By Tegan O’Rourke,

Elena and Damon are back on, it‘s hot, then they fight again.  Stop toying with us Julie Plec.

The episode opens with Alaric in the Salvatore Dungeon for safekeeping. Elena brings him some boring books to help him sleep, Damon slips in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What a Dic!

She tries to get Ric’s disapproval on her trip to Denver with Damon but Ric doesn’t bite.  Elena’s soul searching trip is actually Stefan’s idea. Why can’t this guy just be happy? She said she still loves him but it’s not enough if she even thinks for one second that Damon looks good shirtless, for the love of God she’s still human!

Elena and Damon travel to Denver on miles not compulsion Damon tells Elena, to have Jeremy channel Rose, so they can find out who sired her and in turn figure out what bloodline all of our favorite vamps come from.

Jeremy doesn’t seemed thrilled about channeling a dead vampire and tells them he’ll catch them later, his new friend is showing up.  Oh by the way, it’s Kol, Klaus’s evil Original Bro. He coldly tells Jeremy, they are not buds and hits Damon with a baseball bat. Damon gets up and stabs him with the bat and they all flee to a no tell motel.

Back at Mystic Falls High, Caroline and Matt have a mock fight in the school cafeteria in front of Rebecca. Apparently Rebecca is really into the whole high school thing and is kicking Caroline’s ass as dance chair president or so she thinks.  I do hope we get to see this 1920s decade dance it should be classy and full of vampire mischief.

Caroline storms out the way hot blonde vampire cheerleaders do and heads to the woods for hot hybrid sex with Tyler in the old Lockwood Dungeon. There were a lot of dungeons in this episode.

Meanwhile back at Salvatore Dungeon, Stefan brings Alaric some Scotch and they discuss why he let Elena go with Damon before torture begins. Ya, Ric takes one for the team and lets Stefan beat the crap out of him in the hopes his evil alter ego has a sense of self preservation.

It’s slow going until Klaus shows up and snaps Ric’s neck after Stefan spills the beans about how they all need to find the stakes due to the fact that the whole bloodline dies when an Original dies.

At the No Tell Motel, Rose shows up with very little effort, after Damon divulges the pleasant dream he gave her on her last day alive.

Rose looks great for a dead vampire chick. Rose tells Jeremy to tell Damon she is rooting for him and Elena. Jeremy is surprised and says nothing. Rose tells them she was sired by Mary Porter, who Damon refers to as Scary Mary.

Back in town, Sweet Matt pretends to like Rebecca and gives her a ride home. But she is on to him. However, innocent Matt tells her” It’s sad you can’t even get a ride home from school and think there isn’t an ulterior motive, smooth move Mr. Donavon.

Rebecca makes a comment about having to compel a date and heads inside Mikaelson Manor to find Esther who claims to be dying since the Bennett bloodline was severed by Abby being turned into a vampire.

She tries to win Rebecca back with a sob story about looking over her for a thousand years. Poor low self esteem Rebecca buys it as Esther takes her hands in hers then Mother Dearest drops dead.

Meanwhile things are steamy at the Lockwood Dungeon until Tyler tells Caroline he won’t know for sure if the sire bond with Klaus is broken until he tests it. Carline then Tyler that Matt killed an Original and that vamps from that bloodline all died. Oh and if Klaus wasn’t the one who sired all of our favorite vamps they are going to kill Klaus and Damon doesn’t care about Tyler one squat, so they won’t spare Klaus for Tyler. Welcome home Lover!

Back at the motel, Elena can’t stop staring at shirtless Damon. He catches her glance and jumps in bed next to her. She asks him why he never told her about what he did for Rose the day she died and why doesn’t he let people see the good in him. Well because then he’d have to be god all the time and actually live up to people’s expectations. He takes her hand and she jumps out of bed and leaves the room.

He chases after her and she tells him “Don’t.”  Then turns and passionately grabs him and they have hot foreplay until Jeremy wakes up and ruins it. He tells them Rose found Scary Mary, she lives in Kansas. So away they go, road trip!

Mary’s house is dark and creepy. I wondered why on Earth did Damon take Elena inside after all Mary is older than Rose was so how could he protect Elena if Mary was hungry? No need to worry Kol showed up a bit earlier and staked her.  How they all got from Denver to Kansas so quick was interesting.

Kol tells them they’ll never know who sired Rose now and then beats Damon again. He says he wants revenge for his brother’s death and snapping his neck and yet, he doesn’t kill Damon, just gives him another beat down and leaves.

Meanwhile evil Ric awakens and taunts Stefan until he beats him to the point of almost killing him, then he divulges the hiding place of the stake has the Lockwood cave that no vampire can enter.  Klaus and Rebecca are back and Rebecca takes Ric to the cave. He gets the stake and refuses to give it to her. So she amazingly enters the cave and tells him she wants all the Originals dead, since she is really Esther. That evil Mama has done it again.

Klaus stays behind at Salvatore Manor still in the hope his old ripper friend will make an appearance.  Stefan tells him he is getting it under control and throws him out.

Damon and Elena have a heart to heart that turns into another fight when Damon tells her he won’t help her make her decision on who she wants by screwing things up. She’s going to have to figure it out herself. It makes for a long cold ride home.

Rose shows up in the backseat next to Jeremy and tells him that Stefan is always going to be good for Elena but Damon changes her and challenges her. He can either be the best thing for her or the worst, either way she is good for Damon.

Tyler finds the drawing Klaus did for Caroline and when she can’t give him a good reason for keeping it, he leaves.  What’s up Caroline? Do you have feelings for Klaus after all? I hope so.

Predictions: Maybe there will be a Klaus and Caroline kiss in the season finale of course. Elena may actually choose Damon. But don’t worry fans, that won’t mean their troubles will be over. More drama will ensue together then apart.

By Tegan O’Rourke,

The Originals can’t be killed? What a surprise! Well not really. I knew the writers would come up with a damn good reason to not allow them to be killed. And now they have one. If one of them dies their whole bloodline dies with them, possibly killing one of our favorite Mystic Falls vamps. So alas no one of any importance is ever going to die. What a relief!

The episode starts out with Elena innocently delivering muffins and coffee to Ric. But snarky Damon will not let her in. Yes, he ‘s even snarky first thing in the morning. She leaves without delivering her good wishes to Ric, but its obvious she knows something is going on.

Damon shuts the door and tells Stefan and Ric she has gone. Ric turns the saw back on and chops up the white oak, Wickery Bridge sign which they are making into stakes to kill the Originals. During a break, Ric tells the brothers he’s going to call Sheriff Forbes and turn himself in for the murders he committed due to his malfunctioning magic ring. Neither Salvatore is having it. Damon tells him if you were really going to do that you would not have said it out loud. How true. Damon tells him to put the ring back on. Since it will protect him while they are trying to kill the Originals.

Elena and Caroline take a walk in the woods, where Elena tells her that Ric was the serial killer and convinces her that no one in their group had the choice of what they have become. Caroline totally buys it.  The girls and Matt Donavon arrive at a secret Original Killing Planning meeting in the woods conducted by Damon and Stefan. They show them the White Oak stakes and practice killing tactics. Just a normal day in Mystic Falls.

Meanwhile Klaus finds Finn who refuses to help him unbind Mama Esther’s spell to kill them all.  He tries to run, but Rebekah and Klaus trap him in an alley where Klaus knocks him out and they vampnap him. Back at Klaus’s Mansion Sage is waiting for Finn. He seems happy to see her and they embrace. It looks like Klaus may get what he wants for once.

Rebekah has plans of her own for the afternoon, and it doesn’t involve a manicure. She sneaks into Salvatore Manor, knocks Ric out and stabs Damon in the chest, then vampnaps him.

Across town at the Mystic Falls Square Elena, Matt and Caroline are chatting, mostly about how Bonnie is missing in action and Elena is worried because she has not returned her calls. While chatting they see Finn and Sage. Caroline listens to their conversation. As we already knew, Sage never stopped loving him and she tells him so.

Elena calls Stefan to let him know Finn is in the town square with some woman. Stefan realizes its Sage and tells them not to go near her. He is still on the phone when he finds Ric all beaten up and asks what happened to you?  Ric tells him Rebekah happened and she took Damon. Stefan tells Elena they have a problem.

They have more than one, Bonnie is trapped at Klaus’s Mansion, he wants her to break the spell Esther cast that bound all of his siblings together. Bonnie isn’t feeling it. So Klaus calls Kol and shows Bonnie a video of Jeremy in Denver.  Poor Jeremy even compelled to forget  is still in danger. Kol has been tracking him the whole time.

Klaus’s Mansion is full of guests today. Damon is hanging in what looks like a grand ballroom where Rebekah is slowly bleeding him dry of vervain. She tells Damon she wants to compel him to kill Stefan or maybe even Elena. Damon actually looks worried. Klaus enters and taunts her torture skills by adding wouldn’t it be faster to hang him upside down?

Back at Salvatore Manor, Caroline drops in to check on Ric and give him some more herbs to drink. He apologizes to her for killing her vampire hating dad. Caroline tells him she is no better than him, when she first turned she also killed an innocent person. Wow has Caroline grown up. Becoming a vamp was the best thing that’s ever happened to her. A lot of character development on her part.

In town Elena runs into Stefan where she tries to convince him to stall his plans and save Damon first. Stefan isn’t having it, how cold. Damon would have dropped everything for him. More and more the snarky brother appears to be the more caring.

Damon still all hot and bloody hanging in the ballroom sees Elena coming to his rescue she gets him down and they stumble through the halls into a romantic dimly lit room with a roaring fireplace. Elena tells him she will not leave him there and tells him to drink her blood. He obliges and gets better, they get close and a kiss is coming when, oh snap! It’s just a dream Rebekah put in his head to be mean.

“You bitch,” Damon says to her. He tells Rebekah c’mon you didn’t really think I was into you? But he sees the look on her face, that she did. Oops he really did hurt an Original’s feelings. Then like an idiot he says to her “If Klaus bossed me around for a  thousand years, I’d be a little desperate for attention too.”

Stefan is at the Grill spying on Sage and Finn and good old Matt Donavon is their watching them as well.  Another vamp named Troy walks by and says hi to Sage. Finn asks who he is and Sage tells him she turned him to have as back up. Not a bad idea. She also teaches him how to drink tequila and seems shocked he has never had it before. Did she forget he was trapped in a coffin for 900 years?

Back at Klaus’s Mansion Bonnie is still not having any fun and hears Damon screaming, she asks what’s that? Klaus tells her not to worry about it. She bluntly tells him she doesn’t like him. He seems a bit surprised and offended. Then he tells her if she helps him he can find her mom and bring her back whole or in pieces. What a cad! He shows her the blood of his siblings and offers her his for the spell, so it’s on.

At the Grill, Matt comes back to the table and Sage grabs him, Matt is clearly shaken and so was I.  But Sage only wanted more tequila, he smiles and tells her he will tell the waitress then he lets Stefan spike their drinks with vervain. Sage and Finn take a drink and immediately start gasping. Finn notices Stefan leaving and kind of smirking at him. Chase ensues. Stefan, Elena and the ballsy new Matt Donavon stake Finn right in the heart. Matt took one out. I was so proud of him.  Sage is devastated and Finn is all a flame. Unfortunately Bonnie’s spell had broken the sibling bond so none of the other Originals are dead.

Klaus lets Bonnie leave once the spell is broken. After all he’ll probably need her again. As she is walking out she sees Damon all strung up and bloody.  Klaus comments, “Go ahead, save the man who turned your mother into a vampire,” at that Bonnie leaves him hanging. She heads to her car, but is overwrought with guilt and fear after all Klaus found Jeremy, he can kill anyone, anywhere. She calls Elena and tells her Klaus has Damon and he threatened Jeremy.

Stefan, Elena and Caroline are back at Salvatore Manor when Elena gets the call. They are all shocked that the rest of the O’s are still alive. Stefan storms out to get his brother.  Sage comes crashing in and throws him into the parlor. Caroline tries to jump in and Sage knocks her down telling her ” I’m not here for you.” Elena tries to run out but newly vamped Troy blocks her exit.

Sage has come to kill Stefan who killed her lover, Finn, but before she can take him for ten rounds her and her little vamp minion Troy start coughing up blood all over the Persian rugs and rudely die in the parlor. What a shame, I really wanted to see more of Sage. Finn was a buzz kill, but Sage was exciting like Lexi.

Elena, Stefan and Caroline make lame comments about what could have killed them until they realize Sage was turned by Finn and Troy was turned by Sage. So all vamps from his bloodline should all be dead because he was originator of the bloodline. Oh damn, now the rest of the Originals can’t be killed unless they figure out whose bloodline they belong to. Stefan heads out again to get his brother, this time he takes the White Oak stakes.

Stefan barges into Rebekah’s torture ballroom without knocking and offers the eight white oak stakes to Klaus in exchange for his brother. But Klaus is no fool, he knows there’s a catch so he compels Damon to go home which is rather difficult being all chained up. Once he sees the effort Damon puts in he knows he can be compelled, so he tells him to stop and asks how many white oak stakes there really are and Damon tells him eleven.

Klaus then goes off on a tirade about how he is such a good friend to Stefan because he has given Stefan someone to hate. Rebekah gets sick of the whole thing and lets Damon go as a matter of good faith and tells them to bring them the missing stakes. Klaus adds if he doesn’t get the missing stakes he will kill everyone Stefan loves. Oh I almost forgot Stefan tells them Finn is dead but Klaus really doesn’t seem to care. That was probably the point that made Rebekah snap and end the evening.

Back at Salvatore Manor, Elena and Caroline are trying to figure out who belongs to which bloodline and they realize that even if they are not linked to Klaus, Tyler is! So if they kill Klaus they kill Tyler.

Stefan comes home and he tells Elena that his hatred of Klaus and all he did was for nothing. Elena tells him this is not true because he came out a survivor and through all of it she never stopped loving him. He blames himself for the feelings she now has for Damon. Stefan wants Elena to look him in the eyes and tell him she does not love Damon. Elena chokes, she can’t deny it, she simply says, “I don’t know what I feel.” OOUCH!

Things aren’t going smoothly over at the Mikealson Mansion either. Rebekah shaken by the events of the evening tells Klaus of their enemies the Salvatores,  “At least they know what family means,”  she says. “You destroyed us.”

Klaus then tells her, he will take Elena and leave town to create more hybrids. Rebekah adds that she might stay. Klaus tells her if she does she is just as pathetic as Finn.

Damon all healed heads to Ric’s to get the last stake to return to Klaus. Ric goes to the bookshelf where he hid it, but oh no Ric’s alter ego serial killer has taken it! The look on Damon’s face is priceless. Roll to credits.

Predictions: Rebekah may make nice with the Salvatores since she is lonely and her own siblings with the exception of Elijah are quite cold. Jeremy will be shipped back to Mystic Falls right away, he isn’t safe anywhere so he should just come back, besides Elena needs him and so does Bonnie. I hope there is another flashback episode where they figure out who is linked to who. It would be nice to see Rose again.