Spoilers ahead!
Alaric, Stefan and Damon spend some quality time together whittling stakes out of the white oak bridge sign from last week. Alaric wants to turn himself in for the murders he’s committed, but he’s too valuable to the vampire hunt the other two have in mind.
Elena tells Caroline that Alaric killed her father while they walk to a secret meeting in the woods. Stefan and Damon enroll the girls and Matt in Original Killing Boot Camp. They intend to separate Rebekah and Klaus to make them easier to stake. They have 12 stakes and 12 chances to kill an Original. It will only take one dead Original to end their trouble since they are all still linked by Esther’s spell.
Klaus and Rebekah take Finn by force back to Mystic Falls so the spell can be undone. Sage is there to greet Finn and beg him not to sacrifice himself. Rebekah leaves to teach Damon a lesson.
Sage and Finn rekindle their romance and Elena notices them making kissy faces around town. Stefan returns home to find Alaric knocked out and Damon missing. He’s busy being strung up by Rebekah at the Original mansion. She intends to bleed the vervain from his system so she can compel him to kill Elena or Stefan (either/or – she doesn’t seem too picky about which).
Klaus reveals the witch that he has tucked away to unlink them – a kidnapped Bonnie. To convince her to perform the spell, Kol sends footage of Jeremy in a park. Kol is near Jeremy and keeping tabs on him, a not-so-subtle threat that he could kill him at a moment’s notice. This is all the convincing Bonnie needs. After a few more threats she begins, collecting Klaus’s blood.
Caroline tends to Alaric, and he apologizes for killing her father. She confesses that she also has killed someone, and all of them have blood on their hands. Caroline is pretty much the poster child for compassion and empathy. In direct contrast, cold-hearted, one-track-mind Stefan wants to take the advantage and make a move on Finn, but Elena wants to save Damon first. Stefan is all about their mission and Elena is all about Damon. Stefan is convinced that Damon would want them to make their move.
Sage and Finn get drunk at the bar while Stefan eavesdrops. Thinking he spiked their drinks with vervain, they follow Stefan out of the bar. He tries to stake Finn but Sage stops him. Elena and Matt pop out of the bar’s back door, and Elena shoots Finn with a crossbow. He dies, but Bonnie has already completed the unlinking spell. Klaus escorts Bonnie out of the house and offers her a chance to help Damon, but she leaves. She calls Elena, telling her where Damon is and that Klaus is still alive. Then she has an emotional breakdown. We might not be seeing much of Bonnie for a while.
Stefan is fired up and heads out to kill Klaus, but Sage suddenly appears, throwing him around like a ragdoll. She’s distraught over Finn and seeking revenge, but in the middle of fighting Stefan, she gets a nosebleed. A vamp she turned tries to help her, but both of them die as they pass the threshold of the house. Were they linked to Finn? Apparently if an Original dies, everyone in their bloodline – either turned by the Original or by someone else who was turned by the Original – dies. Killing the Originals would wipe out not only the vampires in Mystic Falls, but every vampire that exists. The Originals are Patient(s) Zero. Elena and Caroline also realize that Klaus turned Tyler, so if Klaus is killed, Tyler will die too.
Stefan arrives at Klaus’s mansion to make a deal: Damon in exchange for the last 8 white ash stakes. Klaus compels Damon to go home, and Damon pulls his hands out of the restraints – without opening them. It’s bloody and gruesome. Knowing now that he can be compelled, Klaus asks Damon if there are any other stakes. Damon has to tell the truth – there are 11, not 8. Klaus wants the other stakes. Rebekah releases Damon, saying they can both live if they bring all the stakes in.
Alone with Klaus, Rebekah admits she is jealous of the Salvatores because they fight for each other. Klaus isn’t even bothered that Finn has been dusted. He wants to create a new hybrid family since his actual family doesn’t want him.
Stefan is defeated, but Elena says he beat Klaus by being better than him. Elena says she never stopped loving him, but Stefan points out that she also loves Damon. She is unable to deny any feelings for Damon, saying “I don’t know what I feel.” This isn’t what Stefan wanted to hear, especially after saying he loves her. Are these crazy kids going to figure out what’s between them, or is Damon going to swoop in and steal Elena away? I think it’s obvious that Elena will always love Stefan more than Damon, but personally I would go for the bad boy. Whomever she picks, I win!
Damon goes to retrieve the last stake from Alaric, but it’s missing from its hiding spot on the bookshelf. Alaric’s other personality now has the stake and has hidden it. Ruh roh! This can’t end well! Klaus is going to be super pissed if they don’t bring all the stakes back. And who knows when Psycho Killer Alaric is going to snap back into action, ready to kill humans and vamps alike? I see drama ahead when the show returns in mid-April!
What did you think of the episode?
If you missed the previous episode, be sure to read our ‘The Vampire Diaries: Break On Through’ recap to catch up.
