Stefan is working out in the woods while Caroline nags him over the phone about coming to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. He tells her that he and Elena broke up, and he’s hanging by a thread in terms of sobriety, so he probably shouldn’t be around people right now. Caroline won’t let him use that as an excuse. She tells him to sublimate instead. But when Stefan says that Elena admitted to having feelings for Damon, Caroline freaks. She promises to shake some sense into Elena. Stefan doesn’t think she can, since Elena’s changed so much since becoming a vampire.
After they hang up, Klaus ambushes Stefan and blasts him for telling Damon and the rest of the gang about the cure. Stefan knows that no one who’s heard about the cure is going to be a threat to their mission. Klaus tells Stefan to find more vampires for Jeremy to kill so he can complete the hunter’s mark. And this time, he needs to keep their activities secret.
At Vamp Villa, Stefan tells Damon that he and Elena broke up. Damon wasn’t aware, and he manages to keep his feelings about it to himself. He tells Stefan that they should find a hunter other than Jeremy to kill enough vampires to complete the hunter’s mark. They don’t want to encourage Jeremy to kill. Stefan agrees. Damon continues that Shane is connected to Pastor Young, so they can’t trust him. He wants to confront Shane with Stefan. Or they can just hang out and get drunk. “Let’s not pretend like this isn’t the best day of your life,” Stefan replies.
Caroline bugs Elena about the breakup as they’re decorating for the pageant at Lockwood Landing. She thinks Stefan is Elena’s soulmate. Elena says she still loves him, but her feelings for Damon have become more intense since she transitioned. Caroline knows, since Stefan told her everything. Elena feels bad for hurting him, but she thinks honesty was the right move here. Caroline’s annoyed that Elena let Damon get under her skin. Elena says she’s confused and needs to figure out what her feelings for Damon actually mean.
Shane arrives, having been enlisted to conduct interviews with the contestants and help judge the pageant. Elena and Caroline agree with Damon’s previous judgment that Shane is creepy. Matt and Jeremy are also helping set up, and Matt mentions that Elena convinced him to be her date. Jeremy agreed to escort April, the only one of this year’s contestants we’re familiar with. Jeremy shows off his new hunter strength by lifting two kegs by himself. Matt’s a little freaked out, since Jeremy’s strength and energy are going to come with the desire to kill vampires, which could be a problem since, you know, he lives with one. Jeremy promises that he would never hurt Elena.
Stefan goes to the hospital and finds a patient who’s there for injuries he sustained in prison. Stefan compels the guy to admit that he’s guilty of murder and doesn’t feel bad about his crimes. Satisfied, Stefan feeds the guy his blood and breaks his neck.
Caroline yells at some pageant volunteers, then tries to blow off Klaus, who wants to collect on the date she promised him for letting the gang kill Chris. She would prefer going to a movie with him, since she can sit a few seats away and not talk to him. He thinks the pageant is a great setting for their date. She gives in, telling him she already has a dress, so he shouldn’t send her one.
Tyler and Hayley have set up shop on Pastor Young’s farm so the hybrids have a secluded place to turn over and over and eventually break their sire bond. One of them, Kim, is curious about what Hayley’s getting out of this. Tyler says that since Klaus is going to the pageant the next day, they’ll have an extra day away from him. Hayley wants to go to the pageant, too, and she points out that showing up together will make Klaus continue to think that Hayley came between Tyler and Caroline. Kim’s like, “I’ve broken every bone in my body dozens of times over the past few days but hearing you two talk about this is actual torture, so please go somewhere else.”
At Gilbert Gables, Jeremy helps Elena put on a necklace, then says he wishes she would stop acting like his sister. He yanks the necklace back and chokes her. It’s a dream, and he’s disturbed to wake up and see that he has a knife and a stake in his bed. He’s been carving the same symbol in the stake that Connor carved into his bullets.
The next morning, Matt comes over and expresses concern about Jeremy’s situation. He blames the hunter’s mark for messing with Jeremy’s mind, but Jeremy thinks the Gilbert ring could be the real problem. Maybe he’s being affected the same way Alaric was. Matt reads in Shane’s research that new hunters aren’t always aware of their actions. Their subconscious fights through until the urge to kill vampires becomes an instinct. Matt orders Jeremy to tell Elena what’s happening to him.
As Stefan texts Jeremy to meet him in the Lockwood cellar, Caroline and Elena help April decide which dress to wear for the pageant. They agree the blue one is the winner. Damon comes by looking for Shane and says he thinks the red one is the better choice. Caroline says his opinion didn’t matter since he didn’t win last year. Damon says Elena didn’t, either, and she wore blue. Elena changes her mind and says the red is nice. Caroline’s confused. April is, too, but April’s always confused.
Elena follows Damon downstairs and tells him they need to talk. He tells her he knows she and Stefan broke up, and he can’t say he’s sorry about it. Elena’s surprised that Stefan didn’t tell Damon why they broke up. Damon invites Elena to fill him in, and all she says is, “You.”
Shane interrupts before that can go anywhere, so Damon asks him for help finding another hunter. Shane says there’s nothing he can do. Damon then asks why Shane is there. Shane pretends he’s not hiding anything and has no ulterior motives when he totally is and does. Damon tells him not to cast a pity vote for April just because her father killed himself and a bunch of other people. He mentions that he knows Shane and Pastor Young knew each other. Shane invites Damon to go ahead and ask whatever he wants. Damon thinks Shane convinced Pastor Young to kill the council, an accusation that Shane is offended by but doesn’t deny.
Carol welcomes the crowd to the pageant as Jeremy meets Stefan in the cellar. Stefan tells him they have a chance to make Elena human again. Jeremy’s totally on board for that, so Stefan shows him that he’s brought the convicted murderer with him. He cuts Jeremy’s wrist and feeds his blood to the murderer so he’ll complete his transition. Then he hands Jeremy a stake so he can kill the newbie vampire.
Jeremy’s shocked at this plan, and Stefan says he doesn’t like it himself, but a) they’re helping Elena and b) they’re ridding the world of a murderer. It’s win-win! Jeremy hesitates, so Stefan threatens to unchain the murderer and let him attack Jeremy. Jeremy obviously chooses to kill a vampire instead of putting himself in danger, so that’s another kill for the new hunter.
Caroline crankily oversees things at the pageant until Klaus arrives. She has to admit he looks nice. They spot Tyler and Hayley arriving, which sours the mood a little. Hayley tries on the tiara that will go to the winner, and Tyler warns her that the contestants will be furious about that, and they have nails. “I have claws,” she reminds him.
Caroline introduces the contestants and they begin their procession down the stairs (outside this time) to their escorts. Matt doesn’t know where Jeremy is. He asks Elena if Jeremy told her about his nightmares. Nope! Elena realizes that with Jeremy MIA, April (who, by the way, is wearing the red dress) is about to go through what Elena went through last year when Stefan disappeared during the pageant. Matt hurries to take Jeremy’s place. Well, at least he knows the dance from last year.
Elena and Damon catch each other’s eyes during the dance. She tries calling Jeremy, but Damon doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about. She tells him and Caroline that Matt said Jeremy’s been dreaming about killing vampires. Damon says that if he’s not worried, Elena shouldn’t be, either. He offers to go find Jeremy.
After he leaves, Caroline suggests a search, but Elena says Damon’s right and Jeremy’s probably just off drinking somewhere. Caroline replies that Damon’s never right (though he is sneaky, rude, and manipulative). Elena’s annoyed that Caroline always complains about Damon. Caroline calls for a “friendtervention” and says that Elena’s feelings for Damon are clouding her judgment. Klaus approaches as she gets too loud, but Elena’s done listening anyway. She’s not happy that Caroline is making her breakup with Stefan harder than it already is. “How did I become the bad guy?” Caroline wonders. Klaus suggests that they get a drink and he’ll tell her all about being the bad guy.
Damon calls Stefan and learns what he and Jeremy have been up to. He thinks Stefan’s only after the cure so he can turn Elena back into someone who’s still in love with him. Stefan says she’s not herself anymore. Damon scoffs at him for thinking that and tells Stefan to leave it alone.
Jeremy watches the hunter’s mark growing on his arm, and Stefan asks him how far it’s spread. Jeremy won’t say since he can’t trust Stefan. Stefan orders him to answer, but Jeremy refuses. Stefan tries to compel him into obeying, but Jeremy’s transformation into a hunter comes with the inability to be compelled anymore. He stakes Stefan in the stomach and leaves him in the cellar.
Caroline and Klaus take a walk around the lake at Lockwood Landing as she complains about Elena and Damon. She thinks that since becoming a vampire just amplifies who you already are, Elena’s behavior means something more is going on. Klaus is amused, since he’s figured it out, and he tells Caroline it’ll make sense eventually.
Caroline just wants to find the cure ASAP. She asks Klaus if he would take it. He asks why he would want to give up being the most powerful creature on the planet. Caroline thinks he must have spent at least a little time over the past 1,000 years wanting to be human. Tyler starts listening in from across the lake as Klaus asks Caroline if she wants to be human again. He’s found her Miss Mystic Falls application from the previous year and he teases her by reading a few excerpts. She’s annoyed at first but then realizes how funny it is.
Damon spots Shane and Hayley chatting and asks Tyler how they know each other. Tyler says they don’t, and Damon should stop being paranoid. Damon thinks being paranoid about Shane is smart, since he seems to know a lot about what’s going on in town.
Jeremy arrives at Lockwood Landing and arms himself with some weapons. He tells April he got stuck at work and eases her concerns that he chickened out of escorting her. He notices Shane, and April says she talked to him about her father. He said Pastor Young never seemed depressed or suicidal. Jeremy then sees Elena, and he tells April that her father and the council were doing the right thing for the town. They died heroes.
Damon finds Shane and asks again for the name of another hunter. Shane says there are only five hunters in existence at one time, and some of them don’t even know they’re hunters or what that means. Finding even one in a lifetime is almost impossible. Damon stops Shane from leaving, in the process revealing that he’s a vampire (though he thinks Shane already knew). He demands the name of a hunter or he’ll kill Shane.
Shane knows Damon’s interested in the mark and the cure, but he tells him that cure is sealed with a spell, and only a certain kind of witch can undo it. Damon asks what kind of witch that is. Shane’s like, “How dumb are you?” It’s a Bennett witch, of course. That means they can find a hunter, complete the mark, and use the map to find the cure, but none of that will matter until Bonnie’s using her magic again. Shane says she trusts him to get her there, so Damon would be wise to let him live.
Caroline gets to announce that this year’s Miss Mystic Falls is April. Elena spots Jeremy leaving the festivities and goes after him. She finds him in a dressing room, holding a stake. He tells her that all he can think about is killing vampires, just like Connor said. Elena says he’s nothing like Connor. Jeremy tells her he doesn’t want to hurt her, but all his instincts are telling him to stake her.
Elena reminds him that she’s still his sister, vampire or not. She takes his hand and promises that she would never hurt him. She sees that his hand is bleeding and starts to vamp out. She starts to leave to avoid temptation, but he follows her. She throws him off but worries that she knocked him out. When she leans over to check on him, he thrusts a stake from one of Alaric’s wrist thingies into her neck.
Before Jeremy can do something he’ll really regret, Matt comes in and tries to talk him down. Jeremy tells him to shut up, but Matt notes that he’s human, so Jeremy can trust him. Jeremy still won’t back off of Elena, but Stefan zooms in and tackles him across the room, then sends him away with Matt. Stefan pulls the stake out of Elena’s neck and comforts her.
Tyler and Hayley chat outside about how he got the werewolf gene from his father. Hayley never met her biological parents. Her adoptive parents didn’t know about her wolf gene until she turned the first time. They kicked her out right away. Tyler asks how Hayley triggered her curse. She says she was drinking and crashed a boat. He asks about her interest in Shane, which Hayley brushes off as just the desire to talk to someone hot and smart.
They see Klaus and Caroline returning from their walk, and Tyler listens in on them. Klaus says he thought about being human once, when he was in the Andes and had an encounter with a hummingbird. He thought about how hard it is for a small creature like that to work so hard every day to stay alive, and how happy it must be to keep surviving. Hayley asks Tyler what they’re talking about, and he spits out that it’s all B.S. He can’t wait to get rid of Klaus.
Stefan tries to take the blame for Jeremy’s attack on Elena – he thinks when a hunter kills a vampire, his urge to kill gets stronger. Then he has to admit that he’s been working with Jeremy to complete his tattoo. Elena doesn’t want the cure if this is what it takes to get it. Stefan says Jeremy is the only way to “fix all this.” Elena knows he means fix her. “You don’t have to love me like this,” she says. She tells him this is who she is now – the old Elena died in the water under Wickery Bridge. Stefan needs to let her go. Damon approaches, so Stefan walks away.
Jeremy packs a bag at Gilbert Gables, telling Matt he can’t live there while he wants to kill Elena. Matt says Elena’s a step ahead – she’s going to move out, and she’s asked Matt to stay with Jeremy. Elena will be crashing at Vamp Villa. Stefan is okay with that, but mostly because he doesn’t plan to stay while she’s there.
Tyler checks on Kim and determines that she’s done enough to break her sire bond. He texts the news to Hayley, who shares it with Shane. Those two are planning something, but Hayley wants to leave Tyler out of it “when it all goes down.” Shane says they’ll discuss that when the last hybrid has broken the sire bond.
Elena and Damon drink together, bonding over the fact that their brothers want to kill them. Elena has had a rough day, friends-wise, and it just drives home the point that she’s not great at being a vampire. Damon says he’s never seen her more alive. She brings up the dance at the pageant and how it reminded her of when they danced together. She wanted to do that again today. Damon takes her hand and they slow dance. (Music: “Kiss Me,” Ed Sheeran) Somewhere, Carol is tsking at them for ignoring her instructions about “the simple intimacy of the near touch.”
At Fort Forbes, Caroline urges Stefan not to give up on Elena. The two of them are “epic,” while Damon and Elena are “ugh.” Caroline thinks there’s something wrong with Elena. She asks Stefan to keep looking for the cure. He tells her Klaus won’t let him stop anyway; he wants Elena human again so he can make more hybrids. Caroline says he’ll need them, since Tyler almost has all of the existing ones unsired.
A light bulb goes off in Caroline’s head and she puts it all together as Damon and Elena go from dancing to kissing. Every time Elena has a problem, Damon solves it. When Elena was worried about Jeremy, Damon told her to relax, and she did. When Damon said Elena could only drink blood from the vein, Elena was only able to do that. As Damon and Elena start getting naked, Stefan begins to get what Caroline’s talking about. Damon liked the red dress, so suddenly Elena liked it, too. He told Elena to kill Connor, and she did. Since Damon’s blood made Elena a vampire, maybe they have a connection – one that’s rare for vampires but not unheard of. They have a sire bond.
Let’s just say Elena and Damon have another connection now, too, or they will as soon as all of their clothes are off.
Etc.: One of the volunteers Caroline yells at is played by Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabby Douglas.
I think Elena should have won the pageant in season 1, and Caroline should have competed and won this year. It would have shown how far Caroline has come since she became a vampire.
The pageant doesn’t strike me as a town gathering where kegs would be featured.
Everyone’s all, “Oh, Elena has changed so much since she became a vampire,” but honestly, I don’t really see it. It’s not like she’s become an unbearable person or turned into a Ripper or anything. Stefan’s the one who’s angrier and meaner now.
Look, I get why people like Klaus and Caroline together. I do. But I find the idea of her treating him with anything other than disdain ridiculous. He almost killed her best friend! Yeah, yeah, I know I could say the same thing about Damon and Elena, but I refuse to admit that I’m a hypocrite.
Someone really dropped the ball on the Brotherhood of the Five if some of them don’t even know who they are or what they’re supposed to do. Not much of a brotherhood, right?
Elena moving into Vamp Villa is so insane. She’s going to move in with the guy she has feelings for and his brother, who she just dumped? Why not have Jeremy move in with Matt? Why couldn’t Elena stay in Matt’s house while he’s living with Jeremy? Why would she willingly put herself in a super-awkward situation when she has so many other options?
An Eternity of Misery 