This was an extremely action packed episode and finally, we have some movement on the plot. The day has arrived for the big homecoming dance and the most excited is of course Rebekah. I have yet to figure out why the hell a 1000 year old vampire is so keyed up about this event. Rebekah did mention that she didn't have time for highschool before, because she and Klaus were always moving around but I still fail to see why she sees that as lacking considering that during her human life, there was no such thing as high school.
Cue the big convoluted plan to kill Klaus, with a side of teen angst for extra flavor. Elena stabs Michael so that Stefan can tell Klaus truthfully that he saw Elena stab him, thus luring him back to Mystic Falls. When he asks for confirmation Rebekah concurs. For his part Michael holds onto the weapon from the ash tree to ensure that Damon stake out of his heart.
When Michael awakes alone in a room with Rebekah, she tells him to impulses that he is feeling. He tries to tell her that he was not hunting her, only Klaus because he killed their mother but Rebekah still blames him. It seems that she holds him responsible for making Klaus a murderer and for turning the family into vampires.
When the crew arrives at the gym, it turns out that it has been flooded and so Tyler moves the party to his house. When they arrive, Klaus is with the band. It seems that he does not entirely trust that his father is really dead and so he brings with a few hybrids to ensure that he is protected. When he tells Tyler that Elena's plans won't succeed, he injects Caroline with vervain and asks Matt to make sure that she gets home safely.
When Michael shows up at the door, he taunts Klaus to draw him out of the house. When that does not work, Michael grabs Elena and threatens to kill her, which would mean would be unable to make anymore hybrid, Michael tells him that he will be all alone and only surrounded by people that he has compelled for the rest of his existence. Elena begs Klaus to take Michael seriously, but Klaus calls his bluff and tells Micheal to kill her believing that he won't because Elena is all of the leverage that he has. Michael stabs a knife through Elena's back and in the shock that occurs, Damon sneaks up on Klaus with the dagger and attempts to stab him and is thwarted by Stefan. In the confusion, Klaus grabs the dagger and stabs Michael who promptly bursts into flames.
Damon screams in rage asking, "what have you done?" Klaus tells Damon that Stefan has earned his freedom and he ends the compulsion. Back at the house Damon and Elena confer. They had what seemed like the perfect plan, Katherine was switched out with Elena, the wolfsbane bombs went off perfectly and all that remained was for Damon to stab Klaus. Elena tries to soothe him saying that they will survive but Damon points out that they have lost Stefan forever and Elena says then they will have to let him go. Clearly, this scene is meant to move Elena closer to Damon.
Outside of Mystic falls alone in a car, Katherine and Stefan chat. It seems that she woke Stefan after Klaus told her that even if he died he had compelled the werewolves to kill Damon. Okay, how is it that if Klaus was killed that his compulsion of Stefan would end but he command the werevamps even after death to still kill Damon. I think this was twisting of the compulsion rules. Katherine tells Stefan that she acted because she loved him and Damon once and that though humanity is inconvenient and can be easily shut off, it always rears its ugly head. Katherine encourages Stefan to let his humanity loose because she wants him to be angry enough to seek revenge on Klaus.
When Klaus goes into the trailer to release his family, he finds that all of the caskets are gone. It turns out that while he was celebrating, Katherine and Stefan stole the coffins. To Klaus this is a declaration of war. I also think it is worth mentioning that this episode saw some excellent acting from Klaus. When he was in in conversation with Micheal, with tears rolling down his face, I actually really felt his pain and that is saying something considering Damon is normally reduced to three facial expressions and Stefan is wooden. It was nice to see some actual acting on this show for a change.
I think this episode managed to up the ante for the first time in a long time. Bonnie showed up long enough to use her powers to stop Damon from killing Tyler and to tell Elena that she cannot talk to her about what happened with Jeremy. In a another "born this way" moment, Tyler begs Caroline to accept him for who he is, but when she hesitates, he realizes that things can never be the same and walks out. I think that extra points should go to Stefan for pointing out how ridiculous it is for a vampire who is 160+ years old to be going to a homecoming dance, as well as for pointing out that whenever they have a big plan that someone's humanity gets in the way - ELENA.
I am actually interested to see where this is going to go, but I am pretty sure that The Vampires Diaries will not sustain this tension in the follow up episodes. The writers seem to love to give us one good episode, followed by 5 or 6 nothing episodes. What were your thoughts?
