By Tegan O’Rourke,

Elijah’s back and it appeared goodie, broodie Stefan may be as well.

It all started with Bonnie still dreaming about coffins, this time Klaus traps her in one but she is saved by a woman she does not recognize at first. It turns out to be her mom who abandoned her 15 years ago. Damon get her location and hopes for a threesome road trip but Elena isn’t having it. She tells him,”OK, Damon, look. Bonnie hasn’t seen her mom in over 15 years. She doesn’t need you and your snarky commentary narrating the whole thing.” So Damon being Damon he spills the beans on their kiss to Bonnie.

He stays behind after all he needs to do recon on the mysterious Dr. Fell before Ric falls too deeply in love. The bromance is heating up again Ric and Damon are now on speaking terms and Damon is never going to let anything come between them again. So he goes to the hospital and accuses Dr. Fell of staking her ex boyfriend Brian in the heart, after all she signed the death certificate as the notorious animal attack which is code in Mystic Falls for “A vampire had something to do with it.” She tells Damon he should be more concerned with finding out how Ric was healed after being hit by an SUV. Damon seems to agree and turns to leave then Dr. Fell vervains him, knocking him out and as Damon said “blood jacks him” while unconscious. I felt violated for Damon. Who is this sexy Doctor?

Back at Salvator Manor Klaus and Stefan have a broodie argument again over returning the coffins. Klaus strikes back by asking him how many friends does he have left as the perfect song “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys plays in the background. Good choice. The answer is none. It’s getting to the point where Stefan and Klaus just need to hug it out and fall full throttle into a bromance. I mean really they are both lonely and pathetic and they make great partners in crime. They should just go for it.

Stefan calls Elena who lies to him about where her and Bonnie are going. All of a sudden Stefan acts like he can’t stall Klaus much longer and they need Bonnie’s mom right away. Plus he knows she’s lying because they carelessly left the page with Abby Bennet’s address right on The Gilbert kitchen table where any vampire could find it. So of course he also goes to the Bennet Family Reunion. But he’s not the only unwanted guest. One of Klaus’s hybrids is already there working his compulsion on the Bennet household.

Bonnie and Elena arrive and are greeted by a hot young guy named Jamie on the porch, I hope he’s a new regular. At first there’s tension, is this Bonnie’s half-brother? No, he’s just the kid that Bonnie’s mom decided to raise instead of her. Don’t say ouch yet, it gets better. Abby shows up and it’s not very heartfelt. She explains how she was best friend’s with Elena’s mom Miranda and she used all of her witchy power to defeat Mikael, who had come to Mystic Falls 15 years ago looking for Katherine’s Doppelganger. I felt bad for Elena too, how many secrets were the Gilberts hiding from her? Innocent mom Miranda knew about all of this? At least it was finally revealed how Mikael ended up chained in a coffin, which cost Abby all of her power so she decided to just leave Mystic Falls and start over. Not a very compelling reason to leave your two-year old cute as a button daughter, but whatever!

Elena goes outside to give the Bennet’s some space when Stefan shows up, Elena is not happy to see him, neither is Jamie. Stefan compels him to leave and does but returns promptly and shoots Stefan in the chest with wooden bullets. He then ties up Elena while Abby knocks out Bonnie with some herbs.

Back in Mystic Falls Tyler feels terrible about biting Caroline, so he enlists her Dad, Vampire Hunter Bill to help him get over his sire bond with Klaus. Bill tells him he has to turn. At first Tyler can’t do it, but when he feels like it’s possible he asks Caroline to leave. Once Caroline is gone the real Daddy Forbes comes out to play and it’s torture time. He hits Tyler with an ax and tells him he will kill him unless he turns right now. Tyler pulls it together and goes full on wolf and attacks Bill. But don’t worry, I ‘m sure Bill enjoyed it, he loves violence.

Damon goes to Alaric’s and tells him how Dr. Fell vervained him and blood jacked him. You could see the look of violation on his face. Taken down by a petite lady doctor he must have felt like half the vampire he used to be.  Ric is curious so he heads off to the Mystic Falls hospital to confront her. She tells him to wait and see who she really is as Daddy Bill is wheeled in. She uses the vampire blood to heal him. She tells Ric “You wanted to know my secret. I cheat. I’m a doctor, and I hate when people die.”

Meanwhile Bonnie is being kidnapped by Abby and there’s nothing Elena and Stefan can do. She takes her daughter to Klaus’s hybrid who of course wants to know where those coffins are. For some dumb reason he leaves her alone with Bonnie.  Abby tells her that Jamie was compelled to kill himself if they do not get the location of the coffins. Bonnie tells her that this is bigger than all of them and she can’t disclose the location. Abby gives Bonnie a phone to warn her friends of what’s going down. She texts Damon who heads over to the Witch House and removes the notorious fourth coffin.

Jamie tells Elena that he was told to shoot Stefan but he’s not allowed to hurt her, so she tricks him into loosening her ties and she grabs the gun and knocks him out. She of course runs to Stefan to help him. He tells her she need to pull the wooden bullets out of his chest especially the one traveling to his heart. She doesn’t hesitate to shove her fingers into his wounds. I see a medical career in her future, blood and guts don’t seem to bother anyone in the Gilbert family.

While he’s laying there in agony she decides to tell him she kissed Damon because she felt guilty about it. Elena needs to get over it, after all Stefan did try to drive her off a bridge, move on. Wow did I miss Katherine in that moment. However, the look on Stefan’s face was worth it. He said nothing, dead silence which suggests “The Ripper” actually got his feelings hurt. Then he got up and walked away. Elena being Elena chased after him and he apologized for kidnapping her and almost driving her off the bridge and told her she is better than Damon she is better than both of them. Then once again he left her alone in the darkness fully knowing that Bonnie was missing.

Back at the Witch House, Klaus shows up and the witches are not down with that and they give him a bad headache. Damon enjoys it since for once they aren’t attacking him. Klaus threatens to kill their descendants and they stop and show him the three remaining coffins.  Logic would suggest that one hundred dead witches could have easily killed Klaus, but that would most likely be in violation of his contract on the show I’m sure they signed Joseph Morgan up for at least another two years so no, death shall not come to Klaus. Plus he’s fun to watch. Of course he is royally annoyed that Damon has the fourth coffin. Damon tells him its leverage and smirks at him. I love it when he throws that smirk around.

Bonnie assures her mom that Klaus will keep his word and Jamie will be fine now that he has the coffins. Abby tells her that she thinks the witches kept her power from her since she wasn’t with her and she wants to help and if that means getting her power back she’ll do it.

Tyler visits Bill in the hospital who seems to be annoyed that he’s not dead. Bill knows he was brought back in a supernatural manner. Tyler apologizes for almost killing him and Bill tells him it is just the beginning of his training. He has to keep turning until he can do it painlessly. Ouch! Tyler is like no way and Bill is like you can’t ever be around my daughter until you are over Klaus, so the training is back on. Poor Tyler, I hope it’s worth it. After all Caroline failed to mention to Tyler that Klaus gave her diamonds.

Alaric takes Dr. Fell back to the Gilbert House and shows her his vampire hunter kit. He doesn’t want to keep secrets from her. This relationship is moving pretty fast, but then again Ric seems like the type of guy who just wants to be married and mow the lawn on Sunday so more power to him, he snagged a doctor, good for him. He just needs to guard his magic ring, Dr. Fell was eager to snatch it off his finger.  I still think there’s a lot more to her. I don’t buy the whole I’m a good doctor who saves people with vampire blood, spiel.

Elena walks in on them kissing, which was awkward since he dated Aunt Jenna who used to live there and in Mystic Falls time I’m guessing she’s only been dead six months. Elena’s ok with it, she knows it’s time for everyone to move on, even herself.

Back at Salvatore Manor, Stefan struts in and abruptly punches Damon in the face. Damon grins even in pain and surmises that Stefan and Elena had a heart to heart. He gets up and shows Stefan an Original killing dagger. He has a surprise for Klaus.

As Klaus’s hybrid helps him get the coffins in the new house, Elijah comes up behind him and rips his heart out. They made us wait for it this time. “What did I miss?” he asks a surprised Klaus.  Great ending to a very good episode.

I’m glad Elijah is back, now all we need is more Katherine.  I predict coffin number four will be opened in time for Klaus’s wicked dinner party on February 2.

By Tegan O’Rourke,

The only thing that could have topped last week’s kiss was the reaction both Damon and Elena had afterward. The shower scene opening was perfect. Damon had a cocky grin on his face that could be seen from satellites in space. Elena tried to kick her passion away on a punching bag. While Damon was strutting around Salvatore Manor all smirky and shirtless Stefan showed up and got a good smirking.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is back at the Witch House trying her witchy best to open the notorious fourth coffin. She is interrupted by a Hybrid who is interrupted by Damon ripping out his heart through his back. I liked how they got a heart ripped out right  away in the episode. Why play with us, it’s going to happen why make fans wait. Those Salvatore Brothers always show up in the nic of time. Damon comments to Stefan, “These Hybrids are really bringing the neighborhood down.”

Bon Bon heads off to school where she lies to Elena about why she was late and Elena tells her that Damon compelled Jeremy to leave town for his safety. It’s obvious Bonnie doesn’t like it and for a moment there I thought she was going to tell Jeremy when she went to talk to him at his locker, but deep down she knows it’s for the best. It’s not a good day at Mystic Falls High for any of the gang. Tyler tells Caroline that he can’t fight the desire to serve Klaus, she lets him go but keeps the charm bracelet he gave her for her 18th Bday! Caroline gets a few gifts in this episode.

Stefan heads over to Klaus Manor and tells him to get rid of his hybrids or he will kill them. Klaus demands his coffins and threatens to kill Damon. Stefan doesn’t blink and threatens to throw his family into the bottom of the ocean and he has special plans for Elijah, he’ll get dropped in the Arctic. That’s just cold, literally.  Stefan finally snaps and kills one of Klaus’s Hybrids in front of him. Klaus just stood there.

At first it appears that Klaus may become Stefan’s bitch. But after Stefan leaves Tyler shows up and Klaus snaps back to his evil old self and tells Tyler to bite Vampire Barbie Caroline.  Tyler refuses and gets right in Klaus’s face. The Original once again seems to just take it and not pull the “I’m the most powerful vampire in the world card.” Tyler walks out thinking all is well.

Elena takes her mind off of Damon by planning Caroline’s 18th Birthday party. But Caroline tells Elena, Matt and Bonnie that she doesn’t want to celebrate. So Elena decides to take them all to the Cemetery instead where they can have a funeral for Caroline, it sounds like a good idea.

They party at the “Fell Family Tome.” Something tells me Dr. Meredith Fell may be around awhile after all she is a member of one of the Founding Families and probably Logan Fell’s (Season One, Aunt Jenna’s ex turned vamp) sister or cousin.

The kids give Caroline a mock memorial which actually cheers her up then she texts Tyler who heads right over. Elena  chastises Caroline for contacting her Hybrid Lover. Bonnie gets fed up and tells her “Give her a break, you can’t control everybody all the time.” This Jeremy thing has Bonnie smoking mad. I was actually waiting for her to set something on fire, but instead she left. Tyler shows up for Caroline and they go out into the woods and make up and make out. All seems hot and awesome in Caroline/Tylerville again until he accidentally bites her and she falls to the ground. Klaus got what he wanted after all. I’m guessing he compelled Tyler without his knowledge. never mess with an Original.

Damon and Ric head over to the Vampire Council Meeting which is also a fundraising event for the infamous Wickery Bridge. Dr. Meredith Fell runs into Ric and reveals that she is also on the Vampire Council after all she is a Fell. This is going to get tricky and sticky for Ric’s love life since he was the one who staked Logan Fell in Season One. I wonder how soon into the relationship he’ll reveal that.

Meredith also tells Ric she needs to get a donation out of the rich Damon Salvatore for the Bridge project, even though this rich British guy a.k.a. (Klaus) just offered to match the funds collected dollar for dollar. Sure enough Klaus is there cozying up to the mayor. Damon tries to tell her this is the Original who made your son a Hybrid so don’t trust him, but the mayor is a mother first and she believes Klaus will protect her half wolf/half vamp son so she’s on team Klaus now. Klaus also vows to protect Mystic Falls. Damon is in disbelief. And apparently the only sane person in the conversation. Mayor Lockwood tells Damon to get Stefan to return the coffins to Klaus or the Council will take action against Stefan.

Stefan shows up to the party as well  and tries to kill a hybrid, but Damon stops him and tells him he needs to be smarter than Klaus. Stefan retorts back that he needs to be the better villain. He leaves the party and somehow figures out Elena is at the cemetery. He kidnaps her and takes her on a near death ride over Wickery Bridge. The same Bridge her parents were killed on. What an insensitive dick!

Back at the party Damon tells Klaus he knows his brother better than anyone and he can no longer predict what he will do.  Klaus starts to believe him. He calls Stefan who tells him he is going to turn Elena into a vamp. That would ruin Klaus’s plans for creating more hybrids since Klaus needs Elena’s blood to do it. He feeds her his blood and speeds up the car. Klaus hearing Elena’s cries for help, backs down and says he will send his hybrids away.

Ric catches up with Meredith again who is having an argument with Brian, the town medical examiner who writes animal attack on all the mysterious death certificates in town. Brian tells Ric that Meredith is a psycho and storms off. I hope she is this should be fun.

Meanwhile on Wickery Bridge Elena and Stefan have it out. Stefan whines about how Klaus took everything from him, even though he really didn’t, Elena and Damon never stopped loving him. But Stefan seems to be one of those vamps who likes to wallow in his own bloody misery and he tells Elena “I don’t care what you think of me anymore,” and leaves her on the bridge. Once again what a dick move.

Klaus shows up at Caroline’s house to save her. Matt puts up an argument from inside the house of course which I still thought was really ballsy of sweet Matt. Is no one afraid of Klaus anymore?  The normally impulsive crazy Damon  seems to be the only one who gets how dangerous Klaus is to everyone. Sheriff Forbes lets him in. He is really a hit with the moms of Mystic Falls. He now has the mayor and the sheriff on his team.

Caroline asks Klaus if he has come to kill her. He seems offended.  And asks “Do you think I’d do that to you on your birthday?” The answer is yes. Caroline is tormented about being undead. So Klaus goes off on a pep talk tangent about how life is so great and the world is so beautiful  that she shouldn’t want to die. He was really sweet in a sick kind of way.  She tells him she doesn’t want to die and he lets her bite him which cures her of Tyler’s deadly wolf bite. Which shouldn’t make her a hybrid for those wondering since it didn’t make Damon a hybrid. It only turns one into a hybrid if they were a wolf first, but if a vamp first it doesn’t. Wow I know too much about this show.

Damon walked Elena back to her house they get close again and she tells him they shouldn’t kiss again, it was wrong. Damon tells her, “It’s right just not right now.”  He leaves to smirk another day.

Bonnie shows up  to say goodbye to Jeremy and for a moment it seems like she’s going to blow his safe getaway. But she loves him more than she hates the fact that he was compelled to leave so she lets him go. As usual Bon Bon was the bigger person. Elena heads off to Wickery Bridge with Matt where she questions who she is and she was and would her parents be ashamed of her decisions. Good old Matt cheers her up and tells her she’s ok.

Caroline wakes up all healed and sees a gift that was left for her. It’s from Klaus and it’s a much nicer bracelet then the one Tyler gave her! It’s on, I hope. A Caroline and Klaus romance that would be hot, especially since they will most likely need to keep it a secret from everyone. Klaus seems evil yet lonely. It could work.

The last scene shows Brian the medical examiner in the woods with a stake through his heart. Damon and Sheriff Forbes are puzzled since he wasn’t a vampire! It’s too obvious to think Dr. Fell killed him especially after he called her a psycho, even though I really do hope she is a psycho.

I liked how almost every character on the show right now was in this episode very well done.  I did miss Katherine.  I still think Mikael was killed too easily and he’ll be back at some point. I can’t wait to see who is in coffin number four. Hopefully Bonnie’s mom will get that opened next week. The previews show the hunt for Abby Bennet is on and Damon finds her.  The gang needs another witch on team Elena since they’ve lost an ally in Stefan so Abby will be a welcome addition.

By Tegan O’Rourke

Let’s just get to the best part first, the kiss! Fans have been waiting for this since the first season, I know I have. It was long and Elena didn’t push Damon away. Hopefully Elena is finally over broody Stefan and can now carry on a nasty affair with evil Damon. I’m crossing my fingers!

My second favorite part of this episode was the slap heard throughout Mystic Falls. Elena finally got it that Stefan doesn’t give a hoot about anyone especially her little brother Jeremy. The slap was well deserved and long-awaited.

The show opened with Bonnie having a spooky dream about Klaus’s family coffins. It’s about time Bonnie got a good storyline this season. Meanwhile Elena takes a casual jog that turns into a pound pulsing run for your life psychological horror fest. It was well done. I wasn’t sure if Elena was just paranoid or if she really was being chased by that guy in the hoodie who eventually apologized for running into her and looked really dateable.

Bonnie and Elena exchange notes at the Grill about their crazy lives. Elena wonders if she is just paranoid until Klaus shows up with the jogger, who is one of his Hybrids, Tony. Oddly Klaus tries to play nice guy and says he’s decided to stay in Mystic Falls and will leave them alone if they get Stefan to return his dead relatives to him.  Elena tells him that sounds like a Stefan and Damon problem. Quite ballsy!

After Klaus leaves Elena and Alaric get back to more domestic issues like Jeremy going off the rails since Bonnie left him for having an affair with his dead ex girlfriend. He’s got an F on a paper and he got fired from the Grill.  While Elena and Ric make dinner, Jeremy comes home and lands another newsflash on them, he’s hanging out with Hybrid, Tyler Lockwood.

Elena isn’t happy. Jeremy gets spiteful and invites Tyler into the house, a real dick move that seems completely out of character and irresponsible even for Jeremy. After Tyler sits through an interrogation of admitting he probably would jump off a bridge if Klaus asked him to since Klaus relieved his suffering as a werewolf, he leaves.

Back at Salvatore Manor Klaus shows up to have a vervain laced drink with Damon and try to convince him once again to get on his team after all they both now have a mutually loathing for Stefan. Damon refuses, he may be evil but he can’t stop loving his brooding brother. Klaus gets all villianous and says “You people seem to respond best to violence.” Which is so true of these Mystic Falls peeps. So he makes a phone call and the next thing ya know all hell breaks loose at the Gilbert House.  Jeremy takes off his, “I can never die ring” and stands in the middle of the street so a big black SUV driven by Tony can hit him. Elena and Ric run out after him and Ric pushes Jeremy out-of-the-way and takes the hit, since he had on his, “I can never die ring.”

While all of this is going on Bonnie treks to the Old Witch House, which is almost a character itself. She runs into Stefan there, who asks her to help hide Klaus’s coffins. Without much resistance she obliges. Which I thought was kind of odd, she could have kicked his ass especially at the Witch House.

Jeremy confronts Tyler about his suicide attempt and tries to shoot an arrow at him. Tyler who feels bad, tells him that a simple arrow can’t kill  a hybrid, their head needs to be chopped off.  Good job giving away the family secrets, Ty.  Tyler who isn’t really evil just a pawn in Klaus’s game starts to realize maybe he shouldn’t do everything Klaus says especially after he confronts the Orignal himself and Klaus tells him that basically people are just a means to their ends, so he needs to get over his lingering human feelings. Ouch!

Ric isn’t healing like he normally does and starts vomiting blood all over the hardwood, so Elena calls an ambulance. The EMTs arrive, but so does Hybrid Minion Tony who compels them to leave. He tells Elena he can save Ric with his blood if she invites him in. Elena mulls it over. Afterall she can’t lose Ric.

Luckily Jeremy shows up in the nic of time and shoots Tony in the back with an arrow then runs into the house to grab a big knife to chop his head off with. Well done Jeremy! I thought it was humorous, that with all of this chaos going on, the neighbors of Mystic Falls didn’t notice a thing. Maybe due to all of the other drama in this town, beheadings just aren’t a big deal.

Ric gets to the hospital and his doctor just happens to be really hot and the real life wife of Stefan (Paul Wesley). Torrey Devitto has finally joined the cast as Dr. Meredith Fell. She is interested in Alaric’s ability to heal so quickly.  Thanks to Damon’s blood of course. She asks Ric if he has a guardian angel or if he sold his soul to the devil. He responds with “A little bit of both.”

It should be fun to watch Ric fall in love again with a woman who is a total innocent that he needs to hide everything from until she gets abducted by Klaus or Stefan. Or maybe she will not be an innocent at all.  It will be interesting to see how the writers use her. I hope she is secretly working for Klaus.

Jeremy tells Elena they should just get out-of-town. A totally logical idea that Elena doesn’t go for. After all why leave a town where vampires want to kill you all the time? I think she doesn’t want to miss her senior prom.

Once Bonnie finds out what happened to Jeremy she tells Elena that Stefan is at the Witch House.  Damon and her head over there to reason with him. Stefan tells Elena that helping Jeremy is not his problem and that’s when the “Slap” happens. Elena leaves and Damon goes back inside even though the witches deactivated his daylight ring, they aren’t his biggest fan. He makes it down to the basement and Stefan shows him the coffins that are magically invisible to Klaus thanks to the magic of Bonnie and the dead witches. Damon wants to know why Stefan ruined their attack on Klaus. Stefan confesses it was to save him. Damon is so ungrateful that he stakes Stefan in the chest.

Elena creates a little drama of her own and invites Klaus back to Salvatore Manor where she gives him a daggered Rebekah. They undagger her and Elena makes Klaus promise not to hurt Jeremy again and not to let Rebekah come after her since she’s the one who got the drop on her.  After Klaus agrees, she then tells him oh by the way Rebekah knows you were the one who killed your mom so watch your back! Ballsy.  Klaus looked like a deer caught in the headlights but he tried to play it cool. However, once he got back to his new mansion which is being remodeled, it should be sweet when it’s done, he puts the dagger back in Rebekah before she can wake up and physically and emotionally kick his ass.

Elena allows Damon to compel Jeremy to leave Mystic Falls and not to return he will go to Denver and stay with family friends and never think twice about why he left Mystic Falls.  The show isn’t saying whether or not he is gone for good. It’s doubtful that he is gone for good, after all they didn’t kill him and even if they did no one stays dead on this show anyway. He’ll probably be gone for a few episodes or return as part of a climatic plotline in the last three episodes of the season. That’s just my guess.

After all of this heartfelt drama Damon tells Elena that Stefan didn’t betray them. Then he gets all emotional about his guilty feelings for wanting what he wants, his brother’s girl. He walks away then stops himself and says he should have a reason to feel guilty. He comes back and finally does the deed. Lips lock, fans all over America scream, cry, yell YES really loud and it goes on for a lot longer than I thought it would and Elena was into it. She liked kissing an evil vampire. What a naughty girl.

While Damon is finally taking what he wants, Stefan and Bonnie are pondering over how to open one of Klaus’s coffins. Stefan just can’t get the darn thing open. My guess is next week Bonnie will do a spell then it will open and a new big bad friend or foe will have entered the drama of Mystic Falls. After all Caspar Zafer and Nathaniel Buzolic have been cast to play Klaus’s brothers. I’m sure one of them will be awakened soon. And since Jeremy is now out of the picture, it would be a good time for Bonnie to start dating a vamp, An Original Vamp, now that would be hot.