Elena walks alone through the parking area. She's on the phone with the Germ, telling him she's okay and has her car. She encourages him to take Bonnie home and then get himself to bed. But wait! The moment Elena hangs up, she's grabbed by a scary ass masquerade-y clown, leaving us hanging until next week. AieeeeEEEEEE! Can't sleep. Clowns will eat me.

"Masquerade" is, once again, A+ work from the cast, but I have a couple of quibbles with the plotting/writing. Elena nearly DIED, yet we are to believe that Jeremy and Bonnie left her standing all alone in a vampire-infested town, on the shores of Lockwood Lake, and Stefan (dumped or not) didn't escort (or stalk) her to her car or to her home? Are we also to believe Elena's "I want me and mine to be safe," excuse for breaking up with Stefan? I acknowledge the fact that the writers planted the idea early on in the episode, when Elena told Matt that there's so much about her and Stefan that will never work. And yet? I don't buy it. But regardless, does Elena know Katherine is alive but entombed? Does Stefan know Katherine is alive but entombed? Did Bonnie seal her in the tomb? Why didn't Damon just stake KaKa once she was unconscious? Actually, I kind of know the answer to that one. He's been obsessed with her for 145+ years. Despite all his preening earlier in the episode, I can totally buy that he'd need to know she's suffering more than he'd need to know she's dead. But... so what? Why didn't Stefan kill the bitch? I mean -- other than it being far too early on in Katherine's story, there's no reason (no organic reason) for the NSDR to let her live. On Twitter, Julie Plec has been categorizing this as part 1 of a two-part episode, so perhaps my questions will be answered in episode 2-8, but there were enough shortcuts and loose ends in this one that I'm not banking on it. The most glaring WTF moment, at least for me, was when Katherine left Stefan holding a dead Aimee on the dance floor, in the middle of the ball. I know it amped up the drama for Kat to kill someone in such a careless fashion, but watching it play out took me right out of the story.