Image Credit: Bob Mahoney/The CWIt’s unfortunate that Stefan’s detox didn’t simply involve the continuation of workouts while wearing a wifebeater. That, for 28 days, would have been a win-win for everyone. Instead, he tried to drown his thirst for human blood in the bottle, and that was good for no one. Drunk Stefan wasn’t even a good dancer.
Other big revelations this episode:
• Stefan is out of control, but not in a hot way. After fighting his natural urges — which included recreating the Twilight propel-yourself-off-the-bed-and-into-a-wall-after-a-steamy-kiss scene, licking his fingers covered with the blood of Matt’s mother, and roughing up an a-hole with bad manners and worse timing — Stefan drank human blood again. Damon, who couldn’t understand why his brother wouldn’t just drink from a blood bank, left him a tumbler for the second time and Stefan could no longer resist. It’s like me when I eat lunch at this restaurant that offers $3 mango margaritas during the week. I know I shouldn’t, but I must. It’s a little sad, because he’d finally admitted to Elena that he had a problem. But as I said last week, that character can’t always just be decent. Otherwise, I’ll only want to talk about Damon, which I’m about to do now…
• Damon continued to be the kind of person/vampire you’d want to consume $3 mango margaritas with. (I love that vampires can get drunk in the Vampire Diaries world.) Favorite moment: A tie between when Elena called him over to discuss Stefan’s situation and he held her teddy bear and went through her bra drawer, and when he caught Stefan up on the evening’s events at the umpteenth founder’s celebration. “Do you wanna hear the bad news or the really bad news?…. Okay, let me rephrase. Do you want to hear how the council is back in vampire mode or how I just killed Uncle John Gilbert?…. Great party by the way, huh?” And he turned and was off. Another beautiful delivery by Ian Somerhalder.
• Uncle John Gilbert knows Isobel. I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually seen actor David Anders since he played Sark on Alias — I don’t watch Heroes and 24 — but the man makes enough of an impression that you remember him. I’m not sure if he’s supposed to be good or evil. (Even Caroline’s cop mom thinks he’s a jackass.) He waltzed into town because he doesn’t want Aunt Jenna to sell his brother’s office — had she told him it was to a woman named Pearl, who has a daughter named Anna? I wonder why we found out that he and Jenna used to sleep together (assuming he wasn’t joking): Just as a way to make it clear that he was related to Elena’s father not her mother, because he’ll try to seduce her away from Alaric to keep her under his thumb, or because it’s just fun? John told the council about all the blood bank robberies and missing persons within a 75-mile radius of Mystic Falls. Then, he told Damon that he knew he was the one who’d let the vampires out of the tomb. TWIST! Damon walked away, but used his supervampire speed to come back and snap John’s neck, then threw him to the ground. AWESOME! Of course, we weren’t surprised when John walked back into the party. Damon pointed out to Alaric that John was wearing a ring like his, and the two of them confronted him. John said there were two rings: One he inherited, which he’d given to Isobel, who gave it to Alaric; the other was his brother’s, which he now wears. (So did Elena’s dad give him the ring or did he take it?) If John knew Isobel, and sent her to Damon when she said she wanted to be a vampire, does that mean he’s linked to Isobel now? Why did Isobel really want to become a vampire? So confused! What we know for certain: John knows all about Alaric and the Salvatore Brothers, and if they kill him, everything will be revealed to the council. So, he’s safe. Even with my head spinning, I’m happy about Uncle John’s arrival. Anders can definitely go toe-to-toe with Somerhalder.
• Jeremy now knows presumably everything about what went down with Vicki because Elena stupidly wrote it all down. Jeremy became suspicious after Vicki’s death was ruled an overdose, which he thinks is weird since someone took the time to bury her and he knows vampires do exist. Elena tried to talk him down and only made him more suspicious. That’s when he searched her room and found her diary. Why didn’t he just confront her that night?
• Matt’s mom is more of a cougar than we thought. What was the purpose of bringing Matt’s mother back to town? After Matt caught her making out with Tyler at the Founder’s Party (saw that coming), he told her he wants her out of his house and life by morning. Did she really just return for a bunch of little moments: driving a wedge between Caroline and Matt, making out with Damon, getting Tyler in trouble with his dad (who struck him again), fueling Stefan’s hunger so he’d go off on the guy who was rude to Elena on the dance floor? I guess what I’m saying is, I thought for sure she’d die. Fingers still crossed she bites it on her way out-of-town.
Your turn. What did you think of the episode? Have any theories you’d like to share? Did you enter an alternate universe where Stefan is fun, or are you still waiting for the series to take you there?
Love the recap, but I really don’t want Matt’s mother to die–I love Melinda Clarke too much, she’s just too good at stirring up trouble. I was also really excited to see David Anders, too bad he couldn’t use his British accent–that would have been too sexy.
Just let you know David Anders is an American! He used a british accent on two shows, but is not British. I was wondering if he’s Elena’s real father which would make her a Gilbert.
omg, he could be her dad, great point
Considering the fact that he’s only 29, that would be a bit of a stretch! But isn’t it yummy to have him around?
To clarify my statement, David Anders is 29, we don’t know how old Jonathan Gilbert is. If Paul Wesley, who is 27, can play a 17-year-old, then David Anders could play an older character. With the quick pace of this show, we may learn the “truth” very soon. And I would LOVE to see David Anders become a series regular, can that please happen?
Yikes – David Anders is only 29? He’s not getting the good lighting on this show then. He looks 10-15 years older than that. And yes, I definitely thought John Gilbert might be Elena’s dad. Why else would he have given his ring to Isobel and how convenient that his brother then would have adopted his child?
“Yikes – David Anders is only 29? He’s not getting the good lighting on this show then.”
hahahahaha ~ No One Gets Good Lighting On This Show….CW, turn on the damn lights!!!
what it Damon was her dad that would be WEIRD but cool
Yeah, the lighting is poor, but Ian still manages to look gooooooood.
Yea, he is American. My step-sister went to high school with him.
She said that she slept over at his house one time.
Oh, I knew Anders was American, I’ve been a big fan of his since Alias as Mr. Sark–still wish he could use the British though. He sounds kind of weird as an American lol.
I was sad that Anna wasn’t in the episode. She’s a much better actress than the girl who plays Elena, and I loved Anna with Jeremy.
I don’t dislike the actress who plays Elena. Actually, I think she is one of the prettiest girls on TV. She has a great figure, pretty face, and beautiful hair.
However, I also like Anna more and hope we see more of her.
I wish the show were not so dark. My wife has trouble distinguishing between the different characters.
Yeah, I like Anna, too. I’m warming up to Elena, but it’s taking awhile. Nina Dobrev has been kind of one-note so far, but she’s coming out of her comfort zone. Where the hell is BONNIE? This is getting ridiculous. I usually like Melinda Clarke, too, but I’m not a fan of Matt’s mom. And Mandi, I can’t believe you didn’t mention the heat between Elena and Damon this week. It was off the charts.
I don’t want Kelly to die either. She’s too much fun and I believe that she loves Matt but just doesn’t like the responsibility of motherhood. Also Kelly’s presence increases Caroline’s insecurities which keeps Matt and Caroline’s grounded in reality.
I do have a theory about John Gilbert. I think that he is Elena’s daddy. If he gave Isobel a ring that important then they were obviously close, so let’s see how this plays out.
I was thinking along those lines too actually, that he’s her daddy and not her uncle. That just sounds kind of…wrong though. And a little too obvious for a show like Vampire Diaries.
Agree – I think he is Elena’s dad also
Mandi, I totally agree with you we needed more workout time for Stefan!
Seriously, has this guy been in the gym more often since the first episode or what? I love how this show keeps moving along and can’t wait to see what happens next week. At first I was anti Elena and Damon hook up, but now I see how much better it would be! Counting the minutes to next week’s episode…
I was confused about the whole Jonathan Gilbert, Isobel, Alaric, Salvatore brothers thing. My head was spinning. I’ll just have to watch it again.
Me too.
I bet it turns out that Uncle John had something to do with Elena’s parents dying and thats how he got the ring. I cant wait to see what happens
I think the Uncle is Elaina’s real father. What Damon said about Isobel mysteriously showing up at his brothers house made me wonder.
my thoughts exactly– also, you’d think the dead father’s ring would have been passed on to Jeremy, so why does Uncle John have it?? Makes me think he definitely had something to do with the deaths.
Damon is leaving glasses of blood around for Stefan so that he could be all messed up and then Damon could have more time with Elena.
Seriously? The blood thing has nothing to do with Elena. He’s trying to get his brother to see that there are other & better ways to live.
I don’t think that’s it at all. This is Stefan relapse and its not going to be easy for him to get back on track after so many years without human blood. Damon is right he has sepent to much time being what he is not. He dosent have to kill a human, but he should not denie him slef his protein
I just saw the preview for next week and Damon is totally setting up Stefan to fail while Damon is getting close to Elena. I felt sorry for Stefan, I hope his character gets better!! not this out of control drunk.
Did anyone else have sound issues during last night’s episode? You couldn’t hear dialogue for half of the episode.
nope
i had sound issues too
I DVR’d last night’s episode and I am watching as I type. Can’t hear anything but the background noise. This sucks.
I have Directv and while I didn’t have sound problems with the CW, for the past two weeks, I’ve had sound problems with ABC, with LOST and Ugly Betty. I was really annoyed with the problems with Wednesday’s Ugly Betty, because it was the series finale! I had to watch it online again the next day because I couldn’t hear half of what they were saying!
I had audio problems too. Only the background music is playing but no
I didn’t have sound for about 30 minutes. I was wondering if it was only with Verizon? I would like to let CW know, maybe they can replay it for those who did not have sound for half the show.
They are slowly building up Tyler’s werewolf side by showing how “feral” he was against Matt. And Alaric asking what was that? I want to be intrigued with Tyler but it’s almost being forced on us.
My problem is that he randomly pops up now & again so he hasn’t been a character the viewers could invest in. I’m hoping that they’ll bring him into more storylines next season if they introduce the werewolf thing.
The warewolf thing is comeming out of left field, but maybe this will help Damon and Stefan have the Mayor on their side.
I’m not so sure that the Mayor would be on their side as it’s been hinted at that the Mayor might be a werewolf too, clearly the alpha by the way he acts so dominant.
Still missing Bonnie!!! wonder what Jeremy is up to since he’s acting all fine after reading Elena’s diary. The Twilight- esque scenes I could do without (the steamy kiss thing and the I’m-too-dangerous-for-you-to-be-around thing) although that scene where Stefan admitted he had a problem to Elena was kinda really good dramatic acting from the players involved. More working out shirtless scenes for the boys and bring back Bonnie and I’ll be happy ( Team Bonnie+Damon!!!)
yeah someone else who’s team bonnie&damon!!!!! they should get that cracking, where is she?
I’ve been team Damon and Bonnie since their scene together at the car wash (?). Their chemistry eas off the charts. And she’s more of an equal to him, remember what Grams did to him?
Two things I loved about the episode: Damon (of course) and his obviously growing affection for Elena is really nice to see. I’m trying to remember him when he was all evil, and I like this side of him much better. And I LOVE how they played a Paramore song at the founder’s ball!
Oh, and I laughed out loud when good ol’ Uncle Jon got thrown off the roof. It was ALMOST as good as Ilana getting blown up on Lost!
Oh, I heard Paramore and was like, “YES!” I was giddy when Damon killed Uncle John! It was just so awesome, and a little bit sexy. I just love how casually he kills people, and the way he snaps their necks just makes me so happy. But, you know, this probably makes me pretty disturbed. Or maybe Ian Somerhalder just plays Damon that well. Anyway, I can’t believe how great this show is sometimes. It makes me afraid for next season.
Sorry, have to disagree. Uncle Jon getting thrown off the roof was 10x better! Ilana’s death was so dumb, albeit a little funny.
My question is this: do the rings that the Gilbert brothers inherited protect them from all kinds of death or just death by vampire? B/c if they protect them from all death, then I’m guessing that Uncle John did have something to do with his brother’s death. Otherwise, wouldn’t Elena’s dad’s ring have protected him in the car wreck? Fishy. I’m thinking he’s bad.
I am firmly in the camp of Uncle John is a bad guy. The upside of this is that he will continue to bring out the badness we love in Damon. It disturbs me a little how delighted I was when Damon snapped John’s neck on the balcony but it was AWESOME! And though I like where they are taking Stefan I am grateful that the other characters and storylines aren’t overshadowed by it.
I think the ring only protects people from vampire deaths, because Jon said something to Damon about not trying to get the ring off fast and kill him, or have Aleric kill him because all his info will go to the council. So I think Aleric could kill him because he is human.
That is an amazing point! I didn’t even pick up on that!
After the twists that Uncle John brought last night, I would say that the car crash that killed Elena’s parents was no accident.
KAL! I had issues during the episode last night! Do you have Charter Cable? I was wondering if it was the cable company! It was the second week in a row!
I have Verizon Fios. It was really strange, the sound just kept going in and out.
mine was brighthouse cable St.Petersburg, FL. I had the audio problems going in and out before but last night was the worst. Except for the background music, no conversations heard and towards the end of the episode, a good one minute went blank screen. Me so MAD.