About:
Looks like the girls traded up from Damon’s muscle car to a Porsche SUV, but comfy leather seats and the ability to accelerate out of a problem hasn’t solved theirs. Because Rebekah and Elena are still squabbling. Elena, playing the part of petulant child to Rebekah’s sudden take on the Salvatores, approaches a chick to eat. However, chick knows her… as Katherine. Who has compelled said chick to forget all about her. It’s very complicated.
Stefan and Damon — thanks to Mommy Sheriff (who should really talk to her daughter about continuing to call boys who don’t call her back) — are tracking the vampires-gone-wild road trip, and brought a bunch of gas along. This is fortuitous, because they also find Damon’s muscle car along the way. The brothers fill up the tank over a discussion of revenge fantasies, but Stefan — never to be diverted from his singular goal — only wants to get the cure for Elena. Even if it kills her. Figuratively.
Poor, sweet, psychotic Klaus is standing shirtless *Drink!* because he’s trying to pull the bits of the old white oak stake out of his back. That Silas is one mother effer. He even dislocates his own shoulder to make it easier to reach! Caroline comes in, and is so concerned! She gently strokes his face! Caroline! What brought this about? But then she starts talking about how he hasn’t brought her the cure, and is SO MEAN! And ohmigod, it’s actually Silas! (Oh Shit! +1) He can take the form of anyone! I had no idea! Poor Klaus.
Elena and Rebekah track Katherine by going to the Post Office. This works in unexpected ways. They have coffee at a diner, and Rebekah stabs Katherine’s hand to the table to keep her from leaving. Finally, Katherine tells them that she just wants to give the cure to Klaus in exchange for her freedom from him hunting her for the rest of her life, but Rebekah swipes her phone, and since Katherine is apparently very forgetful like me, she loaded up all of her appointments with henchmen and such into her calendar. Double Trouble comin’ up!
The REAL Caroline (I think) arrives at Klaus’s house, finding him still shirtless *Drink!* and feverish. And let me just tell you that sick and feverish never looked so fuh-reakin’ hot. *Drink!* Caroline, to combat the fire in her loins at such a sight, is a little bit mean and a lot snarky until he reminds her that if he dies, his whole line dies with him. (Oh Shit! +2)
Damon and Stefan arrive in the quaint little Pennsylvania town that is home to Katherine, where currently Nina Dobrev is RULING in the diner, as Elena, making fun of Katherine, baiting Elena. Brilliant. Elena goes off to keep Katherine’s meetings, while Rebekah stays behind to trade barbs with the holder of the cure herself. They are both awesome. *Drink!* Then Damon and Stefan show up, and Damon instantly recognizes Katherine. A skill that could have proved useful in the first couple of seasons, but whatevs.
Turns out, the appointment Katherine had was with YHH!!! And he’s wearing a suit! *Drink!* And he compliments her hair! *Drink!* And then kisses her! *Drink!* Man, I don’t know about you, but the Original brothers are about to make me say “Salvatore-who?” Um, yeah. YHH is a victim of Double Trouble *Drink!* for a mere moment before he realizes who he’s got.
Back at the diner, everybody pretends to be grossed out when Katherine tells them about her relationship with YHH, which is RIDICULOULS, because pretty much every single person at that table has slept with every single other person at that table. I mean, everybody on the show has slept with just about every single other person on the show, even. (And yes, this is sarcasm. And exaggeration.) Anyhoo, Stefan figures that Katherine has just been using YHH to broker her deal with Klaus.
Caroline isn’t having much luck digging out the white oak splinter from Klaus’s back, and takes the moment to tell him about how he should be suffering for all of the bad things he’s done, and then tries to get him to agree to let Tyler come back to town (NOOOOOOOOOOOO — sorry, Tyler fans) in exchange for her help.
Stefan talks to YHH on the phone, and mentions that Rebekah as joined ‘Team Good Guys’. Um. Yeah. So what separates Damon and Stefan from YHH at this moment is that they want the cure to force it on Elena. So that makes YHH, who has been the most honorable man on the show (with the exceptions of Alaric – RIP- and Matt) on Team Bad Guy? Wow. Salvatores & Co need to pull their heads out of their asses. There aren’t really any good guys on this show. Except for Matt. And all of this self-righteousness smacks of hypocrisy. Anyway, their phone call ends, but not before George noted that YHH doesn’t like to hold the phone close to his ear. I figure it’s because of the radioactive waves. Then Elena berates YHH for falling for Katherine’s old Brother Routine. He assures her that he’s got it all under control, but that’s before she tells him that Katherine killed Jeremy. YHH, Man Of Honor, is very upset by this.
Katherine takes Damon and Rebekah to her house, and pretends that her safe has been broken into. Damon figures out that the cure is actually in the fish tank — filled with Vervain. She gives Damon a Vervain swirly in the tank, but just before she makes her escape, Rebekah intercepts! (Oh Shit! +3) Knowing that Rebekah will always choose the high school dance, Katherine tosses the cure up into the air, which causes Rebekah to lunge for it, and Katherine makes her escape.
Instead of just TAKING the cure, Rebekah asks Damon why he seems to want Elena to have it, which is the SAME question WE’VE ALL been asking, but why oh why does she just not take the freaking cure? Well, she does. Just as Stefan rushes in. And then collapses onto the sofa. It’s all rather anti-climactic. (Oh Shit? +4)
Klaus is out of his mind with pain, but Caroline resolutely refuses to help him without his promise of letting Tyler return. She talks about how this is her offering the olive branch of friendship, and she’s definitely got lots of points, but I still have a problem with the self-righteous place she’s coming from. Just when she screams that she should have turned her back on him a long time ago… the pain stops! It was all just a trick Silas had played with Klaus’s mind! He thanks her for helping him, for taking his mind off it, so he could get control again, but the realization of the extent of Silas’s power overshadows the moment. (Oh Shit! +5)
Stefan immediately turns on Damon, accusing him of not being on his side, and of letting Rebekah take the cure on purpose, which is, admittedly, at least a little true. But once again, it’s all about Stefan, Stefan, Stefan. And what he wants for the object of his obsession. (Oh Shit! +6)
Elena tries to tell YHH that Katherine will never again be that sweet peasant girl he fell in love with, and compares it to the Salvatores obsession with the old Elena. YHH thinks it’d be a shame if Elena were to forever lose the compassion she had as her old self. They joke about that letter he left for her that one time, but then she’s all like, “It was great watching it burn.” And then Katherine snaps her neck. (Oh Shit! +7)
Rebekah feels great as a human! Until Damon throws a letter opener at her and she catches it before it impales her eyeball, revealing that the cure, much like many cures of old, was a placebo. (Oh Shit! +8)
Katherine wants YHH to come with her, but he’s still not over the whole “she killed Jeremy” thing (and neither are we). He wants to believe that she truly does love him, but her whole “um, you promised to talk to Klaus” bit doesn’t do much to assure him. So YHH walks away. I hope not far.
Katherine goes to the house of the chic we met in the beginning of the episode, and, big surprise, the cure is at HER house. Then Katherine confronts YHH, and tells him that he’s right. She doesn’t even know who she is anymore, but she does know she has feelings for him, and she’s going to let him decide what to do next. And GIVES him the cure. (For real? I mean, it’s hard to know with that one.) (Oh Shit! +9) He lets her walk away and sees Rebekah, who tries to explain to him why SHE wants the cure. But when Klaus calls, YHH gets in the car and heads to Mystic Falls.
Klaus thanks Caroline for helping him, and asks if they can be friends. Despite the fact that they SO have a moment of intense eye contact *Drink!* she’s all “I don’t know, can Tyler come back?” But then Klaus is like, “Dude! I haven’t even left Mystic Falls to chase him or whatever! Isn’t that good enough?” They kind of smile at each other before Caroline goes off to plan prom.
Damon admits to Stefan that he did let Rebekah take the cure, because he thought that then their problems would all go away, but that he screwed up. But Stefan tells him that he’s just realized that they are no better than Katherine (FINALLY!) and that they keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and that once they’ve gotten the cure, and have given Elena a chance to have a normal life, he’s going to get her out of his, and get out of Dodge! (Mystic Falls) Well, that’s more like it. He even said he needed to get a life of his own! Now THAT’S the Stefan I know and love! *Drink!*
Elena calls a meeting with the brothers, where she tells them that they’ve just got to accept who she is now and stop trying to force the cure on her, and I’m all like, “Yeah!” but then when Stefan talks about how when it was him who had turned off his emotions, Elena wouldn’t accept that from him. So Elena snaps the neck of the waitress at the diner and tells them it’s their fault! (Oh Shit! +10) And that they’ll be responsible for lots and lots of dead people unless they leave her alone! Yikes! (Oh Shit! +11)
Well well well. I’ve gotta hand it to this show — it sure is good at making me feel conflicted. Was the final act by Elena that of a woman pushed to the brink by the men who claim to love her, but only want to control her? Or are they — at least partially – right about her new self? I mean, killing innocents to prove a point can’t be a good thing. What say all of you? It would seem that Klaus and Caroline are on their way to a slow build, yes? Maybe? And THANK GOD YHH is back!
