The Vampire Diaries: Heart of Darkness (Season 3, Episode 19)

I've been compelled not to care.

Alaric is locked up in a cell. Damon slips him a copy of Jekyll and Hyde. Elena says Stefan told her to go on a road trip with Damon to see how she feels about him. They will pick up Jeremy in Denver. Alaric is surprised at Stefan’s attitude, but he doesn’t seem to think it’s his business to disapprove, at this point. Stefan tells Damon that he will find out from Alaric where the other white stake is. Damon is skeptical since Stefan is good again. Apparently there’s no road trip, Elena and Damon are flying first class.

Caroline is horrified to discover that Rebekah has changed the decade dance’s theme from 70s to 20s. Rebekah doesn’t know what Klaus sees in Caroline with her affinity for tacky years. Caroline says maybe it’s because she doesn’t sleep with everyone she makes eye contact with. Matt tries to interrupt this battle of the blondes by suggesting they do both, but the ladies are adamantly against that. Besides Matt has to admit that the 20s are cooler. It turns out, this was all an act to excuse Caroline’s exit. Apparently, she will also take a trip to find Tyler.

Elena and Damon find Jeremy. Damon quips that next time he compels him, he should make Jeremy better at baseball. They want him to commune with Rose, which he doesn’t think is possible. It turns out one of his friends is Kol. Someone on tumblr mentioned that. I thought it would be hilarious and stupid, but the writers decided on it. Kol is extremely easy to “kill.” After he hits Damon with a baseball bat, Damon stabs him with its shards. He tells Jeremy that he should have been suspicious when he made a friend so quickly, considering his personality. They go to a motel, and Jeremy asks about Rose. Damon describes the dream he gave her before she died, and Rose appears to Jeremy.

A vampire!

It’s interesting that Stefan has a worse relationship with both Jeremy and Alaric than Damon does. Stefan gives Alaric some booze and explains that Elena has to go on that trip with Damon, and Stefan probably has to torture Alaric. Alaric says that his alter ego is driven by his anger. He hopes that Jeremy’s alter ego is a pot smoking hippy pacifist. Stefan thinks the other Alaric is too judgmental, and he’s not Alaric; he’s the darkest parts of Alaric. How can they be so sure of this? Couldn’t he be possessed? Obviously Stefan is referring to his vampire side as well. Klaus comes in, carrying the stake that Stefan left lying around. Stefan explains that they should find the stake and destroy it to save the both of them as well as other vampires. After hearing this, Klaus decides not to immediately kill Alaric. Well, he does kill Alaric, but he’s wearing his life-saving ring. Stefan basically shakes his head at his boyfriend’s violent antics.

Rose still thinks Damon’s hot; Damon also asks about her. She says she’s rooting for him and Elena. Jeremy translates some version of this. She is also happy. Unfortunately she was sired by “Scary Mary” Porter, not an original. But she will try to figure something out. Stefan and Damon fill each other in. Stefan seems concerned that Damon and Elena are staying at a love shack. Jeremy asks about Elena and Damon.

Matt drives a suspicious Rebekah home. He just says that it’s sad that she can’t trust anyone. 1) Matt, don’t do this to Rebekah. 2) But I kind of like you, Matt. 3) This Rebekah constantly gets pwned thing is getting old. 4) I totally like them together. Inside, Rebekah finds her mother, who looks even younger than before. Rebekah is shocked, scared, and ready to kill her. But Esther says that she is dying. Rebekah tearfully says that Esther’s loving reunion isn’t going to happen. Esther says that she has been watching over Rebekah’s joys and especially pains for 1,000 years. No one should live that long. But Rebekah heartbreakingly says that she hasn’t lived. Due to Abby’s vampirism, Esther’s connection to the Bennett witches has been broken, and she dies, even more pathetically than Finn. Even Klaus is somber when he sees his dead mother.

Batter up!

Caroline finds Tyler in the woods, and it’s way over the top, and they start having sex. But a serious looking Tyler says, “You have no idea how much I missed you,” and I’m so relieved that they’re back together again. Tyler, looking hot, turned about 100 times. He says he feels freer, different, and more himself, but he has to test whether his sire bond will work. Caroline informs him that unfortunately, when Matt killed an original (Tyler is stunned), they discovered that vampires from that bloodline die. She says Damon doesn’t care about Tyler. He will kill Klaus if he didn’t sire the Salvatores. Did we actually hear this discussed?

Elena hilariously ogles Damon’s partly naked body. He is surprised to catch her gaze. She shuts her eyes before boldly opening them again. He gets in bed with her and she asks why he didn’t tell her about what he did for Rose, and why he doesn’t let people see his good side. He says he doesn’t want them to expect good. She starts to cry/heavily breathe and they hold hands. Then she gets up to get a drink outside. He follows her. She says “don’t.” He asks why. Then she turns around, runs to him, passionately kisses him, and they have a hot and sexy make out section. At the beginning of this scene, I was laughing at how bad it was. But the end of the scene is glorious. Jeremy interrupts their sexy time with news that Rose found Mary. He looks at Elena judgmentally. Jeremy, Elena has been there for you throughout your bad decisions. Elena looks confused but liberated.

Alaric wakes up. Stefan spent the night reading Moby Dick. Alaric takes his ring off because he thinks the only way his alter ego will make an appearance is if he thinks he’s going to die. Stefan doesn’t want to hurt Alaric, but he attacks him. Stefan is pretending to be in the mafia, but Alaric doesn’t think he’s trying hard enough. Stefan knocks out a tooth causing profuse bleeding. Stefan is afraid of his bloodlust, and Alaric thinks that is the key. Stefan refuses to give in. He knocks Alaric against the wall, and the other Alaric appears. He calls Stefan weak, pathetic, a monster, but Stefan can’t even get that right. I love Stefan’s expression here. He is still in bloodlust mode, but happy and shocked to finally get the other Alaric.

My friends aren't real?! At least my decision to move to Denver was entirely real.

Jeremy shows Elena and Damon Mary’s house, and they tell Jeremy to stay behind. I don’t know why, except to allow Jeremy to make a crack about them making out. Apparently, Damon the sex God also hooked up with the super creepy, super old, but not ugly Mary. They find her stabbed to the wall. Kol sits there with a bat in his hands: “Quite contrary.” He says that Mary was an original groupie. She literally did it with all the originals who were alive while she was. He throws Elena and beats on Damon to make up for his brother’s death (yay Finn! He cares about Finn!) and Damon’s multiple attempts on Kol’s life.

After Kol leaves, Damon realizes that Elena is testing her feelings for him based on what Stefan said. She points out that every time there’s a bump in the road Damon lashes out and sabotages himself. He romantically asks what if he DIDN’T? What if there are no bumps? Her eyes glaze over; it’s an enticing and scary prospect. Damon awesomely says he will take the high road, so the decision she makes is not easy.

Stefan wails on Alaric and threatens to kill him. Alaric says the stake is in the cave where vampires can’t enter. Stefan immediately leaves to find Klaus and Rebekah in his living room. Rebekah yanks Alaric to the caves, and Stefan breaks up with Klaus. No! Or I guess they’ve already broken up, so he crushes Klaus’s hopes. He asks Klaus to kill him, and Klaus says maybe he will. Stefan calls him out and says that he obviously doesn’t want to since he hasn’t killed him so far. Klaus says he knows his friend the ripper is right beneath the surface. Stefan said that he’s accepted that part of himself so Klaus and that side cannot control him: “Now get out of my house, you abusive ex-boyfriend.”

Elena, I know one cure for being beaten up by an original. Back to the love shack, quick!

Rose articulates to Jeremy team Delena. She, with her years of wisdom, says that Damon is good for Elena. He surprises her and is either the worst thing or the best thing for her. Stefan’s love is pure and he will always be good for her. This argument sounds like a justification for those fiery, horrible relationships that sometimes end with one partner being killed. I am not in favor of those, and they don’t always last that long. Not to mention, is Stefan really always good for Elena?

Interestingly, Caroline indicates that she will go against Damon’s wishes if Klaus didn’t sire Damon. Tyler finds Klaus’s drawing and idiotically says that he will spend the night somewhere else. He just tortured himself to be with her. If Caroline had something to hide, she wouldn’t leave the drawing lying around. And does he think she’s really so weak as to fall for someone who did this to him? Still: did she just think the drawing was nice? It is completely stupid that she didn’t burn it. I would be terrified.  If anything happens between Klaus and Caroline, it better be because she becomes darker. I do not see an ounce of logic in their relationship as it stands. Elsewhere, Alaric finds the stake and says that there’s only one, so if Rebekah helps him, only one original has to die. Rebekah steps right into that cave, and, in a twist I didn’t see coming, reveals that she is Esther. She still wants all the originals to die, so the two of them have a lot in common. What happened to Rebekah?