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?

The Vampire Diaries: Klaus (Season 2, Episode 19)

We start right where we left off, with a brave Elena waiting for Elijah to wake. He gasps to life and, in a very human moment of confusion, mistakes her for her doppelganger Katherine. Flashback to the 15^th century: “Trevor” introduces Elijah to Katherine. Elijah indicates that he knew and perhaps even loved Katherine’s previous doppelganger.

Elijah’s lack of composure is apparently due to not having been invited into this house. He died in the house before the deed was passed to Elena. He zips out the door and catches his breath. For once, Elijah is decidedly unkempt, resembling a homeless biker. Through the door, Elena hands Elijah the weapon she used to stab him. This girl has chutzpa. It’s been only a few minutes, and already this episode is epic.

Stefan awakes with a start to discover that Elena isn’t beside him. He asks Damon and Andie about their whereabouts. Damon snarks that Elena is Stefan’s girlfriend, Andie is his. Damon asks Andie for a bite, and she asks if he can drink from a bag. This creeps out the already tense Stefan, but Andie tells him to mind his own business. Then the brothers notice an open door and discover that Elena has let the Elijah out of the basement.

In another scene featuring a male vampire compelling a woman, Klaus in Alaric’s body has Katherine serving him coffee or whatever he’s drinking. He cruelly rubs in killing Katherine’s family. Even though we’ve seen Katherine vulnerable before, their relationship increases my sympathy for her.

Elena and Elijah chill in her car. He sucks on a blood bag as though it’s Gatorade, and Elena answers her ringing phone. Stefan’s freaking out, but Elena remains cool and refers to Elijah as a noble man. Elijah’s expressions are quite ambiguous and interesting; is he amused, impressed, or something else? Elena has the Salvatores’ number, telling Stefan to make sure Damon doesn’t do anything stupid. Damon (somewhat sweetly, perhaps) takes her hanging up on Stefan as a sign of her insanity. Stefan admirably trusts Elena, but Damon, also understandably, doesn’t want Elena to take the risk.

Flashback: Elijah introduces Katherine to Klaus, who has an intriguing and scary stare going on. Katherine is on her best behavior. Elijah has a bisexual vibe with Klaus, because they seem very close, but we find out more about that later. Elijah and Elena pop over to the mayor’s house. Elijah got Carol to stop drinking vervain (scary!), so he compels her to get him new clothes—from her dead husband, eek. What does it say about Carol, though, that she says she can’t help a man whose clothes are tattered because she’s late for a meeting?

Damon drinks (not always a good sign) and is petulant with Stefan about siding with Elena instead of him. Typical of their post-vampire relationship, Stefan is the big brother here: “Are you really going to be like this?” Damon and Andie “go rogue,” and take a trip to Alaric’s, where an adorable Katherine is trying to party up while in captivity. At first putting Andie in an even more dangerous situation seemed rude, but Andie doesn’t need an invite anywhere, so it’s actually a good idea. Is this Alaric’s? If so, why hasn’t Damon been invited in? Maybe Alaric doesn’t want Damon stealing his booze.

So Elijah and Klaus are brothers. Yep. Earlier, their relationship and differences reminded me a bit of Damon and Stefan. I was more right than I knew. At this reveal, Elijah tells Elena that the word she’s looking for is “OMG.” Is the F letter too offensive for you, TV? The only thing that could have made this episode better is if he had said OMFG, because that is how I reacted.

Jenna, meanwhile, has decided to return home. She calls up Stefan to ask where her little relatives are and mentions that Alaric wants to meet her at the grill. Stefan says he doesn’t know about Elena and Jeremy, but that she should not meet Alaric. But “Alaric” shows up at her house. Stefan rushes over to find an eerie (but kind of sexy) “Alaric” chopping up veggies.

Elena stupidly asks why Elijah would want to kill Klaus, his own brother. Elena of all people should know that brothers, especially vampire brothers, have problems sometimes. Elijah says that the history of originals is fascinating but long, involving a family of nine (two parents, seven children – so there might be a handful of other originals out there) who were once humans. He sadly recalls his and Klaus’s times together (and, yes, they’ve been around for a while), including that time they wrote about a shaman putting a curse on vampires and werewolves. What a laugh. On us as well. This episode is blowing my mind.

Elsewhere, Damon and Andie give Katherine vervain so she can resist further mental control. He treats her like a naughty child (which, let’s face it, she is), and notes, “You owe me, and I will collect.” His thinking is right here. See, this is clever Damon.

A vaguely sinister “Alaric” hilariously admits that he is “obsessed with vampires,” which is completely true of Alaric. Jenna is increasingly uncomfortable. She must assume he’s either on drugs or insane. It also must be weird have your ward’s boyfriend, who supposedly knows what’s going on, sitting there but not telling you anything.

“Alaric” refuses to leave and then threatens Jenna when she tries. Stefan attacks him, and nearly murders him, in Alaric’s body and all, but instead wears his vampire face and screams at Jenna to run, ensuring she will find out about vampires in the most jarring way possible. Stefan has been increasingly frustrated, and he knocks out Klaus before kicking him a couple times for good measure.

Stefan calls Elena just as Elijah is about to explain why this curse is actually only on Klaus. Elena says she has to leave but will return. Elijah is reluctant to see her leave, probably because both Elena and Katherine betrayed him. Flashback to Elijah chasing but not catching Katherine just the way Stefan chased but didn’t catch her. Katherine reveals more complexities in her relationship with Klaus, noting that Klaus is charming but possibly unfaithful. Elijah says that he doesn’t believe in love, and why would he? He’s lived so long, as a bloodsucker, no less. She strongly, and ironically, believes that life is too cruel to not believe in love and that real love is reciprocal. Klaus arrives and whisks Katherine away with blood all over his shirt. What a multilayered triangle. Our main trio seems like babies in comparison.

Sara Canning does very well at emoting Jenna’s confusion. She cries into Elena’s arms, recalling her sister’s freaky vampire bedtime stories and worrying about being the last to know about the supernatural. Stefan wears an especially pained expression and blames himself, but Elena blames herself. She goes to Elijah, but Damon stops her, just wanting her back. Stefan (looking a little scary, as he does when he gets stern) stands up to him, making Elena look slightly smug.

It’s a good thing she returned, because Elijah drops another bombshell. Klaus is a werepire. Their father was a major jerk (what a surprise) who killed Klaus’s real father and his entire werewolf family, beginning a vampire/werewolf feud. This curse keeps Klaus’s werewolf side dormant. Apparently a megalomaniac, he wants to kindle his other side and perhaps spawn a new army/race. Elijah says that only a witch can kill him.

An awesome Katherine drinks and dances around Alaric’s crib. When Klaus returns, she pretends to mope. Greta, who seems very not kidnapped and friendly with Klaus, and a host of others carry in Klaus’s belongings. She remarks that Alaric is a “nice body,” hehe.

Flashback time: Elijah tries to convince Klaus not to sacrifice Elena, because he has discovered another way to break the curse. (I’ve stopped keeping track of the jaw-dropping reveals.) Even then, Elijah was practical. He denies that he loves Katherine, and Klaus advises, “Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness.” This is true of almost every vampire we’ve seen, including Pearl, Anna, and Damon. Elijah replies that they did care once, but Klaus tragically states, “too many lifetimes ago.” Add Elijah to the list of Katherine-lovers. He clearly sees Katherine and perhaps her ancestor in Elena’s identical eyes. He claims he’ll never make the mistake of caring too much again.

On that note, Andie tells Damon that he doesn’t have to be so mad at his brother, but he tells her to leave. Stefan enters the room and makes a snide comment about using Andie. I’m all for not letting Damon use Andie, but Stefan’s comment seems to be born mostly of his bad day. They put it all out there, Damon saying that his real target is Elena, and Stefan sarcastically thanking him for being in love with his girlfriend. He seems done with tolerating Damon for now and says that he will have what Damon will never get: Elena’s respect.

They go at each other like mad dogs until Elena and Elijah return. The scene reminds Elijah of when his brother threatened to kill him if he betrayed him. All Elijah wants of the Salvatores, remarkably, is their apology. Stefan apologizes, rubbing in that he will always protect Elena. Damon just feels like a miserable loser and in no way apologizes. He hates losing. Stefan says he’ll come around, but Elijah’s expression is melancholy when he says, “perhaps.”

A very broken and damaged Damon lashes out at Andie as she tries to comfort him. Hearing a woman he has compelled to love him say she cares about him is too much. He rips into her shoulder but compels her to leave before he kills her. It may not sound like it, but her survival is a relief and a step up for a completely distraught Damon.

The final scene shows witches chanting around a big box at Alaric’s. Alaric returns to his body, mistaking Katherine for Elena before dropping to the floor. Katherine’s expression is that of pure terror at seeing none other than the original Klaus step out of the box. What an episode.