Previously on The Vampire Diaries
Mama Original tied all of her evil vampire spawn together so that killing one would kill them all, Damon and Elena were still in a snit over something or another (Damon’s bad behavior, I’m guessing?), Alaric discovered he had a council member-murdering alter ego, Damon done did Rebekah wrong, Stefan continued to try to claw his way back to being The Good One, Sage revealed Original Finn is her reason for living (or, er, not living?) literally and figuratively, Bonnie’s mom left AGAIN after being turned by Damon, and the gang discovered that the wood used for the Wickory Bridge sign could kill the Originals for once and for all (*fingers crossed*).
(Need to catch up? Visit our TVD recap index for links to past episode recaps.)
Original Hijinx
This week in “The Murder of One,” the Salvatore brothers hatched yet another plan to kill the Originals, and the episode launched with them keeping Elena in the dark as they whittled their new stakes to some cool music. Honestly, I figured the big twist in the episode would be that for some reason or another it was impossible to kill the Originals again, so I didn’t pay that much attention to this part. Turns out I was mostly right, because while Stefan did manage to kill an Original (Finn, much to Sage’s despair), he did not do it fast enough: Bonnie had already completed a spell under duress for Klaus to unlink all the Originals. Soooo, shocker, most of the Originals will live to see another episode. Yawn.
There was an interesting twist in the plot, however, in that while the Originals are no longer linked to each other, each Original is linked to his or her descendants’s by the bloodline they share. Meaning, for instance, that if the gang were to kill Klaus, Tyler would die for sure, as would any other vampire in his undoubtedly complex family tree. Bummer, huh?
All Tied Up
My favorite *superficial* part of the episode was when Rebekah chained up Damon. To which Damon just said, “Even for me, it’s a little kinky.” Haaaa. I appreciated that Rebekah felt she needed to rip open Damon’s shirt to get on with the torturing. A++
Get Real
In all seriousness, though, I thought this episode got a lot right with the character development, which hasn’t seemed to be a huge priority this season with all the plotty/Original stuff going on. I loved Alaric apologizing to Caroline for her dad, and Caroline telling him that she has blood on her hands too. That was a fantastic conversation. And I loved Bonnie turning away from Damon but then telling Elena that Damon was being tortured, then having a well-deserved breakdown by her car. She acted the hell out of that, I thought. These are the moments that really resonate with me in the show because these are the characters we’ve been following for three seasons now.
The Relationship Tracker
Damon/Elena
Call me easily fooled, but I was pretty excited there for a sec when I thought Elena was saving Damon for realz. I thought he was just out of it because of vervain or whatever. But anyway, it was pretty cool to see Elena as the rescuer for once and offering her blood to Damon the way I *think* she only ever has for Stefan in the past. But then Damon woke up. Figures.
Still, obviously Delena fans obviously have a lot to be excited about, considering that Stefan seems fully aware now that not only does Damon love Elena but that Elena might return his feelings.
Stefan/Elena
Probably not a popular opinion, but I’ve enjoyed these moments lately when Stefan has been all about the guilt and regret. Call me crazy, but apparently I’ve missed Stefan the Saint. Anyway, so I liked the exchange where he told Elena: “I love you. I will always love you. I just want you to look me in the eye and tell me you don’t have feelings for [Damon]” and Elena was like, “I don’t know how I feel” and he was all emo. Stefan knows he brought it on himself, so I...feel kinda bad for him!
Sidenote: I don’t know if TVD realizes it, but I’d much rather decide on my own that a character is worthy of sympathy or whatever (like Stefan here) than be TOLD how I should feel (like that Elena is made of goodness and light and that Caroline can only ever endeavor to be more like her perfect, forgiving self).
What did you think of the episode? What were your highlights and lowlights? Anyone else excited for the return of Tyler next week? And where ARE Jeremy and Katherine, already?
