Vampire Diaries Recap

Hey, you guys! What’s going on? You guys good? Good! Listen, Thursday night was the Vampire Diaries and, frankly, it was awesome. Like hardcore awesome. Especially compared to last week’s lame episode. Last night’s episode answered so many questions! And, in my opinion, was a lot more emotionally impacting than last week’s. Of course, I’m probably saying that cause most of the emotion centered around Klaus and I love him. *Shrugs*

Oh AND – y’all know how I feel about Damon/Elena. But this episode pushed my other foot onto the ship. I wanna see that happen now!

Alright let’s get started!

o o o

Alaric and Elena are walking along the tunnels underneath the Lockwood property. Elena comments on the fact that the Lockwoods have no idea that these passageways are underneath their home and Alaric tells her to watch out for bats.

And this is a major part of why I like Damon/Elena now. They’re being written a lot differently. Or at least Damon is. He’s realizing that that whole ‘I WANT YOU BE MINE NOW’ aggressive thing doesn’t work and is allowing himself to be his real self – fun, relaxed, nice. But nice without being a bitch about it, like has sometimes been the case in the past. So, to whoever is writing Damon this season, keep it up. And Nina and Ian – keep doing each other – the chemistry is very nice on camera. Just sayin!

Anyhoodles, we’re reminded that Damon can’t enter the cavern since apparently even ancient Lockwoods were anti-vampire. Elena and Alaric point their torches at the wall and Alaric explains that all the scribbles are a very long, very, very old story. There are crude drawings of the moon, and humans, and werewolves everywhere

Elena is confused – she thought the Lockwoods came to Mystic Falls in the late 1800’s.  Alaric says that may be true about the Lockwoods – but apparently werewolves in general have been there way, way before then. Elena asks how long exactly and Damon chimes in super long – but it gets better. He prompts Alaric to show Elena some Viking scribbles on the walls.

FLASHBACK!

We’re back in the day! Rebekah is using a dagger to scrape her name into the rocks and Klaus is telling her it’s his turn. She tells him to pipe down. Klaus’ countenance is very different – he seems more timid, and ultimately fragile. Especially when Rebekah teases him about always telling on her to their father and he admits it is because he frightens him so much. Rebekah says that he frightens them all, and that’s why they must stick together as siblings, always as one. She hands over the knife to him to go work in the kitchen with her mother. The blade catches his palm, and the wound doesn’t heal.

PRESENT!

Alaric tells Elena that these markings go way back, to probably before Christopher Colombus, but Elena isn’t buying it. She thinks it’s got to be on of Klaus’ fakes and Damon agrees. Alaric says he though the same thing too, until the last name on the wall made him reconsider.

Or as Damon calls him, “Papa Original.”

Yay! Totally called that!

o o o

Alaric takes pictures of all of the drawings and spreads them out on his desk back home. Alaric  was good in this episode – we didn’t see much of him but what we did see was him in his element and it reminded us that Alaric IS good at something besides drinking. While he explains that he has to figure out what the pictures mean to decipher the story, Damon and Elena spar in the background. As he fends of her horrible technique Damon says that Mason said that the weapon to kill Klaus was in that cave. Elena says she thought Mikael had the weapon. Damon says exactly – the wall will most likely lead them back to Mikael, who they already found… and sorta lost.

Effortlessly, he overpowers Elena, whispering in her ear “Bang. You’re dead,” before nuzzling her neck playfully. She shoos him away and it’s all very nice. In all honesty, it was very hard for me to follow the dialogue in this episode sometimes – Damon and Elena kept distracting me. I missed loads because I was cooing so much.

Alaric says maybe, maybe not – the only way to be sure is to figure out what the symbols on the walls mean. Elena says no problem and Damon asks how the hell they’re supposed to do that. Elena says it’s time to go to the main source.

o o o

Elena approaches Rebekah at cheerleading practice and says that they need to talk. Hilariously, Rebekah says if it’s about Stefan she isn’t wasting her time on that until he learns how to treat her better. She then suggests that Elena should be taking tips from her book. HAHAHA! Love this girl! She’s so right.

Rebekah thinks Elena is bluffing, but when she proves that she knows exactly where Mikael is, Rebekah kind of snaps. She says that waking Mikael is probably the worst possible thing for everyone involved. Elena asks why, but Rebekah won’t tell.

o o o

FLASHBACK!

Mikael is the worst, is what it comes down to.

o o o

PRESENT!

This is basically what Alaric is doing for the whole episode, by the way. I told you we don’t see that much of him.

Elena and Damon are chatting on the phone. Elena is saying that she’s confident Rebekah will talk – they just have to engage in a Mean Girl power struggle. Damon tells her not to get power struggled into a wheelchair. HAHHAHA. She says that she will be fine as she walks into Ric’s apartment, and asks Damon, who is in the torture cellar, how Stefan looks.

“Pasty and pouty.”

Elena says oh well, and hangs up.

Alaric is also skeptical that Elena will get Rebekah to talk.

Meanwhile, back in the torture cellar, Damon is letting Stefan free for a bros night out. Hah! That’s great. I’m glad that happened – I did not want Ripper Stefan to be tied down for six episodes.

o o o

At the Salvatore mansion Elena walks in (with a little too much confidence) only to be greeted by blasting music, Rebekah enjoying champagne, and a (hideous) fashion show.

o o o

Over at Alaric’s, he’s still putting the pieces of the puzzle together when in walks Bonnie. Before getting down to business he apologizes on Jeremy’s behalf, saying that Jeremy was just being a stupid boy and Alaric knows because he was also once a stupid boy.

Um. Alright, I see where Alaric is coming from with that comforting notion, but I’m about 96% percent sure that whatever teenage!Alaric went through is nothing compared to what teenage!Jeremy is going through right now. Maybe Alaric cheated on his high school girlfriend with an ex, but I’m positive that the girlfriend wasn’t a witch who brought him from the dead and the ex wasn’t a vampire who he was madly in love with and who basically got ripped from his arms to be murdered by his uncle and then came back as a ghost that he could touch one last time. So… nice try Alaric!

o o o

Back at the Salvatore Mansion, Rebekah is going through Stefan’s room because why not? Elena wants no part in it and Rebekah calls her boring, asking her what she wants to know. Elena tells her that Elijah told her that Mikael was a wealthy landowner in Europe – how did they get here? Rebekah explains that her parents were just starting a family when a plague struck and they lost one of their children. They wanted to leave and escape the same fate with their future offspring. Elena asks how did they get to pre-Mystic Falls, Mystic Falls and Rebekah tells her that a witch, Ayana, told of a mystical land where everyone was blessed with super speed and strength, and no one got sick.

Mikael’s family and the werewolves lived in peace for twenty years and everything was pretty normal.

FLASHBACK!

Once a month the then human Original family would retreat to the caves so the werewolves could do their thing, and by morning they would be back to normal. But one morning it all went terribly wrong – Klaus and their younger brother, Henrick, snuck out of the caves to see the werewolves transform and everything went to hell.

PRESENT!

That was one of the last moments Rebekah had as a human with her family. The story is interrupted by a phone call from Damon. When Elena finds out that Stefan has been set loose she is upset, but Damon tells her he has everything under control and hangs up.

They’re in a bar by the way. Damon asks Stefan what he wants to drink, so it’s Damon’s treat as he orders a whiskey for himself and a vein tap for his brother. Stefan asks what the catch is, and Damon tells him there is no catch, of course. Stefan drinks up.

Damon and Stefan are sitting at a table playing Quarters. Which – they are REALLY good at that game. I wonder how many takes this scene took, because really, it must have been lots. Damon sends blood donor to get another bottle of whiskey as he questions Stefan; he’s been on the bunny diet for so long, how the hell did he get so good at a drinking game? Stefan says that being on the bunny diet gave him enough time to practice. And also to wallow in despair, drown in guilt, and regret his very existence. It is precision born out of tragic boredom. Ugh, Stefan I could never drink with you. Debbie Downer over here!

He tells Damon that he is worse than Elena if he really thinks brother bonding time will make him feel something and pull him back from the edge. Damon is all, ‘dude, I like the edge. Your problem is you don’t know how to do it right – you’re either all or nothing, and frankly it is ridiculous.’

Pretty much!

o o o

Back at the Salvatores! Rebekah is still snooping and Elena wants more story time. Rebekah picks up a picture of Stefan and Elena together and says she really doesn’t get them as a couple and Elena is not surprised – Rebekah has no idea who he is. Rebekah laughs and says she knows exactly who Stefan is – he’s a vampire and therefore a predator. Vampires don’t have time to worry about humans and their silly little affairs, and Elena asks her if that is why she was picking out dresses to go to Homecoming.

Elena gets up to leave, convinced that Rebekah just wants her there for company but she launches back into the story again. Apparently, that necklace wasn’t Stefan’s to give away. It belonged to the Original Witch – the one who put the Hybrid curse on Klaus and turned them all into vampires.

FLASHBACK!

So, Mikael and his wife didn’t want to lose any more children, so they begged the local witch to turn them into immortals.

PRESENT!

Elena asks why Mikael didn’t just take his family and go, and Rebekah answers that it was pride. Mikael wanted to stay and fight – wanted to be better and stronger than the wolves.

FLASHBACK!

PRESENT!

Elena asks why Mikael would tell their mother to do it, and Rebekah is like ‘duh, my mother was the witch? The witch of the Original family? The Original Witch.’

I totally didn’t see that coming! Did you guys see that coming?

Elena asks if Rebekah is a witch since her mom was as well, and Rebekah answers nope – a witch is a servant of nature and vampires are an abomination. You can either be one or the other, but not both. Her mother didn’t turn herself, just her family. She called upon the sun for life and the  ancient white oak tree (one of nature’s immortal objects) for immortality. Then that night Mikael fed them wine laced with blood and afterwards drove a sword through their hearts. And apparently he was a brute about it.

FLASHBACK!

Rebekah describes how euphoric it was to be so powerful, but that the other witch was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on them – for every strength there was a weakness. The sun became their enemy, the neighbors could keep them out, the flowers at the base of the oak tree burned and prevented Compulsion, and the tree that gave them life could take it away. And that’s why they burned it to the ground. But the worst consequence was something they never expected – the hunger for blood was what they craved all day, above all else, and there was no controlling it.

o o o

Damon and Stefan are having a lovely time. Stefan asks Damon once again what the deal was with the jailbreak and Damon says he thought Stefan could use a hug. Stefan scoffs and says they both know Elena will be very mad when she finds out and everyone knows Damon cares about how Elena feels.

Damon says he wanted to remind Stefan of how freedom felt before Klaus took it from him. Stefan says that as long as Klaus is alive, he has to do what he says and Damon says that is exactly his point – he’s given up. And he can either sit around and be an Original’s bitch, or he can get angry enough to do something about it. Stefan says Klaus can’t be killed.

o o o

Elena asks why Mikael started hunting Klaus in the first place. Rebekah explains that when Klaus made his first kill, it triggered the werewolf gene, and when that happened he became Mikael’s greatest shame. To make up for banging one of the werewolves in the village, their mother put the curse on Klaus to stifle the wolf side and she turned her back on him.

But Mikael’s greatest weakness as a human was pride, so as a vampire that became hyper magnified – he went on a rampage through the village and then came back to kill his wife. He stated that she broke his heart so now he would break hers and proceeded to rip it out of her chest as Klaus watched.

FLASHBACK!

Afterward, Mikael fled in a rage and the rest of the family scattered. Klaus and Rebekah stayed behind to bury their mother. She tells Klaus that she knows that he thinks their mother hated him, but she did not – she was just frightened. Rebekah says that she is sorry, anyhow, that their mother turned her back on Klaus and she will never do that.

PRESENT!

Because Elena is a hypocrite she questions Rebekah’s promise of together forever, asking how she can still love him even though he locked her in a coffin for nighty years. Rebekah explains that they are vampires – everything they do is dramatic and heightened. She’s super stubborn, Elijah super moral, and Klaus ridiculously sensitive. They’ve all made the mistake at least once of hurting his feelings over a thousand years of being together and it’s understandable, really.

For some reason Elena can’t understand why a sister would love her brother unconditionally. I should point out, though, that during this whole scene, Rebekah is speaking as if she is also talking herself into this explanation as to why she hasn’t ditched Klaus yet. Like she’s convincing herself that it is out of loyalty and not fear that she has stuck with Klaus this whole time.

Story time over, she kicks Elena out of the house, saying that she doesn’t know what Elena is planning but she isn’t playing along anymore. She knows that Elena is going to wake Mikael despite the fact that Rebekah has told her multiple reasons not to. Elena says Rebekah can’t be surprised that she wants Klaus dead – he’s a threat to her life and Stefan’s.

Rebekah’s retort, basically, is if Elena gets Klaus killed, Rebekah will kill her.

o o o

Back at the bar, Mikael is doing some interrogating.

 

Mikael lets go of Damon’s heart and tells Stefan that if he can get Klaus back to Mystic Falls he will gladly kill him –and if Stefan fails, well,  he’ll just kill Stefan. Damn, Stefan just can’t catch a break!

o o o

Back in the caves, Alaric basically has everything figured out except for one symbol:

Bonnie and Alaric still haven’t connected that to the witch’ death, but Elena takes one look at it and makes the connection. How? I don’t know. I didn’t question it for too long to be perfectly honest.

o o o

Elena storms back into the Salvatore Mansion. She asks Rebekah how she knows Mikael killed her mother and Rebekah says it’s because Klaus was there and he told her all of it. Elena tells her that Klaus lied – their whole life story is on that cave wall, along with the symbol for hybrid (that’s what that was.) It clearly depicts the fact that Klaus is the one who killed their mother – his aggressive side came out and he was angry that she made him into the only one of his kind and then turned her back on him. Then he made up the entire lie about their father so that he wouldn’t lose his remaining siblings.

Of course Rebekah doesn’t want to believe it and flies into a rage. She throws the photographs of the carvings into the fire, and asks Elena why she’s doing this to her. Elena says that Klaus has had a hold on everyone for 1,000 years, including Rebekah. It all becomes too much and she bangs Elena up against a wall and screams at her to shut up over and over again. Then it all seems to overwhelm her because she just crumples into herself and onto the floor to cry it out.

o o o

Back in the parking lot outside of that bar, Damon and Stefan are heading home when Stefan asks, again, why Damon is trying to help him.

Damon basically yells that he has to help Stefan – he’s in this mess because Stefan saved his life, so now Damon has to save his. Stefan is, of course, a jerk about it all. And Damon, being Damon, beats him up.

o o o

While Rebekah is crying all alone in the Salvatore mansion, Damon is waiting in bed for Elena.

Now, like I say ALL THE TIME, I’m never really feeling the Delena thing, but this was just a really, REALLY nice ending. I love cliffhangers, but super sweet endings like this? I am a sucker for.

Elena tries half-heartedly to get him to get up, but he doesn’t budge, and they end up lying next to each other speaking quietly. They tell each other about their day – how he found Mikael, how Stefan is still a dick but on their side, and how Rebekah is probably against Klaus now, too. Damon muses that the weapon Mikael has must be a stake and Elena says he probably carved it from the wood of the white oak before they burned it down.

Elena says she realized Rebekah is more than an Original – she’s just a girl who lost her mother too young and loves blindly and recklessly, even if it consumes her.

Sound familar?

She goes on to say that the bonds of family are strong and Damon scoffs that she should tell that to Stefan.

Elena turns out the lights and turns back to him – tells him that she believes that Damon will be the one to save Stefan from himself. It won’t be because Stefan loves her that he will break free of everything that binds him – it will be his love for Damon. She murmurs if she can tell him about the rest of her day tomorrow, and he smiles at her softly and says of course she can.

She sleeps, he loves her her, and James Vincent McMorrow’s We Don’t Eat plays us out.

o o o

And that’s it! Wow, I really, really liked that episode. It was pretty much perfect, but I’m biased. My desire to know more about the Original family, mainly Klaus, was fulfilled. I have a penchant for flashback episodes, and I’m a sucker for ridiculously sweet endings with amazing songs. I have to point this out – we all know the Vampire Diaries always has amazing music, but this time the combination was perfect. The warm, cozy, loving moment between Elena and Damon melded perfectly with this song. What I’m trying to say here is whoever is picking the music, I want you to make a soundtrack to my life. You should win a medal. You made me cry, and I never cry – not when Jack floated down to the bottom of the ocean, not when Dobby died, and not every. single. second. of The Hunger Games trilogy. So… yeah.

You win, Buster Brown!

See you all next week (or on Twitter, I love talking to you guys during the show!) It’s gonna be the mid-season finale (oh no!) but it looks freaking amazing (oh yes!) Klaus comes back to town and everything kind of implodes on itself.

I can’t wait!

Questions!

-Am I the only one who loves Klaus MORE now that I know his story?

-Where the hell is Katherine??

-Who wrote all that junk on the walls?

-Why wasn’t the doppelganger discussed AT ALL this episode, seeing as how she is such an integral part of this whole hoopla?

-I did more pictures than words this time obviously – what do you guys prefer?

-Do you kind of want Elena and Rebekah to be best friends now?