Katherine is at a diner, celebrating the fact that Silas didn’t kill her. A waitress comments on her hair, which confuses Katherine. She realizes that a chunk of her hair has turned gray.
Damon and Elena are having a quiet morning at Vamp Villa, trying to hold on to their optimism that today will be the day they get Bonnie back. Damon expects someone to walk in any minute and ruin their peace. Silas winds up being that someone. He’s excited because after 2,000 years of misery, he can now die.
Stefan wakes up in Qetsiyah’s cabin, where they spent the previous night drinking and bonding. She snuck a peek at his phone and saw a text letting him know that Silas took the cure. Qetsiyah’s happy because now she can kill him. Back at Vamp Villa, Silas is looking forward to finally reuniting with Amara. Damon reminds him that he agreed to bring Bonnie back from the Other Side first. Elena’s not confident that he’ll actually do it, so Silas offers to pinkie swear. He promises to bring Bonnie back before he destroys the Other Side and goes to join Amara wherever she is. He just has to do one thing first: find and destroy the anchor.
Qetsiyah tells Stefan that she doesn’t want Silas to find peace, so she can’t let him find the anchor. Silas already knows where it is, though, and he shares the location with Damon. Damon can’t believe the thing keeping the Other Side intact is in, of all places, New Jersey. Jeremy interrupts, toting a crossbow, and Silas remarks that he must be looking forward to getting back someone he used to have sex with. Elena tells Jeremy that everyone wants the same thing for once, so the crossbow isn’t necessary.
Jeremy doesn’t trust Silas to bring Bonnie back just because they asked. Silas acknowledges that he’s a monster, but that’s why the gang should refrain from doing anything to tick him off. He’s happy to be a witch again and says he feels like he keeps reinventing himself: “I’m like a supernatural Madonna.”
Qetsiyah tells Stefan that the Travelers don’t want Silas to destroy the Other Side and get to Amara. They have control of the anchor and constantly move it so the wrong person doesn’t get their hands on it. She knows they won’t let Silas get to it. Even if that does happen, Qetsiyah is sure Silas won’t destroy the anchor.
Silas rounds up the people he’s inviting on his road trip to New Jersey – Damon and Jeremy can come, but Elena can’t. He doesn’t want to hang out with someone who looks just like Amara. Damon says that makes no sense, but Silas thinks he would understand if Damon were ever in love with someone who looked exactly like Elena. Damon’s face: “…Um.” Elena demands to go along, so Silas magically shoots an arrow from a crossbow into her leg. He threatens to shoot her in the heart if she keeps delaying the trip.
Stefan appreciates having his memories erased because he doesn’t have to remember how he got dragged into all this. Qetsiyah sums it up: Silas will die today, and he’ll spend eternity on the Other Side, forever separated from Amara and peace. Qetsiyah has every angle covered. …Except for the part where she’s unable to leave the cabin. She realizes that Silas did a spell keeping them trapped inside until sundown. How does she know? She taught him the spell.
Katherine takes advantage of Elena’s absence from the Super Suite to help herself to anything she wants there, including the private bathroom, where she colors the gray out of her hair. Caroline is briefly fooled, possibly since she’s focusing on packing up. Now that Wes has implied that he knows Caroline and Elena are vampires, they need to leave Whitmore. When Caroline figures out that “Elena” is really Katherine, she tries to kick her out. Katherine notes that giving up and moving out are un-Caroline-like actions. Caroline needs her. In exchange for Elena’s bed and meal card, Katherine will help Caroline deal with Wes.
Elena calls Stefan, but Qetsiyah intercepts the call and tries to make Elena think that she and Stefan had sex. Qetsiyah offers to relay a message. “Remind him that you’re a crazy b&%#$,” Elena replies. Qetsiyah laughs that that seems to be his type. Elena calls Damon next to complain that Stefan keeps going back to Qetsiyah. Silas makes Damon tell her what he did to Stefan to break his and Silas’ connection. Elena decides to go to the cabin, but Damon thinks she should give Stefan space. Elena says he’s mad at Damon, not her, so there’s something she and Stefan can bond over.
After Damon hangs up, Silas tries to liven up the road trip with a joke:
Silas: “Knock, knock.”
(Damon and Jeremy ignore him)
Silas: “Knock, knock. Who’s there? The mayor. The mayor who?”
(Dramatic pause)
Damon: “Well, who?”
Silas: “No one. That’s the joke. No one’s there because I killed the mayor.”
Jeremy: “You’re a dick.”
Wes is working in his lab when Katherine and Caroline ambush him and inject him with something. Meanwhile, Elena goes to the cabin, unknowingly getting herself trapped inside with Stefan and Qetsiyah. She apologizes to Stefan on Damon’s behalf, saying she wouldn’t have let Damon do what he did if she’d known what he was planning. Stefan doesn’t believe that, since Elena tends to do whatever he tells her to. And that’s AFTER the sire bond was broken! Elena says sleeping with Qetsiyah won’t solve anything. Stefan’s confused, and Qetsiyah pretends she just remembered that Elena called to talk to him. Qetsiyah “may have embellished” what they were up to. Elena confirms that Stefan’s there voluntarily, then tries to leave, but of course, she can’t.
The road-trippers arrive in New Jersey as Silas asks how Damon can be there while Elena’s at home, “worrying about her doppelganger soulmate.” Damon says he’s secure in his relationship. He hopes Silas doesn’t believe in the “doppelganger prophecy crap.” Silas does, but Damon says his attempt to get rid of the Other Side so he can be with Amara isn’t fate. It’s just Silas being crazy. They break into the warehouse where the anchor is being kept, but it’s full of boxes and crates, and Silas doesn’t know what they’re looking for.
Wes comes to as Katherine (whom he thinks is Elena) and Caroline are draining his blood so Caroline can compel him to forget that she and Elena are vampires. They’re not great at math, so they might not be accurate at figuring out the amount of blood he can lose without dying. Wes wants to find a vein himself for the bloodletting, but Katherine’s done this before and does it herself.
Once the draining has started, Katherine holds a scalpel to Wes’ neck and asks who else knows about the vampires. Wes doesn’t think she’s going to hurt him; if she wanted him dead, he’d already be dead. She should have left Whitmore when he told her to. “They” are on to her. Caroline asks if “they” are the secret society he’s rumored to be a part of.
Wes says they’re meeting today at Whitmore House to consider potential candidates. They planned to invite Elena, but they changed their minds when they started to suspect that she’s a vampire. Katherine confirms that she just has to convince them that Elena’s human. Wes warns that she won’t make it past the front door without an invite. Caroline and Katherine smile at each other because they know she will.
Bonnie pops up during the search at the warehouse, though she’s much less optimistic than Jeremy is about everything working out. He thinks that if they both believe the plan will work out, it will. Sure thing, Jer. He makes Bonnie say that they’ll be successful. She tells him she would die 100 times if it meant Jeremy could still be alive. He promises that before the end of the day, they’ll be able to touch again. I think it’s safe to say they’re back together.
Damon asks Silas why the Travelers are so interested in the anchor. Silas says they hate him for creating the immortality spell and don’t want him to destroy the one thing standing between him and Amara. He compares Damon to the anchor – there’s always something in a love story that keeps getting in the lovers’ way. Damon threatens to kill Silas if he doesn’t stop bringing that up, but Silas knows Damon needs him to get Bonnie back.
Qetsiyah uses Stefan’s phone to call Damon and tell him to kill Silas. Damon says he’d love to, but Silas wants to kill himself. Qetsiyah knows he plans to destroy the Other Side first and says that won’t happen. She wants him gone before he can find the anchor. Elena calls out for Damon, and Qetsiyah tells him she lured Elena to the cabin by making her jealous. Then she gives Elena a magic migraine to incentivize Damon to do her bidding.
Damon admits that he can’t kill Silas because Silas needs to do something for him first. Qetsiyah asks if that something is more important than Elena. They’re stuck in the cabin together until sundown, so Damon has until then to kill Silas, or Qetsiyah will kill Elena. “With a face like Amara’s, it might be cathartic,” she notes.
Katherine goes to Whitmore House posing as Elena and pretends to remember meeting Dianne. Dianne is surprised to see her walk in without an invitation. While helping herself to the free food, Katherine encounters Aaron. He says he’s trying to figure out why Wes warned him to stay away from her. Katherine asks if he’s part of the secret society, but Aaron doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She can’t decide if he’s good at keeping secrets or just clueless. Suddenly one of her teeth comes loose and she pulls it out of her mouth. So much for recon – Katherine has something more important to deal with now.
Qetsiyah tries to get under Elena’s skin some more while continuing to buddy up to Stefan. Elena asks how Qetsiyah was able to come back to life. Qetsiyah explains that she snuck back from the Other Side when Bonnie dropped the veil. Elena tells her that Silas was going to bring Bonnie back, but now Damon – who always puts Elena’s life ahead of everyone else’s, including his own – is going to kill him before he can. Stefan tries to ease the tension by offering to cook dinner.
Damon and Jeremy discuss their options outside the warehouse. They can’t kill Silas until he brings back Bonnie, but Damon knows Qetsiyah is serious about her threat to kill Elena. He tells Jeremy the plan is off and they’re not going to get Bonnie back. Bonnie tells Jeremy it’s okay. Jeremy obviously wants to apologize, but he also can’t argue that they should let his sister die. Bonnie wouldn’t want that to happen anyway. She says that maybe it’s time for her to accept that she’s dead. It’s definitely time for Jeremy to help Damon kill Silas.
Back inside, Damon comes across a couple of Travelers. They chant something that makes Damon’s daylight ring stop working. (He’s sick of witches always doing that.) He tells them he was going to do them a favor and kill Silas. One of them says they don’t want him dead yet. Damon’s like, “Screw that” and kills them both.
Caroline’s been thinking about things other than Wes, so he has to tell her to stop draining him before he dies. She compels him to spill some dirt about the secret society. It’s called Augustine, and the members are either legacies or people with “extraordinary talents.” (His is “being brilliant.” Bleh.) Wes covered up Megan’s death because she was killed by the Augustine vampire.
Before he can tell her who that his, Dianne knocks on the lab door. Caroline quickly compels Wes to believe that Caroline and Elena are human, and he’s lightheaded because he gave blood that morning. She zooms out as Dianne comes in and tells Wes he missed the party at Whitmore House. Elena was able to walk right in, so she’s not a vampire. Dianne asks why Wes was so convinced she was. He’s not sure.
Stefan cooks dinner as the sun starts going down. Elena tries to convince him that the real him wouldn’t be into someone like Qetsiyah. As Qetsiyah starts to call Damon, Stefan whispers – quietly enough for Elena’s vamp hearing to pick up without Qetsiyah hearing – that he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t hate her and isn’t going to let Qetsiyah hurt her.
Damon tells Qetsiyah that he was ambushed by Travelers, and the group doesn’t want Silas dead. She says they probably want his blood – Silas got the cure through Katherine’s blood, so now his blood is the cure. Damon doesn’t get why the Travelers want it; they’re not immortal, so they have no use for an immortality cure. Qetsiyah tells him they’ll want it to destroy the anchor and bring down the Other Side. After all, Qetsiyah had to bind the spell creating the Other Side to something immortal – something Silas would never want to destroy. As she hangs up, Stefan surprises her and shoves a knife into her stomach. He tells Elena to run, then follows her out.
Damon figures out that the anchor isn’t a thing – it’s a person. Specifically, it’s a person Silas would never want to hurt. It’s Amara. Silas finds her in a crate, turned to stone like he once was, and feeds her a Traveler’s blood to wake her up.
He takes her outside and tells her he thought Qetsiyah killed her 2,000 years ago. Amara says she couldn’t die, since she never took the cure to become mortal. Silas apologizes for taking it himself so they could be at peace together. He was ready to die for her. Amara is pleased to hear this, but not for the reason Silas thinks. She uses a piece of broken glass to slice open his neck, drink his blood, and suck the cure out for herself.
Wes can’t find his tape recorder, which Katherine snagged when she was there earlier. She brings it back to him, again pretending to be Elena, and asks about a subject he’s been studying who has abnormal blood. She asks if that’s the Augustine vampire. Wes tells her to leave, but Katherine threatens to expose all his secrets. She tells him she’s not Elena, then says she thinks she’s dying and needs him to save her.
Amara hides outside the warehouse, speaking to someone or someones who aren’t there. Damon finds her. Fast-forward hours later as Stefan and Elena arrive at Vamp Villa. She comments that even without his memories, Stefan is still himself. He says he acted on instinct at the cabin, which is what she means. His instincts were always to protect her.
He heads up to his room, ignoring Damon and Jeremy, who are in the living room. They have to admit to Elena that their plan failed (which is why Jeremy thinks he gets a pass on drinking with Damon). Bonnie tries to convince Jeremy that this is for the best. He disagrees. Elena notes that they’ve gotten through worse. Damon points out that Silas is MIA and Amara has been cured, which means the fate of the Other Side depends on them protecting her. Oh, yeah – Damon and Jeremy brought Amara back with them. She screams when she sees Elena.
Qetsiyah is waiting for Stefan in his room. She’s sick of watching history repeat itself, but she appreciates having her memories, even the painful ones. She took Stefan’s to ease his pain. Now she’s giving him back both the pain and his memories – memories of killing Giuseppe, forcing Damon to turn, losing Elena, and being trapped in the safe. Qetsiyah knows the only thing that kept Stefan sane in the safe was the hope that Damon or Elena would rescue him. But Qetsiyah was the one who saved him, and she wants him to remember that.
Keep in mind: Once someone takes the cure, their blood becomes the new cure.
Etc.: I laugh at Silas’ joke every time. Then I feel bad. Then I laugh at Jeremy’s response and feel less bad.
When did Qetsiyah’s claims that the doppelgangers always find each other become a “prophecy”?
I love how Katherine’s snooping kills two birds with one stone – it gets her close to the Augustine Society and fools them into thinking Elena’s human.
Heh, Silas is still insisting that he’s the one who created the immortality spell, while Qetsiyah says it was her. It’s a nice little detail that illustrates how much they hate each other.
Why would Elena just go back to Vamp Villa knowing Qetsiyah is after her? What’s the point in Qetsiyah threatening her life if Elena’s not going to take her seriously?
An Eternity of Misery 