The Vampire Diaries: Klaus (Season 2, Episode 19)

We start right where we left off, with a brave Elena waiting for Elijah to wake. He gasps to life and, in a very human moment of confusion, mistakes her for her doppelganger Katherine. Flashback to the 15^th century: “Trevor” introduces Elijah to Katherine. Elijah indicates that he knew and perhaps even loved Katherine’s previous doppelganger.

Elijah’s lack of composure is apparently due to not having been invited into this house. He died in the house before the deed was passed to Elena. He zips out the door and catches his breath. For once, Elijah is decidedly unkempt, resembling a homeless biker. Through the door, Elena hands Elijah the weapon she used to stab him. This girl has chutzpa. It’s been only a few minutes, and already this episode is epic.

Stefan awakes with a start to discover that Elena isn’t beside him. He asks Damon and Andie about their whereabouts. Damon snarks that Elena is Stefan’s girlfriend, Andie is his. Damon asks Andie for a bite, and she asks if he can drink from a bag. This creeps out the already tense Stefan, but Andie tells him to mind his own business. Then the brothers notice an open door and discover that Elena has let the Elijah out of the basement.

In another scene featuring a male vampire compelling a woman, Klaus in Alaric’s body has Katherine serving him coffee or whatever he’s drinking. He cruelly rubs in killing Katherine’s family. Even though we’ve seen Katherine vulnerable before, their relationship increases my sympathy for her.

Elena and Elijah chill in her car. He sucks on a blood bag as though it’s Gatorade, and Elena answers her ringing phone. Stefan’s freaking out, but Elena remains cool and refers to Elijah as a noble man. Elijah’s expressions are quite ambiguous and interesting; is he amused, impressed, or something else? Elena has the Salvatores’ number, telling Stefan to make sure Damon doesn’t do anything stupid. Damon (somewhat sweetly, perhaps) takes her hanging up on Stefan as a sign of her insanity. Stefan admirably trusts Elena, but Damon, also understandably, doesn’t want Elena to take the risk.

Flashback: Elijah introduces Katherine to Klaus, who has an intriguing and scary stare going on. Katherine is on her best behavior. Elijah has a bisexual vibe with Klaus, because they seem very close, but we find out more about that later. Elijah and Elena pop over to the mayor’s house. Elijah got Carol to stop drinking vervain (scary!), so he compels her to get him new clothes—from her dead husband, eek. What does it say about Carol, though, that she says she can’t help a man whose clothes are tattered because she’s late for a meeting?

Damon drinks (not always a good sign) and is petulant with Stefan about siding with Elena instead of him. Typical of their post-vampire relationship, Stefan is the big brother here: “Are you really going to be like this?” Damon and Andie “go rogue,” and take a trip to Alaric’s, where an adorable Katherine is trying to party up while in captivity. At first putting Andie in an even more dangerous situation seemed rude, but Andie doesn’t need an invite anywhere, so it’s actually a good idea. Is this Alaric’s? If so, why hasn’t Damon been invited in? Maybe Alaric doesn’t want Damon stealing his booze.

So Elijah and Klaus are brothers. Yep. Earlier, their relationship and differences reminded me a bit of Damon and Stefan. I was more right than I knew. At this reveal, Elijah tells Elena that the word she’s looking for is “OMG.” Is the F letter too offensive for you, TV? The only thing that could have made this episode better is if he had said OMFG, because that is how I reacted.

Jenna, meanwhile, has decided to return home. She calls up Stefan to ask where her little relatives are and mentions that Alaric wants to meet her at the grill. Stefan says he doesn’t know about Elena and Jeremy, but that she should not meet Alaric. But “Alaric” shows up at her house. Stefan rushes over to find an eerie (but kind of sexy) “Alaric” chopping up veggies.

Elena stupidly asks why Elijah would want to kill Klaus, his own brother. Elena of all people should know that brothers, especially vampire brothers, have problems sometimes. Elijah says that the history of originals is fascinating but long, involving a family of nine (two parents, seven children – so there might be a handful of other originals out there) who were once humans. He sadly recalls his and Klaus’s times together (and, yes, they’ve been around for a while), including that time they wrote about a shaman putting a curse on vampires and werewolves. What a laugh. On us as well. This episode is blowing my mind.

Elsewhere, Damon and Andie give Katherine vervain so she can resist further mental control. He treats her like a naughty child (which, let’s face it, she is), and notes, “You owe me, and I will collect.” His thinking is right here. See, this is clever Damon.

A vaguely sinister “Alaric” hilariously admits that he is “obsessed with vampires,” which is completely true of Alaric. Jenna is increasingly uncomfortable. She must assume he’s either on drugs or insane. It also must be weird have your ward’s boyfriend, who supposedly knows what’s going on, sitting there but not telling you anything.

“Alaric” refuses to leave and then threatens Jenna when she tries. Stefan attacks him, and nearly murders him, in Alaric’s body and all, but instead wears his vampire face and screams at Jenna to run, ensuring she will find out about vampires in the most jarring way possible. Stefan has been increasingly frustrated, and he knocks out Klaus before kicking him a couple times for good measure.

Stefan calls Elena just as Elijah is about to explain why this curse is actually only on Klaus. Elena says she has to leave but will return. Elijah is reluctant to see her leave, probably because both Elena and Katherine betrayed him. Flashback to Elijah chasing but not catching Katherine just the way Stefan chased but didn’t catch her. Katherine reveals more complexities in her relationship with Klaus, noting that Klaus is charming but possibly unfaithful. Elijah says that he doesn’t believe in love, and why would he? He’s lived so long, as a bloodsucker, no less. She strongly, and ironically, believes that life is too cruel to not believe in love and that real love is reciprocal. Klaus arrives and whisks Katherine away with blood all over his shirt. What a multilayered triangle. Our main trio seems like babies in comparison.

Sara Canning does very well at emoting Jenna’s confusion. She cries into Elena’s arms, recalling her sister’s freaky vampire bedtime stories and worrying about being the last to know about the supernatural. Stefan wears an especially pained expression and blames himself, but Elena blames herself. She goes to Elijah, but Damon stops her, just wanting her back. Stefan (looking a little scary, as he does when he gets stern) stands up to him, making Elena look slightly smug.

It’s a good thing she returned, because Elijah drops another bombshell. Klaus is a werepire. Their father was a major jerk (what a surprise) who killed Klaus’s real father and his entire werewolf family, beginning a vampire/werewolf feud. This curse keeps Klaus’s werewolf side dormant. Apparently a megalomaniac, he wants to kindle his other side and perhaps spawn a new army/race. Elijah says that only a witch can kill him.

An awesome Katherine drinks and dances around Alaric’s crib. When Klaus returns, she pretends to mope. Greta, who seems very not kidnapped and friendly with Klaus, and a host of others carry in Klaus’s belongings. She remarks that Alaric is a “nice body,” hehe.

Flashback time: Elijah tries to convince Klaus not to sacrifice Elena, because he has discovered another way to break the curse. (I’ve stopped keeping track of the jaw-dropping reveals.) Even then, Elijah was practical. He denies that he loves Katherine, and Klaus advises, “Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness.” This is true of almost every vampire we’ve seen, including Pearl, Anna, and Damon. Elijah replies that they did care once, but Klaus tragically states, “too many lifetimes ago.” Add Elijah to the list of Katherine-lovers. He clearly sees Katherine and perhaps her ancestor in Elena’s identical eyes. He claims he’ll never make the mistake of caring too much again.

On that note, Andie tells Damon that he doesn’t have to be so mad at his brother, but he tells her to leave. Stefan enters the room and makes a snide comment about using Andie. I’m all for not letting Damon use Andie, but Stefan’s comment seems to be born mostly of his bad day. They put it all out there, Damon saying that his real target is Elena, and Stefan sarcastically thanking him for being in love with his girlfriend. He seems done with tolerating Damon for now and says that he will have what Damon will never get: Elena’s respect.

They go at each other like mad dogs until Elena and Elijah return. The scene reminds Elijah of when his brother threatened to kill him if he betrayed him. All Elijah wants of the Salvatores, remarkably, is their apology. Stefan apologizes, rubbing in that he will always protect Elena. Damon just feels like a miserable loser and in no way apologizes. He hates losing. Stefan says he’ll come around, but Elijah’s expression is melancholy when he says, “perhaps.”

A very broken and damaged Damon lashes out at Andie as she tries to comfort him. Hearing a woman he has compelled to love him say she cares about him is too much. He rips into her shoulder but compels her to leave before he kills her. It may not sound like it, but her survival is a relief and a step up for a completely distraught Damon.

The final scene shows witches chanting around a big box at Alaric’s. Alaric returns to his body, mistaking Katherine for Elena before dropping to the floor. Katherine’s expression is that of pure terror at seeing none other than the original Klaus step out of the box. What an episode.