This is going to be more review-y than recap-py, because otherwise, I'll be up all night, shoot my whole wad, and have nothing left to say in the weecap. Okay? Okay!

Stefan, Alaric and Damon make a dozen stakes out of the restored Wickery Bridge sign which, of fricking course, was made out of Son of White Oak. They train the rest of the Fellowship of the Falls on how to stake an Original.

Meanwhile Klaus, who is always one step ahead, collects blood from all his siblings (even the suicidal Finn). He kidnaps Bonnie and forces her to do a de-linking spell. The Fellowship gets a chance to stake Finn, and they do, but it's seconds after Bonnie has completed the delinking spell, so only Finn dies. That was the most predictable moment in an otherwise delightful episode.

During all this, Rebekah has kidnapped Damon, tortured him and bled him free of vervain so that he will be compellable. When Stefan arrives with eight Son Of White Oak stakes, he offers to trade them for Damon and swears that's all he has. Klaus compels Damon to admit there are still three stakes left (one went in Finn, remember, and burnt up). In other news, when you kill an Original, it seems all the vampires in his bloodline die, because after Finn croaks, Sage and her newest turn are dead within an hour.

What works tonight (in one of the best episodes in a good long while) are the emotions. Caroline and Alaric have a poignant scene, in which he apologizes for killing Bill Forbes. They break my heart but good. Elena and Stefan have a few strong emotional scenes together, including their final one, in which Elena cannot deny her feelings for Damon. Bonnie's breakdown over all that she's been through is topnotch as well. This show shines when it is character-driven and lets these poor people break our hearts. They do that in "The Murder Of One," in spades.

I'll be back with the full weecap, ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode up top and join us in the forum, where I cannot look you in the eye and deny my feelings for Damon.