The Vampire Diaries: The Ties That Bind (Season 3 Episode 12)

Don't worry, Bonnie, she'll probably be dead soon. She is a parent of a Mystic Falls resident.

Bonnie finds coffins in a wooded graveyard. She approaches one. Klaus appears and says he’s figured out how to open it. Can she? He bites her. Bonnie screams and wakes up—in a coffin. She yells and bangs on the coffin until someone opens it. When she wakes for real, Bonnie tells Elena about the coffins and her dreams. Elena is bothered that she is only just finding out about this, and Stefan shows up, annoyed that Elena knows at all. She asks if he’s going to kidnap her again. He says, don’t tempt me. Bonnie shows them a picture of the woman in her dream: her mom.

Elena and Bonnie go through records of women who could be Bonnie’s mother. They make up over their past differences of opinion, until Damon shows up with information. He loves road trips, but Elena says he’s not coming because they don’t need his snarky comments narrating the experience. After a couple flirtatious comments, Damon tells Bonnie that he and Elena kissed.

Caroline goes home to find Tyler waiting in her living room. He apologizes and says he had no control over what he did. She doesn’t accept the apology, but Tyler tells her that he contacted Caroline’s dad to help him break the sire bond. Her father Bill turns up and says he will help Tyler because he wants to make good after making a mistake.

Alaric is gaga over Meredith the angry drunk. She agrees to another date. Damon wants to know what’s up with his boyfriend, so he points out that a sexy doctor like that must have a weakness. Eventually Alaric finds out that Meredith’s ex has been murdered; Alaric and Damon are concerned. Also, Damon makes a crack about how Alaric’s exes can’t badmouth him because they’re all dead. Alaric is the most patient friend on earth.

Why was this moment cut?

Just like Caroline, Stefan returns home to find an estranged ex in his living room. Klaus is drinking and listening to music. He tries to make some sort of deal with Stefan, but Stefan is immovable. Klaus laughs at the idea of crazy Stefan and asks if he has any friends left. Klaus, if you want real friends, you could learn a thing or two about how not to behave. (Apparently, Klaus was listening to the song Lonely Boy by The Black Keys. Why do the writers pretend there’s nothing going on between these two?)

Elena and Bonnie discuss Bonnie’s mother or lack thereof, but Bonnie wants to know the goods on Damon’s kiss. Bonnie is less judgmental and more, “… so was it good? Must have been.” The phone rings. It’s Stefan. Elena doesn’t want to pick up, but Bonnie says Stefan is phone stalking her. Elena tells him to stop and lies that they’re spending the night at the lakehouse. Stefan says fine, but he is in Elena’s house looking at a photo of Bonnie’s mother.

Over the phone, Klaus tells a hybrid that he isn’t lonely without him; he’s friends with the council. The hybrid has been stationed outside the house that holds Abby, Bonnie’s mother. He knocks on the door and says hello. But when Bonnie and Elena arrive at Abby’s house, they meet Jamie, the cute, laid back guy Abby’s taking care of. Elena’s pleased to know that he and Bonnie aren’t related. Abby shows up; she and Bonnie say hello.

Abby says that she left Mystic Falls partly because she was best friends with Elena’s mom. Mikael came to town 15 years ago looking for the doppelganger. No one could destroy him, so Abby lured him away and created a spell to keep him inactive. It cost all of her powers. Bonnie points out that like her powers, Abby never returned. Elena goes outside to give them a moment. The music is ominous; we see the back of a man’s head. It could be the hybrid—but it’s Stefan.

Damon confronts Meredith at the hospital about the death of her ex, though he initially says he just likes to stroll the halls and wave to the newborns. She says she’s still processing his death and she said his cause of death was an animal attack because he was staked like a vampire. Damon says Alaric likes her, and he hopes she’s not a murderous psychopath (like he is). After asking about Alaric’s ability to resurrect, she stabs him in the back with what I assume is vervain. She draws some of his blood while he is unconscious.

But we don't have to be invited in.

Of course, Bill’s method of psychology is physical pain. He tells Tyler that to break his gratitude towards Klaus, he has to turn into a wolf. It will be his choice to be in pain. Tyler and especially Caroline are concerned, but Tyler takes one look at Caroline and agrees. This is a testament to Tyler. Bill pushes Tyler to continue to transform, but both Caroline and Tyler want a break. But then Bill and Tyler tell her to go, and she reluctantly leaves. Bill begins to cut Tyler with an axe. He threatens to kill him if he doesn’t turn. This is partly for Caroline’s sake.

Abby admits that she left Mystic Falls permanently when she found out she could start a new life as a woman not a witch. She thought Bonnie’s father and grandmother could take better care of her. Bonnie informs her that Grams is dead, and the two cry as she tells her how it happened. Abby says she thinks she can help Bonnie, even though she doesn’t have any spells.

Elena points out that Stefan doesn’t want her there only because he can’t do what he wants. He kicks over a chair, drawing out Jamie who tries to protect Elena. She tells him to leave, and Stefan grabs his throat and compels him to go. Elena hilariously says, “I don’t think you realize how bad you’ve gotten.” Lady, it is so good you were not on the Klaus and Stefan road trip. Apparently already compelled, Jamie returns and shoots Stefan. Bonnie moves to the window and Abby uses some powder to knock her out. I knew there was something fishy about her.

Damon and Alaric are so adorable together. Damon tells Alaric to continue working out, but by the way Meredith is a psycho case. Alaric is all, I’m a big boy, you don’t have to screen who I date anymore, dad. But he looks worried. To be fair, vervaining and even drawing blood from a vampire doesn’t make someone a psycho. At least not any more of a psycho than the rest of the characters.

Jamie ties up Elena and helps Abby put Bonnie in the car as Stefan suffers on the ground. Abby drives to the hybrid. When Bonnie wakes, Abby tells her the herbs temporarily muted her magic. If Bonnie doesn’t say where the coffins are, Jamie will kill himself via compulsion. Abby hands Bonnie a message on the phone saying “warn your friends.”

No problem, Abby's abandoned kids come looking for her all the time.

Elena frees herself from her ropes and interrogates Jamie about his compulsion. When she finds out his predicament and his direct order not to hurt her, she pretends her ropes are too tight, grabs his gun, and knocks him out. She then asks Stefan how she can help. He tells her to get the chips out of his chest. What is this, exes bonding through S&M? Worked for Katherine.

Damon meets Klaus in the house of witches. He is surprised to find candles all over. In fact, his surprised faces throughout this scene are precious. The witches torture Klaus in the same way they torment Damon, until Klaus threatens to kill every last one of the witches’ descendants. Damon is amused by Klaus’s pain and then disappointed in his ability to make it stop. Klaus demands that they reveal the coffins, which they do. But Damon had time to move one. Klaus threatens to rip him into a bloody mess, but Damon notes that he has the same leverage that Stefan has. (Klaus just forgot to make cute with him the way he does with Stefan.)

Increasingly sympathetic towards him, Elena continues to pull the chips out of Stefan’s chest. He notices that she’s become tougher and stronger. (In a different context, this is a strange echo of Katherine’s statement to him.) Elena says he’s not the only one who’s changed. In a softer tone, he says that’s good. She tells him that she kissed Damon, not because she feels guilty, but she felt bad he didn’t know. His almost blank face looks shattered, sad, and empty, but not angry. He just gets up and walks away. This scene was far more heartbreaking than I expected.

Tyler escapes his chains and runs after Bill. Meanwhile, Alaric confronts Meredith, who says she isn’t crazy. He tells her about Damon’s ability to take vervain since he’s been drinking it. A bloody Bill Forbes rolls into the emergency room. She tells Alaric to stick around. Meredith reveals her secret: she gives Bill vampire blood to make him heal. However will this cause a weird hybrid effect? He was just bitten by a werewolf and then injected with vampire blood. I guess not. Alaric is pleased at this discovery, but is this her only secret?

I can't believe my plan to get Elena to hate me worked!

Elena wants Stefan to say something. He apologizes for kidnapping her, admitting he went too far, and she thanks him. As Caroline said, this is way beyond apologies. Yet he says she shouldn’t lie about her whereabouts with Klaus on the loose. Going back to Damon, Elena said she didn’t mean to kiss him. He just says that she’s better than Damon, and him. Poor Stefan is almost his regular old self in this scene.

Bonnie is impressed at Abby’s dedication to Jamie, who remained relatively intact. Bonnie doesn’t trust the powerless Abby, but Abby wonders if Bonnie can help her regain her powers, which didn’t completely leave. They just drifted away. Abby doesn’t want power again, but she will do what it takes to help Bonnie.

Tyler meets Bill in the hospital. Both feel better, until Bill says Tyler will do the exact same thing tomorrow. Tyler says he can’t, but Bill says the transition has to be painless, or Tyler can’t go near Caroline. Alaric takes Meredith home and shows her his vampire hunting collection. He also shows her his ring. She “jokingly” takes it off as they make out. Elena walks in, prompting Meredith to leave and Alaric to make excuses. Elena is happy for him; she appreciates him staying, and says this is his house. He is allowed to move on.

Stefan goes home to Damon who says he only had time to remove one coffin. Stefan looks at him before punching him in the face. Damon figures out what Elena told him. He realizes Stefan doesn’t want to talk about it, but he should talk about this: Damon holds up a dagger. In his mansion, Klaus tells the hybrid he isn’t going to open the coffins just yet. The hybrid is suddenly dehearted by OH HAPPY DAY Elijah. He says, “So, Niklaus. What did I miss?” Yesssssss.