By Tegan O’Rourke,

The Magic Ring is actually the serial killer! Loved that plot twist.  Poor Ric, oh well I guess they needed a good segway for (Matt Davis) to leave the show. He will be on the New CW Series Cult coming soon. However, they will almost likely clear him of the murders so he can come back in cameos to help out when needed.

Ric will probably be so distraught over what he did while under the influence of the ring he will need to leave Mystic Falls at least long enough to see if his new show gets off the ground. Is it evil to hope it doesn’t? I Love Alaric Saltzman.

The only thing that will make up for Alaric’s departure is the permanent addition of that hot vampiress Sage, (Cassidy Freeman, Tess of Smallville). I think her and Damon are a much better match than Damon and Elena.

Anyway the show opened in 1912 with Zachariah Salvatore not taking the wise advice of a then male Sheriff Forbes and attempted to walk home alone from a Council meeting. Anyone familiar with the horror genre saw this murder coming a mile away. He gets a good shanking in the middle of the then dirt street outside the Town Hall. I loved the look of it. It was so 1912! Since I wasn’t there I’m assuming that’s what 1912 looked like.

Back in modern-day Mystic Falls, Alaric has survived the gunshot to the head via Dr. Fell’s vampire blood and is sitting in jail? Sheriff Forbes tells him and Damon about all the evidence against him and that Dr. Fell said Alaric was present for the argument her and the medical examiner had. It looks likes Alaric is screwed.

Elena and Matt are out jogging when Matt tells her Abby Bennet has decided to transition to a vampire.  Just another normal day in Mystic Falls. Elena gets a call about Ric and heads over to the jail, but while there runs into Damon and he is snarky as ever. They get into a passive aggressive lovers chat, where he pretends not to care about anything especially turning Bonnie’s mom into a vampire. He tells her now that he’s mean again and Elena hates him the world can start spinning on its axis again. She tells him as always he will end up alone. Which we all know is never going to happen he’s too good-looking to ever be alone. She then leaves without visiting Ric! Wasn’t he the reason she went over there.

Back at Salvatore Manor, Damon walks in on Stefan having the jitters due to his blood withdrawal while trying to journal. “Dear Diary a chipmunk asked me my name today, I told him it was Joe. That lie will haunt me forever.” Damon joked.  He then asked Stefan what year their descendent Zachariah was murdered. Stefan recalled 1912 and handed Damon the journal and the flashbacks started again.

Zachariah’s death causes both Salvatore Brothers to come back for the funeral, why I was unclear on. And where were all the other Salvatore relatives at the funeral?  Stefan finds out from Mariana Lockwood and Samantha Gilbert that Zachariah was murdered and the council members are not safe.

Damon shows up and is a bitter brooding uptight… I’m not mixing them up this is how Damon was in 1912. He’s still miffed because Stefan convinced him to turn even though Katherine was supposedly trapped in the tome so now he is alone. After fifty years he couldn’t find another woman? Stefan tries to reach out to him and takes him out for drinks. Then the scene flashes to modern-day Mystic Falls where Damon asks Stefan to go to the Grill to help him figure out who is behind the murders after all it can’t be alcoholic history teaching vampire hunting Ric.

Rebekah is already there with Mayor Lockwood trying to get information on the infamous White Oak tree. The Mayor tells her the Salvatore Family had a logging company back in the early 1900s and probably cut it down when the town was built. So Rebekah pushes her way into the Brothers conversation at the bar which Damon thinks is a signal she wants more sex.  She assures him there isn’t enough liquor in the world for that to happen again. But underneath her hostility you can see she’s up for another roll with him. Stefan mentions there was only one other vampire in town at that time.

Back in 1912, Sassy Sage is kicking the crap out of some unlikely man in the boxing ring. No one seems to think this is inappropriate for the time which seemed interesting, even the uptight ladies of Mystic Falls are enjoying the fight. Damon takes immediate notice of Sage. She offers $100 to any man who can beat her and winks at Damon. Then awkward timing Stefan offers to help Damon get off of human blood, Damon of course isn’t interested.

Sage tries to get Damon to fight her but he refuses, she even gives him $100 just for the allure of it.  She catches him outside later having a snack. She tells him women aren’t just for food they are for pleasure. This flips his switch and all of a sudden he’s the naughty Damon we now know. Wow, didn’t take much. He just needed to meet a woman as hot as Katherine. She convinces him to go for one of the uptight ladies who secretly want to be seduced like Sarah Gilbert.

Back at the Grill Rebekah tries to get the conversation back to their descendants and the trees of Mystic Falls, but Damon isn’t interested in talking to her. He takes his bottle of bourbon and leaves, Stefan knowing the bro code follows.

At the hospital Elena tries to talk some sense into Dr. Fell but she is unconvinced or at least pretends to be. She tells Elena that Isobel had a restraining order against Alaric before they got married.  She also accuses Ric of being an alcoholic, well come to think of it that may be true.

Elena isn’t deterred she knows Ric is a good guy so she enlists sweet Matt Donavon to break into Meredith’s apartment with her and look for evidence that will free Ric. They find a secret room in her closet just like Elena’s family has for their vampire hunting equipment and hello evidence! Meredith has a coroner’s report that has altered the time of death and one of the Gilbert family journals.

They hear Meredith coming back and get cozy in the closet. Great foreshadowing  since they may get back together at some point. Meredith opens the closet door on them and off they go to Sheriff Forbes who of course lets them go and tells them that Meredith has already had Alaric cleared of all charges with the infamous coroner’s report they found.

Back at the Grill, Rebekah tells the brothers that Sage was obsessed with her brother Finn over 900 years ago.  Funny, Sage didn’t seem like the type of gal who got obsessed with guys, but Rebekah does. Rebekah asks why Stefan is so grumpy and Damon tells her he’s got the blood withdrawals. Stefan finally admits he’s ready to eat the whole wait staff and they go outside where Damon tempts Stefan with a young girl.

Rebekah should have left at this point, Damon even tells her to again, but she stays. I think she wants more than the White Oak Tree. Stefan tries to fight it but can’t, he needs the blood.

Stefan finally takes the plunge and almost goes full on Ripper until Elena and Matt arrive and catch him in the act.  Damon told Elena it was just an experiment,  Matt  quickly ushers her away.  Stefan with blood still dripping from his face looked more broody and distraught than ever, and walked away. Damon told him this is going to take a little time. Even Damon seemed a little moved by the event.

Elena and Matt head back to her place where he tells her he just doesn’t get her thing with the Salvatores. She explains that after her parents died Stefan felt safe because as a vampire he could never die. But Damon just snuck up on her. I thought this was revealing. Now that Elena has encountered so much death and seems to be at peace with a lot of it, can she let Stefan go, was he just a crutch? Is Damon her true love because he wasn’t her crutch, as she said he just snuck up on her as love often does.

She asks Matt if the conversation is awkward for him and he says no and coyly adds  “Once you fall in love with someone, I don’t know if you can ever shake ‘em,” he said. There is an awkward silence, but nothing happens. It’s obvious however, that if given the opportunity Matt would gladly take Elena back.

Matt then shows her the Gilbert Family Journal he stole at the Sheriff’s station, one of the items Meredith mysteriously had in her closet. Matt made a comment about being invisible in a town of vampires so it was easy for him to snatch. There was another hot moment, then Ric came home. Elena and Ric hugged which seemed a little creepy at first, he seemed to be too into it for being her guardian.

Cut to the Salvatore Mansion, Damon comes back and tells Stefan the woman is alright and he is on the road to moderation. Stefan doesn’t believe Damon really wants to help him. Damon reminds him of what happened in 1912, the year he became the Ripper. Flasback time.

Damon after being wooed by Sage tells Stefan to have a drink …of Mariana Lockwood. He does against his better judgement and bites her so hard he knocks her head off. All he can say is “I’m sorry,” continuously and yells at a calm Damon asking him what he had done to him and then runs off. Damon didn’t follow him, shortly after Stefan gained the reputation as the Ripper of Monterey. Thanks Damon!

Damon tells him he let run away and get out of control in 1912 but he won’t this time.  “Whenever you go too far, I will be there to pull you back. Every second, every day, till you don’t need me.” Wow Damon actually took responsibility for something and seems to care all at the same time. It was just too overwhelming.

Meredith shows up at the Gilbert’s and Alaric isn’t happy to see her. She explains she cleared him by changing the coroner’s report but that doesn’t mean he’s really innocent. He lets her in and she begins to explain why he may really be the killer.

Meanwhile  Elena is upstairs reading the lost Gilbert Journal that belonged to Sarah Gilbert, who just happened to have a ring like Alaric’s and wrote that she was losing time and thought she was going mad. Same time at the Salvatore’s they piece together that Damon may not have killed Sarah Gilbert in 1912 like he thought since she had a ring like Jeremy and Alaric’s.

Elena comes downstairs and tells Alaric that Meredith is right, he may really be the killer, due to the ring. Why are rings always evil? Remember Lord of the Rings? Oh well it’s a good excuse for Ric to be innocent kind of.

Predictions: Next week I hope to see Bonnie and Abby back, should be interesting to see how Abby handles being a vamp. More Sage, please. I love her already. She’s a great replacement for Katherine. I think Matt has a shot at interrupting the love triangle between Elena and the Salvatore Brothers. Sage may be the one to convince Finn to come to his sense and not kill himself. Bonnie may have a fling with Finn after all he’s a bigger downer than Stefan about being a vamp. These are just my hopes and dreams.