As Stefan walks out, he calls Caroline and asks her how she'd like to drive the Son of White Oak stake through Rebekah's heart. Caroline's all for it, if it means Stefan won't be drinking his way through the Grill. As Stefan leaves, he passes Liz Forbes who is giving Interim Mayor Rudy Hopkins the skinny on Carol's death. Rudy is already hip to Mystic Falls vampire infestation. Liz notes that six people already turned down the Interim Mayorship for a reason, but Rudy has a good reason for taking the job and she just walked in. That's right. He's Bonnie's absentee father.

When Liz leaves the family so they can talk privately, Bonnie says something about how acting as Mayor is a far cry for being a traveling pharmaceutical rep. I hope I am not expected to accept this lame ass reason for him leaving his mostly motherless daughter alone all this time -- particularly since Grams' death. Rudy tells Bonnie he noticed a few of her friends were missing from the assembly. "So much for mandatory, I guess." Um okay, yes. You should probably talk to the school committee about the high school's piss- poor attendance, in general. This town has a major truancy problem, Rudy. But since you've been missing from the mandatory exercise we like to call parenting, I still think you have a lot of nerve. Not to mention -- how do you even know what Bonnie's friends look like? Okay, so Tyler left and you probably know who he is, but if so you should be able to understand why he left. And Elena left, but you probably know who she is, so you'd think that since her whole family died, maybe she'd find the service a little upsetting. Caroline stayed. Were you really able to scan the whole crowd of kids and be certain that people like Matt and Jeremy weren't there? Come on, Dad. You're just being dick.

Bonnie agrees with me and tells her father he can't just come in and start making rules. Rudy says the town could use some rules and I don't disagree with him. I just think that if you abandon your motherless and grandmotherless child, maybe you should shut your gaping maw, Rudolph! Bonnie reminds her father that she can protect the town. Um... really? Rudy says he's well aware of her "gifts," but, "...don't forget, I'm your father. That means I get to protect you." You're telling her not to forget that you're her father? How about you stop forgetting that you're her father, Rudy. Bonnie's oh please look turns into an I can't even be bothered to argue look. We cut to the...