It’s 1864, and a buggy is on the road in the middle of the night. The people inside come across Katherine, who’s kneeling by the body of a man she says is her husband. She asks the men in the buggy for help, then kills them. This is an object lesson for Damon, who’s still human and is learning how Katherine survives as a vampire. He’s decided he wants to be one as well, but Katherine says it isn’t time yet. She starts to kiss him, but he’s hesitant because she still has blood on her lips. She tells him that soon, he won’t be able to get enough of that taste.
In the present, Stefan and Elena wake up in his bed, happy to be there together. That ends quickly, since Damon is sitting on the bed, waiting for them to pay attention to him. Stefan and Elena get modest, since Elena’s naked. “If I see something I haven’t seen before, I’ll throw a dollar at it,” Damon replies. He wants to put the information they got from Noah to use right away: They need to get Johnathan Gilbert’s journal so they can locate Emily’s grimoire and undo the spell keeping the tomb closed.
Damon assigns Elena to get the journal, though Elena notes that she never offered to help. He says she and Stefan are basically living together, so she’s automatically working with them. Stefan asks why they should take Noah’s word for it that Johnathan’s journal contains the location of the grimoire. Damon figures they might as well follow up on the lead, since they don’t have any others.
Stefan still wants to know who Noah was working with, since that person probably knows who the Salvatores are. Damon says that’s more reason to move quickly. He comments that he likes “this whole menage a threesome team thing” they have going on. After he leaves Stefan’s bedroom, Elena starts to say something about him, but Stefan reminds her that Damon has vamp hearing, so she should keep quiet. Instead, they make out loudly and start to have sex again just to mess with Damon.
1864: Damon’s the one having fun in bed. Katherine vamps out and hisses at him, but he’s accepted that this is part of the woman he loves. Emily (who’s totally amused by their relationship) comes in to let Katherine know that a woman named Pearl is there to see her. After Katherine’s ready to receive a visitor, she asks Emily to let Mr. Salvatore know that she’s stepped out for a little while. “Which one?” Emily asks with a smirk.
Pearl asks Katherine how long she plans to stay with the Salvatores. People in town know she’s hooking up with both of them. Katherine thinks everyone is still snowed by her cover story that she’s from Atlanta and was orphaned in the fires. Pearl guesses she’s the one who started those fires. (Katherine doesn’t deny it, by the way.) Nearby, Pearl’s teen daughter is petting a horse, and Pearl calls to her to be careful.
She tells Katherine that Honoria Fell brought an elixir to Pearl’s apothecary the day before, hoping to sell it at a discount. It’s liquid vervain, which means people in town know there are vampires around. Pearl thinks they should leave Mystic Falls. Katherine says no, since she likes it there. Pearl’s daughter comes over to join them, finally showing her face: She’s Anna.
Present: Anna leaves Jeremy a message, hoping to meet up with him at the Grill later. Ben thinks Anna really likes him, but she says she just needs him for something. She and Ben are staying in a motel room, and since he doesn’t have a daylight ring, they have to keep the curtains closed. Except he’s kind of dumb and keeps forgetting that he can’t let the sunlight touch him. Also, Anna seems tired of his dumbness and is only using him. She fully admits that she chose him as a lackey because, as a bartender in a small town, he gets to hear and see a lot of things that might be useful to Anna. She also says that he was sad and needed her.
Elena and Stefan go to Gilbert Gables so she can look through family heirlooms for Johnathan’s journal. She wonders if Damon really believes that they’re going to help him rescue Katherine. She thinks he sees all of his actions as justified because he’s doing all this for love. Stefan reminds her that Damon doesn’t care about humans. He likes causing pain. Every time Stefan’s let his guard down over the past 145 years and tried to repair his relationship with Damon, Damon has let him down. Stefan won’t make that mistake again. Elena asks what he thinks will happen if Damon succeeds in getting Katherine out of the tomb. Stefan is sure that will lead to bloodshed.
Elena finds a picture of Johnathan, plus something that looks kind of like a muzzle. Jeremy joins them and tells them he loaned Johnathan’s journal to Alaric. Alaric’s currently reading it in his classroom, and we get an accompanying flashback illustrating the journal entry.
1864: Johnathan shows the vampire compass to Giuseppe, Stefan and Damon’s father. Giuseppe thinks they can get rid of all the vampires with his “church idea.” Stefan briefly makes an appearance, and Johnathan and another man (a Lockwood ancestor) ask Giuseppe if he’s told his sons yet what’s going on. Giuseppe hasn’t, but he promises that they can count on both Salvatore boys.
Present: Alaric makes some copies as Anna enters the school. He sees her passing by his classroom, and when he senses that he’s dealing with a vampire, he grabs a weapon from a locker. Instead of encountering Anna, he runs into Stefan. Stefan quickly disarms him and asks who Alaric is (well, other than a history teacher, obviously). Alaric says he knows about the history of Mystic Falls. His wife was a parapsychologist who did some research on paranormal activity in the area. That’s why Alaric came there. He tells Stefan that a vampire killed his wife, but he doesn’t say who that vampire was. Stefan asks about the journal, which Alaric realizes has disappeared from his desk.
Anna has nabbed it, though she can’t find anything useful in it. She does, however, find an entry about her mother.
1864: Pearl is still pressing Katherine to leave Mystic Falls, and Katherine is still stalling. Pearl guesses that she wants to turn both Stefan and Damon. Katherine promises that they’ll all be safe. Johnathan comes by Pearl’s apothecary, clearly smitten with her. Katherine, Anna, and Emily are all amused.
Giuseppe tells Stefan and Damon that loyalty and duty are very important to him. He’s ticked at Damon for leaving the Confederate army. Giuseppe tells his sons that it’s time for the townspeople to fight back against the demons in their midst. Stefan and Damon will be participating in the plan to kill them.
Present: Damon cooks in the kitchen at Gilbert Gables, telling Jenna that his father never approved of anyone he dated. Jenna says she’s dated a number of losers, including Logan, who’s still “missing.” Damon is being very charming and is probably trying to get information out of Jenna, judging by how much wine he’s pouring her. Elena comes home, unhappy to see that Damon is making himself comfortable.
At the school, Alaric tells Stefan that he saw Damon kill Isobel. He just doesn’t know what happened to her after that, since Damon and Isobel both disappeared. Stefan warns that if Damon ever finds out Alaric’s connection to Isobel, he’ll kill Alaric. Alaric thinks he can handle himself, but Stefan says he can’t. He’ll help Alaric, though.
Back at Gilbert Gables, Damon continues being charming. He’s declared it family night, even though he’s…you know, not in the Gilbert family. Elena is more immune to his charms than Jenna is. He asks her if he can trust Stefan’s supposed interest in helping him. Elena says yes, but Damon isn’t sure he can believe her. She makes it more believable this time.
1864: Katherine lies to a different Salvatore – Giuseppe – that she would never cheat at croquet. Stefan and Damon join them, unsure whether Katherine really likes Giuseppe or if she’s just a really good faker. Stefan thinks they might be able to trust Giuseppe with the truth that Katherine’s a vampire. Damon knows Giuseppe would kill her himself and asks Stefan to promise not to tell him.
Present: Damon tells Elena that once upon a time, he trusted Stefan more than anyone. Elena points out that you have to be trustworthy if you want to make sure you can trust what others are telling you. He tells her he just wants Katherine back. Elena gets that he’ll do anything for Katherine. Damon notes that that includes taking out anyone who gets in his way.
Dinner’s over, but Damon sticks around to play video games with Jeremy. Jeremy ignores a call from Anna, telling Damon she’s hot but weird. Damon thinks hot supersedes weird. Across the room, Jenna whispers to Elena that Damon is also hot, not realizing that he can hear her. Fully knowing he can, Elena tells Jenna, “He’s an ass.” She looks through more family heirlooms, hoping to find something about her birth family. She hasn’t told Jeremy yet that she was adopted. Stefan arrives, thrown for a loop that Damon’s there.
Bonnie and Ben had a karaoke date, and now they’re hanging out at the Grill. He casually asks what her friends are doing, then gets her to talk a little more about Elena. Bonnie says they’re like sisters and she would die for Elena. Ben is probably thinking, “You might.”
Back at Gilbert Gables, Damon is annoyed that they lost the chance to get Johnathan’s journal. He thinks there’s something off about Alaric. Jeremy knew Alaric had the journal, so Damon wants to interrogate him. He ignores Elena’s protests and asks Jeremy who he showed the journal to. Jeremy doesn’t get why everyone’s obsessed with it. He says he just told Alaric and Anna about it. When Damon learns that Anna wants to meet Jeremy at the Grill, Damon offers himself as a chaperone/chauffeur.
Bonnie calls Elena from her date to gush that Ben is awesome. Stefan tells Elena that Damon is on a pointless errand – Alaric made copies of the journal, and Stefan stole them. At the Grill, Damon spies on Jeremy and Anna, recognizing Anna from 145 years ago.
1864: Pearl tells Katherine and Damon that the sheriff bought a bunch of vervain. Damon doesn’t get how the vampires are so calm with the townspeople closing in on them. Katherine doubts that they’ll ever guess that she, Pearl, and Anna are vampires, since they have daylight rings (made for them by Emily). The only way the town will find out about them is if someone tells them. Damon promises that he won’t ever spill that secret.
Present: Stefan and Elena scour the journal and find an entry where Johnathan says Giuseppe promised to protect Emily’s grimoire and carry it to his grave.
1864: Stefan finds Giuseppe writing something that Giuseppe won’t detail for him. Like many of his secrets, he’ll carry it to his grave. Stefan expresses his concerns about Giuseppe’s plans for the vampires. What if vampires aren’t all evil? He reminds Giuseppe that he taught his sons not to take everything at face value. Giuseppe says that vampires come from “the darkest parts of Hell.” They can control minds and seduce spirits. They need to be destroyed. If anyone stands in Giuseppe’s way, they’ll be destroyed as well.
Present: As Stefan tells Elena that he knows where the grimoire is, Damon surprises Anna in her motel room. She’s been expecting him to find her for a while.
Stefan and Elena go to the cemetery where Giuseppe was buried (he’s not in the crypt with the rest of the Salvatores because the crypt wasn’t built until after he died). Stefan gives Elena the chance to bow out of digging up Giuseppe’s grave, but Elena wants to keep helping him. She doesn’t want the tomb opened any more than Stefan does.
1864: Stefan asks Katherine about the crystal Emily gave her. He was worried it was a gift from Damon. She tells him not to worry about his brother. Yes, both brothers want her to themselves, but Katherine gets to make the rules. They start making out, but when Katherine bites Stefan (which I guess is part of their thing; I don’t want to know), she realizes too late that he’s full of vervain.
Giuseppe bursts in and orders Stefan to go get the sheriff and tell him they’ve captured a vampire. He adds that nothing Stefan feels for Katherine is real. Giuseppe was suspicious of Katherine and of Stefan’s sympathy for the vampires, so he gave his son vervain in hopes of exposing his girlfriend. “I didn’t raise my sons to be so weak,” he says.
Present: Stefan and Elena dig up Giuseppe’s grave while Anna tells Damon that she’s been in town since the comet passed over and has been watching him keep screwing up his shot at getting into the tomb. She’s known about Emily’s spell since 1864. Damon realizes that Anna’s the one who turned Logan. She wanted a journal from one of his ancestors, but it wasn’t helpful. All she learned was that Johnathan gave Emily’s grimoire to Giuseppe. Anna enlists Damon to help her find it since they both want the same thing: an open tomb. Damon declines the offer to team up.
Emboldened with some encouragement from Elena, Bonnie decides to plant a kiss on Ben. This gives her a look inside his head, and she realizes she’s hanging out with someone dangerous. She pretends everything’s fine and she wants to keep their date going, then tries to leave while his back is turned. Unfortunately, he catches on and stops her.
Stefan’s shovel finally reaches Giuseppe’s coffin. The grimoire is inside, and Damon arrives as Stefan opens it. He kicks himself for thinking he could trust that Stefan was really going to help him. He should have remembered that he’s the only person he can count on. He also shouldn’t have fallen for Elena’s lies that he could trust Stefan.
Damon announces that if Stefan tries to destroy the grimoire, he’ll kill Elena. Stefan calls his bluff, so Damon zooms over and grabs Elena. He feeds her some of his blood, then tells Stefan that if he doesn’t hand over the grimoire, Damon will kill Elena and the two of them will have a vampire girlfriend. Stefan agrees to the trade, as long as Damon lets Elena go first. Damon’s learned his lesson about trusting Stefan, but Stefan says this is the one thing Damon could do that will get Stefan to do what he wants. They make the trade peacefully.
1864: Townspeople head toward the Salvatores’ house as Giuseppe puts the muzzle-looking thing on Katherine to keep her from biting anyone. Damon protests handing her over to the townspeople, willing to die with her rather than give up.
Present: Stefan takes Elena home, telling her this is all his fault.
1864: Stefan stops Damon from fighting the townspeople who are taking Katherine away. Damon blames Stefan for Giuseppe finding out that Katherine’s a vampire.
Present: Stefan tells Elena that he put his faith in Giuseppe, but Damon put his faith in Stefan, who destroyed it. Elena disagrees that Stefan did anything wrong. He goes downstairs to get her some aspirin for her headache. He chats with Jenna, who tells him he can’t spend the night and they have to keep the door open while he’s over. Ooh, look who’s trying to parent all of a sudden! Jeremy greets Stefan, then asks Jenna where “she” went. She tells Stefan that Anna’s over for a visit.
1864: Anna is horrified to see that the townspeople have captured Katherine. Pearl tells her to get Emily and stay hidden. She approaches Johnathan, but he happens to be holding the compass, which reveals to him that Pearl is a vampire. As Anna returns with Emily, Johnathan calls for the townspeople to come grab Pearl. Stefan looks on in horror as Pearl is dragged off to the tomb with Katherine. Emily promises Anna that she’ll see her mother again – Emily will protect her and Katherine. Stefan spots the two of them, and Emily gives him a nod.
Present: Stefan realizes what’s going on and zooms upstairs, but he’s too late – Anna has made off with Elena.
Etc.: I hated Harry on Dexter and I hate Giuseppe here, so James Remar is 0 for 2 with me.
I wish Emily had more to do in the series because you know she has all kinds of dirt on Katherine.
Let’s all take a moment to be grateful that Jenna never developed a crush on Damon, and he never tried to get into a relationship with her to get closer to Elena.
An Eternity of Misery 