THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “Fool Me Once”

Photo Credit: Quantrell Colbert/The CW.

Read on for my recap and review of The Vampire Diaries 1×14, aired February 11th, 2010:

Another hiatus is upon us, but this latest episode has left us with plenty to discuss.  It was another stellar hour of television, and left me wanting more.  I know, what else is new?  The tomb was opened, and Katherine was not inside.  Surprise!  Damon has been shattered, and I am curious to see what he will do next.  Will he try to win Katherine back?  Or swear vengeance upon her?  Or maybe just play it cool?  We will have to wait until March 25^th (mark your calendars) to find out.  Now, on to the recap.

Elena wakes up holding her head, and she’s in Ben and Anna’s hotel room.  Oh yes, she was kidnapped by Jeremy’s vampire girlfriend at the end of the last episode.  She sees Ben sleeping, and tries to quietly sneak out.  Side note: I love that she is wearing converse.  She almost makes it, but when she unlocks the door Ben gets up and super-speeds over.  He tries to glamour her, and smarty-pants that she is, Elena pretends that it works.  When Ben turns around, she quickly tries to escape.  However, it is bad timing, as Anna is just coming in.  Ben makes excuses: “I told her not to move.  I did that eye thing you taught me.”  Hee.  Anna: “You forgot the lesson about vervain.  She dates a vampire, Ben.  Duh.”  Ha!  And that is favorite line number one.  Brace yourselves, as there are many to come.  Elena asks who she is and what she wants, but Anna says that it doesn’t matter.  Anna locks Elena in the bathroom, where Bonnie is in the tub, passed out. Cue title card.

Meanwhile, Damon is reading through the grimoire, at Casa Salvatore.  Stefan comes in and tells Damon that they took Elena.  He has been searching for her all night, and is worried that they may have killed her with Damon’s blood in her system.  Damon quips, “Then at least you know you’ll see her again.”  Ha!  Stefan then takes the opportunity to both lecture his brother, and play the martyr, in one fell swoop: “You know, all I can remember is hating you.  There might have been a time when that was different, but your choices have erased anything good about you.  I also know that you have just as much reason to hate me.  This all began with me. Katherine got taken away from you, because of me.  And I’m sorry.”  Damon hilariously replies: “Apology accepted.”  Even more hilariously, Stefan seems to buy this.  What?  I guess the stress of Elena’s capture has made him stupid.  Stefan begs again for Damon to tell him what he knows.  As we know, Damon does know where Anna is staying.  However, Damon, predictably, chooses not to.  Damon: “I mean this sincerely.  I hope Elena dies.”  Nothing Damon said in that scene was sincere.  I don’t believe for one minute that Damon hopes Elena will die … that is, not unless she for sure has enough blood in her system to turn.  I think that Damon might be OK with vamp Elena.

Back at the hotel, Elena revives Bonnie with some cold water.  Elena is relieved that her friend is alright.  So am I.  Elena notes that the vamps can hear them, and turns on the water.  Smart cookie.  Bonnie bemoans her stupidity in trusting Ben, and wonders why they’re there.  Elena: “It must have something to do with the tomb and Emily’s spell book.” Bonnie has no idea what Elena is talking about, and wonders why she didn’t know about any of this.  Elena explains that she was trying to keep her out of it.  Take this as a lesson, Elena.  Communication saves lives—especially when it comes to supernatural baddies.  Truth.  At that point Ben comes in, who is, by the way, totally dead to me.  Bonnie: “You’re wasting your time.  I’m not gonna help you.”  Ben: “That’s why she’s here.  Motivation for you to behave.”  As we all suspected.  Turning to Bonnie, Ben adds: “You know, you shouldn’t be so desperate.  You made it too easy.”  Die, Ben.

Ben pushes Elena outside to talk to Anna.  Anna: “Well, well, Elena Gilbert.  You really are Katherine’s doppelgänger.  You must have the Salvatore boys reeling.”  She is not wrong.  Elena asks who she is.  Her captor explains: “I’m Anna.  Your brother may have mentioned me.  I mean, we’re like practically dating.”  Hee.  I love Anna.

At the Mystic Grill, Tyler and Matt play pool and discuss a party at Duke’s, which involved 10 kegs.  Matt: “Duke’s a d@#che.”  Matt!  I am disappointed in you with that language.  Nearby, Jeremy is doing his homework, because that’s all he does now.  Tyler: “What’s the problem, Gilbert?”  Jeremy: “Don’t have one, Lockwood.”  Tyler: “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”  Matt: “Do you ever get bored of it?”  Tyler: “Of what?”  Matt: “Yourself.”  Jeremy laughs.

Caroline approaches, and asks Jeremy where Elena is.  Jeremy says that she’s doing something with Stefan.  Caroline brats: “I’m so not going to be one of those girls who disappears just because she has a new boyfriend.”  Hee.  I love Caroline.  She is also planning to go to Duke’s party, and we learn from her who this mysterious Duke is.  Apparently his real name is Bob or something, he’s a total ass, but he buys the beer, and he throws a party every year, when he gets home from Duke.  Caroline says that Jeremy should come.  Jeremy begs off, but Caroline insists: “No seriously.  Everyone goes, even quiet loner little brothers.  Think about it.”  Aaaww, Caroline and Matt are both looking out for Jeremy.  Sweet.

Caroline then approaches Matt.  And she has a speech prepared.  Of course.  Caroline: “Hey.  So I have a speech. It is fully scripted and well rehearsed.  Are you ready for it?”  Matt still has a lot to learn about his new lady love: “You wrote a speech?”  Caroline: “Yes.  It’s a ‘you kissed me and I don’t want things to be weird’ speech.  It’s preemptive.”  Matt laughs: “Preemptive?”  Caroline is dead serious: “Yeah.  You know in case you were having second thoughts or regrets or were like ooged out.”  Matt tells her to go for it.  Caroline continues: “I just want to let you know that right here and right now, I’m offering you an out.  Like an escape clause.”  Matt: “Why are you giving me an escape clause?”  Caroline: “I don’t want to make assumptions about what it is we are doing here.”  Matt: “Got it.”  Caroline: “So, if you would like to exercise it, let me know.”  Matt: “I’m good, but thanks.”  Caroline: “OK good.  So, see you for Duke’s tonight.”  Matt: “Yeah.”  While Matt handled this gracefully, he really missed out on the opportunity to ease Caroline’s mind.  I mean, “Yeah”?  That’s it?  Caroline clearly needs some reassurance that the boy likes her.  C’mon Matt, you can do better than that.

And then we cut to perhaps the greatest scene of the episode, in which Grams is awesome.  Honestly, I can’t decide whether to refer to her as Grams or Sheila, so I may just jump around a little.  Anyway, Damon comes to Grams’ door asking for Bonnie.  Grams tells him that “She’s not here.”  Damon, clueless, asks, “Oh, do you know when she ….”  Grams cuts him off: “Never.”  Damon: “You have quite an opinion for someone who doesn’t know me.”  Grams: “You got some nerve knocking on a Bennett witch’s door and asking her for anything.”  I love Damon’s shocked expression at this point.  He asks what he did.  Grams: “Spirits talk, Mr. Salvatore, and so does my granddaughter. You are no friend to us.  Now get off my porch.”  Love.  Damon: “Step outside and say that.”  Ooh, Damon, you do not want to mess with her.  Sheila steps out and causes Damon to writhe in pain.  She tells him: “I am not Bonnie.  You don’t want to mess with me.”  Truth.  Ah, let me just revel in that moment for a bit.  OK, I’m back.  Despite the hard-core awesome of that exchange, when Sheila comes inside, she looks like it tired her out.  This is an important detail for later.  Also, it shows that in this mythology magic has consequences, which I love.  Magic has to have consequences in any good witch story, or it becomes too easy, and contrived obstacles must be invented.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Elena tells Anna that Bonnie is not going to open the tomb.  Anna thinks she will.  [And she’s right.]  Elena asks whether she really wants Katherine out that bad.  Then comes my favorite line of the episode.  Anna: “Trust me, no one I know wants to see that girl again.  Except Damon, the love struck idiot.”  Hee.  It is even more significant when you realize that Anna knows at this point that Katherine is not in the tomb.  That girl is good at keeping a secret.  Elena asks: “Then what is it?  Or who is it?”  Anna tells her the truth: “My mother’s in there.  Katherine couldn’t help herself.  She just had to toy around with both of the Salvatore brothers.  Then when she got caught, so did my mother.  I watched Jonathan Gilbert take her away.”  Anna’s anger at Katherine is well deserved, methinks.  Don’t get me wrong, I still adore Katherine, but as the villain of the story.  Yes, she is a stone cold bi@%#, but that’s exactly why I like her.  I’m not exactly on her side, but I think she adds so much to the story, and is an absolute joy to watch on screen.  But back to the here and now.  Elena says that she’s sorry.  Anna: “You really mean that don’t you?  Yeah, I think we’ll skip the dead mom bonding, so you can start serving a purpose.”  Ah, it’s sad that they really do have that in common.  But Anna is too fixated on her goal to let her humanity shine through at this point—though I do think that Anna does have a lot of humanity left in her, which we see later.  Elena wonders what her purpose is, and Anna replies, “Leverage.”  Yep, just as we all suspected ever since Bonnie started waxing poetic about her close friendship with Elena.  Sigh.  But I have to say, the fact that Bonnie wears her heart on her sleeve is one of the things I love about her.  She’s very genuine, which I appreciate.

Anna calls Stefan on Elena’s phone and informs him that she has Elena and the witch.  She needs the grimoire, and they need the witch, so she proposes that one of the Salvatores meet her in the town square.  When Stefan gets off the phone, he turns to Damon, as he has the grimoire.  Damon: “Go ahead, grovel again.  Oh wait, I don’t care.”  I shouldn’t find that funny, but I really do.

Anna leaves the hotel, to meet one of the boys, leaving Ben in charge of Elena and Bonnie.  Anna, you are a smart girl usually, but baaad idea.  Before leaving, she reminds Ben: “Compulsion won’t work.  Just use violence.”  Hee.  Another of my many favorite lines of the episode.  Ben tells the girls to sit and behave.  He makes conversation, but no one cares what Ben says—or at least I don’t.  Elena asks if there’s anything to drink, and he quips, “Are you offering?”  Oops, Elena.  As someone who is dating a vampire, you should be more careful with your discussion of beverages.  He tells her that there’s water on the nightstand.  When Elena picks up a glass, Bonnie very pointedly asks to have a sip.  Her expression is very much, “I have a plan, so do what I say!”  Then Bonnie throws the water onto Ben and he catches on fire!  Awesome.  Bonnie should light vampires on fire more often.  This is fun.  The girls run for it, but unfortunately the fire was not quite hot enough, because Ben catches Elena.  Something to work on for next time, Bonnie.  Bonnie is forced to come back, so that Elena is not harmed.  Well, good try anyway, ladies.  I’m sure that next time you are kidnapped, you’ll escape admirably.

In town, Anna runs into Jeremy on her way to her meeting.  Yeah, no one told Jeremy to stay away from the Anna.  Fail.  So, after Anna kidnapped Elena, and Stefan was in the Gilbert house and both ladies were missing, he just said nothing.  Great.  A bit more communication would solve 75% of the problems in Mystic Falls.  However, in the show’s defense, that is true of most television shows.  Jeremy has been inspired by Caroline, so he invites Anna to go to Duke’s party.  Jeremy is also guilty of contributing to the overuse of the word d#@che.  It was funny the first 50 times it was used on Supernatural, but now I am over it.  Jeremy reasons: “And I like you.  You’re fun.  And you’re also kind of strange and lurky, but I guess I like that too.”  Aw, just the way to melt a girl’s heart.  When Anna hears where the party is, in the woods by the old cemetery, she agrees.  She says that she’ll meet him there.

Anna goes to sit on a bench in the square, and Damon appears.  He asks: “Got a hot date, or you just planning on nabbing the entire Gilbert family?”  Both?  Anna explains: “Party, right next to the old cemetery.  Isn’t that nice of them?  Lots of warm bodies for serving vampires.”  It is convenient.  She proposes they work together, as she is minus the spell book and he is minus the witch.  Damon tells her, “Stefan will come after you, you know that, for messing with Elena.”  Anna: “Then he won’t be too happy when I kill her when I don’t get what I want.”  Damon pauses, and then, with effort, speaks up: “When do you want to do this?”  Anna: “God, it’s like 1864 all over again.  You Salvatores are truly pathetic when it comes to women.”  Ha!  OK, so can I change my favorite line?  Again, I really adore Anna and her snark.  She really has the Salvatores’ number.  Also, let’s talk about what this scene means.  When faced with the threat on Elena’s life, he acquiesces to Anna’s demands.  Damon does not want Elena to die, despite his protestations to the contrary.  I’m just going to say it: he cares about Elena.  Once he realizes that Katherine is not in the tomb, everything will be primed for Damon to fall in love with Elena.  She is the image he has loved for over a century, but with a good heart.  Damon is really going to be helpless to her, I think.  Anna continues, “Tonight, after sundown.  Meet at the church.”  Oh yeah, I’m sure that will go smoothly.

Back at the hotel, Ben continues to be an ass.  He asks Bonnie: “Witches don’t have eternal life, right?  So you guys can die?”  Bonnie: “Yeah, we can die.”  Ben: “That sucks.”  Ben really didn’t pay attention in vampire class.  You can die too, you idiot.  This scene makes me look forward to later.  At that moment, Stefan bursts in, with his heroic face on.  He opens the curtains, so that Ben has to hide.  I do love hard core Stefan.  He sends the girls outside.   Then he addresses Ben: “When the sun goes down, leave town.  If I ever see you again, I will kill you.”  Ben is too dumb to know that Stefan keeps his promises … er, threats, I should say.  Promises he occasionally breaks, but only if they’re made to Damon.  I’m kind of glad that Ben is too dumb to listen to Stefan, as his death scene is pretty frakin’ amazing.  But more on that later.

Cut to Bonnie and Grams, at Grams’ house.  Bonnie asks how she knew where they were.  Grams: “Many things can fuel a witch’s power: worry, anger.  After Stefan told me that they had taken you, I had a lot of both.  A simple locator spell was easy after that.”  Such a mama bear—I love it.  Bonnie: “I’m sorry, about all of this.”  Grams: “Not as sorry as they’re gonna be.”  Hee.  See, you do not mess with Bonnie, or Grams will get you.  Elena and Stefan enter.  Elena wonders what they do now.  Patronizing Red Alert: Stefan: “Well, for now you need to stay here.”  Grams: “A prisoner, in my own home?”  Stefan: “I can’t protect you if you leave the house.”  And before I could say it, Sheila does: “We’ll protect ourselves.”  Yeah, you will.  Love.  Elena proposes that they work with Damon: “We need to let him have Katherine back.  He’s not gonna stop until he gets her.  If we help him, maybe that ends it.”  Bonnie interjects: “No.  He doesn’t deserve to get what he wants.”  True, but life isn’t fair.  Elena: “What other choice do we have?”  Sheila bemoans the pesky vamp problem: “Witches, getting pulled down by vampire problems, as much as we try to do to stay out of it.  I’ll open the tomb.  You get your brother’s girl, and destroy the rest, with fire.  Then this will be all over.”  Vampires are SUCH a pain.  Stefan reminds them that they still have to get Damon to agree.  Elena points out that he already agreed once.  Stefan: “Yeah, and then we double crossed him.  So now he’s angry.”  Elena begs to differ: “He’s hurt.  There’s a difference.  I think I know what I have to do.”  Interesting.  And I agree.  Also, since when does Elena understand Damon so much better than Stefan does?  Are they rushing the triangle elements?  Or does this make sense in terms of what we’ve seen so far?  I am of two minds about it.  Make your case, either way, in the comments section.

When Anna returns to the hotel, she is not thrilled with her minion’s failure.  Bad minion!  Ben has been crouching in the shade of the bed, and he pops his hooded head up [hilarious!] when Anna enters.  He makes excuses: “It was Stefan.  There was nothing I could do …”  Anna does us all a favor and cuts him off: “Stop talking.”  She begins thinking aloud: “Without the witch, we don’t have Damon or the grimoire.  Damon’s not gonna stop.  He’ll find a way to get in.  And we’re gonna be there when he does.”  Way to see the silver lining and think on your feet!  I think Anna may be on her way to becoming my favorite character.

Meanwhile, Damon is getting ready to leave Casa Salvatore, when Elena enters.  When he sees her, he takes a moment to take her presence in.  He so cares.  He pretends not to though, of course: “I’m gonna have to change the locks.  Did you stage a jail break?”  Elena explains: “Stefan.”  Damon: “Ah, brother.  Ever the white knight.”  Elena tells him that she convinced Bonnie to help, which Damon doubts.  Elena: “I’m not going to say that I’m sorry we got the grimoire without you last night, because I’m not really.”  Damon: “Well, at least you’re honest.”  Elena: “I was protecting the people I love, Damon.  But so were you, in your own twisted way.  And as hard as it is to figure, we’re all on the same side, after the same thing.”  Damon: “Not interested.”  Oh, he so is.  Elena: “Yes you are, because you were willing to work with us yesterday.”  Damon: “Fool me once, shame on you.”  I’m going to forgive that line, and the episode title for that matter, for the sake of the rest of the episode.  Elena calls his bluff: “OK, when we were in Atlanta, why didn’t you use your compulsion on me?”  Damon: “Who’s to say I didn’t?”  Elena: “You didn’t.  I know you didn’t.  But you could have.”  Well, that answers that question.  I’m glad that he did not compel her, even though that makes Elena rather naïve and trusting, for going along with Damon on her own.  Elena continues: “You and I, we have something, an understanding.  And I know that my betrayal hurt you, different from how it is with you and Stefan.  But I’m promising you this now: I will help you get Katherine back.”  Damon: “I wish I could believe you.”  Elena takes off the necklace and tells him to ask her if she’s lying now.  Good move, Elena.  Damon stares at Elena, and approaches her.  He tells her: “You know Anna won’t stop by the way, no matter what I do.”  Elena: “Then we’ll deal with it.”  Damon puts the necklace back on her, and I’m not gonna lie—the scene is electric.  Like, major voltage, people.  Damon: “I didn’t compel you in Atlanta, because we were having fun.  I wanted it to be real.  I’m trusting you.  Don’t make me regret it.”  The first sincere thing that Damon has said in the entire episode.  And it breaks my heart.  Curse you, Ian Somerhalder!  You make it too hard to hate Damon.  What I find so sad about that line is the part about him wanting it to be real.  He is so used to just glamouring people to have a good time: Vicki, Caroline, etc.  But with Elena he wanted something real—probably a very rare experience for Damon.  Pause recap for some perspective.  Now, I am forcing myself to remember Lexi and Bree.

Later, at Duke’s party, Elena and Damon approach.  Elena had forgotten all about the party, and hopes they stay away from the church.  Damon can’t resist a little dig: “Your hope, not mine.”  They run into Caroline and Matt.  Caroline quickly holds Matt’s hand, in a rather obvious way.  Matt, being the gentleman he is, holds his hand out to Damon: “We haven’t met.  I’m Matt.”  Of course he offers to shake the evil vampire’s hand.  I love him.  Damon: “Matt, there’s a reason we haven’t met.”  Ouch.  He hurries Elena away, as she apologizes.  Side note: Jeremy is also at this party that Elena is breezing through.  Despite being kidnapped by Jeremy’s girlfriend, she has yet to tell her brother to avoid the vampire.  I mean, Jeremy’s not my favorite character, but supposedly Elena likes him well enough.  Not even a phone call?

At the old church, Stefan is waiting with Bonnie and Grams.  He has a flame thrower, to destroy the vamps.  I am waiting for that in anticipation.  It is almost as good as a rocket launcher.  A rocket launcher should be Alaric’s next toy.  Prop department take note.  Elena and Damon approach.

Back at the party, kids are being kids, red plastic cups and all.  Remember those?  Ah, memories.  Tyler asks Jeremy if he has any weed.  Jeremy acts like they never had their connection under the full moon.  How soon they forget.  Sigh.  Jeremy: “You’re kidding me right?  You act like a total dick every time we cross paths, and now you want to party with me?”  Tyler: “Lighten up, Gilbert.  I’m just asking a question.”  Jeremy explains that he doesn’t party anymore.  Right, because he is Pod Jeremy.  Tyler: “Carry on, just standing there by yourself, all alone.  The enemy of fun.  Do you even have any friends?”  Jeremy seems hurt by this, but when Jeremy turns, there is Anna.  He tells her, “Thank God!”  Anna: “Weird hello, but OK.”  Jeremy assures her that nothing is the matter, and she proposes a walk into the dark and deserted woods.  No!  Don’t walk into the woods with the vampire girl!  Or go ahead.  Do I really care?

Under the church, outside the tomb, Grams and Bonnie prepare the ritual.  Damon brought some blood for Katherine, from a hospital.  So sweet.  He  looks at his brother, and quips: “Admit it.  You can’t wait to get rid of me.”  Stefan monotones: “I can’t wait to get rid of you.”  For the record, I don’t really believe Stefan.

Cut back to Anna and Jeremy in the woods, by the cemetery.  Anna: “This place is wild.”  Jeremy: “You kind of like dead people, huh?”  Anna: “I’m strange, remember?”  Jeremy gets caught up in thinking about something.  Anna asks, “You OK?”  Jeremy notes that this place makes him think of someone he used to know, clearly referencing Vicki.  So is Jeremy starting to get his memories back?  [See my clarification about this in the comments.]  I was talking to Connie about this, and we both agreed that Damon’s glamour can’t be permanent.  Damon may be powerful, but I can’t imagine that he is powerful enough to permanently mind warp someone.  Jeremy jokes about only making it through 37 minutes of the party.  Anna:  “Not your scene?”  Jeremy: “I’m not really sure what my scene is anymore.  So, what do you say?  You want to be part of my non-scene?”  She says that she would love to, but she informs him that she and her mom are moving away.  He says that that’s a bummer, and she looks like she agrees.  I think Anna may have some genuine feeling for young Jeremy.  What is it about those Gilberts?  They kiss, and she vamps out.  Oops.  Jeremy totally notices: “Anna, your face!”  At that moment, Ben comes up from behind and knocks Jeremy out.  Anna is not exactly thrilled: “You didn’t have to hit him that hard.”  Ben disagrees: “Yes, I did.”  Anna tells her minion: “Grab him and let’s go.  I’m taking him to meet my mother.”  Oh, a meal for Pearl.

Back at the party, Tyler approaches Matt and steals his beer.  He asks where his date is, and Matt says “Who knows?”  Matt!  That is NOT very Matt-ly behavior.  Tyler: “Ah, is the honeymoon over already?”  Matt: “Maybe.”  Geez, after one little hand holding?  Please.  Tyler agrees with me: “After all that grief you gave me about liking her, I figured it would last more than five minutes.”  Matt:  “I just don’t know if I can do the whole public couple thing.  She seems like she might be a little clingy.”  Again, Matt!  Tyler: “Well, good.  I need my boy single anyway.”  Shut up, Tyler.  Matt, I do not approve of this!  Caroline approaches, and Tyler splits.  Caroline admits that the hand thing was lame, and offers another speech: “The hand thing, with Elena, it was lame.  Well, I was lame.  Your feelings for Elena aside, Damon was there, and he was always such a jerk to me.  And I wanted to show off that I was with the good guy.  So anyway, I was lame.  So, am I forgiven?”  Aawww.  Matt is powerless to Caroline’s speeches, and replies: “Of course, yeah.”  Thank you, show.  You had me worried for a minute.

Down under the church, the witches are chanting the spell.  Damon asks what they are saying, and Stefan replies, “It sounds Latin.”  Elena: “I don’t think it’s Latin.”  Hmmm, I think they are both right.  Several of the words were Latin (if I heard them correctly): “[..] ex mallone (from the stem/ tumor) […] quo incendis (by/ in which you are burning) [...] ero (I will be) signis (seals/ signs/ images)” was repeated over and over again.  It is too hard to translate without a full sentence, as I can’t determine which case signum is in without context, etc.  And without seeing the spelling, I could be making major mistakes with the conjugation of incendo, and totally misunderstand the use of mallone (which seems like an odd word to use).  Please forgive my Latin geekery.  If anyone finds out the story of the spell’s language, let me know.  The rest of the words did not sound like Latin, so it seems like the writers mixed a few languages, creating gibberish.  Did they just not want to make it translatable, or were they going for something different?  But back to the plot.  The tomb opens!  Bonnie: “It worked.”  Sheila: “Of course it worked.”  Hee.  I love Sheila.  Stefan leaves to get the gasoline.  As soon as Stefan is gone, Damon grabs Elena.  Sheila: “Don’t take her in!  I’ll bring the walls down.”  Damon: “You’ll bring the walls down if I don’t.  Do you think I trust you?”  Sheila: “As much as I trust you.”  Elena intercedes and agrees to go in.  Damon proceeds ahead, with the torch.  So I guess the vampires in this mythology don’t have night vision?  Or are the torches for the camera?

Outside, above ground, Stefan sees Ben.  Stefan reminds him of his threat: “I thought I told you to leave.”  Ben: “I considered it.  Then I thought, screw you.”  Silly, silly, boy.  Anna appears on the opposite side: “Hey, hero.  I’m going down there to get my mother.”  Stefan: “I can’t let you do that.”  Anna: “Well, Ben’s about to make a main course out of Elena’s little brother.  So, you can stop me or him.  Your choice.”  She speeds away.  Oh, now Stefan cares about Jeremy.  Sigh.

Back in the tomb, Elena and Damon search for Katherine.  Good luck with that.  Outside the tomb, Anna comes down from above, and Sheila stands aside.  Bonnie asks, “Why did you let her go in?”  Sheila: “Because she isn’t coming out, baby.  None of them are.”  Gasp!

Up above, Stefan asks Ben: “Do you really think that she cares about you?  Hmmm?  You’re disposable.”  Ben: “I don’t care.  She already gave me what I want.”  Stefan is both amused and annoyed: “You’re gonna say eternal life?  You really that stupid?”  Yeah, Ben really didn’t pay attention to Anna’s vampire lessons, it seems.  Ben tries to play tough: “You know, I’ve heard about you.  You don’t feed.  You’re not strong enough to beat me.”  But Stefan does, and how.  Ben:  “Is that all you got?”  Stefan: “No, I’ve got this.”  With that, he picks up the flame thrower, and lights Ben on fire.  While Ben is a human vampire torch, Stefan doesn’t even move, or change expression.  It is awesome.

Inside the tomb, Elena has been separated from Damon and it is creeeepy.  We can’t see much, other than what Elena shines with her flashlight.  She is freaked, and she falls next to a decaying vampire body.  Aaagghh!  Then she sees Anna.  Uh oh.

Outside the tomb, Stefan comes down from outside, and asks where Elena is.  They inform him that Damon took her inside, and that if he goes in, he won’t be able to get out.  Stefan: “What did you do?”  Sheila: “Opening the door didn’t remove the seal.  It just opened the door.”  Stefan: “What’s the seal?”  Sheila: “Some seals keep vampires from entering.  This one keeps them from coming out.”  Stefan: “Elena’s human, she can leave.  Anna and Katherine can’t.  Damon can’t.  You were never planning on breaking the spell, were you?”  Stefan is upset.  Sheila: “I told you, I will protect my own.  Elena can get out.  That’s all that matters.”  I can’t say that I blame the woman.

Inside the tomb, Anna addresses Elena: “You must have a taste for it.  You scream and shriek and even bother to escape, and then you just come right back to him.  Your boyfriend did this you know.”  Elena corrects her: “His father did.”  Anna: “And Jonathan Gilbert.  I made the choice a long time ago that it would be Gilbert blood.  I had Jeremy all ready to go, but …”  She bites Elena’s wrist, and pushes her to Pearl.  Elena really should have told more people that she is adopted.  Also, I know that I should be worried for Elena’s safety and everything, but part of me was happy that poor desiccated Pearl was getting some nourishment.  Elena can spare a little, right?

Outside the tomb, Stefan hears Elena scream and runs in.  Bonnie screams, and then picks up the grimoire.  Bonnie: “You can’t just leave him in there, Grams.”  Sheila: “He made his choice.”  She continues: “We are not strong enough.  Even if we could bring the seal down, there’s no guarantee that we could get it back up again.”  Bonnie: “You said it yourself: many things can fuel a witch’s power.  Help me, or I’ll do it alone.”  Oh, Bonnie.  You may regret this later.

Back inside, Pearl feeds on Elena.  Stefan comes in, and orders them to let her go, pushing Anna aside.  He tells Elena to go, and lies that he’s right behind her.  Pearl comes to, and says her daughter’s name, stroking her face: “Anna.  Annabelle.”  Ah, a mother daughter reunion.

Outside the tomb, Elena realizes that Stefan can’t leave.  Bonnie explains that the seal is still up, and he can’t come out, yet.  Elena to Stefan: “We can’t leave him in there.  We promised him–both of us.”  Stefan: “I know.”  Grams: “Even if we’re able to break through the seal, we won’t be able to hold it for long.” Stefan nods, and goes back in for Damon.

When Stefan goes back into the tomb, he finds Damon kicking the wall.  He is clearly in agony.  Katherine is not there.  That’s right, Katherine was never in the tomb.  Vee totally called it on The Televixen’s TVD Podcast a few weeks ago.  Damon has been fixated on freeing Katherine for over a century, but it turns out that she didn’t need any saving.  I think that really it is the perfect conclusion to the tomb storyline.  Not for Damon though, who throws the bag of blood, which he had so thoughtfully procured for his lady love, at the wall.  That will be important later.

Outside, Bonnie and Grams hold hands and recite the same words as before (it seems).  Elena: “I think it’s working.”  Then Anna comes out with her mother.  She tells Elena: “I just wanted my mother back.  Jeremy’s fine.  He’s outside.  We won’t touch him.”  I believe her.  Holding the seal open is clearly taking a lot out of the witches.  Sheila says that they had better hurry.  Elena yells to Stefan that they can’t hold it much longer.

Inside the tomb, Stefan tries to convince Damon to leave.  Damon still can’t believe that his beloved is gone: “It doesn’t make sense. They locked her inside.”  Stefan: “It’s not worth spending all of eternity in here.  She’s not worth it.”  Finally, Elena enters, and she begs Damon to leave.  He looks at her with such an anguished expression.  Seriously, it haunts me.  I could be reading too much into it, but perhaps he is even hopeful for a second that she was Katherine?  It also seemed that he was horrified at the image of everything he can he never have.  Haunting.

Meanwhile, the witches are struggling to keep the seal open.  Finally, Elena, Stefan, and Damon get out.

Above ground, at Duke’s party, Matt and Caroline provide a much needed break from the tragedy below.  Matt: “Is this for real?”  Caroline: “Is what for real?”  Matt: “You being all cool and honest and open?”  Caroline gives another speech.  I love it!  She says: “Speech number three:  I want this to work.  And I’m scared that you’re gonna change your mind, and you’re not gonna want it.  I don’t want to mess it up.”  Matt assures her, “I don’t want to mess it up either.”  Then they eskimo kiss. Adorable.

Outside the tomb, Elena and Stefan check on Jeremy, who is alright.  Darn! What a relief!  Elena walks over to Damon, and embraces him.  It is really quite touching.  She holds him, and says, “I’m sorry.”  Damon is still in shock, and doesn’t even seem to register her presence.  Stefan looks on.  I’m going to diagnose his expression as “broody.”

At Grams’ house, Grams is not looking so great.  Bonnie offers to help her, but Grams scoffs: “You don’t need to coddle me, baby.”  Bonnie: “It was a big spell, Grams.  I could tell it took a lot out of you.”  Grams assures her granddaughter that she’ll be fine.  Famous last words.  Sigh of impending doom.

At the Gilbert home, Elena asks Jeremy how his head is.  He pretends to be confused: “I wish I knew how I passed out.  I didn’t drink that much, I swear.”  Elena asks: “And you don’t remember anything?”  Jeremy replies: “The whole thing’s pretty cloudy.  I know how this looks, and I’m sorry.”  Elena is used to Pod Jeremy I guess, so she is not suspicious.  She tells him, “I’ve got to head over to Bonnie’s for a little bit, but is there anything that you need?”  Jeremy: “No, I’m just gonna crash.”  Elena reminds him that Jenna is there, and she’ll be back soon.  Once Elena exits, however, Jeremy does NOT go to bed.  Instead, Jeremy looks up vampires on Bing.  I know, right?  Well, I have read that Bing is big in Iowa.  I guess Virginia too.  Maybe I will Google “Virginia” and “search engines” to find out.  But, more importantly, Pod Jeremy may be on the way out.  Jeremy already seemed to remember [his pain over] Vicki a bit, and definitely remembers Anna’s face changing.  Will he regain his lost pain and start to remember more?  We shall see.

At the hotel, Damon is waiting for Anna, when she and Pearl arrive.  Pearl is definitely looking more human, and less petrified.  Damon addresses Anna: “You knew Katherine wasn’t in there.”  Anna: “You wouldn’t have helped me.”  While Anna protests, Damon chokes Pearl.  Damon has pretty much lost it.  He yells: “Why do you get a happy ending?  Why do you get it and I don’t?”  Pearl spills: “The guard, the one at the church, the one who locked us in. She promised to turn him.  He was obsessed with her.  She had him under her spell, like everybody else.  He let her go.”  Damon lets Pearl go, and Anna fills him in further: “Last I saw her was Chicago, 1983.  She knew where you were, Damon.  She didn’t care.  I’m sorry.”  Ouch!  I mean, that has got to be extremely painful for Damon.  [I know.  Understatement of the year.]  Mother and daughter embrace, while Damon leaves, a broken man.  Yes, Damon is super sad, my heart breaks for him, blah blah blah.  I will get to that, but my first thought?  1983 flashback!!!  Please, show, make my wish come true.

Meanwhile, Elena calls Stefan, letting him know that she is at Bonnie’s.  She asks about Damon, and he says he’ll have to call her later.  Cut to Casa Salvatore.  Stefan enters a room where Damon sits, motionless, in front of a fire.  His world has been shattered, and he has nothing left.  The brothers sit in silence.  What a difference one woman has made in their lives.  The relationship between them has been destroyed, and she never even loved them.  Because of Katherine, they both died and became monsters, and she wasn’t even worth it.

At Grams’ house, Bonnie goes into Grams’ room to check on her.  She then realizes that Grams is not breathing.  Noooooooooo!!!  Not Grams!!!  Yes, our beloved Sheila seems to have died from the strain of the magic.  Despite my grief, this seemed believable, as we were shown throughout the episode that magic takes a lot out of the witches.  It was also very powerful and heartbreaking, as Grams went out a hero.  She saved Stefan, Damon, Anna, and Pearl.  She also showed how much she loved Bonnie, by agreeing to help.  In fact, Grams probably saved Bonnie’s life too, as Bonnie might not have made it if she did that spell alone.  While Elena calls the ambulance, Bonnie picks up a spell book, saying that she can fix it.  However, she seems to realize that it is hopeless, and then dissolves into tears while Elena comforts her.  When I first watched the episode, I was in denial that Grams had died, but on second viewing that does seem to be the case.  Do you think some type of resurrection is possible?  Or have I just watched too much Buffy?  She did die from mystical forces, rather than natural causes, so maybe …

Back in the tomb, we see one of the petrified vampires snacking on the blood that Damon threw against the wall.  Oops.  Also, it seems that the witches weren’t able to close the seal again, as said vampire gets up and strolls right out of the tomb.  Uh oh.  Maybe he’s a good vampire?  Probably not.  I’m thinking that being entombed for over a century would make any vamp cranky, homicidal, and insane.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a crazy vampire.  Could be fun.  He is probably not a big fan of Katherine, which does not bode well for Elena.  I predict a case of mistaken identity.  While Elena is lucky to inherit Katherine’s gorgeous hair, I’m not sure the baggage that being Katherine’s doppelgänger entails is worth it.

So, what did you think of the episode?  Any predictions or theories?  Or, are you still crying about Grams?  On a lighter note, how much do you want to see Katherine in a 1980s flashback?  If Katherine were shown with big hair and fishnets, with Cyndi Lauper playing in the background, I might die of happiness.  Just throwing it out there.  Preferably, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” but I’m flexible.

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• THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Season Finale: “Founder’s Day”
• THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “Isobel”
• THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “Blood Brothers”
• THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “Miss Mystic Falls”
• THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “Under Control”