The Vampire Diaries: Our Town (Season 3, Episode 11)

It's my party, I can die if I want to ...

Damon happily showers away (he’s on a high after kissing his love) as Elena beats the tar out of a punching bag. Thank goodness this show has about one ray of happiness in every episode. Alaric walks in on Elena and says that the battery for his life-saving ring must be running low. She says she’s working out [sexual] frustration. Elena’s only family, her brother, is about to leave her, but all she can ask is if Alaric has talked to Damon.

Bonnie casts some spells to open Klaus’s caskets, but they remain shut until the witches disappear them and she hears someone. Damon and Stefan approach the house but Damon stops Stefan. Damon goes inside, and a hybrid comes out and growls at Stefan. He starts to smile, and Damon rips out its heart from behind. Stefan gives an, “I was going to do that, but thanks anyway,” look. Damon says, “Hybrids: always bringing the neighborhood down.” How can one look so adorable while casting away a heart?

More Stefan and Damon time, always good. Damon does what he does best, wail on a coffin with a shovel. He insults the witches for not being able to open the casket. He also points out that Stefan’s plan could get him and everyone else, including Damon, killed. Interesting now the shoe’s on the other foot, huh, Damon? Stefan just says, no, Klaus loves his family. (In Klaus’s special, psychotic way, of course.) Damon isn’t so sure, but Stefan says he’ll call Klaus’s bluff. Damon says the only way to call someone’s bluff is to be prepared to lose everything. Unfortunately, Stefan walks away, apparently prepared.

I'm sorry, Klaus, this is not how you win over an ex you've mistreated. Just wait till you see what I have in store for Elena tonight, and  I will show you how it's done.

At school, Elena and Bonnie prepare Caroline’s locker for her birthday. Elena tells Bonnie that Jeremy is leaving, so she can say goodbye. Bonnie tries to say goodbye. He retains his memories, but he eerily says he will go to Denver because he thinks he can have a better life there. No, they are not playing a Coldplay song (Up in Flames, no less) during a tragic Caroline and Tyler scene. They can’t do this to me. Caroline looks at Tyler, Tyler says he understands why he can’t be with her. As much as he wants to, he can’t put her first. He seems genuinely hurt by his predicament. He then gives her a bracelet. It’s too early in the episode to be on the verge of tears.

Klaus is genuinely depressed (and creepy – he wishes his dead sister “sweet dreams”). Stefan stops by. Klaus admits that he is hurt; he thought they’d “pick up where they left off” after he gave him his freedom; so much for friendship. Stefan notes that friends don’t strip friends of free will. Klaus gives him that one but assigns it to his moodiness. Stefan threatens to kill Elijah if Klaus doesn’t get rid of his mignons. Klaus threatens to kill everyone, including Damon. Stefan says go ahead. Klaus zings Stefan by saying to a hybrid he was just leaving after “failing to make his point.” Stefan then beheads the hybrid. And leaves.

Caroline goes home, but she is not alone. Lurking in the shadows is… a group of her best buds (even Matt). Elena, Bonnie, and Matt want to head to Mystic Falls to celebrate Caroline’s birthday, or what she claimed was “the best day of the year.” She says she just wants to wallow in her misery of being forever 17 before moving on and adjusting to life. Elena says she has another idea.

If you don't cut it out, Klaus, I'll kiss you.

Klaus is getting bored with his stupid hybrids. (One asks what to do with the other one’s head.) He summons Tyler and tells him to kill Caroline by biting her. Tyler gets about two inches from Klaus’s face and tries to lecture him on morality. (“What the hell is wrong with you?”) Klaus finds this all very amusing, but eventually goes for disappointment over brute force. I wonder if Stefan’s comment about free will made him realize threats can only go so far. Also, this is why Tyler should have been around when people talked about how evil and sadistic Klaus was for EPISODES. Sired or not, I don’t think he would have been this surprised.

There are so many bromantic scenes in this episode. Alaric and Damon discuss Stefan’s humanity “dimmer switch.” Alaric wonders when Damon started caring about human life. He says he has a small list. Alaric says, “Talk about a dimmer switch.” Damon’s “screw you” is followed by Alaric wondering why every council meeting has to be a town wide event.

In a bizarre but creative and touching scene, Caroline and company celebrate her “funeral.” Elena says she, and all of them, need to mourn their old lives and move on. This is particularly unsettling considering Klaus just told Tyler to murder Caroline. Bonnie uses her freakishness for good by lighting the candles with her mind.

Believe it or not, even though Damon's killed Alaric multiple times, this is the most lighthearted bromance on the show.

Alaric thinks something’s wrong with Elena (it’s Damon), and Damon is sure it’s Stefan.  Dr. Fell approaches Alaric, who lights up. She admits to knowing about vampires and the council. She also wants to ask Damon for money. Alaric says he’s loaded. Unfortunately some British guy said he’d match the money raised. Hi Klaus! Klaus is flirting outrageously with Mrs. Mayor, his sire’s mother. I guess she’s not compelled, and she certainly doesn’t know what Klaus is capable of, because she buys Klaus’s desire to protect her son and the whole town – as long as Stefan returns his family. As Klaus says, “Give peace a chance.”

At the party, Liz Forbes tells Damon she doesn’t want innocents to get caught in a pissing contest between Stefan and Klaus. Alaric steps in when a man grabs Meredith Fell’s arm. He tells her she doesn’t know what she’s dealing with, and he tells Alaric that she’s kind of a psycho case. Alaric is completely on her side. He even threatens the man. Should he be so quick?

Meanwhile, Stefan enters the party and casually grabs a knife. Damon stops him from killing a hybrid at the founder’s party. He points out that Klaus might make more hybrids from Elena’s blood. He also tells Stefan his humanity switch and brain are fried. Stefan just responds to Damon’s pleas for intelligence and caution (I know, this is a changed Damon) with the statement that you just have to be a better villain to beat the villain. Damon must be feeling such karma right now.

Promoting rationality... what is the world coming to.

Caroline drunk texts Tyler. Elena tsk tsks this, but Bonnie says that Elena can’t control everyone. She shouldn’t have compelled Jeremy to leave. Awkard. But Bonnie has a point. Bonnie apologizes but doesn’t back down. She decides to leave and sleep it off. Tyler crashes the party and asks to speak to Caroline outside. Matt says he wishes for his friends who are stuck with the supernatural to be happy. Elena bristles at the thought of being stuck. She knows she shouldn’t have controlled Jeremy’s mind, but she can’t lose anyone else.

I can’t take any more Caroline/Tyler scenes. Tyler says he loves her and that Klaus can’t control him when it comes to her. She says maybe they have to move on, but Tyler says he’s not going to. They make out, and Tyler nips her. She starts to bleed and freak out. Tyler seems surprised; he tries to help, but she says to get away. He does. She disappears as well. Elena shares a flirtatious moment with Matt, but Stefan knocks him out and grabs Elena. He calls Damon from the car and asks what Klaus will do if he can’t make any more hybrids.

Damon gets close to Klaus and tells him that Stefan is crazy and he just kidnapped Elena. Klaus thinks he will never kill her, no matter what. (“That kind of love never dies.”) Damon says he knows his brother better than anyone, and he is worried. Stefan tells Elena about Klaus’s coffins. He fees her his blood, calls Klaus, and says he will drive the car off the bridge to turn her into a vampire. Something that is so awful about this is the fact that this is the very bridge where Elena’s parents died, and Elena almost died – in a car crash. What is wrong with you Stefan? Klaus finally concedes to send his hybrids away, and Stefan finally stops the car, even a few seconds after Klaus agrees. Poor Elena is horrified beyond words.

"Where's my car?" (Is it impressive that Matt wakes up from being knocked out, shrugs it off, wanders around, finds Caroline, and carries her back home?)

They have the bad boyfriend “get back in the car” conversation. What a heartrending episode. Elena points out that Stefan knew her parents died there. He says her fear made Klaus believe he would really kill her. Elena just asks what if he hadn’t. Stefan makes all sorts of justifications; he can destroy Klaus this way, that’s all he has left, he lost Elena the moment he left town. Most of all, he doesn’t care what she thinks, but his voice cracks. She figures this is a way to make her hate him.* He drives away, leaving her alone and in shock.

*I read an interview with Kevin Williamson which indicated that this is in character with Stefan, the vampire who is so remorseful/self-loathing he drank animal blood for years and can’t give into his animalistic nature even a bit.

Somehow, Matt finds a hallucinating Caroline and takes her home. Klaus shows up at Liz’s doorstep and pretends to care about Caroline’s life. Matt doesn’t want to let him in, but Liz agrees to support him. Darn, Klaus is really playing it smart. Klaus goes into Caroline’s bedroom. She asks if he is going to kill her. Klaus asks if she thinks he would do something so horrible as kill her on her birthday. She says yes. Is it just me, or is this scene really erotic? And even romantic? He reveals her wound, touches her bracelet, and says he loves birthdays. She asks if he’s “a billion or something.” Klaus says he will let you die if she wants – he’s been in the same position -- but there is a whole world out there full of art, and great cities, and music. He touches her bracelet as he describes “genuine beauty” and says she “can have all of it.” She looks confused but says she doesn’t want to die. She drinks from his arm.

Damon walks Elena home and asks if she’ll be okay. But he defends Stefan by saying that he won this round against Klaus. She says he can’t kiss her again, it isn’t right. He says it’s right, just not right now. She closes the door and looks at him, perhaps thinking about the fact that it might be right, and the fact that part of him is still a dangerous animal.

4ever alone. Literally 4ever.

Caroline wakes up, healed, and with a present from Klaus. Does he actually care about her? Or is he just trying to use her? Whatever the case, his emotions only go so far. Please don’t go out with this creepy man, Caroline. He just wants a replacement Stefan. This episode has been an emotional roller coaster. At the bridge, Elena and Matt share a nice moment. She says she has been trying to hold onto the girl who should have died, and she feels as though she has disappointed her and her parents. Matt assures her that this isn’t true; she was a wonderful girlfriend and is an amazing friend. He holds a “funeral” for the old Elena, because “it’s okay to let her go.”

Meredith is pleased to find Alaric drinking in the bar after Jeremy left, bidden a tearful goodbye by Elena and Bonnie. She tells him to buy her a beer. Meanwhile, Liz calls Damon to a scene of an actual murder (she’s practically laughing, a non-supernatural murder, unthinkable). It’s the man Meredith was talking to before. Oh dear. Is this lady trouble?