By Tegan O’Rourke,

Ric turned into the ultimate Vampire Hunter? Is there anyone on this show who will not be turned at some point?

There needs to be some humans left in Mystic Falls otherwise there will be no one to protect. I rather see Elena be a vampire. When is that going to happen? She becomes a vampire in the book series.

Anyway the show opens with Esther in Rebecca’s body, who is doing a good job of fooling Klaus. She hands him a fake white oak stake and he tosses it into the fireplace where it burns his problems away or so he thinks.

He tells her now they can take Elena his doppelganger and leave town, Esther as Rebecca convinces him to stay for awhile since she wants to go the Decade Dance.  She teases that Caroline will be there. Klaus puts his evil plans aside for the chance to woo Caroline one last time.

Ric calls lost bromance love Damon, to let him know he is leaving town to clear his head and hopefully stop killing people. He assures Damon he has a ton of Bonnie’s magic herbs to curb his killer instinct. He gets off the phone and sure enough he is hanging with Esther at the O Mansion. She hands him a stake and he shoves it into Rebecca’s body so Esther‘s essence can re enter her own body.

Caroline is back in her element organizing the school dance and ditching the chandeliers Rebecca had wanted to hang from the gym ceiling. Speaking of hanging, Matt and Jeremy are bromancing it up hanging stars together from the ceiling.

Caroline tells Elena that she needs a date for the dance after all Bonnie is bringing Jamie, the hot guy her mom raised while she wasn’t raising her, it shouldn’t be awkward. Caroline suggests Stefan, but Elena thinks it’s weird since she tongued his brother at a sleazy motel just a few days prior.

“I didn’t tell you that so you could torture me with it.” She tells Caroline after Caroline mentions the whole kiss at the sleazy motel.

Caroline assures her it’s time to switch brothers and give Stefan a call. Stefan of course agrees to go with her and since Damon overheard the call you know he’ll show up too.

Esther has big plans for the evil new Alaric. She wants to turn him into the ultimate Vampire Hating Vampire Hunter.  Somehow I think our gang will find away to bring back the old good Alaric, but not until the season finale of course.

Anyway Esther takes him to the woods to the spot where she claims Klaus ripped out her heart a thousand years ago. The spot also happens to the home of the Salvatore Family Crypt. Sometimes the coincidences almost jump the shark. But luckily fans love this show too much to care.

She asks for his magic I can’t die ring, and he begrudgingly give it to her. She explains she needs to bind the magic in Ric’s ring to the stake since it will burn up on the first Original kill without it. Esther melts the ring in a fiery spell which melds it with the white oak ash stake and creates “The ultimate weapon for the ultimate hunter.”

Stefan shows up to get Elena and sparks fly right away as they exchange longing glances as he pins her corsage. He asks, “Given our dangerous dance karma are you up for this?”

Elena responds “Getting out of bed is dangerous these days.”

Back at the school dance, Caroline tells Matt that one way or another Elena is spoken for.  Matt tells her he’s just looking out for his friend. Caroline reminds him sometimes Elena’s friends get caught in the crossfire.

Tyler shows up for Caroline, guess he’s a forgiver. Oh no, wait he’s just jealous and wants to keep Caroline away from Klaus. Caroline tells him he shouldn’t be there, it’s dangerous.

“What’s he going to do draw you another picture?” Tyler responds.

How he knows or thinks Klaus would show up puzzled me, but then again his hybrid instincts were right on as Klaus makes an entrance.

Elena and Stefan hit the dance floor then the music goes slow and they end up in each other’s arms where Elena tries to tell Stefan about what happened in Denver with Damon, but he doesn’t want to know. They are sharing a nice intimate moment like old times until sure enough Damon comes barging in to tell them Ric lied to him and may be back to his old serial killing ways.

Jer sees them going into the hall and bumps into Bonnie and her new beau on the way.  Bonnie asks Jeremy why he is still wearing his ring, does he not know about Alaric.

“When my sister stops hanging out with vampires I’ll take it off.” Jeremy tells her.

Elena and the Salvatores talk in the hall where Damon who has chased Alaric around like a love sick puppy for most of the season, suggest they kill him. Wow, Elena better watch out if she doesn’t choose him.

Jeremy overhears and refuses to let them kill Alaric who has watched over them in between trying to kill everyone they know.  He runs out in a huff and Elena follows.

Elena tries to assure Jer that Ric will not be harmed, when Esther shows up. She asks Elena to come with her if she wants to help Alaric. Elena ponders the absurdity of it, while Jeremy runs to get Damon and Stefan. But Esther tells her she can come willingly or by force but either way she’s going. So Elena as usual voluntarily walks into the tornado.

Stefan and Damon run out to Elena but find themselves trapped by a line of magical salt, that Esther must have spread all around the school I’m assuming, not just one entrance?

Damon interrupts Bonnie’s Seven Minutes in Heaven with Jamie by telling her they have a problem.

Over at the Crypt Esther explains to Elena that she is going to dip into the dark magic one last time to create the ultimate vampire hunter to kill her kids.

Back at the dance, Klaus asserts his authority to get a dance with Caroline. She asks Klaus why he always has to be the alpha male.  “I don’t have to prove anything love, I am the alpha male. C’mon one dance I won’t bite.” How could a girl resist lines like that?

Klaus still trying to woo Caroline tells her, “One day, maybe in a year or even in a century, you’ll turn up at my door and allow me to show you what the world has to offer.” She rebuffs him and he tells her that a small town boy and a small town life won’t be enough for her.  And I believe him. He then exits but is also trapped by the salt.

While Bonnie tries to break Esther’s spell. Klaus of course gets impatient and threatens to hurt Jamie. Stefan steps in and tells him hurting someone she cares about will not bring her to his side.

Over at the Crypt, Esther forces Elena to give her doppelganger blood to seal her spell. She gives Ric a drink, stabs him and he begins to turn into a Vampire/Vampire Hunting machine.

At the school, Damon gets some of Jeremy’s blood to help Bonnie with a locator spell. Damon apologizes for being forced to turn her mother into a vampire to save Elena in his own half snarky half he seemed to mean it kind of way.

Bonnie doesn’t give a damn of course and moves on with the spell, but realizes Esther is blocking her and she must be at a hotspot.

Klaus knows where she is, the old cemetery.  They send Matt and Jeremy since only mortals can get out of the school.

In the gym Caroline and Tyler have a heart to heart, where Tyler brings up the fact that it may be the best thing if Esther kills Klaus even if it means he’ll die too.

Elena tries to tell Esther that what she is doing is just as evil as what her kids have done.

” I desire a world where you and your loved ones will not suffer at the hands of vampires like your Aunt Jenna did.”

She tells Elena that Jenna is at peace on the other side, even as a vampire she remained pure. Just the mention of Jenna makes me think we will see her in the season finale.

Matt and Jer show up at the crypt all weaponed up but Esther forces them to point the weapons at each other and it looks like they are goners until Ric stakes Esther from behind.

The good Alaric is back at least until he makes his transition. Esther’s death beaks the boundary spell and the vamps are able to leave the school. Stefan thanks Bonnie for her help. She tells him she didn’t do it for him.

Alaric tells Jer he has chosen not to make the transition to vampire. Jeremy doesn’t take it well and tells him not to give him a crap speech about how he needs to be the man of the house. Ric agrees not to and they embrace.

Elena tells Ric this is all her fault, and he confides that taking care of her and Jer is the closest he’s ever come to the life he wanted. He walks her out of the crypt so he can die alone and they walk out to find the whole gang even Dr. Fell all with sullen faces and heavy hearts.

Back at O Manor, Klaus unstakes Rebecca and dares dead Esther to come after him again. He tells her he will build a huge army of hybrids and his survival will haunt her through eternity.

Jamie takes Bonnie home and offers to stay with her since her Dad is out of town, when are we ever going to meet this father of hers? He seems to be out of town a lot.

Matt and Jer have an underage drink at the Grill in honor of Alaric while Elena goes back to the school to clean out Alaric’s locker so no one finds out the history teacher was a vampire hunter.

Stefan tries to stop her and calm her down. He takes her to the gym where he tells her after that night in the gym when he was forced to bite her he never wanted to feel again. But Elena was the one who told him it was okay to feel again and never to lose hope.

She cries and tells him she doesn’t have anyone anymore, which is absurd since everyone in this town is continually willing to die for her. He assures her she has him.

Dr. Fell tells Damon not to leave Alaric alone in the crypt.  Damon realizes she is right that Ric probably doesn’t really want to die alone.

Ric jokes with Damon “Is this the part where you give me a dream?” That would have been fun. But alas no, they share a drink while Alaric drifts off.

Esther shows up at Bonnie’s bedroom and scares her awake. Jamie calms her and she lies back down or so Jamie thinks. She shows up at the crypt and Damon asks her what she is doing there so she gives him one of her vampire headaches and heads inside. She cuts herself and gives Ric her blood he wakes up and feeds on her. Fade to Black.

Predictions: Sara Canning will be back as Aunt Jenna. Caroline may realize there is something there between her and Klaus. Elena chooses Damon! Elena ditches both brothers and goes back to Matt. Anything can happen!

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.

By Tegan O’Rourke,

Is she good, bad or both? Dr. Meredith Fell is still an intriguing character. It’s looking like she is good at least in this episode. She is giving Ric a cat scan, hoping to  find a tumor, no such luck. It’s the crazy magic ring of death after all. Ric seemed pretty disappointed too.

As soon as Elena finds out she just working on plans to cure Ric. Since the ring was spelled by a witch she believes Bonnie can fix things with another spell. However Bonnie is out-of-town helping her estranged mom Abby be the best vampire she can be–oh and she still isn’t speaking to Elena.

Caroline arrives at Abby’s place baring a basket of blood bags, but Abby seems depressed by her immortality because she has lost her connection to nature now that she is no longer a witch.

Back in Mystic Falls Damon and Alaric head to Mayor Lockwood’s Wickery Bridge renovation party. Rebekah arrives looking for the infamous White Oak tree and Sage the new bad ass female vamp of all our dreams, joins the festivities.

I hope she is a permanent addition to the cast. This shows needs a naughty female vamp. Rebekah is bad but she also has a soft side, she is crying out for Damon’s love even when she is insulting him. Fans crave another all out Bitch like Katherine to round out the cast of characters.

Sage is looking for her sire and lost love Finn. Damon tries to set her straight about the fact that Finn isn’t exactly pining away for her. Unfortunately poor Sage has waited 900 years to be reunited with him and you thought Damon was possessive!  Luckily Sage and Rebekah hate each other, which should make for some good vampire drama. Sage refers to her as the “Ugliest Original Bitch.”

Damon who is never one to miss an opportunity, signs up Sage to help him find out what Rebekah is up to. Sage explains to him that she can indeed get into Rebekah’s Original head, if Damon distracts her, after all she is just a girl.

Damon invites Rebekah to a party at his place, she acts like she doesn’t want to go but it’s so obvious she wants to have rough vampire sex with him again.

Back at Abby’s, Jamie is not relieving his stress by chopping wood and almost chopping up Caroline. She tries to talk some sense into him about what Abby is going through but in Matt Donavon style, Jamie doesn’t think any of this is normal. Wow another sensible hot guy, Jamie and Matt should hang out.

He eventually changes his mind after all Abby raised him. So he goes into the house and hugs her, unfortunately Abby isn’t ready for human contact and goes all Mina Harker on his jugular.

Caroline calls Elena to let her know how Bonnie and Abby are doing. Elena tells her she needs Bonnie’s help for Ric.  Bonnie coldly agrees to help, telling Elena that she will need something Ric used to wear before he was given the ring. Ric tells Elena they can use his wedding band which is back at his apartment in a medicine bottle. Elena rushes over there, leaving the good Dr. Fell alone with Ric.

Rebekah arrives just in time at Salvatore Manor to see Damon and Sage as the only party guests. Damon provocatively dances with Sage and the look on Rebekah’s face is almost heartbreaking. She takes a seat near a piano player who is obviously there for dinner. Damon comes over to her and pretends he only wants her. He seems sweet and Rebekah buys it. They have hot vampire sex and Rebekah falls asleep.  Sage takers her chance to read Rebekah’s thought while she dreams of Damon and white oak trees.

Damon follows Sage into a hot shower where they strip down and kiss so Sage can show him the thoughts she stole from Rebekah’s mind. Damon feels victorious and runs to his family study to pull the logging records from the 1900s he isn’t going to let Rebekah find the only tree left that can kill an Orignal.

It turns out the tree was used to build the infamous Wickery Bridge. Sage is upset she doesn’t want Damon to get the wood that can kill her soul mate, Finn. Damon tries to make a deal with her and says he’ll spare Finn if he can kill Rebekah. She seems to agree. However, Damon loses track of her in his McMansion and realizes she may destroy the bridge after all. He gets there too late, Rebekah and Sage have brunt down Wickery Bridge. Sage confronts Damon with the news that she knows he lied to her. If one of the Originals die they all die.

He tells Sage the harsh truth that her beloved Finn is not looking for her, he volunteered to kill himself so Mommie Esther can have her revenge on her children and kill all of the Originals. Sage is visibly shaken. Damn it, just when I thought we had another vicious female vamp, Sage has feelings too. Why do all these vamps love so hard?

Speaking of hard love Stefan is following Elena around in attempt to show her he’s not a monster. He shows up at Ric’s apartment and tells her “I just can’t be who you want me to be right now.  I’m not in control.” This leaves a definite opening for them to get back together eventually.

He then tells her how her ancestor, Sarah Gilbert ended up in a mental hospital where she still killed people even after the ring was taken away from her.  Elena realizes she left Meredith alone with Ric so they rush to find his wedding band, but first they open a drawer full of the hair of Ric’s victims and a letter to Jeremy, the other ring wearer explaining that he must carry on his plans,  “The council must be cleansed before the work can begin.”  With that they rush to find the ring and dash back to her house.

Ric wake’s up on the Gilbert couch and goes full on serial killer on an unsuspecting Meredith. He grabs a large knife and asks Meredith if she ever feels remorse about not living up to her responsibilities and letting vamps roam free.  She puts up a good fight, throwing hot coffee at him and running upstairs to the bathroom, but alas he stabs her.

Elena and Stefan show up at the house and see the broken coffee cup and blood on the kitchen floor. Stefan hides in the kitchen while Alaric comes downstairs pretending not to be a serial killer, but poor Elena knows better. She lies to him about finding his ring and being alone.

They rush upstairs to find Dr. Fell on the bathroom floor all bloody and delicious looking. Stefan almost hesitates but pulls himself together and gives Meredith his healing blood, proving he can be the loveable broody vamp Elena fell in love with. He quickly flees afraid he will attack someone.

Next morning all is well again in Mystic Falls. Bonnie as usual forgives Elena and gives her some herbs for Ric. I’m beginning to think Bonnie is a bigger martyr than Elena. I wonder how she’s going to handle her mom ditching her again!

Caroline tried to stop Abby but she was set on leaving not just Bonnie but Jamie too. She realizes she can’t control herself yet and doesn’t want to hurt anyone, again.

Ric awakens to Damon telling him Meredith is okay and he is now on house arrest at his old apartment. He then goes back home to give Stefan some good news.

Damon had a new sign built for the renovated bridge with original wood from the old bridge. He faked his rage at Sage over the burning bridge. I didn’t see that coming.

“I sold my rage. You should have seen me,” he tells  Stefan. “Game’s back on brother. Let’s go kills some Originals.” Close to credits. The Salvatore Brothers score 1, Originals 0. At least until next week.

Predictions: Sage and Damon will make up or become brutal enemies either way there should be some hot sex involved. Elena and Stefan move closer toward reuniting. Rebekah tortures Damon as all the promos show, but someone will save his hot ass at the last-minute. Elijah or Esther, or Sage I presume.

By Tegan O’Rourke,

The episode opens with Elena calling Stefan who sees her call but ignores it as he journals. Then she calls Damon for the eleventh time she will admit later! Eleven times, that’s telling.  Damon picks up, he can’t wait to be all snarky and sport a “I don’t care about you anymore attitude,” as he does every time someone hurts his feelings.  Elena tells him “If you’re mad at me Damon, you need to get over it,” he responds with “Oh, I’m over it,” as he rolls over to Rebekah.

When neither bro gives her enough phone time, she rushes over to Salvatore Manor just in time to see Damon sending Rebekah out on her walk of shame. Elena is clearly stunned and silent at first, then rushes in and tells the Salvatores that Esther plans on killing her own vampire brood.

She tells them she feels bad about killing Elijah, after all he did try to save her from Klaus.  But neither brother seems to care. An Original is just pure evil, in their judgemental vampire eyes.  As she leaves she gives Damon a dirty look and nearly knocks the drink out of his hand.  She is clearly hurt and Stefan sees it.

To Elena’s surprise Bonnie and Abby also are all in on killing the Originals. Bonnie lets Elena rant about Damon for some time before confessing “Oh by the way Esther asked us to help her kill her kids and we said yes.”

Rebekah heads home where Kol and Klaus make fun of her for being a vamp tramp. Then they rush off to get drunk at the Grill while Elijah tries to persuade Rebekah that Mommie Dearest is up to no good, but Rebekah doesn’t want to believe it.

Elijah knows something is up so he goes to Elena and takes her to a spot in the woods above the Lockwood caves. He tells her he know she lied, she admits it and he throws her down into caves where Rebekah is waiting to guard her while Elijah runs off to the Salvatores’ with an ultimatum of help me stop mama or Elena dies! As usual Elena is in danger, and no matter how mad Stefan and Damon are at her they run to her rescue, what a surprise.

Before he leaves, Elijah tells the brothers that they need to kill one or both of the Bennet Witches to sever the tie between their bloodline and Esther.  They try to find another way and have Caroline distract Klaus at the Grill so Ric can stake Kol with the White Oak dagger. They all arrive at the Grill and Klaus is smitten with Caroline’s fake rudeness toward him and follows her outside.

Meanwhile Kol hits on Hot  and Mysterious Dr. Fell which gives Ric the perfect opportunity to stake him in the back. All the Originals except Klaus drop like flies. Klaus being a Hybrid isn’t affected but feels something is wrong and runs to his brother and pulls the stake out of him knocking Ric in the head. The brothers are forced to tell the Originals where The Bennets are helping Esther.

In the caves Elena tries to have a heart to heart with Rebekah to no avail.  When Rebekah drops to the floor due to Kol being daggered Elena makes a run for it, but Rebekah is quickly awakened and chases her to the cavern where vampires cannot enter. Rebekah is hell-bent on revenge and runs around to another part of the entrance and tries to start a fire to smoke Elena out. But Elena has become savvy like Kitty Kat and tells Rebekah she knows her feelings were hurt when Elena literally stabbed her in the back. This calms Rebekah down a bit and reminds her of the fact that it will be much more fun to drag out Elena’s suffering over time.

Damon and Stefan contemplate what to do, neither one of them really wants to hurt the Bennet’s but it needs to be done. So they flip a coin to see who will kill Bonnie. Neither want to, they know how much it will hurt Elena, the girl they are both on the outs with, but they still need to save her as usual. Esther senses her children approaching and sends the Bennet’s inside the Witch House where they should be safe. Stefan confronts Bonnie inside, she knows her number is up and tries to reason with Stefan but luckily Damon snaps Abby’s neck instead, telling her this will just hurt for a minute so you know she’s coming back full on vamp! Good idea, didn’t see that coming.

Once Abby is vampified, she loses her witchy Bennet powers  and Esther’s spell is ruined allowing Kol, Elijah and Klaus to come after her and Finn. Rebekah is contacted on the evenings events and lets Elena go but reminds her she is going to drag out her revenge slowly.

Rebekah heads home to find Klaus burning drawings he did of Caroline. Don’t worry that painful romance is long from over. Rebekah informs him that when she was in the cave with Elena she noticed another drawing of a white oak tree that can kill Originals. I’m guessing it’s somewhere in Mystic Falls.

Stefan reminds Damon that he had lost the coin toss and should have killed Bonnie. Damon tells him that his bro has a better shot with Elena than he does so it was best he did the deed, plus he knows Stefan is back on animal blood and feeling like his broody old self again.

Elena rushes to see Bonnie, but Caroline won’t let her in. Vampire Barbie tells Elena she is not wanted. Bonnie needs time and Abby was turned in order to save her, things always happen to Bonnie in order to save her. Ouch! Remember Gramms? How many family members does Bonnie have to lose for this friendship? Elena returns home all dejected to find a note from Elijah on her bed apologizing for kidnapping her, how sweet. This girl gets a lot of vamps in that bedroom.

As for Ric he is chilling with Dr. Fell at her apartment and falls asleep, when he awakens he decides to snoop in her kitchen and finds a possible murder weapon. The Good Dr. greets him with a gun and pulls the trigger as the credits roll.

Predictions: We will see more of Koll, he’s a lot of fun. Ric will live,  even though he’s being shot by a human. Someone will give him vampire blood or he’ll be resurrected by Bonnie, just my thoughts.  Rebekah will eventually win Matt over and Klaus will eventually win Caroline over. Not sure if Elijah is crushing on Elena but why not everyone else is!

By Tegan O’Rourke

So happy to see Elijah back. He takes quick and appropriate action against Klaus and starts kicking his ass all over the newly renovated vampire mansion. Klaus tells him I just remodeled. But Elijah needs vengance and some doors will have to be reinstalled. Klaus finally calms him down with more family bonding talk, like all is well, I killed Daddy. Mikael’s death caught Elijah’s attention and saved Klaus a lot of money in redecorating costs. Now the new enemy is Stefan Salvatore. An enemy Klaus created but still a venerable opponent.

Meanwhile in Mystic Falls, a mysterious killer is on the loose and it’s just too obivous that its Dr. Meredith Fell, even though that’s the first thought Damon concludes. Sheriff Forbes shows up with the murder weapon of the medical examiner and tells Elena and Ric that it has Elena’s fingerprints all over it. Plus Elena knows its from her family’s vampire hunting arsenal. Ric tells Damon that the weapons are all over the place, in his car, the house, so anyone could have snatched a dagger. Damon suspects Dr. Fell right away afterall she bloodjacked him and he’s still bitter. But Elena holds out hope that Dr. Fell isn’t a pyschopath, “It’s not Meredith,” she says. “I refuse to  believe that your luck with women is that tragic,” she tells Ric.

Elena and Caroline go to the hospital to get a read on the mysterious doctor and pick up grumpy Bill.  Dr. Fell tells Caroline she knows her secret but will keep her mouth shut and she released Vampire Hunter Bill the night before, who by the way is still miffed about being saved by vampire blood. You just can’t make some people happy.

Caroline calls her dad and hears his cell phone ringing. Her and Elena find Bill stabbed to death in a supply room. Elena quickly reminds Caroline that he has vampire blood in his system so he will not die. He awakens even more pissed off than the night before.  Daddy Bill isn’t having it, he’d rather die than be a vampire. This guy is such a buzz kill, the only reason why I wanted him to live at all was because he’s Caroline’s dad and she’s the sweetest Barbie Vamp ever.

Caroline is heart broken, even though he’s a vampire hating zealot who tried to torture the vampire out of her, he’s still her Dad and she wants him to cross over to team vampire, so she takes him home thinking she can change his mind. Elena convinces her not to force him to transition and Matt shows up to give much needed hugs to the ladies of Mystic Falls. After a few hours at the Forbes House Bill tells her he accepts her as a vampire and she is the daughter he and Sheriff Forbes raised. This makes Caroline cry tears of joy and sadness as she lets her father die.

Where is Bonnie during all of this family drama, with her runaway mom Abby trying to open the fourth coffin with little regard for their own safety, after all no one knows what the hell is in that thing.  Damon hid the coffin in of all places the Originals’ Family Cave. Klaus would never think to look in his own family cave, its too obvious.

After an hour of chanting and making sure the whole cave had enough candles in case a romantic date showed up, Bonnie got annoyed with her runaway mom for not giving it a 110%. Abby tried to explain that the spirits were still pissed about her leaving and they will not help her. Then Bonnie threw the ultimate guilt at her by telling her that when she was a kid she used to pretend her mom was dead since she abandoned her anyway, it was believable. That stung so Abby dug deep and the candles flickered and wind blew through the cave and the coffin almost opened. Bonnie got excited and ran out to call Damon.

Who ever thought Bonnie would be excited to call him. Times sure are changing in Mystic Falls. There’s a rumor floating around that Damon may have a tryst with someone and wake up all Naked and smirky. I put my vote in for a Bonnie/Damon shameful encounter.

Damon tells Stefan they are going to Klaus’s for a dinner party and he better behave since they need to stall Klaus and make a truce until The Wicked Witches as he calls them, get the fourth coffin open.

To make his guests feel welcome  Klaus tells the Salvatores, “We can sit  and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours.”  They decide to have some steak while Stefan tries to open up old wounds of Klaus killing his mom, and Damon reminds Stefan, hey remember when you killed our father, so lets dial it down. Luckily for Klaus he came clean to Elijah before the dinner party about killing mom.

Klaus tries to get the Brothers sympathy by telling them the story of Tattia, the beautiful Original Petrova that both he and Elijah fell in love with. But Mommie Dearest wasn’t having it and used Tattia’s blood to turn all her children into vampires. I was really entertained by this and wondered if Tattia was in the fourth coffin, I hoped she was. Then I thought would Nina Dobrev end up playing three characters on this show? That would be awesome and insane. Talk about job security. However, now that they gave the storyline of Tattia I want to see her inact all kinds of ruin upon Mystic Falls. Maybe they can get an actress that just looks like Nina to join in the carnage.

Back to dinner, Damon offers a deal the fourth coffin in return, Klaus and the Originals leave Mystic Falls forever. Klaus doesn’t bite, he tells them he will never leave without Elena. Klaus the voice of logic tells the Salvatore Brothers, “Gentlemen, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is the two of you.”  And suggests sweet Matt Donavon should marry Elena and have lots of children so that he can make hybrids from for generations to come. Neither of the brothers like the idea of Matt and Elena. Matt better watch his back. Stefan makes a stupid move and attacks Klaus who  puts his arm in the fireplace. He tells Damon and Elijah to go get the fourth coffin or he’ll burn Stefan to death.

While Bonnie is out the coffin flies open and knocks Abby out. The fun is about to begin! Coffins are getting opened all over. Instead of going to the cave, Damon and Elijah undagger the remaining Originals at Klaus Manor. Klaus is shocked and awed by his unhappy sibblings crashing the dinner party. Elijah tells the Salvatores they are free to leave  since this is family business. Klaus tries to explain, but after centuries of lying dorment in coffins they aren’t interested. Then he pulls the, “I’m the hybrid. I can’t be killed! I  have nothing to fear from you,” ploy. Elijah responds “You will when we have that coffin!” Take that, Klaus.  Just as you think Klaus may get daggered and locked in a coffin, Mama Original shows up and forgives him for killing her! She wants them all to be a big happy blood sucking family. I was thrilled to see Mama Esther back, this just gets better and better.

Damon and Stefan head through the woods to the cave along the way Stefan asks Damon why he didn’t let him die, after all he could then have Elena all to himself. Self righteous broody Stefan still doesn’t know his brother after 145 years. Damon loves his little bro maybe even more than he loves Elena.  They both profess their love for Elena and move on to find Bonnie and Abby knocked out and notice the opened coffin.

Meanwhile Matt walks Elena home to a dark house, as they search for candles they notice a pool of blood in the kitchen and bloody hand prints all over the walls leading upstairs. They foolishly rush upstairs without knowing if there is a killer in the house and find Ric stabbed in the chest like Bill Forbes. Ric doesn’t know who stabbed him and he tells Elena she needs to kill him so he can live, since he has his magic ring on. Matt comments on how messed up that is. But Elena explains Ric can only live if he is killed by a supernatural being and she is a supernatural doppleganger so she pulls the knife out of his chest and shoves it though his heart. Damn has this girl grown a pair in the last two seasons.

This should get interesting now that Stefan is coming back to his normal self, the battle for Elena is on, but as on other shows this storyline normally gets old after three seasons, so Elena will most likely settle on one of them or end up with someone else entirely just as its starting to look like Sookie is doing on True Blood.  There are so many vamps on the show now that they actually should consider adding more human characters. Otherwise eventually there will be no main characters in jeopardy of death or being turned. I do like the mass of characters though, I think its a smart move the bigger the ensemble cast the more directions the show can take and the longer it can logically run in case some of the original leads leave the show. If they do it right they could have a ten year run like Smallville and the show can evolve into something way different from its beginnings of a small town girl and her love triangle with two vampire brothers.

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.