Inside the lake house, Shane blahs about Jeremy's burning desire to kill vampires, even Elena, whom he truly doesn't want to kill. Bonnie mentions something about Persuasion. Just like that. You can see the italics and uppercase P float out of her mouth. When Shane says something Jeremy's urge to kill vampires is a conditioned response, I roll my eyes, because there is nothing conditioned about it. It's yet another mystical whammy which has been whammied upon him. Shane's going to use Persuasion to set up a roadblock in Jeremy's mind. It will give Jeremy's subconscious a chance to recognize Elena as someone he loves and wants to protect. It will give Jeremy the choice to take a detour around his urge to kill her.

At Shane's instruction, Elena starts reminiscing with Jeremy about all the childhood holidays they spent at the lake house, and how Jenna took them there after their parents died. She reminds him their parents would have wanted to stick together, no matter what. When Shane asks Jeremy how he feels about Elena, Jeremy opens his eyes, glares at his sister and gives the Elena-haters some vicarious satisfaction. "She ruined our lives. She's not even my real sister. She's just the reason that everyone I've ever loved has died. She means nothing to me. I will kill her, even if that means I die myself." When Shane breaks the trance, Jeremy looks at a horrified Elena and asks her if the hocus pocus worked. It's grim looks all around the cabin. We cut to...

Downtown. Exterior. I think we're in the stairwell by the Grill, where Matt once killed Finn. Does that seem right, to you? Since Stefan was unable to find the sword, and Klaus is their only shot at finding the vampirism cure, Stefan tells Caroline that Tyler has to call off his cockamamie plan. No, I'm not going to stop saying cockamamie. It's fun (and way better than either shady or epic). Appearing at the top of the stairs, Tyler says that's not going to happen. He's incensed that Caroline revealed his secret strategy to Stefan. Stefan just wants a little bit of time. Tyler is disinclined to deal with Stefan, since he was involved in killing Hybrid Chris.