The Vampire Diaries: The Murder of One (Season 3, Episode 18)

At least I got a few lines and closeups right before I died.

Elena tries to deliver chocolate muffins to Alaric, but Damon Ric-blocks her. He says that Alaric is normal but still on lockdown, before making a few jabs about how Elena isn’t actually mad at Damon and that her suspicion is paranoia. As soon as she leaves, we see that Alaric and Stefan are cutting up the Original-killing Wickery Bridge sign.  Rock music plays as they whittle away. No surprise, the uptight Stefan is a micromanager. Alaric says he will turn himself in because, unlike some people in the room, he wants to take responsibility for the lives he took. As Damon points out, Stefan’s morals become murky with revenge against Klaus on the brain, and Damon tells Alaric to put the ring back on. The two immortal killers think Alaric should worry as much about the dark side that his semi-immorality brings as they do theirs. Plus, Bonnie’s herbs seem to be working.

In the woods, Elena tells Caroline that Alaric killed her father. Caroline starts to lose it, but Elena says that, like all their supernatural friends, Alaric is a victim of his circumstances. Caroline calms down enough to tease Elena about being a savior of the cursed and damned. Matt shows up, but Bonnie, supposedly distraught over her mother leaving again, does not. Stefan and Damon arrive and hand everybody Original-killing stakes.

Finn calls his little brother Klaus’s charms hollow and says he only wishes to see him dead. His mother is trying to figure out another way to kill them, and Finn said he’s still on board. Klaus threatens to put him in a box again, and Finn points out that Klaus will lose his “precious Rebekah” if he does so. Klaus says that wouldn’t be the first time, and Finn just rolls his eyes before walking into Rebekah. Finn is stunned that Rebekah is siding with the homicidal Klaus, but she’d prefer to be temporarily dead than “extinct.” Death threats don’t exactly work against Finn, so Klaus just beats him up and says Finn’s not taking the rest of them down with him.

Discussing torture, and looking cute while doing it.

Klaus continues to toss Finn around. He says that while he can torture and force Finn to give him his blood to undo the spell, he chooses to persuade him instead. Sage appears, and apparently the two of them are still “true loves.” Rebekah is disgusted and opts to get vengeance on Damon. Thanks to a phone product placement, we learn that Kol is in on helping his siblings. Klaus stares at Sage and Finn, annoyed. He might not like Sage, but it seems as though all the Original siblings are envious of the others’ happiness.

Stefan and Damon explain their “detailed” plan which involves distracting 1,000 year old vampires with teenage love interests. That sounds like a terrible plan. They also mention holding Rebekah’s arms down while another stakes her. How? She’s many times stronger than any of them. Back at home, Alaric asks Damon if he learned nothing about how stupid it was to hide the moonstone in a soap dish. Clearly not, because Damon is hiding these magical stakes with firewood. Rebekah breaks in, throws Alaric down the stairs, and stabs Damon in the gut, announcing, “Hello, lover.”

Elena, Caroline, and Matt meet at the town square (I guess). Bonnie won’t return Elena’s calls. Caroline shrugs since Bonnie’s been a bit peeved off lately. They spot Finn and Sage. Instead of immediately trying to kill Finn, Caroline eavesdrops. Busybody. Finn remembers this as the place where natives would make sacrifices; Sage points out that that’s where they’d secretly rendezvous. (Romantic?) Finn thought she’d moved on. Sage says she loves him still and wants him to live. He smiles. Elena calls Stefan to ask for backup. Stefan realizes that Sage, who is very old and strong, is with Finn. He also discovers that Rebekah kidnapped Damon. Stefan says they have a problem. Way to plan ahead guys, to think of every option, like you said.

This time, nothing will go wrong! We are gonna get them good!

Damon is tied up with some bear traps. Rebekah explains that she wants to one up Damon after his ungentlemanly behavior. She plans to bleed him of vervain and compel him to kill Stefan or Elena. She acknowledges that it will take some time since vampires heal. I’d think a very long time. Damon tries to make like he thinks it’s hot and kinky, but he is a bit concerned. Klaus stops in, and even in the midst of this, he and Rebekah have time for sibling banter. He thinks she should turn him upside down, Rebekah says she doesn’t need any advice; he rolls his eyes and smiles because obviously he’s pretty much an expert. In the next room, Bonnie is working on unlinking the siblings. Klaus has Kol spying on Jeremy. If it were this easy, couldn’t the Originals have gotten everything they wanted long ago? They should be able to know when a human is lying. They should be able to threaten anyone. Heck, they should be able to control or read everyone’s minds, to an extent. Confusion.

In an interesting scene, Caroline approaches Alaric about her father’s death. He apologizes. She points out that she is a murderer as well. She killed someone, and enjoyed it. That man could have been someone’s father as well. They all have blood on their hands. All they can do is hope they can be saved. Downtown, Stefan tells Elena that Alaric is okay, and they need to figure out their next move. She wants to stop everything to save Damon. She doesn’t know that Klaus is planning to unlike them, but isn’t this exactly what she said she wouldn’t do? Let her humanity get in the way? Perhaps she meant she wouldn’t hesitate to murder an Original, but didn’t they cover this? Stefan says Damon would NOT want them to stop. If they get an Original at this point, they will help Damon by getting rid of Rebekah.

In what is clearly a dream, Damon thinks that Elena rescues him and revives him with her blood. Basically he fantasizes what Stefan already experienced. Rebekah and her revealing top say it might not be so nice when someone else messes with your head. He says she couldn’t have thought he really had a thing for her. Her expressionlessness masks deep hurt and disappointment. He blames this desperation on her brother issues, specifically being bossed around by Klaus for 1,000 years. She stabs him again. Bonnie hears a scream, but Klaus tells her not to worry. She hilariously says that this mass murderer bothers her, and he just prods her about her mother and threatens to rip her and those she loves apart until she helps him. He shows her vials of his siblings’ blood and bites his hand to give her his. Bonnie begins to work on the spell, chanting while mixing blood in a glass. Yum. She pours blood on the table.

Bored now.

Sage shows Finn the joys of tequila, and they seem happy together. Finn is “awed by the evolution of mankind.” Sage is “embarrassed” by his lack of knowledge. A vampire that Sage turned walks by. Finn wonders why; Sage says that they need an ally since they’re in enemy territory. Stefan listens to their conversation. He passes Matt a bottle of vervain. Sage admits she doesn’t know how many people she’s turned into vampires. Finn looks serious, so she tells him not to judge her since he turned her. He says his passion overtook his morals. She says her passions overtake her morals on a daily basis; it’s called living life to the fullest. He smiles more. As wicked as Sage is, I like them together. Stefan texts “get ready.”

The lovebirds drink another shot and spit out the vervain. They follow Stefan out of the bar. (You know which bar. Don’t even ask.) I have to pause before Stefan or someone else stabs my precious Finn. Sage knocks the stake out of Stefan’s hand. “Leave Finn alone!” I say in Chris Crocker’s voice. Elena shoots Finn in the stomach with a crossbow and Matt stabs him. Bonnie’s spell is almost complete. The blood separates. Finn bursts into flames. All my, I mean, Sage’s hopes and dreams are gone. She is inconsolable.

Bonnie looks upset. Rebekah thanks her. She sees a bleeding Damon. Klaus says she can save the man who turned her mother into a vampire. She chooses not to. Dang. But, if we’re going to be honest, Elena, Caroline, and all these “heroes” are the idiots for constantly saving these psychopaths, which Damon sometimes is. Instead, she calls Elena to tell her that Klaus has Damon. Caroline, Elena, and Stefan were just chipper a minute ago about killing Finn (fuuuu), but Bonnie says that Klaus forced her to do a spell. Going against her morals, fearing for Jeremy’s and her mother’s lives—Bonnie is not okay. She has had a very bad day. She breaks down, and I just want to give her a hug.

Don't cry, Sage! The pain will be over soon.

Stefan says again that he will get revenge on Klaus, in spite of Elena’s protests. Caroline quips that she misses well-adjusted Stefan. Aw. Sage busts in (“Ding dong!”) and throws Stefan back into the room. He says he had to kill Finn. Then she and the vampire she turned die. Kill one Original, kill anyone who was turned by them, and those turned by them, and on down the line. Elena wonders if a hybrid bit them. Caroline suggests Sage died of sadness. L Elena says that doesn’t explain Troy, the other vampire. Well, maybe Troy fell in love with Finn too, Elena, did you ever think of that? Maybe Troy fell in love with Finn from afar for the few days of Finn’s existence. Is it bad that I find it amusing that they realize half their friends and family will die if they kill the Originals? The world would be a safer place. There are supposed to be only a few werewolves left anyway.

Stefan visits Damon (who notes that this went differently in his head), and says he will exchange the Original-killing weapons for Damon. Klaus is surprised at Finn’s death and Rebekah begins to get upset, and she is annoyed when Klaus compels Damon to go home. Damon’s her plaything. Damon tries to rip his hands through the traps. In fact, Stefan did leave three stakes at home. Elena says they have to figure out which Original to save in order to keep Caroline and the Salvatores alive. Caroline points out that if Klaus dies, Tyler will die.

Rebekah enjoys watching Damon suffer, and Klaus jokes, “Stop, before you hurt yourself.” He compels Damon to tell them how many stakes they made. Stefan says he’ll get the rest. Klaus says he’d better before he forces Damon to chew off his own tongue. Tears in his eyes, Stefan quietly asks what’s wrong with Klaus. Klaus gets pissy and asks, what is wrong with Stefan? Does he have no appreciation for him? Klaus says that, as a friend, he’s given Stefan a target so he can turn his hatred away from himself and onto Klaus. He says Stefan should be thanking him for giving him a purpose.  Stefan says enough and pushes his ex against the wall. Klaus tells him to step down or the Salvatores both die. If they sleep together, will this solve everything? I’m only partly joking. Even though I am devastated that they just killed Finn, this episode gets a million points for including both Finn and Klefan. I don’t know if Rebekah is jealous or what, but she says that this boys stuff is ridiculous. She lets a broken and bleeding Damon go as a symbol of good faith. Yeah, real good faith. Maybe Damon’s comment about Klaus controlling her got to Rebekah. She says her rules now. For the millionth time, Klaus threatens everyone Stefan loves.

Stefan, you know me, I can't say I don't care about anyone.

Rebekah says she can’t believe Finn is dead. Klaus says good riddance, he was an embarrassment, a lovesick fool who slept in a box longer than he lived as a man. My baby! Rebekah says that he was still their brother and asks if Klaus would say the same about her. He says that she let the Salvatores loose with their weapons, so, yes. And if she stays while Klaus goes, she is as pathetic as Finn. She says that the Salvatores may fight like dogs but at least they know what family is; they’d die for each other. Klaus says he wanted a family once, but Rebekah realizes, soon after stating that Klaus was the only one in her family who stood by her, that Klaus is actually the one who destroyed it. You can see on her heartbroken face that she underestimated her favorite brother’s callousness.

Klaus’s comments make Stefan realize that he has to move on from his abusive ex and figure out himself. He feels as though he hasn’t gotten anywhere. Elena says that he has, and she still loves him. Stefan says he knows, and he will always love her. But he wants her to admit that she also loves Damon. Elena says she doesn’t know what she feels. Even though forcing this confession is creepy, Paul Wesley is so good here, the scene is rather effective. Meanwhile, Damon runs into the arms of Alaric, who comments that Damon is still alive. They can’t find the stake Alaric hid behind his books. They realize that Alaric’s vampire-hating alter-ego must have taken it. Damon is none too pleased that his buddy could kill him. Alaric looks sheepish. Now I will need the hiatus to recover from this tragic but moving episode.