killed Megan. Elena tries to explain that Megan died in Whitmore House, into which Elena hadn't yet been invited.
Aaron doesn't want to listen. Gun finally loaded, he points it at Elena. "Wes also said that a vampire killed my parents." Elena tells him that's impossible, but Aaron wonders, "Why else would you be so interested in me?" Damon tells him to calm down. Aaron's not wearing his thinking cap, because he turns to Damon, who is in the cell to Elena and says, "She's a vampire." Who do you think you're telling, baby?
Damon's voice is loud and clear. "Not the one who killed your parents. That was all me." Aaron lowers his gun. "What did you just say?" He walks from Elena's cell to Damon's, then again aims his weapon. "Start talking." Elena hisses at Damon. "What are you doing?" Keeping his eyes on Aaron, who has heard none of this backstory, Damon says, "In 1958, after the fire, Enzo was dead, so I had to take on my revenge plan, solo." We flash back to...
1953. Damon finishes carving his initial and the year into the rock wall of his cell. Slumping to the floor, he tells Enzo, "I can see it. After I've finished taking out the entire Augustine society, I'll kill every member of the Whitmore family." Enzo says, "Boo! I said use your imagination."
Damon voice is dreamlike. "Except one person. I'll let that person grow up and start a family and then I'll start killing Whitmores again." Enzo smiles, but doesn't interrupt. Damon says, "Then I'll take out the generation after that, leaving only one person to carry on the name. And then I'll take out the generation after that. And so on. And so on. And so on." Enzo smiles first, but Damon's not far behind. We flash forward to the...
Present. Damon tells Aaron, "And that's exactly what I did." Silently, Elena reacts. Now she's judging him, but I can hardly blame her. Aaron asks how many Whitmores Damon has killed. Damon thinks for a second then says, "Since 1958? I lost count." Elena asks, "When was the last one?" He doesn't answer quickly enough for her. "Damon, when was the last one?"
Damon says, "A few months ago. Her name was Sarah. I had to go all the way to Charleston to find her." Aaron winces at his aunt's name. Damon tells Elena, "It was a weekend trip. You didn't know." Elena says, "But we were together a few months ago." Damon says, "Starting the summer of our lives." Elena's eyes flash. Her lips curl. "I had no idea." Damon raises his eyebrows. "Told you it wasn't pretty."
Aaron fires the gun. Damon is down. Elena screams, "No!" She drops to the floor and looks into Damon's cell. He's unconscious. Blood flows from his forehead, across his temples, down the back of his neck and onto the floor. Snacks, anyone?
Back at Mossy Manse, Caroline is all alone, trying to move the safe. She calls out for help. No one answers.
Katherine finds Stefan in another room, breaking down a chair he smashed during a pre-therapy panic attack. They joke about the ugly chair, and then Stefan tells Katherine, "So, I guess you were right, all along. It was easier for me to focus on my physical pain than the breakup. I need to move on."
I'm so disappointed this episode has made Stefan's pain all about the breakup. I was fine with Katherine's assumption that the breakup was at fault, but all season long, we were fed the idea that the pain was from the breakup and from Damon and Elena being together, but mostly from the fact that all summer long, Damon and Elena never once looked for Stefan. He kept himself sane by waiting for them to rescue him, but they didn't. That was far more complex. That presented the triangle (which needs to die) in its strongest light where are three people involved deeply love each other. This is shallow and beneath the show I thought I'd come to know.
Katherine closes in on Stefan. "So you admit it. I do know what I'm doing." Stefan confesses he never quite knows what she's doing. Katherine smirks and admits that sometimes she doesn't know, either. She moves in closer and turns her gaze from the fireplace to the hottie before her, and then adds, "...like right now."
I don't know what you think, but it sure seems to me like Katherine knows what she's doing. She raises her right hand and places it over his heart, and strokes upward toward his shoulder. Finally, they kiss. It's short. Katherine pulls back and looks at Stefan. If the first move had to be hers, the second must be his. He slides his right hand under her long hair and onto the back of her neck, and then pulls her toward him. They kiss again. It's far more intense. Katherine caresses his cheek. At this point, let's leave them their privacy.
Oh, there's Caroline. She's still alone with the safe. She's stopped trying to move it though, and is instead on the phone, leaving a message. "Hey Elena. I'm probably going to stay at my mom's tonight. I think I am officially homesick, so I'll let you know when I'm..." Caroline's voice trails off as her vampiric hearing kicks in for the first time all episode. She looks around until she realizes she's hearing heavy breathing, smacking sounds and Katherine whispering Stefan's name. Continuing her message, Caroline says, "Oh my God. Call me as soon as you get this." You know, if that had been Elena's first time with Damon, Caroline would have busted in and broken it up. We cut to...
Whitmore College. Wes it at Whitmore House and on the phone with Aaron, who is back in his dorm. Wes says, "I'm sorry you had to find out about your parents like this." Aaron says, "What I found out is that I've been lied to my entire life. What the hell is going on, Wes? Are their friends going to come after me? I mean, do I need to drop out?" He picks up the watch. Back in Whitmore House, Wes says, "You'll be fine. Just go to school. Live your life. Talk to you soon." Aaron looks at the watch for a moment, then straps it on. We cut to the...
Whitmore Dungeon. Damon wakes with a moan and holds his head. "Ow. I guess I had that coming." He calls for Elena, but she doesn't answer. Damon turns and looks through their shared window. Her cell is empty. Damon jumps to his feet, grabs the bars on the front of his cell and shouts, "Elena!" We cut to the...
Augustine lab. Elena -- who is strapped to an exam table -- is just coming to. Before we see anyone else, we hear a male voice humming "Walkin' After Midnight." Elena struggles with her restraints, and then asks what's happening. She turns to look at the man on the table. He says, "Ah. Welcome. I'm . My name is Enzo." He continues to hum. Elena can't believe her eyes. The humming is replaced by a male voice singing, "...out in the moonlight, just like we used to do. I'm always walkin', after midnight, searching for you." Title card.
Well, since I front-loaded this recap with commentary, I think I'll let it breathe, except for one thing. After all we went through to get Bonnie back, she's already offscreen? I know everyone can't be on every week, but we've already dehumanized her, disempowered her and now she's again invisible. Bad show, Show.
I will be back with coverage of "Fifty Shades of Grayson." I haven't read a synopsis of it yet, because just reading the title made my soul die. In the meantime, please grade the episode at the top of the page, and then come on over to the forum, where we go out walkin', after midnight.
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