The Vampire Diaries recap: Truth or Dare

The Vampire Diaries is back, and we’re definitely starting a new chapter in the show if Stefan is teaming with Rebekah. To hear what showrunner Julie Plec has to say about that partnership, and Elena’s “I love you” to Damon, read our postmortem. Let’s dig in.

I suppose it made sense that the candlelight vigil for Mayor Carol Lockwood would take place at the high school — as opposed to the town square, where she was murdered by Klaus (or, official report: head trauma from a fall), or at the church, where her son had recently been shot by Connor during another public memorial. Tyler bolted Sheriff Forbes’ speech early and missed the introduction of the interim mayor, who we’d later learn is Bonnie’s dad, a traveling pharmaceutical rep and the seventh person who was offered the job. Elena left, too, because she saw Rebekah. She found a crying April in the hallway, who distracted Elena by telling her she knows she’s a vampire while Rebekah snuck up and snapped Elena’s neck. “Was that necessary?” April asked. “No, but it was fun,” Rebekah answered, smiling. It’s good to have Rebekah back, and, perhaps, time for April to leave. Meanwhile, Stefan called Caroline from the Grill, where he was having a one-man-multiple-bourbon pity party now that he knows Damon slept with Elena. Caroline told him Tyler is spiraling and he takes priority now. Ha!

After we saw Elena wake up in the library, where Rebekah compelled her to stay, we cut to cocky Jeremy and Matt sparring lakeside in tank tops while Damon listened to a voicemail from Elena for presumably the 100th time. Jeremy wanted Damon to teach him something new — and what we learned was that Jeremy is still no match for a vampire. A pizza delivery girl arrived, for the third day in a row. Damon told her not to return, no matter how much the boys begged. I couldn’t tell if he was holding this pizza hostage or going to throw it in the garbage, so Jeremy would have to practice hunting on animals or starve. The latter isn’t a bad idea. Either way, Damon wanted to finish that message from Elena, who misses him and wishes he’d let her come to him, so he told Jeremy and Matt to run around the lake twice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVY8SbQGW-Y

Rebekah called Stefan and told him she was holding Elena hostage at the high school (STILL NO SECURITY), and he phoned Caroline. I always love when they text, so other vamps can’t hear them. The plan was for Stefan to distract Rebekah while Caroline used the white oak stake on her, but Rebekah had already disarmed Caroline by the time Stefan found her. Rebekah escorted him to the library, where he joined Caroline and Elena. (April was quickly dismissed.) They’d all been compelled. The rules: they answer her questions honestly, no disobedience, and no one leaves. Doesn’t it seem like the Originals should be using this compulsion interrogation technique in EVERY EPISODE? Then, of course, we wouldn’t have a series. And, you could argue, it would be less fun for them. They have all the time in the world to kill.

Rebekah needed a quick update on what she’s missed. She couldn’t understand why, if Stefan would do anything to save Elena, even take the cure himself so he could grow old and die with her, they were still vampires. Rebekah sensed that the reminder of Stefan’s devotion to Elena made everyone comfortable, and Caroline finally blurted out that they’d broken up. This situation had to be perpetual teen Rebekah’s dream. She demanded to know what had happened. “She slept with Damon,” Stefan said. Elena glared at Caroline. Caroline could barely look at her.

NEXT: Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame…

Back at the lake house, Jeremy practiced slowly loading a gun while Damon fished for information on Elena’s mood. Their conversation was interrupted by Klaus, who wanted to know how many vampires Jeremy had killed. He needs that hunter’s mark to grow so he can find the cure and make more hybrids (since he just murdered 12 of them). Damon said Jeremy wasn’t ready, and Klaus said he wanted to help. So Damon told Jeremy to watch and learn — and then he fired two bullets into Klaus. “That was for Carol Lockwood,” Damon said.

At the school, it was Elena’s turn to fire a shot at Stefan’s heart when Rebekah asked her if she thought she’d slept with Damon because of the sire bond. “I didn’t sleep with Damon because of the sire bond, I slept with Damon because I’m in love with him,” Elena said. I literally shouted, “OUCH!” Mercifully, Caroline steered Rebekah back onto the subject of the cure. Stefan told Rebekah that Professor Shadypants knew where to find it.

Cut to Bonnie in Shane’s office complaining about her dad, who travels so much because he hates her witch heritage and suddenly wants to be a protective father. She wanted to do more magic therapy to distract herself but Shane informed her that she’s graduated. He gave her the necklace (made of human bone) that 2,000 year old witch Qetsiyah supposedly drew on for strength. Shane had papers to grade, so Bonnie left — and passed a grinning, cute Kol on his way in to kidnap Shane. The men arrived at the school right after Rebekah phoned Tyler to summon him using Caroline as bait. “Maybe you have a better shot at saving her than you did your mother. Bye now,” she said. Evil, evil, impolite and evil!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rADdKqPNdaM

Is Rebekah really as bad as Klaus, as Kol said? No. Not yet, at least. Klaus joined Damon by the fire to give him whittling advice and a therapy session. He knew Damon would have thought to turn innocent people into vampires so Jeremy could stake them with lower risk to himself — and that Damon wouldn’t do that now because Elena wouldn’t like it. That’s why Klaus did it for him. Pizza Girl showed up claiming car trouble, and flirty Matt went to look for his phone for her. She couldn’t enter the house until Jeremy gave her a softcore-porn invite: “Well, I’m about to go take a shower, but you’re more than welcome to wait inside.”

To let that suspense build, we went back to Rebekah and Kol trying to compel Shane to tell them where the cure was. Only he can’t be compelled — something he picked up in Tibet. So Rebekah ordered Kol to beat it out of him the old-fashioned way. Finally, something Rebekah and I agree on! Rebekah went back into the library and wanted to play a game of Truth or Dare. Elena chose dare, but Rebekah cheated: “I dare you to tell Stefan the truth about Damon.” Elena said when she’s with Damon, it feels unpredictable, like she’s free. And when she’s with Stefan? She feels like a project, a problem that needs to be fixed. “I think I make him sad, and I can’t be with someone like that, because when he looks at me, all he sees is a broken toy,” Elena said. She’s not wrong.

Rebekah: Do you still love Stefan?

Elena: Yes.

Rebekah: Are you still in love with Stefan?

Elena: No.

Rebekah: Did that hurt, having someone you love drive a dagger through your heart?

Stefan: Go to hell.

Rebekah: Did that hurt?

Stefan: Yes.

Rebekah: Welcome to the last 900 years of my life.

Could this get any more uncomfortable? YES! Tyler arrived, and Rebekah told them all to stay in the building and not vamp run in the hallway. Why? She compelled Tyler to turn into a werewolf. Now that she had Shane, she didn’t need them. They were just competition, and whoever finds the cure first gets to decide how to use it. Okay, now that is evil (if we thought there was any chance Tyler would actually kill Caroline, Stefan, or Elena).

NEXT: Silas is scary enough to spook Kol

After we watched Jeremy save Matt from Pizza Girl and admired his muscles, we went back to the school. Bonnie stumbled upon April in the science room, and April told her that Rebekah was getting Elena, Stefan, and Caroline to tell the truth. Bonnie knew Shane couldn’t be compelled and that Rebekah would torture him, so she used the pendant to do a protection spell. Only it linked Shane to April, who started coughing up water as Kol repeatedly dunked Shane’s head while asking where the cure was. Rebekah couldn’t understand why Shane even wanted the cure since he’s human. And he said he doesn’t. He just wants Silas, the first Immortal, who’s imprisoned with it. Now this got interesting: Kol said “Silas will kill us all,” and Rebekah said he’s not real, he’s just a fairy tale. Shane insisted he’s real, that he knows where he’s buried, and that soon he’ll have the spell that wakes him. Apparently you need his tombstone and dozens to die in a blood sacrifice. Shane’s done it before. He’s the one who got the Council blown up. Shane said those deaths were noble — and temporary. “Because once I raise Silas, Silas will raise the dead. He will bring back every last soul who died on his behalf.” And then, Kol impaled him.

So many questions: Why does Silas want to kill the Originals, and therefore all vampires? So Shane’s wife and child died in one of these massacres? Do the sacrifices come back as human? How many dozen sacrifices does it take to get to Silas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2umsVDEmew

While Stefan and Elena worked together to protect themselves from werewolf Tyler, Kol and Rebekah fought. He said Silas would be “hell on earth,” so Rebekah should thank him. But she wasn’t in a forgiving mood, thinking Shane was dead along with her advantage in the race to the cure. It’s probably worth remembering that Kol now has possession of the white oak stake. Once they left, Shane awoke. Let the record also show that he’s sexier wet than he is dry. If he was alive, that meant April was dying — there must be a balance (RIP, Uncle John). Luckily, Stefan and Elena got there in time for Stefan to feed her his blood. He told Bonnie, who felt nothing but more power doing that spell, to get April out of the school. He and Elena had to stay there because Rebekah told them not to leave.

For some reason, Elena thought this was a good time for her and Stefan to talk about Damon. Stefan didn’t. “How many more ways are there for you to rip my heart out?” he asked. All Elena could say was that she was sorry she hurt him. Rebekah needed cheered up so she found them. “Why are my least favorite people always the most durable?” she asked. (Because they are the stars of the show?) Caroline was also safe. She’d found Tyler in the gym, lying naked in the fetal position in front of his mother’s makeshift memorial. She held him as he broke down and apologized. “This whole thing, this is all my fault,” he said. “I should have saved her.” Oh, Tyler. I am such a sucker for weeping, naked werewolves.

But back to Rebekah: She couldn’t believe that Stefan was still protecting Elena. Was she going to have to rip out his heart and show him the scar tissue? She said there was a solution: She could compel him to forget Elena — erase every memory, kiss, lie, ounce of pain, bit of love. He wouldn’t know Elena or the misery. “Do it,” Stefan said. “Erase it all, every memory.” Elena protested, but there was no need. Rebekah had no intention of making it that easy on Stefan. “I refuse to make you forget her the way Klaus made you forget me,” she said. And to Elena: “But at least you know how he really feels.” She told them Stefan’s eternity of pain was her revenge, and they were free to go. Stefan walked out without saying a word to Elena, who had tears in her eyes. I liked that: The school is where Klaus had made Stefan turn off his humanity, in front of Elena. And it’s where Rebekah made him pay the ultimate price for feeling the human emotion of love for Elena.

NEXT: Elena says “I love you”

Professor Shane almost got a shirtless scene. I feel like we could have seen more skin as he changed into dry, non-blood-soaked clothes at his office. “It turns out I miscalculated. Kol’s gonna be a problem,” he told Bonnie when she entered. She was pissed that she almost killed April for him. You see, Bonnie’s dad just became mayor, so she can’t be out doing black magic. THAT’S THE ONLY REASON, BONNIE? I don’t know what to think about Shane’s explanation of Expression. He says it’s how you use it that determines whether it’s good or bad. It’s just a way to do limitless magic not monitored by nature or the spirits. He told her she is the key to everything and he’s not gonna let anything bad happen to her. Maybe it’s because he was standing really close to her, or because his shirt had a few buttons undone, but I think that might have been the start of some sexual tension. It would be smart: Make Bonnie think he loves her, so she trusts him more. Then eventually, make her chose between Shane and Jeremy when both of their lives are in danger. (Jeremy’s biceps for the win!)

Speaking of love!!! Elena phoned Damon, who neglected to tell her that he was burying the Pizza Girl, and told him that Stefan knew about them and hadn’t taken it well. Blah, blah, blah, how’s Jeremy? You’re burying the lead, Elena. She told Damon she realized something about him today. He could say it’s the sire bond, and maybe it is, but it’s the most real thing she’s ever felt: “I love you, Damon,” she said. He was speechless. So she said it again. “I love you.”

“Look, I’m gonna get this cure for you, and I’m gonna have to do things you’re not gonna like,” he said. “But listen carefully, get in your car, right now. Come to me.” [Insert squeal!] That, to me, was better than watching them have hot shirt-tearing sex because it felt real. It felt like Elena’s choice. And Ian Somerhalder played it perfectly: The way he let the phone linger by his ear, as if in that moment, time stood still. The way he looked to the heavens and smiled (at God? at Alaric?). His voice — he wasn’t trying to be sexy or forceful — it was honest, and happy, and relieved. He wanted to hold her, not shove her against a wall. And P.S. I loved that Elena was sitting on the front porch of her house when she made that call. That’s her and Damon’s special place.

Stefan, we learned, had also made a call that night. He’d invited Rebekah over. He knows she still wants the cure (to ram down Klaus’ throat), so he told her Shane is still alive. Why share that? He’ll go insane if he doesn’t know how Elena truly feels about Damon, so he needs to find the cure, too. Everyone else has something: Damon has Jeremy, Klaus has the sword, and Shane has Bonnie. They’re the only two left with nothing. HE WANTS TO BE HER PARTNER. I am so onboard with spiraling Stefan working with needy Rebekah. I don’t want them to hook up (though I could see him doing it in the future when he’s drunk — ominous close-up of the bottle). But I do hope we hear her recount the good times they had together. (Shouldn’t he be curious? Again, maybe when he’s drunk he could bring it up. Especially if he’s a friendly drunk like me: “Why don’t we ever hang out? We should hang out more!” )

Rebekah had told Stefan about Shane’s dark agenda and penchant for mass murders of 12 people, which Stefan knew was used for Expression. How will they “manage” Shane? I assume it was Rebekah who sent April to see Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Bonnie’s Dad. She told them about Shane orchestrating the Council deaths. I’m guessing they could lock him up. Or, at the very least, Bonnie’s dad will tell Bonnie not to see Shane anymore — assuming he knows she’s spending time with him. That could slow Shane down.

I’m glad we didn’t end there. That wasn’t nearly dramatic enough. Instead, we cut to Jeremy, Matt, and Damon showing up at a bar littered with patrons Klaus had in transition to become vampires. Is Matt there for them to feed on to complete their transitions? Sorry, Matt. Jeremy was pissed. He thought Damon was going to convince Klaus there was another way to do this. “Well, I thought about it,” Damon said, “and then I realized his idea was better.” Does Jeremy kill those vamps, or are they the ones chasing him in the promo for next week? Either way, it will be fun to see Jeremy being hunted (even if he is wearing a sweatshirt). And P.S. If Elena is sired to Damon, will she really be upset with him for allowing Klaus to target innocent people? Won’t she see it Damon’s way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6It-LOEnxE

Your turn. What did you think of the episode?