Tyler is at Mystic Falls High School at night, I guess returning from an away football game. Vicki surprises him in his car. He tells her everyone thinks she went on a bender, and they have lots of questions about whatever happened to her friends in the woods. She emotionally tells him she’s scared and can’t control her hunger. She vamps out and prepares to feed on him. Stefan and Damon arrive, and Stefan grabs Vicki while Damon addresses Tyler. Tyler hits Damon, who barely flinches. He compels Tyler to forget everything he saw tonight.
The next morning, Elena wakes up feeling down. Jeremy tells her he’s skipping school to go help a search party look for Vicki. She thinks that’s a bad idea. At school, everyone’s decorating for Halloween. Matt’s there when Vicki calls him Vamp Villa to tell him he doesn’t need to worry about her. Stefan wants to keep her in the house so she doesn’t have to be alone while she adjusts to becoming a vampire.
Damon can’t find anything in the morning paper about Logan – there must be a cover-up. He’s curious about what the compass was for. Vicki’s hungry, so Stefan offers her animal blood. Damon says that new vampires need to drink human blood. Vicki doesn’t even have to kill someone to feed off of them. She can erase their memory afterward. Stefan doesn’t think Vicki would be able to control herself. If she kills someone, she’ll spend the rest of her life feeling guilty. Damon prefers the “snatch, eat, erase” method. Stefan tells Vicki that they can choose their own paths based on their values. Damon calls him “Count Deepak.”
Elena comes by the house to see Stefan, though it also gives her the opportunity to tell Damon he’s glib and arrogant. Damon thinks she should watch how she talks to him. Elena notes that if Damon wanted her dead, he would have killed her already. She goes to check in with Stefan, asking what happens next. He tells her that Vicki’s transition is going to be different from other vampires’ because she’s unstable and uses drugs. “So she’s a vampire with issues?” Elena says. Stefan tells her Vicki will stay there until he’s sure she’s safe. Vicki interrupts the conversation to ask how long that will take.
Bonnie has been at Sheila’s house for a couple of days, learning about their witch ancestors. Even though everyone in town says Sheila’s a witch, she doesn’t think they actually believe she can do magic. They think she’s just a kooky occult-studies teacher. She’s fine with them not knowing the truth. Bonnie’s tired of the history lesson and wants to start learning magic. Sheila tells her it’s a serious thing, and she needs to learn more about it before she can start practicing it.
At the Grill, Carol and Richard discuss Logan’s death and the disappearance of the compass. Carol worries that whoever took the compass might know that the Lockwoods know about vampires and come after them. Richard admits that if the person who took the compass knows what it is from the town’s history, yes, they could be in danger. They can’t let the town know anything’s going on – they need to find the vampire before the vampire finds them. From the bar, Damon listens in on their conversation.
At school, Matt tells Tyler that Vicki got in touch with him and is okay. Tyler is feeling human feelings for once and wants Matt to know he’ll help if Matt needs it. Nearby, Caroline is excited for Halloween and gives Bonnie a witch costume and Damon’s crystal. She complains that Elena probably spent the whole weekend with Stefan.
Back at Vamp Villa, Stefan teaches Vicki how to handle her cravings for blood. Coffee is popular with vampires because it warms them and helps them feel full. Vicki says this feels like a 12-step program. She asks if Stefan has always been on an animal diet or if he’s ever tasted human blood. Stefan says it’s been years since he had human blood; he’s not proud of how he acted while drinking it.
After Stefan leaves to get more coffee, Vicki starts to call Jeremy. Elena tells her to stay away from Jeremy in case she can’t control herself around him. Vicki thinks this is a convenient excuse for Elena to try to keep them apart. When Elena says that Vicki has to leave Jeremy out of everything vampire-related, Vicki makes it clear that Elena can’t stop her from doing anything she wants to do. She’s still mad that Elena had Matt on the hook for 15 years, then dumped him. Vicki would love to rip Elena’s head off and then run off to test out her new abilities.
Elena tells Stefan what happened, but Stefan has sympathy for Vicki – her senses are on overload and she’s adjusting to a bizarre new life. There’s no way to know how long it will take her to settle down. New vampires can have trouble separating their emotions from their desire to feed. He agrees with Elena that Jeremy can’t see Vicki right now. But Stefan won’t let anyone get hurt. Elena decides she’s hit her limit on vampire stuff for the day, so she leaves.
Damon finds Vicki moping upstairs, thinking about how the rest of her life could be like this. She asks him why he turned her. He just says he was bored. Since Vicki’s now bored as well, Damon decides they should go do something fun. Over Stefan’s protests, they go to the front yard so Vicki can learn the perks of being a vampire, such as super-speed. But this is like letting a dog off a leash, and Vicki just takes off.
She heads to her and Matt’s house (Donovan Domicile), but she can’t enter since she hasn’t been invited in. Matt invites her in without realizing what he’s doing. He makes her dinner and bugs her about where she’s been. Vicki tells him to just let it go, since she’s back. Matt blows up at her for disappearing, then pretending nothing happened. Vicki breaks the plate he gave her and complains that her head hurts. Stefan shows up and asks to see Vicki. She orders Matt not to let him in the house.
Jeremy calls Vicki, who doesn’t answer her phone. Elena tries to distract him by suggesting that they go to a Halloween party at school that night. She urges her brother to let Vicki go – it’s for the best. Jeremy tells her that Vicki helped him start feeling better after their parents’ deaths, so it’s not “for the best” for him to stay away from her now. As he leaves the room, Vicki texts him to meet her at the Halloween party.
Tyler, Bonnie, and Caroline are already there, while Carol and Richard are at the Grill before heading over there as well. After Richard leaves, Damon comes over to chat with Carol. He tries to compel her to talk about Zach, but the compulsion doesn’t work on her. She says she knows Zach from the Founder’s Council. Damon realizes that Carol’s bracelet must have vervain in it. He tells her that Zach had to leave town for a while, but if she wanted to talk to him about vervain, Damon can hook her up.
Elena and Jeremy arrive at the school party and meet up with Matt. His and Elena’s costumes coordinate (a doctor and a nurse) since they just dug out what they wore last year. Matt mentions that Vicki’s there and is a vampire. He means her costume, as far as he knows. Elena hurries off to make sure Jeremy doesn’t encounter her.
Vicki’s tempted to bite everyone she sees, so it’s good that Stefan zooms her into an empty classroom. He knows she’s experiencing uncontrollable hunger, and it’s only going to get worse the longer she tries to ignore it.
Back at the Grill, Carol tells Damon that she and Richard only have a little vervain left. Zach said he could get them more. Damon says he’ll ask where it is. Carol tells him they need enough for the Council’s family and friends. Zach knows how many people are on the Council. Damon flirts with her, then offers to take her to the school party. He jokes that it’s not safe out – he’s already seen ten vampires out and about. He asks how the search is going for the real vampire in town. Turns out the Council doesn’t know about daylight rings, so they figure anyone who came to the Founder’s Party, which started during the day, is human. Stefan and Damon are free and clear.
At school, Vicki tells Matt that Stefan’s bothering her, then zooms away as the guys face off. Stefan tries to convince Matt that he’s there to help Vicki. Jeremy and Vicki meet up in a haunted-house area as Damon arrives outside and starts chatting with Bonnie. He sees that she’s wearing his crystal as a necklace and tells her to give it back. Bonnie says she’ll give it back to Caroline, and Caroline can give it to Damon if she feels like it. Damon decides to just take it, but when he touches the crystal, it burns him. Bonnie freaks out and runs off.
Elena heads into the haunted house as Vicki and Jeremy go out to where the buses are parked. Stefan tries to use his vamp hearing to locate them, but there’s a lot of noise in the hallway. Vicki tells Jeremy she has to leave town, and he should come with her. They can be together forever. Jeremy agrees. They make out and she bites his lip. Stefan finally hears Jeremy’s voice as the taste of blood makes Vicki vamp out.
Elena arrives in time to see Vicki about to attack Jeremy. She grabs a two-by-four and hits Vicki with it, but even baby vamps have more strength than humans, and Vicki just tosses her aside. Stefan grabs Vicki, but she disappears under a bus. Stefan yells for Elena and Jeremy to get inside while he looks for Vicki. Before they can get through the door, Vicki grabs Elena and bites her. Without any time to think, Stefan picks up a broken two-by-four and stakes Vicki. He holds Jeremy back as Vicki quickly desiccates and dies.
Stefan calls Damon to help him deal with the situation while he gets Jeremy out of there. Meanwhile, Bonnie goes back to Sheila’s house to tell her something happened with the crystal. Sheila recognizes it as something that belonged to one of their ancestors, Emily, in 1864. Back at school, Damon tells Elena he’ll deal with Vicki’s body, and she lashes out at him for setting all this in motion. He tells her he doesn’t have any remorse, and none of this matters to him. Elena says that people die because of him, and there’s no way he can say it doesn’t matter. She slaps him, and it almost looks like he cares for a moment. Then he tells her to leave, since she’s bleeding and it’s making him hungry.
Matt finds Elena as she leaves, and she lies that someone splashed fake blood on her. She also lies that she doesn’t know where Vicki is. Matt’s worried that he’s going to spend the rest of his life wondering where his sister is. Elena just tells him he’s a good brother. Once she’s alone in her car, she cries and pounds on the steering wheel.
Stefan’s on the porch of Gilbert Gables when Elena gets home to check on Jeremy. Jeremy’s distressed about Vicki’s death, of course, but also about the things he saw that he can’t wrap his head around. He tells Elena it hurts and he wants it to stop. “Why does everybody have to die on me?” he asks. (Music: “The Weight of Us,” Sanders Boehlke.) On the porch, Stefan can hear the whole conversation.
Matt goes home, losing the last bit of hope he had that Vicki would be there. Back at Gilbert Gables, Stefan regrets not being able to help Vicki. Elena doesn’t want Jeremy to go through another loss, so she asks Stefan to compel him to forget what happened. Stefan isn’t sure he’s powerful enough to do it right. But Damon has arrived, and he’s willing to do it, if that’s what Elena wants. It is, so she asks Damon to tell Jeremy that Vicki left town and won’t be coming back. He shouldn’t worry about her or look for her because it’s for the best.
As Damon goes upstairs, Elena tells Stefan that she’d like to forget, too – forget everything that’s happened since she met him, and all the feelings she’s dealing with now. But she doesn’t want to lose the way she feels about Stefan. Damon comes back onto the porch and announces that he’s done. Now only he, Stefan, and Elena know what happened to Vicki.
Keep in mind: On top of having heightened senses, vampires have heightened emotions.
Unlike in other vampire media (like Buffy), vampires here don’t turn to dust when they’re staked, so you have to deal with their dead bodies.
Etc.: Carol and Damon’s conversation about vervain sounds like a drug deal. I love it.
When Tyler hits Damon, Damon barely moves, showing how much stronger he is. When Elena hits him, he reacts like any human would. Does this mean she caught him off-guard? Or did he purposely give her the reaction she expected, just to give her the satisfaction of seeing it?
Originally, Jeremy was the one who staked Vicki. A few weeks after they filmed that, the show decided it was too much and redid the scene with Stefan instead.
I can buy Elena letting Damon compel Jeremy to forget what happened, but not without Elena in the room to know what he said. I mean, Damon could have told Jeremy to jump off the roof and Elena would have had no idea.
Once again, Stefan will let Elena make her own decisions, but no one else. Jeremy gets no say in what happens to his memories. Boo.
An Eternity of Misery 