The Vampire Diaries: 1912 (Season 3, Episode 16)

A real ripper enjoys the hunt (but is dang messy).

Scene: Mystic Falls, 1912. Another Sheriff Forbes and Salvatore step out of a vampire council meeting. The Salvatore is cavalier about the recent murder of a council member, but, of course, on his way home, he is stabbed by an unseen assailant. Modern day: Mayor Lockwood orders Sheriff Forbes (another one) to tell her who the serial killer is. (I like the fact that the two council members in the past were men; these two are women.) The sheriff doesn’t want to falsely accuse anyone, but she leads the mayor into jail. Alaric is locked up.

Meredith said that Alaric came at her with a knife, forcing her to shoot and then treat him with vampire blood. She also claimed his earlier wounds could have been self-inflicted; I guess he stabbed himself, then crawled all over the house. Damon is squarely team Alaric, wanting to help prove his innocence as soon as possible. The sheriff knows he could make things worse, so she threatens to put the much more powerful vampire behind bars. How, I don’t know. Damon is hurt. This is his buddy!

The increasingly endearing Matt jogs beside Elena, complaining and telling her that she can’t run from her problems. He’s the go between for Elena and Bonnie at the moment, though Bonnie knows her mother’s “death” isn’t Elena’s fault. She just needs time. Elena blames herself. She is surprised to learn that Abby has decided to transition into a vampire, with Caroline’s assistance. Matt can’t help but worry that Elena will make him run more. She gets a call and runs to the courthouse. There she meets Damon who says he can’t do anything about Alaric. Elena is stunned, but Damon realizes that his alternative reaction is probably violence. He notes that he saved her life last night, and she says he should have some compassion for Bonnie and Abby. He just makes some sarcastic, self-pitying “I’m bad, you hate me” comments. She says he’ll end up alone if he doesn’t stop pushing people away.

I'm sorry, I had to include one picture of this hat.

Stefan bangs his ring on the table until Damon interrupts him to make fun of his guilt. And then these amazing lines come out of his mouth: “I was hoping we could hang. You know, a little brother bonding. I mean I know we don’t actually hang out. We team up, we join forces, we activate our wonder twin powers.” He browses through Stefan’s diaries recalling Zachariah’s funeral, and how he wasn’t the only council member to die that year. Stefan says he vaguely remembers this, but then he says it was 1912.

1912: Stefan attends “Uncle Zach’s” (another one?) funeral. A lady Lockwood and a lady Gilbert let him know that the founding members haven’t been faring so well. Of course Stefan is just thinking about how he ate their relatives. A crow lands on a tomb (yes!), signaling Damon’s appearance. It’s been fifty years, but he’s still bitter about Stefan killing their father and helping him turn into a vampire. In spite of wanting to stay away, he agrees to have a drink with Stefan. Modern day: Damon invites Stefan to a drink. Stefan assumes Damon is bored since his bff Alaric is in jail, but Damon also wants to solve a murder. Duh.

They make their way to—where else?—the Mystic Grill where Rebekah asks the mayor about old trees in Mystic Falls. She and Damon seriously check each other out; Rebekah doesn’t give Stefan a second glance. Damon tries to find a connection between the dead founders. He also warns his brother about going off human blood cold turkey. Rebekah learns that the Salvatore family might know about what trees were cut down, so she joins their conversation. Elsewhere, the sheriff interviews Alaric, but things do not look good. We remember Alaric didn’t remember his attack; he also didn’t really remember calling Meredith in the middle of the night. He thought it was alcoholism, but it’s likely more sinister. It’s actually pretty sad watching the sheriff want to believe in him, but Alaric’s pleas sound less and less convincing, even to himself.

I don't like this bros before hoes attitude.

Rebekah interrogates Damon about logging mills, while Damon and Stefan accuse one another of killing the council members. Zachariah, by the way, was a descendant of a liaison between their pious father and a maid. Damon and Rebekah trade barbs about how the other one does or doesn’t want great sex, over Stefan. He moves away and grabs a drink, denying a desire for human blood. This is awkward, not only because Stefan and Damon are brothers, but because Rebekah wanted to leave her beloved brother for Stefan. This does go along with Klaus’s warnings about how fickle Bekah is. Stefan reminds Damon that another vampire, Sage, was in Mystic Falls in 1912. Damon says, “Speaking of great sex…”

1912: Stefan tells Damon he’s had enough to drink and that he can teach him how to live on human blood. Poor man always wants the better path. Damon points out that Stefan is no great guide. They step into a boxing ring where a sexy lady beats the tar out of a man. She and Damon share a look, and she approaches him, taking for a “gambling man.” In spite of his protest, she puts a hundred dollar bill in his pants. Modern day: Rebekah knew a Sage, once: “trashy little thing.” The Salvatores ignore her, wondering if Sage is the culprit. Rebekah wants to know more about ye olde Salvatores, but Damon is a jerk, and he says it’s boys night, and she wasn’t invited.

Elena approaches Meredith, who says that Alaric has a violent past. Isobel filed two restraining orders against him. Elena “knows” Alaric is innocent, but Meredith says Elena dates vampires, so she shouldn’t be surprised that her guardian is a murderer. Bam. Elena pulls Matt into breaking and entering Meredith’s apartment. Behind a panel in her closet, they find a box full of files on the dead or nearly dead founding members.

Your grandpas were delicious.

Damon says he didn’t think Meredith could stab three grown men. He throws a dart which Rebekah catches as she says, “That’s a little bit sexist.” She’s pretty sure a lady could do that. I love you, Bekah. Stefan seems to have a headache. Rebekah notes he was more fun in the 1920s. Damon doesn’t want Stefan to get riled up. He and Bekah read from Stefan’s 1912 diary. In it Stefan makes hilarious statements about Damon wasting his life and choosing the wrong path. (Stefan also says, out loud, that he isn’t interested in slaughtering innocents anymore. Police?) Damon admits that he wasn’t having fun; he was just waiting for Katherine to be free.

1912: Damon mirthlessly kills a woman. Sage thinks his rote way of eating is sad. They’re supposed to relish in the pleasure of being a vampire. Damon says he’s spoken for, and Sage says they all are. Obviously she was connected to an Original. She points out the women in the back row of the boxing ring, singling out the Gilbert. She takes a page from the wicked book of seduction and says that the buttoned up women are the ones who secretly want to be seduced. Go for it and take it, because you can, she says.

Modern day: Rebekah says that sounds like the Sage she knows. Did she seduce one of her more staid brothers? Apparently! She says that Sage was obsessed over her brother Finn more than 900 years ago. Damon is stunned: “What! Creepy suicidal guy?” Stefan continues to bang his ring on the table. He says he needs to get out of there. Damon zooms up to him and grabs his collar, forcing him to admit he needs blood. Stefan says he’s ready to eat the entire wait staff. Damon says he’s feeling a little self-righteous, too. Bekah ships it.

It's all about us, all about us...

Matt and Elena find court records, differing times of deaths, and even a Gilbert diary. They hear Meredith’s steps and jump into the closet. When Matt tries to speak, Elena puts a finger over his lips. They hear Meredith walk away and, after sharing a moment, open the door. Meredith is right there! Elena and Matt sit in front of the sheriff who says that they have broken the law. Lady, you are not a law abiding citizen yourself. Meredith supposedly just got a letter correcting a time of death and apologized for accusing an innocent man. What about him coming at her with a knife? The sheriff says she can’t ask any questions about the records in her closet because the two of them found them by breaking the law. Elena is baffled.

Stefan storms off. Rebekah can’t believe that the conscienceless man she once loved can remain this way for long. Damon says he can; his stubborn brother swings from one extreme to the other. Damon grabs a pretty girl and compels her to be quiet as he feeds. He then says that Rebekah will kill the woman if Stefan doesn’t drink from her and stop. Stefan says he can’t, but he stops Rebekah from biting. He drinks until she is almost dead, lunging after her when Damon pushes her away. Damon feeds the poor woman blood, healing her. Elena and Matt walk out and see Stefan’s bloody mouth. Damon says she doesn’t need to make it any more dramatic than it needs to be. Matt does not want another broken hand, or more pain for Elena, and he drags her away. Damon admits this needs time. Stefan stalks away.

In the comfort of Elena’s kitchen, Matt asks what’s up with Elena and the vampire brothers. She says that with Stefan, at the beginning she felt safe, ironically, knowing that he would never stop loving her, would never die—like her parents. Damon snuck up on her, crept under her skin, and no matter what, she can’t shake him. (These relationships definitely sound toxic.) Matt heartbreakingly says, “Once you fall in love with someone, I don’t—I don’t know if you can ever fully shake them.” But he says it’s not really weird that they’re talking about this. He gives her the Gilbert journal, which he could steal since he is the only normal one in a town of vampires; he’s practically invisible. Dang, Matt. I like you. Alaric returns home. Elena hugs him. He says he’s okay but looks like he’s going to cry.

This is what an old timey lady boxer looks like.

Damon, I adore your twisted pep talks. Stefan broods in front of the fire. Damon says that even though it may not seem like it, Stefan did really well. Soon he will be the king of moderation. Elena will understand his road to recovery. Stefan doesn’t care, but Damon stops him short: no more “no humanity” Stefan. He wonders what Damon’s angle is, why does he care? Does he feel guilty about Elena? It was easier when Damon hated him. These bros have such issues of self-hate, amongst many other things. Stefan ridiculously says he doesn’t need Damon’s help. Damon says, uh, give me a break, yes you do.

1912: Damon tells Stefan to pick one. He stares at a bleeding boxer, but Damon points to the Lockwood. Stefan weakly says he’s not like that anymore, these are people. Damon says that it’s worth it, and it feels so good. Cut to Stefan drinking from the woman. Damon quietly says he knew he had it in him. He also tells him not to be greedy. But Stefan pushes Damon away and takes bite after bite until the lady’s head falls off. To Damon’s horror, his crazy brother freaks out, apologizes to the woman’s head, and blames Damon, before running away. So the bodies coming apart and together again are a burgeoning ripper trait.

Modern day: in a remarkable switch, Damon feels guilty for not stopping Stefan from going over the edge. Stefan says there’s nothing he could have done, but Damon says there was; he just didn’t want to. But he does now. And he will always be there to pull Stefan back from the edge “every second of every day that you don’t need me.” Stefan has tears in his eyes. Damon says that right now Stefan is all he has. This is too much. What a love story. Later, Stefan interrupts Damon’s drunk and melancholy piano playing to show him evidence he found. Samantha Gilbert confessed to committing the council murders ten years later. But Damon says that he killed her before then. Samantha’s not a vampire, but she may have had a magical ring—like Jeremy and Alaric.

Alaric tells Elena he doesn’t want her getting in trouble over him, since he’s supposed to be her guardian, though he sucks at it. She asks who else she is supposed to look after. She says Samanth, the author of the diary she’s reading, continues the line of crazy Gilberts. Meredith shows up and says that if Alaric lets her in, she can explain. In spite of everything, he has to trust her. Though Alaric says she’s psycho, he does. She says that this way, she cleared his name. Meredith explains to Alaric that the ring that makes him cheat death is causing him to kill people. Elena agrees. Samantha Gilbert’s jumbled diary describes her feelings of not being herself, losing time, and going mad. But why does it make him kill the vampire council members?