Elijah (Daniel Gillies) is back, and angry -as he should be. His first act at being undead again, in a matter of speaking, is to attack Klaus (Joseph Morgan) for a little sweet payback.
When Klaus tells Elijah that Michael is dead, he follows it with a desperate plea for him to remember the oath he made to stand by him. Elijah briefly introduces us to the two remaining originals that remain in the coffins, Kol (Nathaniel Buzolic) for over a century and Finn (Casper Zafer) for over 900 years. Klaus claims that Stefan is the reason the two remain asleep. His brotherly plea is touching, but it seems like he’s used this one before.
Alaric (Matt Davis) is fighting a nasty hangover as per usual. Elena (Nina Dobrev) tries to play the understanding daughter figure, but it seems too soon. Sheriff Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre) interrupts the conversation with more news from the murder of the medical examiner.
Apparently, the dagger used to kill him came from a set that belongs to the Gilbert family that is stashed somewhere in the lake house – probably in the secret room we discovered last season with all of the journals. The clean set of prints found on the dagger match one Elena Gilbert – an odd change of events.
First call from Elena is Damon (Ian Somerhalder). Funny how he has become her go-to person for matters of personal safety. Who would have guessed way back when they first laid angry eyes on each other this would be the outcome. Damon is still suspicious of Meredith (Torrey DeVitto), even with the obvious Stefan-out-of-control element to consider. He cuts the conversation short for “tea with an old friend.”
That old friend turns out to be none other than the newborn Elijah. Not too much of a surprise considering the preview, but still an equally thrilling event. After Elijah went back on his word to kill Klaus during the ritual that left Aunt Jenna in the ground, the question of whether he can be trusted or not is definitely in the air. Options, however, are short and anyone that may be of help is one of them.
Meanwhile, Stefan (Paul Wesley) takes Bonnie (Kat Graham) and her mother (Persia White) to the mystery coffin. Damon showed some extra wit this time, hiding the coffin where vampires can’t get in – the cave under the Lockwood property. Bonnie isn’t the only one that doesn’t trust Abby, Stefan is on her side with this point of view. Waiting outside the cave is an angsty Elena.
Elena comes on strong with the question of the medical examiner. Stefan takes it a bit personal retorting, “did you ask Damon if he killed anyone lately?” Ouch, looks like someone is still licking his love wounds.
Caroline (Candice Accola) pays Meredith a visit at the hospital to thank her for saving her father’s life. Meredith seems unaware of her vampire status, but acutely aware of Bill Forbes (Jack Coleman) dislike for her method of using vampire blood to save him. That only last a moment as she announces being in the know with her “medical curiosity.”
Caroline almost makes it out of the hospital with Elena in tow before she hears her father’s cell phone with her super special vampire hearing. What she finds isn’t so special. Her father is in the medical supply room slumped against a shelving unit. From the looks of it, Bill was the next victim in the vampire hater of the month club conspiracy.
A stunned Caroline desperately tries to figure out what to do when Elena painfully brings up the point that he had vampire blood in him. Bam! Bill Forbes is reborn as exactly the thing he hates the most. This is definitely an interesting development, and not one we saw coming!
Bonnie and Abby are still trying to figure out how to release the mystery coffin from its witchy seal. Bonnie explains the writing on the wall to her mother – it sounds almost beautiful, that is if we didn’t already know most of the details. A missing page from Abby’s grimwar might hold the key. She ripped out the spell she used to hold Michael in the coffin to forget, but a picture on the adjacent page has a picture that might explain a few things. The spell takes two generations of witches to cast, and theoretically two to unbind.
Demon solicits Stefan for a sit-down with Elijah and Klaus. Stefan isn’t sold at the idea of making a deal with an unwavering original – and we don’t blame him. Although Klaus is a man of his word, he’s a bit beyond the brotherly bond that the two once shared. Damon just wants to buy some time for the witches to work. His decision to release Elijah still hasn’t proven itself as smart, and after the last screw over, Stefan may be right this time. Stefan can’t help but brood over the Elena-Damon kiss. This new material gives him an edge that looks very attractive on him. Damon turns it around on him with “if you weren’t a dick that kiss wouldn’t have happened.”
At the hospital, Bill is in panic mode major as he realizes what is happening. His reaction is ironically not far off from Caroline’s after Katherine (also Dobrev) turned her as part of her sick game. Bill is unwilling to drink blood, he’s ready to die if it means he won’t become a vampire. Caroline faces the thought of losing her father, but the only thing he has left is his righteous choice to not become a vampire. Matt shows up for support, and just in time.
The Gilbert residence is abuzz with weaponry as Alaric takes inventory. The knife used to “kill” Bill (haha) came from a set hidden in the house. Alaric puts the pieces together and realizes that Meredith has had access to all of the pointy things in question. Things are starting to look more than just a coincidence, if it’s not her, let’s hope she has an alibi.
The guests of honor arrive for dinner at the originals. When Elijah breaches the subject of Elena things get tense. Klaus decides to share some family history, bringing up the creator of the doppelganger, Tatia. Now this is a story we haven’t heard before. The brothers were fiercely in love with this girl who the blood they consumed to become vampires belonged to. To end the feud between the boys, her mother, a powerful witch, took her away.
The Bennett’s are closer to opening the coffin after a pep talk from Bonnie. Bonnie goes out of the cave to call Damon – pesky cell phone service! While she is gone, the coffin hocuses and pocuses, and comes unsealed.
Klaus makes a strong statement about not being willing to leave Elena behind. He follows it with a sentiment we’ve heard before, from Elena’s birth mother, Isobel, of all people: the worst thing for Elena is the Salvatore brothers.
Speaking of Elena, she comes home with a chivalrous Matt (Zack Roerig) to find her electricity out. It gets earier when they discover blood pooled in the kitchen leading upstairs. The trail ends at Alaric, stabbed in the doorway of his room. Hopefully this was mystic, and his ring will do its thing!
They can’t be sure of the culprit so in order to make sure the ring works, Elena is forced to kill Alaric. Being the doppelganger finally has a perk.
Klaus counter offers with life long protection of Elena, in exchange for him leaving town and the Salvatore brothers walking away. Stefan isn’t willing to give up Elena and rejects the new deal. Klaus, in a rage, turns Stefan into medium rare barbeque to make a new offer. He wants his coffins and he is done negotiating. That doesn’t mean that everyone else is one the same page, he sends Elijah with Damon to make sure things get done right. When Elijah and Damon return, it is not the coffins they have in tow, but three pissed off originals.
Bill is fading fast. Caroline makes a final plea for him to save himself which turns into a tearful goodbye. He says all the right things and then he dies.
Elena is a mess with the idea of losing a father figure herself. She tries to call Damon, but he’s otherwise engaged. A late night stroll with Stefan brings the brothers closer than they’ve been since the ripper took over. They both painfully admit that they are in love with Elena.
Back at the meeting of pissed off re-awakened vampires, Klaus tries to explain his way out of this mess. He doesn’t look so tough surrounded by other invincibles. His family threatens to leave him alone, but not before they kill the doppelganger. Oooh, it looks like Elena will need to amp up her security team.
And in walks the original witch. If your jaw didn’t drop at this moment, shame on you. An exasperated Rebekah (Claire Holt) manages to get a “mother” out before anyone else can muster a thought. It’s nothing like your dead mother to come back to life and verbally assault a grown man. Or not.
She wants what? To be a family again? Did I hear that correctly? This is the biggest curve ball we’ve seen all season! Which begs the question, he’s been carting around his actual dead mother in a coffin for thousands of years and she still looks that fresh? Something seems fishy.
Check out the extended preview of next week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, Dangerous Liaisons, to see what the originals have in store for the residents of Mystic Falls!