Elena looks in on Jeremy, who’s still in bed, before taking a look around Jenna’s room, which will now be known as Jenna’s former room. Damon has let himself into Gilbert Gables, and he tells her that it’ll get easier, though he knows she knows that. He wants to apologize for trying to turn her, and he knows he doesn’t deserve her forgiveness, but he needs it. Elena says she can’t give it right now, and he tells her to take all the time she needs.
Of course, he doesn’t have time, thanks to Tyler’s bite. He goes home for a drink and checks out his wound’s progression. (Music: “Turn to Stone,” Ingrid Michaelson) He opens the curtains in the living room, finishes his drink, and takes off his daylight ring. As he starts burning in the sun, Stefan zooms in and tackles him into the shadows. He refuses to let Damon kill himself, even if it means he’ll have to go through everything Rose went through. Stefan locks Damon in the basement and tells him he’s not dying today. Bonnie’s looking for a cure. Damon tells his brother to just say goodbye and let him go.
Klaus wakes up outside somewhere, having spent two days as a wolf after his first transformation. That means he can change at will. He remembers all his kills, which Elijah has had to clean up for him. He’s ready for Klaus to stop having fun and take him to their family. Klaus notes that Elijah tried to kill him, so Klaus would be justified in breaking his promise. Elijah replies that he could have killed Klaus, but he chose not to. Now, Klaus is pretty much unkillable. He tells Elijah he’s forgiven, but he’s not going to rush to fulfill his promise.
Alaric is getting drunk at the Grill when Stefan calls him to ask him for help. Alaric whines that he’s not allowed to help; he was sidelined during the sacrifice ritual, so he couldn’t do anything to save Jenna. Stefan announces that Damon’s dying, so Alaric needs to leave the pity party and come do something useful for once. Okay, that’s me saying that, not Stefan. But I bet Stefan’s thinking it.
It’s been a while since there was a big town activity, so tonight Mystic Falls residents will be gathering to watch Gone With the Wind in the town square. Some of them are in period costume. Elena makes Jeremy go with her so they can get a distraction from their messed-up lives. They’re going to go through the motions of life until it gets easier. Caroline joins them with food, telling Jeremy they’re going to be like Scarlett. They made it through the war, and Atlanta has burned, but they’re persevering.
Stefan has convinced Bonnie to do a séance to ask the witches at Hex House if there’s a way to help Damon. Why in the world does he think the witches would do anything for Damon? Bonnie channels Emily, who reminds Stefan that nature needs balance, so there’s no way to save Damon. Maybe it’s just his time to die. Stefan won’t accept that – that’s punishment, not balance. Emily refuses to give him what he wants, but that just tells Stefan that there’s something to give. He begs her to help him save his brother.
Bonnie’s suddenly in pain and Emily’s gone. She tells Stefan that the witches think she’s abusing her power. But she heard them say a name: Klaus.
Carol has recovered enough from her “fall” to meet up with Liz for an update on Mystic Falls’ endless vampire situation. She’s not happy with how Liz has been handling things, or, more accurately, not handling things. She threatens to replace Liz if she doesn’t start doing her job.
Stefan goes to town square and tells Elena that Damon’s dying (even though Damon didn’t want him to tell her). She regrets how she treated him when he came by to apologize. He tells her that if she wants to talk to him again, she shouldn’t wait. Now Stefan is going to go to Klaus in hopes of getting a cure. Elena warns that Klaus will try to kill him, but Stefan points out that Klaus had the chance to and left him alive. Whatever Damon has done in the past, Stefan is the reason he became a vampire, and he owes it to his brother to try to save him. He asks Elena to go see Damon and tell him there’s still hope.
Damon’s now in the hallucination stage of his illness, remembering an encounter with Katherine before he went to fight in the Civil War. She tells him to hurry back because she’ll be lonely without him, even with Stefan around. She asks if it’s wrong for her to want them both. Elena appears and tells Damon that Katherine was toying with him back then. He should have just walked away. He had a choice. Katherine asks Damon to promise that he’ll come back soon. He promises.
Stefan goes to Alaric’s, where Katherine’s been waiting for two days for the gang to kill Klaus and end his compulsion to keep her there. Stefan asks where he is just as Klaus and Elijah arrive. Stefan asks for help for Damon, but Klaus is going to put his own brother first. It won’t take long, though – instead of taking him to their family, he stabs Elijah with a dagger, killing him (for now). Now he can turn his attention to Stefan.
Klaus stakes Stefan, keeping the wood close enough to his heart that he’ll die if he moves. Stefan asks about the cure and offers to do whatever Klaus wants in exchange for it. Klaus isn’t sure Stefan would be “any good” to him the way he is now.
Alaric goes to Vamp Villa to check on Damon. He gives him some bourbon and his daylight ring. Damon thinks Stefan sent him there for suicide watch. He also thinks Alaric should want him dead, since Damon’s the reason Jenna was killed. Alaric says he doesn’t blame Damon for that. Damon continues that he turned Isobel. Alaric says neither of them is drunk enough for that conversation. When Damon comes back to the door for a refill, he grabs Alaric around the throat and begs Alaric to kill him. “Screw you,” Alaric replies before injecting him with vervain. Damon says Elena’s name as he passes out.
She’s arriving outside, but before she makes it in the house, Liz grabs her and puts a hand over her mouth. Back downstairs, Damon asks for blood, so Alaric gets some from the cooler. Liz stops him at gunpoint and asks to see Damon. Alaric tells her this is a bad time, but she locks him in the room with the cooler and goes to Damon’s cell, which a deputy opens for her. Damon knocks her out.
Bonnie has joined Caroline and Jeremy at the movie, but Caroline’s not enjoying it since they’re waiting for news from the rest of the gang. Alaric calls to ask if Elena’s with them – he thinks Damon’s looking for her, and he wants Jeremy to get her somewhere safe if he finds her. As Alaric starts trying to free himself, Bonnie tells Jeremy to let her and Caroline take care of Damon. If he’s dangerous, there’s nothing Jeremy can do to stop him. Jeremy, like Alaric, doesn’t like being sidelined, and he challenges Bonnie to try to stop him from finding his sister.
At Alaric’s, Klaus tells Stefan that he heard about a vampire who was on and off the wagon for decades. When he was off, “he was magnificent.” In 1917, he killed a whole migrant village in Monterey. He was a true Ripper. This was Stefan during a time when Lexi wasn’t getting through to him. Stefan says he hasn’t been that way for a long time, but that’s the vampire Klaus wants to make a deal with. He wants that talent with him when he leaves Mystic Falls.
Klaus calls Katherine over and bites her wrist. As she panics about the fatal wound, he bites himself and smears his blood over it. It heals completely. The cure for a werewolf bite is Klaus’ blood.
Damon stumbles around downtown, where the sight of people in 1860s clothes makes him hallucinate Katherine from that time. Jeremy finds him and leads him away. At the police station, Elena asks Liz where Damon is. Liz doesn’t know why Elena cares, since he’s a vampire, and all vampires are murderers. A deputy announces that Damon was just seen at the Grill, so Liz heads over to get him. She tells the deputy to keep Elena at the station.
Jeremy calls Alaric as Liz arrives at the Grill. She takes aim at Damon, who zooms out of the way. Her bullet hits Jeremy instead. Bonnie and Caroline race in, and Caroline is relieved to see that Jeremy’s wearing his Gilbert ring. But Bonnie points out that since Liz is human, the ring won’t protect him. Caroline offers Jeremy some of her blood, but he can’t drink it. He’s already dead.
Alaric arrives moments later, and Bonnie says she knows what to do. She tells Alaric to pick Jeremy up and bring him with them. Liz protests, since this is a crime scene and they can’t move the body, but Caroline orders her to let them go. Back at the station, Elena breaks a window so she can leave Liz’s office.
Over at Alaric’s, Klaus fills a vial with his blood and tells Stefan that if he wants to save Damon, he’ll need to come on a bender with Klaus. He has big plans for Stefan. Stefan says again that he’s not like that anymore. Klaus laments not having him as a wingman and starts to pour out the blood. Stefan stops him and agrees to drink some human blood as a sign of good faith. Klaus tells him to drink the whole bag. If Stefan does everything Klaus says, Klaus will save Damon. When Stefan finishes the bag, Klaus gives him another.
Bonnie and Alaric take Jeremy’s body to Hex House, where Bonnie hopes the witches will give her the power she needs for a spell that will bring Jeremy back. But they’re mad at her for coming back, so they won’t help her. They warn that there will be consequences. “Well, he’s just a kid – tell them to shut up!” Alaric says. They can hear you, Ric. Bonnie begs the witches to help, and there’s a kind of psychic battle that makes the house shake. Bonnie cries out to Emily to save the boy she loves. Everything goes quiet and all the candles blow out. Bonnie sobs, thinking the witches have turned her down. But the silence is because they’ve finished doing what Bonnie wanted. They’ve brought Jeremy back.
Elena runs through the crowd at the movie, looking for Damon. She finds him and tells him they have to get out of there. He goes back into a memory/hallucination of running through the woods with Katherine. He asks her to feed him his blood so they can be together forever. Katherine says she won’t feed him – if he wants it, he can take it. It’s his choice.
Damon says she chooses Katherine, but he says this out loud to Elena in reality. He asks Katherine not to tell Stefan about this. She promises that this will be their secret. He starts to bite her, but in reality, he’s also biting Elena. She asks him to stop, saying he doesn’t have to do this. He realizes he’s hurt her and pulls back.
Bonnie calls Caroline, who’s still at the Grill, and lets her know that Jeremy’s okay. Liz is relieved but also confused, since she didn’t know that vampire blood could heal humans. Caroline tells her that she explained everything once, but she made Liz forget because she was afraid of what Liz might do. Now, Caroline doesn’t want to lie or be afraid of her mother anymore. She doesn’t want Liz to be afraid of her, either. She hugs Liz, promising she’s still who she always was. After a little hesitation, Liz hugs her back, finally accepting her daughter for who she is now.
At home, Jeremy searches “back from the dead” on the Internet. Bonnie Skypes him and he tells her he feels different. He doesn’t know how to thank her for saving him. She tells him he can thank her tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Alaric comes in to say good night before he goes home, but then casually says he’ll spend the night at Gilbert Gables. Jeremy thanks him for his help, and Alaric teases that Jeremy can thank him tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that.
Elena gets Damon to Vamp Villa and tells him she’s going to stay with him until it’s over, even though he’s worried that he’ll hurt her. Okay, well, wipe his face because he’s sweating everywhere and it’s gross. You’re holding a towel; you should actually use it. She climbs into his bed and holds him, trying to comfort him. He feels bad for blaming Stefan for making him who he is. No one forced him to love Katherine; he made that choice himself. It was just the wrong one. He asks Elena to tell Stefan he’s sorry.
At Alaric’s, Stefan has had a handful of blood bags, and Klaus thinks he’s starting to enjoy it. He gives Stefan another, but Stefan won’t drink it until he hands over the cure. Klaus says they still haven’t made their deal. Stefan has the choice to stay in Mystic Falls or embrace what he is and go off with Klaus, which will save Damon’s life. Stefan only takes a few moments to think before drinking more blood.
Klaus gives Katherine the vial of his blood and “compels” her to take it to Damon, then come back. Stefan and Katherine realize that he’s giving her permission to leave, which means she doesn’t have to come back if she doesn’t want to. Stefan tries to stop this, but Katherine’s out the door within seconds. Stefan tells Klaus that Katherine will never take Damon the cure.
Damon’s fading, and he tells Elena that the decisions he’s made in his life mean he deserves to die. But it’s okay, because if he’d made different choices, he wouldn’t have met her. He apologizes for everything he’s done that’s hurt her. She tells him she forgives him. Damon says he knows Elena loves Stefan, but he loves her. He wishes Elena had met him in 1864 – she would have liked him then. Elena says she likes him now, the way he is. She gives him a goodbye kiss and he thanks her.
Katherine arrives and says that Damon should be thanking her, since she has his cure. She comments that she thought Elena was dead. “I was,” Elena replies. Katherine gives Damon the cure as he notes that she came to save him even though she has her freedom. She says she owed him. Elena asks where Stefan is, and Katherine replies, “Are you sure you care?” She explains that Stefan’s paying for the cure by handing himself over to Klaus. Elena shouldn’t expect him anytime soon.
Elena asks for clarification, and Katherine says that Stefan sacrificed himself to save Damon. It’s good that Elena has Damon to keep her company instead. Katherine heads out, then turns around to give Elena a parting message: “It’s okay to love them both. I did.”
Klaus puts Elijah in a coffin and says he’s technically fulfilling his promise of reuniting Elijah with their family. The others are in coffins, too, and they’ll all be in storage together during Klaus’ road trip. Stefan’s there, and when Elena texts him to tell him that Damon’s okay, Klaus confirms that Katherine made it to him on time. Stefan tells him that he won’t be seeing her again, thanks to the vervain Klaus already knows she was taking. He knows Katherine won’t get far – Stefan will help him ensure that.
Stefan asks what Klaus really wants from him. Klaus says he’ll explain after they leave town together. Stefan asks if they can go already, but Klaus wants to give him a gift first. It’s a young woman, and Klaus wants Stefan to drink from her to show he’s really ready to be the Ripper again. She hasn’t been compelled to cooperate, which will make it harder. Stefan does what he’s told without any remorse. It’s safe to say that at some point in here, Stefan turned off his humanity.
Jeremy wakes up in the middle of the night and sees movement in the hallway. He goes out there, thinking it’s Alaric, but it’s not – it’s Vicki. She follows him downstairs, where Alaric’s asleep on the couch. She says Jeremy’s name and he turns around, but he doesn’t see her. When he turns back around, he sees Anna instead, then Vicki behind him. Well, the witches did warn that there would be consequences…
Keep in mind: As a vampire/werewolf hybrid, Klaus can transform into a werewolf at will, or not at all, if he doesn’t want to.
Klaus is the exception to the rule that only non-vampires can stab Originals with the dagger that kills them.
Klaus’ blood is the only cure for a werewolf bite (until The Originals).
Jeremy can see ghosts now.
Etc.: Liz shooting Jeremy after Jenna’s death and while Damon’s dying is like surviving a car crash only to be swept away in a flood. Like, let the audience breathe a little!
That said, I do like that the series shifts from Elena being in danger in the previous episode to Damon and Jeremy’s lives being at risk in this one. They can’t have Elena be the damsel in distress in every episode. As much as the show is about the Stefan/Elena/Damon love triangle, it’s also about Stefan and Damon’s relationship, so sometimes, they have to save each other instead of her.
I also like that Liz comes around on Caroline not just because she’s finally realized that Caroline is still herself, but because she saw Caroline using her abilities to help instead of hurt someone. She can’t insist anymore that vampires are only monsters.
Where was Alaric planning to spend the night after leaving Gilbert Gables? Vamp Villa? Because Klaus was still squatting in his apartment, so he couldn’t go there. I was going to say something about how he should have been staying at the house every night after Jenna’s death, because Elena and Jeremy are still minors, but clearly no one in Mystic Falls cares about securing appropriate guardians for teens, since Matt’s allowed to live by himself.
An Eternity of Misery 