Well, I didn’t see that coming.
What am I saying, this is the freaking Vampire Diaries! I never see it coming. Most episodes though end with their “mini” cliffhangers and me going “that’s a new twist.” This week my reaction was a more intense, “WHAT??????”
We have a serial killer folks. Apparently this isn’t the first time council members in Mystic Falls have been murdered. It happened in 1912. To Zachariah Salvatore. He was Damon and Stefan’s nephew, although the cover at the funeral was “Uncle.” The appearance of the black crow in the graveyard was a nice callback. Damon must be in town.
Addressing the cliffhanger from the last episode, Alaric awakes in jail with blood and a bullet hole on his shirt but a healed wound. Meredith was nice enough to heal him with vampire blood after she shot him, but not nice enough to keep his ass from being thrown in jail for murder of founders members. She even claims that Alaric’s knife attack was self inflicted. No, I’m not buying it either.
Elena and Matt certainly aren’t buying her story and break into Meredith’s place. They find an old Gilbert family journal, which Matt easily hides when they’re caught by Meredith. His explanation for getting away with theft is so perfect Matt. “Sometimes it pays to be the only normal one in a town of vampires. You’re practically invisible.”
Matt becomes this week’s fourth wheel, or fifth wheel, oh heck perhaps the eighth wheel in this whole Elena/Damon/Stefan love triangle. Elena tells an inquisitive Matt why she fell for Stefan. He felt safe after her parents died, because he can’t die. Matt doesn’t understand why she fell for Damon then. “Damon just sort of snuck up on me,” Elena confesses. “No matter what I do I can’t shake him.” I do wonder if that’s exactly why Katherine fell for him too. In the “let’s add insult to injury” part, Matt tells Elena once you fall in love with someone, he doesn’t know if you can ever shake them. Cue massive Elena guilt. Poor Matt. He just can’t seem to love the right girl, can he?
Among all this, something extraordinary happened in the Salvatore camp. The brothers both decided to care for each other! Damon was livid over Alaric’s imprisonment and went to Stefan for help since Stefan has journaled everything since the 1800’s. He got Stefan’s journal from 1912 and man, this brotherly relationship was more screwed up then.
Back to 1912, the brothers reunited for the first time in 50 years. Damon snacked on any woman that moved while Stefan was avoiding human blood. Enter the sultry Sage, who showed Damon that women can be more than food, they can be pleasure. She showed him the type of woman to target and a pattern was born. One that exists to this day (womanizer anyone?). The problem was, Damon wanted to get Stefan in on the action but Stefan had that ripper thing going. The same problem that exists today. Stefan fed on the girl Damon picked but also proceeded to rip her head off. He ran away to be a serial killer and Damon let him. Ah, dysfunctional families.
Present day and it’s obvious Damon carries that guilt. Stefan hasn’t been withdrawing from human blood well, so Damon’s determined to show him moderation. The victim du jour is picked, and Stefan almost goes overboard. Unlike 1912, Damon steps in and saves the girl, stopping Stefan from something he’ll regret. Later Damon vows that he will pull Stefan back every day until he doesn’t need him anymore. Why? “Cause right now, you’re all I’ve got.” I was blown away by how both brothers emotionally sold this scene. Salvatores in it now only for each other. It gave me goosebumps.
All of this drama has to lead to something, right? Now for the shocker. When Alaric talked with Liz in jail early in the episode, it’s revealed he’s been having memory lapses. He’s released from jail after Meredith comes up with some falsified evidence clearing him. Yeah, letting a killer loose doesn’t make sense to me either. Elena reads the journal and finds it belonged to Samantha Gilbert, who we saw in the flashbacks. She went a little nutty. Actually, a lot. Stefan found in one of his books she confessed to the murders ten years later and was sent to an asylum. This was after Damon supposedly killed her.
Once Stefan and Damon figure out Samantha cannot be alive killing people now, they realize what Meredith already has figured out. Samantha was wearing the Gilbert anti-death ring. Meredith visits Alaric to reveal the ring has a side effect. Total out of your flipping mind insanity. “You wear a ring that lets you cheat death Ric. How many times can you die before it changes you?” All the victims were killed with Alaric’s weapons. Then Elena shows up with the diary. Meredith speaks the truth. Alaric is our killer.
But, but, but…oh wow! Really??? So what’s going to happen to Alaric now? Does this mean they’re gonna get Jeremy back to make sure he hasn’t been absentmindedly killing people in Colorado? I really hope this means we’re getting Jeremy back. But first, the preview addresses the current problem. Alaric is bonkers.
Also in this very packed hour, Rebekah bugs the Salvatores about their family’s logging past and gets nowhere, and Bonnie’s mom decides being a vampire is better than death. Which still means Bonnie is still blaming Elena. There also wasn’t a lot of time spent on Sage, but she’s in the previews for next week. Damon, Rebekah, and Sage in a bedroom having fun. Time to fill in the blanks!
What a great way to come back from a long break. Can’t wait for next week!
