The Vampire Diaries: Break On Through (Season 3, Episode 17)

... to the other side!

Meredith and Elena discuss how Meredith figured out Alaric was the killer, but she wanted him to stay safe since it wasn’t his fault. Alaric gets an MRI and has a very weird confrontation with his evil side in the mirror. Alaric says nothing is wrong with him—or he’s gone insane. He gives the ring to Elena. Damon comes in to check out his pal—literally. He looks him up and down and says he looks horrible. I like Damon and Elena’s conversation. She is angry at him for letting Stefan drink from a girl. Damon says that he made Stefan drink and that Stefan is a predator, one who has built up a castle of delusions that periodically crumbles. (Or maybe it was a wagon that he falls off. Some metaphor.) Elena says that Stefan was able to control himself before, on animal blood or by drinking a little of her blood. She snarks that Damon might not be the best person to teach Stefan self-control.

Caroline is adorable, hilariously bubbly about her favorite kind of blood (B positive), and thrilled that she was able to steal much needed blood from the blood drive. Bonnie is somber, watching her depressed mother adjust to vampirism. Caroline explains that this is understandable. Abby is mourning losing her connection to nature. Bonnie helps a flower grow with her powers, explaining that they can literally feel the earth.

Meredith, Alaric, and Damon visit the construction on Wickery Bridge. The mayor gives Alaric trouble about forgetting a sign, and Damon spots Sage, whom he coincidentally remembered last week. He calls her his hottest teacher; she says he was her favorite student. Rebekah tells her to get lost. Sage says she was looking for Finn who was recently freed from that coffin his “rage-aholic” brother carted him around in. She assumes Finn went looking for her, but Bekah said he didn’t mention Sage. Also he’s gone. Probably forgot about her. After Bekah leaves, Sage calls her an elitist bitch. Damon is just keeping quiet around these much older women.

Hate sex all around?

Damon says, “Finn? Really?” Sage says that Finn’s the one for her; he turned her to be with her forever. Then Klaus killed him. He and Bekah always treated her like a peasant whore. She says she’ll help Damon get inside her head because she’s a girl, and so has a weakness. Clearly Sage is a bit sexist. Also, hasn’t Finn’s actions kind of contradicted what has been said about him? Elijah said he hates vampires, and it seems to be so. Why did he turn Sage, who’s so unlike him? Damon puts the moves on Rebekah, saying he thinks she’s sexy, and that she’s as mean as he is. He says the two of them and Sage could have a real party. She says not a chance, but when he leaves her face says, “I have definitely not had enough sex to make up for those 100 years daggered.”

Caroline asks Jamie to help Abby with her transition. Add Jamie to the list of normal humans who are terrified of Caroline and even vampire Abby. Caroline says, too bad. I completely agree with Jamie when he says none of this is normal. Elena calls Caroline to ask Bonnie for help with Alaric’s problem. Alaric admits that his early violence was due to his youthful stupidity. His dark side was funneled into hunting vampires. What about the restraining orders, not from bullies, but from his girlfriend? He tells Meredith that he killed her vampired cousin Logan Fell. She says she doesn’t judge, either way. But she wonders about Damon. He says he tried to kill him, but Damon killed him instead.

Elena comes across Stefan serving himself human blood from a bag. She takes the book on Samantha Gilbert. Stefan says Samantha killed herself by being too crazy, so there’s no hope for Alaric. A peeved Elena tells him to get back to his drinking. The whole scene is awkward. Damon stumbles upon Stefan binge drinking. Stefan’s stressed and testy about Elena. Damon tells him he needs control, to own it, live it, love it. He says Stefan has to get lost unless he’s interested in a Sage Rebekah sandwich.

Rebekah brings the booze, I bring the dinner.

Jamie arrives and he and Bonnie share a moment. I like Jamie. Still, so many movies, even now, shy away from having interracial relationships. It bothers me that the only African American guy on this show is going to date the only African American girl. (I’m not counting her mother Abby, who is an adult, obviously.) Abby spots Jamie, creepily vamps out, and bites him. Poor guy! After he agreed to help out. Abby says she should have left, but Bonnie says the only way Abby can only hurt her daughter is by leaving. Caroline says she cured Jamie with vampire blood, and she needs Bonnie to do her a favor.

Alaric gives Elena his information and tells her about his will, in case anything happens. Elena says it won’t. Bonnie and Caroline call Elena to tell her that they might be able to reverse the ring spell; sometimes witches who obsess over dark magic have similar problems. Will Bonnie ever have this problem? She clearly doesn’t want to hear Elena’s apologetic voice, but she makes an effort. Elena goes to Alaric’s loft to fetch his wedding ring for the spell. Meredith says Alaric will stay with her and her tranquilizers.

Sage makes some cruel comments about Rebekah’s desperation, and Damon says that Finn’s gone so Sage should give up. Bekah shows up with a bottle of wine she stole from Klaus who stole it from some queen. Damon and Sage dance while Bekah feeds on their poor piano player. Damon joins her and starts kiss her, saying he wants her, not Sage. Sage watches. Cut to: Damon and Rebekah had sex, but no threesome as far as we know. Sage touches the relaxed, unguarded, and asleep Bekah’s head, and apparently because she’s so old, figures out that Rebekah wants the old tree. Sage tells Damon this by inviting him into the shower, kissing him, and planting the ideas in his mind with her vampire powers of manipulation.

My, what big teeth you have!

Damon looks in the old Salvatore logging records to discover that Wickery Bridge is made of that very oak tree. He burns the records and tells Sage they’re not public. She says weapons that can kill Originals are clearly a problem for her. Damon says he met Finn, and she’s not going to miss him. Sage threatens to rip his head off. He says if she helps him kill Rebekah, Finn and she can walk into the sunset. Sigh. This means Finn instead of Rebekah will die. I’m sure of it. Why? No one will care. None of the main characters will care. Most of the audience, other than myself, will not care. The character’s just been introduced.

Alaric told Stefan that Elena was at his apartment, so he meets her there and says he’s not trying to hurt her, yadda yadda. He also says that because Samantha Gilbert was under suicide watch, she had no personal possessions, no rings. Yet she was still violent. Elena says she’s not giving up on Alaric or Stefan, in spite of Stefan saying not everyone can be saved by Elena. They find pictures of Alaric’s victims.

Alaric wakes up from a nap and empties Meredith’s tranquilizers as she makes coffee. Alaric asks if Meredith ever feels remorse since she and the other council members aren’t protecting this town from vampires any more. I like that this is the reason for the killings. He stabs her, but she slips away, splashes hot coffee on him, and runs upstairs. She kicks him and stabs his hand with scissors while slamming the door on him.

I honestly could not think of anything remotely tasteful to use as a caption.

When Damon returns from wherever, he finds Sage gone. He drives (though vamping would be faster) to a burning Wickery Bridge. Rebekah’s glad to ruin his plan. Sage says the Originals are linked, and Damon lied to her. He says her creepy boyfriend wanted to die. She doesn’t believe this. He threatens to kill her, which she points out he can’t do, as she’s centuries older than he is. Damon says when he finds a way to kill the Originals, he’ll take out Finn first. (Please don’t! Finn’s done nothing to you, Damon.) This disconcerts Sage.

Elena and Stefan also find a package for Jeremy saying that he will continue the work with his ring, cleansing the council so the work can begin. Scary. Elena grab’s Alaric’s wedding ring and goes. She finds a strange Alaric. Elena says she didn’t see Stefan at his apartment, and she didn’t find Alaric’s ring. He goes for a knife, and Stefan knocks him out. After smelling Meredith’s blood, he requests that Elena come upstairs with him. Stefan struggles with bloodlust, but he manages to feed Meredith his blood, healing her, before leaving immediately afterward.

Jamie and Caroline garden. Caroline says her dad went through the same thing as Bonnie’s mom, but it didn’t work out. Caroline goes inside and begs Abby to stay, saying that no one is better off without their parents, but Abby leaves. At the Gilberts, Bonnie gives Elena an herb to give to Alaric. Elena asks Bonnie to forgive her. Bonnie just hugs her and says of course she does. Forgive her for what? I sympathize with Bonnie not wanting to be around Elena for a while, but Elena hasn’t done anything more wrong than usual. Elena calls Jeremy and asks if he’s talked to Alaric. He says no, but he has to go out with some friends at the moment, and he’s doing well. Tears in her eyes, she says everything’s fine. She just missed him and wanted to hear his voice. I really like the moment, but shouldn’t Jeremy know about the ring?

Alaric wakes up to find his guardian angel Damon watching over him. Alaric doesn’t seem to remember anything. Apparently Bonnie did a spell, but Alaric will still be under house arrest (light). Damon finds Stefan having an alcoholic drink “a little early in the day” for him, according to Damon. Ironically, Stefan is toasting to control. Damon reveals that the Wickery Bridge sign is made out of oak. Not sure how he knew that. The two of them are ready to hunt. Damon says let’s go kill some Originals. I say no.