Welcome back, everyone. Our show is back with a bang. Since it picks up right where we left off, let's get to it, shall we?
Stefan is barely in this episode, but he's shirtless and smooching Elena right up top. I think that's the writers' way of apologizing for the seemingly endless hiatus. And dayum, all is forgiven. Stefan spends most of the episode tracking Isobel, because, as you'll remember, Katherine claims Isobel has the scoop on Satan Klaus. Stefan gets Isobel's old phone number from Alaric and leaves an Elena-centric message, hoping to draw Mommy out. By episode's end, he's back, but not with her. Oh, no. He's got Uncle Snark Daddy in tow. Hello there, John Gilbert.
Meanwhile, Rose is dying of the werewolf bite (meant for Damon) that she got from Jules, Mason's alleged friend. Damon leaves Elena to care for Rose while he seeks a wolf bite cure. Once the ladies are alone, Rose hallucinates, thinks Elena is Katherine and gets violent. Elena fights her off as best she can. At nightfall, Rose flees Mossy Manse for the next big event in town (did they even give this one a name?). She kills an African-American janitor, because in Mystic Falls, if you're any darker than Nina Dobrev and not supernatural, you're vamp kibble. Not that I'm confident the witches of color have long lifespans. *lays flowers on the graves of Bree and Grams*
Eventually, Damon gets poor, suffering, confused Rose home, and he and Elena tend to her as she dies. Rose encourages Elena to fight harder for her life. When Damon tries to ease Rose's passing by entering and controlling her dream (a la Katherine and Stefan), they spend a perfect imaginary day in her Cornish hometown. Dream-Rose's thoughts on humanity and family affect our Evil Pixie Monster more than he'd like. Finally, back in the real world, he euthanizes her with a stake, as a single, perfect, manly tear streams down his pretty pink cheek, but don't expect our blue eyed boy to go sit on his magical toadstool and cry. Not this time.
Elsewhere, Matt kisses Caroline and wants to get back together. She admits she loves him, but since she doesn't want to drag him into her vampyric world, she has to refuse him without explanation. And if that's not bad enough, when she gets home, Tyler's waiting for her with some smoochies of his own. Poor Vampire Barbie is into the kiss, it's clear, but she doesn't want to be. She hollers that everyone needs to stop kissing her and dashes inside.
Later, Tyler meets up with Jules (whom I'm really starting to resent) at the Grill. She tells him she knows he's a werewolf, and that Caroline is a vampire -- the vampire who killed Mason. That last bit is totally not true. She also tells Ty that the town is crawling with vampires, which is true. Once Tyler realizes that Caroline lied about being the only vampire in Mystic Falls, I don't think he's going to believe she didn't kill Brick House. Oh this show spoils me so! I'm totally making out with it in my head, right now.
The big point of this episode though, is to showcase Damon's growing humanity. His concern for Rose, his guilt that she was bitten by Jules (who meant to get him) and his sorrow at her passing, move him more than he can stand. When Elena tries to get him to talk about it, and hugs him when he won't, that's the last straw. Once he's alone, he gets good and drunk and then goes out and plays the old Lie-In-The-Road trick. A young woman stops to help him. He compels her not to move and then Hamlets all over her. When he frees her from his compulsion, it seems his better angels have won, but they so have not. As our victim of the week starts to get back in her car, Damon sinks his fangs into her flesh and drinks deep. Now go on. Woobify that!
Please grade the episode at the top of the page now, and, hey, grade it when you come back to read the weecap -- which will be up, ASAP. Until then, please join us on the boards where it actually is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, lest TWoP Barnes takes arms against a sea of troubles.
Join our vloggers in debating whether Diaries beats True Blood, below, then see why the show is so addictive!
What are people saying about your favorite shows and stars right now? Find out with Talk Without Pity, the social media site for real TV fans. See Tweets and Facebook comments in real time and add your own -- all without leaving TWoP. Join the conversation now!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Welcome back, everyone. Our show is back with a bang. Since it picks up right where we left off ages ago, I will not keep you waiting. I'm much kinder than the CW's scheduling monkeys.
Previously, on The Vampire Diaries, Damon killed Mason "Brick House" Lockwood. Mason's wolfy friend Jules (a.k.a. Third Hilton Sister aka THS) showed up in Mystic Falls, looking for him. Damon pissed her off, so she "marked" him (in a way that may or may not have involved pee). But when the full moon crested, Wolf-Jules ended up off the mark, and bit Rose, instead. Elsewhere, Tyler and Caroline bonded over his first transition into wolfdom, and Elena tried to sacrifice herself to keep her loved ones safe, but ended up cutting a deal with Elijah that stinks to high heaven. Also, Junior Manwitch tricked Bonnie into thinking they destroyed the moonstone, oh and there was probably a bunch of other stuff too, but who cares? We've got new TVD, right...
NOW: The episode opens on THS lying naked in the woods. Her lips and hands are smeared with blood (but her hair is perfect! Aroooo werewolves of Mystic). She rises and walks a piece to a campsite, which is littered with the bodies (and stray body parts) of an extremely unfortunate camping party. She swipes some clothes, and is piling the bodies (and parts!) atop the campfire, when a deputy or ranger or someone happens upon her. THS kneels, cries and plays the victim, while Mr. Ranger goes to call in the slaughter. Once his back is turned, she kills him.
Mossy Manse: Elena enters Stefan's room looking for him, and he Stealth-Salvatores up behind her and surprises her. He's all shirtless and smoochy, but still spoils the moment when he insists they do some more research on Satan Klaus. As Elena prepares a diluted mixture of Vervain, and Stefan (sadly) puts on a shirt, he says that he wants to find Isobel and get some more answers. He's not 100% comfy that Elijah's deal is sound, and besides it's her deal, not his. Even diluted, the Vervain chokes Stefan and brings him to the floor. But he wants to build up a tolerance, which is pretty smart. Now, since Elena tasted the vervain mixture before giving it to Stefan, people in the forums are wondering if she's still feeding Stefan little bits of her blood to build up his human blood tolerance as well. I don't think her little taste of Vervain rules that out, so unless we're told otherwise, I'm assuming Stefan's still working the human blood angle, too, because he needs the enhanced vamp features to protect his girl. When Elena asks how Elijah can compel another vampire, Stefan doesn't know. "He's an Original. Nobody really knows what that means..." Not even the writers yet, apparently. When Elena tries to argue with him, he kisses her into silence.
Television Without Pity • © 2013 Bravo Media LLC • A Division of NBCUniversal •
Comments