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| Katherine was lying when she said Stefan was the better dancer. |
Matt and Elena leave Alaric at the hospital. Someone is
watching them. They get into their dark cars to drive away, separately. Elena
backs up into something, but when she gets out, nothing is there. That’s the
oldest trick in the vampire book! A vengeful Rebekah declares her anger at
being stabbed, before trying to bite Elena’s neck. Elijah shows up and saves
the day. Her brother asks if this is a challenge. She calls both of them
pathetic.
Elijah catches Elena up, and she relays the information
to Stefan and Damon. The Salvatores are understandably concerned. Damon asks if
anyone is feeling used right now, and says that he thought Esther’s “hybrid
freakshow of a son” ripped out her heart a thousand years ago. Elena attributes
Esther’s survival to her connection to witches on the other side. Then, because
the Originals rule, Elena receives an invitation to their ball. This invite is
signed with a personal note: Esther hopes she and Elena finally meet.
The Originals are fabulous and fine. The sexy family gets
ready for their ball, as though their brother hasn’t made them comatose for
years, in some cases centuries. Kol is apparently vain (and slightly incestuous
with Beks? I’m sorry, I’m not making this stuff up) and doesn’t get along well
with Klaus. Poor Klaus appears to be a petulant child next to the rest of his
family. He whines that Rebekah already tried to ruin his life by killing the
doppelganger, and his mother has to point out that he’s STABBED his siblings
and messed up a good chunk of their lives. She has been sentient in the
afterlife for a thousand years, which is supossedly why she has worked through
her anger and reached forgiveness. He is touched by this, but Klaus’s
vulnerability will probably only lead to disappointment and tragedy. His mom
even asks who he’s taking to the prom.
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| These lips were made to say "ravishing." |
Elena wants to go. Damon disagrees due to it being
dangerous, but Stefan agrees due to him “not caring.” Damon wants to go back to
the Stefan who cared about Elena, so Stefan volunteers to go. Damon heroically
volunteers himself, countering, “You’ve pissed off enough originals to last a
lifetime.” Elsewhere, Caroline gets a heartrending message from Tyler, stating
that he loves her, he offers his condolences about her father, and he is trying
to fix himself. She then receives a beautiful dress and an invitation to the
ball from Klaus. She just wonders WTF? I would be a lot more terrified.
Elena and Caroline get a bit of the high school drama
they’ve been missing lately. Elena wants to go to the ball with Caroline, but
she thinks Stefan would look better in a tux. (Does she know how nuts he’s been
lately?) She also admits that Bonnie spilled the beans about Elena and Damon,
but she’s more hurt that she missed out on the gossip than that Elena kissed
Damon. Then Rebekah asks Matt out right in front of them. Caroline asks when
the stupid dance is.
At the ball, the mayor tells Damon she plans to keep the
peace with the Originals. Kol introduces himself, trying to be suave, but Damon
seems to recognize him. Kol rudely says Damon isn’t very memorable. Then he is
star struck as Elena steps through the door, accompanied by corny but effective
music. Stefan arrives to ask her to dance. Damon’s annoyed to see both of them.
She doesn’t care. Stefan offers an arm, as does Damon, and the three of them
walk together. MOMENTUS MOMENT ALERT.
 |
| Dibs. |
Caroline looks through her dresses, and because she doesn’t
like any of her 50 options, she decides to go with Klaus’s gift. Good idea. And
by that I mean bad idea; this guy who gave you that will take it as a message.
And he is insane. She walks in looking gorgeous. Klaus greets her, but she
blushes, probably uncomfortable, and walks away.
Finn, who is more my type than Kol, and remarkably polite
for a dude who lived 900 years ago, tells Elena that she has to be alone to
meet his mother. Elijah is then joined by his family on the staircase, and I
almost can’t continue from the awesomeness surplus. How could anyone in Mystic
Falls deny them? Or not guess that they are vampires? Elijah says they will
commence with a dance. Esther heads upstairs. Damon stops Elena from following
Esther into a “lion’s den.” He then asks her to dance. Stefan watches. This is reminiscent
of the nightmare Katherine once planted in his head.
This episode is laying the cheese on thick: cue dance
scene. Damon says Elena looks stunning, “if it isn’t obvious.” She seems
genuinely grateful for the compliment. Damon knows how to lighten the mood.
Klaus stares at Caroline as she uneasily dances with him. She stares at Matt
and Bekah as Klaus tries to make conversation. He points out that she wore both
his bracelet and his dress. When she says she was Miss Mystic Falls, he just
says, “I know.” Watch out for this one. He is terrifying, but he’s had 1,000
years to practice seduction!
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| I don't love you Elena. Not at all. Don't care. Nope. |
Caroline moves on to Matt and asks why he danced with
Beks, and Matt asks about the worthiness of her
dancing partner. Elena dances into the arms of Stefan. She comments on his
dancing, and you can see in their faces the awkward strain of exes who remember
how things used to be. Stefan makes a quip about Damon, before saying that
Elena can take care of herself. She says she has to talk to him alone. Damon,
meanwhile, is dancing with Rebekah, who is staring at Matt and Caroline, her
nemesis. He says she’s no dog but that she doesn’t get compliments since she
tried to kill Elena. Caveman, she retorts.
Outside, Elena says that she needs to get to Esther.
Stefan says she can, if she feels she is up to it. Elena says that at least his
respect for her decisions hasn’t changed. Stefan’s façade that he wants to kill
Klaus more than anything is still there, but barely. Damon finds Elena before
she goes to Esther, but Stefan BREAKS HIS BACK (NECK?). Hopefully they won’t need
Damon immediately. Shaken, Elena nervously walks towards Esther’s room.
Elijah, lovely in a tux, says he finds his mother’s
forgiveness difficult to believe. He asks that Elena tell him what Esther says.
The Originals have family troubles. Finn and Esther are preparing something
when Elena enters. Finn leaves. Esther says that Ayana, Bonnie’s ancestor (so
this show is saying all black people are related? Sigh), preserved her body.
But she was punished for turning her family into vampires by spending 1,000
years on the other side. Esther wants to undo what she did, with Elena’s help.
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| I cut the other sleeve off with a newfangled contraption called scissors. |
Bekah asks Kol to help her kill Matt to make Elena suffer
and take some of the blame off her. Unlike Finn, Kol isn’t a Momma’s boy. He
wants to spit in the face of her rules. Is he more spoiled than Klaus? Kol is
itching to kill someone. He wants to make a spectacle of it, but Rebekah says
he sounds like an idiot.
Caroline spends time with one of the horses (?). Klaus
joins her and tries more manipulative tactics, favorably comparing the loyalty
of horses to humans’. He says that his father beheaded his horse, and his
relationship with him was much more complicated than Caroline’s with her
father. And that is saying something. Caroline says that she let her father go
with no regrets and she likes humans and they like her. BAM.
Esther says that her children are abominations and
monsters, and it is her duty to kill them. She can only kill them with magic
and Elena’s blood. She can link them by making them drink a few drops. She
tells her not to tell Elijah, especially. Elena is a tad flabbergasted. If this
were reality, Esther would be absolutely right. Since it’s not, I don’t want
her to kill her beautiful children. Elena decides to lie to Elijah about his
mother’s intentions. Esther toasts to her family and they all drink the bloody
champagne. No, Elijah, please don’t die!
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| Can't his rich friends fork out some money for this guy? |
Rebekah leads Matt outside, who goes to his truck to get
a jacket, which he puts around her shoulders—even though she’s a vampire and
doesn’t need it. Killer that she is, inside she’s a softy. Matt’s gentlemanly ways
prompt her to lead him back inside, away from Kol. Inside, Kol confronts
Rebekah, realizing that she likes Matt because he gave her “five seconds of his
attention.” Poor Bekah, almost as needy as her brother.
Klaus shows Caroline some art. She recognizes a piece
from the Louvre. Others are his drawings. He says he’ll take her to all sorts
of museums and cities. In these moments he’s almost human, but Caroline jabs
him about Tyler and his hybrids. He says in spite of his fun evening, she has
to leave. She says he tries to buy people off, or compel them, or sire them, to
make up for his father not loving him. Caroline goes home and leaves a message
for Tyler, saying she misses him. She also finds a drawing of herself and horse
on her bed. On the drawing, Klaus thanks her for her honesty.
Damon awakens and is furious at Stefan, who tells him
that his emotions are getting in the way. Damon’s reaction, “My emotions? How
is this even happening right now?” This is a real soap opera. Damon tries to
get Elena to leave, and they exchange words about Stefan and how she doesn’t
like cutting Damon out of the picture. He says he wants to protect her because
he loves her, and Elena says maybe that’s the problem. Damon observes the irony
that he cares too much. Will this send him back over the edge?
 |
| Merry Christmas! |
Kol lures Matt out onto the balcony and turns a handshake
into a death grip. Damon comes to his rescue, declaring that Matt needs his
hands because he’s a quarterback. He pushes Kol off the balcony, jumps down,
and begins pummeling him. Why isn’t Kol stronger? Maybe he just didn’t have
time to react. Seemingly the whole party comes outside. Stefan, ironically,
asks if Damon is crazy. He says “maybe a little.”
Interestingly, Esther blames Kol and Rebekah for the
violence. She knows what’s going on. She shares an affectionate moment with
Elijah who promises it won’t happen again. Esther says she wishes the others
were more like him. After Elijah leaves, Finn joins her, apparently in on the
spell. His old school mentality comes
through when he says he will be ready to die when the time comes. She sheds his
blood and somehow bonds the siblings so they “are one.”
Elena shares her regrets about signing Elijah’s and the
others’ death sentences. While Stefan jokingly calls the murderous Esther the
mother of the year, he says that the rest are collateral damage. She admits
that she said something she didn’t mean to Damon. Stefan says he also said
something he didn’t mean. Elena tries to get Stefan to open up again, to feel
everything and stop pretending not to care. He comes close, but he admits that
when he starts to feel, all he knows is pain.
Rebekah tries to hit up Matt, who is getting drunk at the
bar because his broken hand isn’t covered by health insurance. Such a Matt
story. He says that she’s pretty and fun, but she needs to stay away. A wasted
Damon says adolescence stings—she was dumped by the football captain—and that she
needs someone more durable. The two hot messes then get it on like crazy.
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| What showoff came to the party in a horse and carriage? |
