Watch With Caroline: 'The Return' Remix (1/2)
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own anything.
Characters/Pairings: Ensemble, S/E, D/E (amongst others)
Warnings: Spoilers through 2 x 1, The Return, language
Rating: R (language)
Caroline Forbes here: Miss Mystic Falls, community event co-ordinator, head cheerleader, and Newly Minted Kick Ass Vampire-ess of the midAtlantic. Once, I would have put 'aspiring broadcast journalist' on that list but My Mother the Sheriff went all depressing and logical on that dream. So for now, it's just me and you, the Blogsphere. Welcome to the Vampire Diaries, the docu-dramady that is my life. Don't worry, I promise this isn't like that second hour of American Idol that's all just interviews and results and blah, blah. This is Watch With Caroline, so you should basically assume it's totally worth tuning in.
Before things even get started with season 2.0, there's your standard catch up recap. I, for one, don't support that montage-summary nonsense. If you're new to our show and you like what you see, whip out your google-fu, find some streaming video, and mainline season 1 like any self respecting TV viewer in 2010 would. Otherwise, shut your trap and keep up. K? Thanks.
I'm not going to start with anything too witty or deep as we hop into season 2. Instead, I'll just start with a heartfelt kudos to whoever decided to keep the action continuous and not do that thing where a summer break in TV programming equals a summer break in our TV lives so all of us come back a year older. That's just such a bad idea with high school based teen dramas because high school's already only four years so it's not long until people's ages get awkward and you wonder why no one's graduated. I mean, I'm already starting to get nervous about the kids on Glee.
So we start in the kitchen with a curly-haired Elena-looking Katherine and Uncle-Father John. (Though, to Katherine, I guess he's just Minion John.) The vibe here would be weird anyway even if Katherine weren't pretending to be her double so you kinda gotta forgive John for not noticing that his daughter-niece is not, in fact, his daughter-niece.
While the real Elena's being all extra sweet and loving outside as she chats with Stefan on the phone, Katherine, counterpoint, is cutting the Magic Protecto-Ring right off John's hand. She's does the creepy vamp-eye thing … for some reason. I guess, on her part, it's just to be scary. On the show's part I think it's to remind everyone what vampires look like 'round these parts. So today's lesson is: if you see someone with totally black eyes and an extra veiny face, you run away because he/she is a vampire. Granted, if you see someone who's smokin' hot and chilling in a bar, there's a chance that's a vampire too. Can't win.
Elena comes in calling for Jeremy. As she walks to the kitchen, we know Katherine is like just off to stage left so the tension's pretty thick. Thick enough you could cut it with a … oh, hey, is that a Huge Knife on the floor? Elena freaks as she realizes Katherine missed the tension and maimed her Uncle-Father instead. John tries a cryptic and annoying, “Behind you!”
Elena saves it by doing the sensible thing and turning to scream at … nothing. Hah. So she picks up the knife and holds it all awkwardly almost like she wants to be disarmed by the person who skillfully wielded in it a finger-severing manner. Passing on the opportunity, Katherine zooms right out the door.
So Elena runs screaming for her brother, still carrying the Huge Knife (which is making me really nervous. Could you tell?). And I think she throws it on the floor or something before dive-bombing Jeremy on his bed. I think so. Just like I think he wakes with a fright because of the aforementioned dive-bombing. But, it might also be because his sister just accidentally stabbed him with a Huge Knife. I dunno.
Thankfully, it only takes the paramedics the space of the title card to arrive and wheel John out. Stefan shows up right after which I think is a good thing to note. In Mystic Falls, despite what you might think, the paramedics will show up slightly faster than your local vampire (and probably only slightly slower than a pizza).
Stefan and Elena run off to check on Jeremy who may or may not be dead. Elena thinks about getting a paramedic which is pretty smart since if Brother Bear's A) alive, he might need his stomach pumped and if he's B) dead, he'll have someone other than Elena to feed on. Win-win. Stefan goes all tough love on Jeremy who is upset about Anna (the girl he was just using for her vamping abilities). He then agrees to sit with Jer while Elena deals with the paramedics.
At Mystic Falls Hosptial, Matt fills Bonnie in on the non-vampire drama of the night. He says they crashed because Tyler heard this sound and now I, Caroline, am … is ... pretty bad off. Okay, we'll just go with the third person here.
Bonnie looks ready to vom. And can you blame her? I mean, she's just been totally gobsmacked by the fact that this whole witchcraft thing comes with huge amounts of guilt, angst, and drama. See, she was supposed to de-magic that mysterious vampire-torturing invention, right? But that thing's got shadiness all over it. I mean, back in the day, Emily the Witch made it even though she was BFF or something with Katherine. Not only that, she also made it seem like Jonathan Gilbert invented it to get herself off the hook. So, she made this thing that would completely rock Kat's world (and not in a good way) and totally lied about it.
Fast forward to now, and Bonnie's replaying the whole sha-bang. If you don't follow, you haven't been paying attention. Watch: Bonnie, descendent of Emily, lied to Elena, Katherine's double, about an invention that basically f to the u-c-k'd up Elena's entire world. Only Bonnie was a little braver about it, I guess. She pretty much knew Elena was going to be furiousfuckingmad about the lie since it would get her boyfriend killed and all. And for Bonnie's bravery what does she get but way more tragedy than she bargained for. Because Matt's a wreck and something's up with Tyler and Caroline's, like, in a coma or something else equally serious and distressing.
So Bonnie's looking pretty sick, realizing she drank the same cocktail of magic and betrayal as Emily and ended up with a whopping magical hangover.
Enter Damon, who calls My Mom the Sheriff “Liz” and acts all concerned. But Mom's in her work shoes and thinks she needs Damon's help. So he ushers her away from that empty but way too public nurses' station to a … still very public hallway. Damon does his thing where he crosses his arms and his voice jumps an octave and he pretends to be all shocked and mostly clueless about vampires. Mom dodges a woman in loudly clicking high heels as she whispers about the mayor and how he was mistaken for a vampire and thus killed. “Liz” gets all upset about how her daughter is dying and if the mayor was a vampire then nothing is what she thinks it is. So she turns to Damon, exactly like he's someone who cares.
Elena shows up to join the vigil and finds out Caroline might not make it. Damon's there to taunt Bonnie (maybe because he's figured her out, maybe he just has something against witches) about her inability to help. He offers to give Caroline some blood to help her heal. Elena's all, “No way!” Like it's her call to make and Bonnie's like, “Do it!” like it's hers. Obviously neither one of them has heard of a little thing called Informed Consent. Gosh, this is why minors do not get to make medical decisions.
Anyway, Damon says he and Bonnie are even if he does it (even though it was his idea in the first place). Bonnie's all sassy. “No,” she says, just like that and then tells him he'll do it anyway, “For Elena.” Which is SO awkward. I mean, Elena was against the idea from the start and Bonnie bringing up Damon's lurve for Elena was clearly going to make Elena feel kind of skeeved. So, really I have no idea why Bonnie's punishing Elena here when it's Damon she's pissed at. Must be the whole magical guilt hangover thing.
When Bonnie conveniently takes off to do … something, Damon tries to bring up the whole kissing business. Since he kissed Katherine and not Elena, Elena's clueless. But he thinks she's dodging. She talks tomb vampire (Katherine) and he asks, very significantly, “After I left?” Which is kind of funny because it's like he thinks kissing his brother's girl is such a big event that nothing else could possibly happen afterwards for the whole rest of the night. But Elena's still confused and Damon's annoyed that he's like 160-some years old and he still has to put up with this shit. This is life shit and teenaged life shit, at that. And he's dead. He was told he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.
Cue Aunt Jenna. Elena's all where the hell where you been while my little bro was trying to vamp himself, you are the worst guardian ever. And Aunt Jenna, even though she does totally suck as a guardian, is really convenient for advancing plots. So, rather than give her niece a pass on the rudeness while her friend is dying, she gets in Elena's face about how she was at the fire department and Elena knew that. It quickly dissolves into “Did to/Did not.” At which point, Damon takes a pause to look incredibly constipated and figure everything out.
At the homestead, Stefan paces with intensity, hunches with intensity, and stares down at a sleeping Jeremy with, you guessed it, intensity. I, for one, am still pretty concerned about the younger Gilbert. He must have taken some really serious stuff if he's managed to fall asleep with Stefan being so intense at him.
Katherine shows up, doing her Elena act. I don't know if it's the leather or the lack of necklace or the way she rubs all up on him but Stefan figures her out pretty quick and whips out some more of that intensity he's been practicing. There's some choking against various walls and it all basically seems like standard angry vampire foreplay until Kat just totally owns him and takes off just ahead of Elena and Damon, who are entering.
“What happened?” Elena asks as her boyfriend resets his bones.
Fooled once, Damon says, “Katherine happened.” Like she's an event, a natural disaster. He doesn't mean to be fooled again.
Damon admits Katherine pulled one over on him with the Hi-My-Name-Is-Elena bit. Damon's eyes are a little dangerous and a little challenging and a little scared. It's not about what he did, it's about what he thought he did.
Stefan's eyes are hollowed out with concern. Damon's changed so much since animal attacks and fog and crows. He looks different these days, looks something like Stefan's brother. But that's Damon, wounded and prideful and skittish as quicksilver. He lives on the tipping point. All it might take is a breath, a kiss, a flap of a butterfly's wings.
Elena comes back from giving Jeremy the weather report. She realizes Katherine's been invited in and she's known the Salvatores long enough by now to be freaked the hell out. Giving an invitation to a vampire is like giving away a key to a sacred place. You say, “Come in,” and you can't take it back. Suddenly there's this spiritual gate into a physical space. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
See: Elena wonders what they'll do. Damon snarks, “Move.” Only he's not kidding. He explains that if Katherine wants them dead, they're dead. Since they're not, all they can do is be glad the tornado hopped the house.
They need to know Katherine's Evil Plan, part A. Stefan wants to know what happened during those crazy Damon meets the doppleganger shenanigans. Damon does his best to make light of things- for everyone's benefit- but Stefan was ready for a fight before he even asked. So Damon says he kissed Katherine when he thought she was Elena. And the whole flash-sprint-tackle attempt by Stefan? We see it coming. So does Damon. “Don't be obvious,” he chides.
Elena gets between them, trying to be the solution even though she's already the problem.
It wasn't her Damon kissed. “I wouldn't do that,” she says, looking at them both, saying several things at once and different things to each. She's already better at being Katherine than Katherine is at being her.
Stefan and Elena want to go get the report from John. They want to shore up their weak points and get ready for the gale. Damon doesn't want to play anymore. His plan is to ignore the bitch, stroll out into the storm with his umbrella until the rain gives up and goes away. Or lightning strikes.
The thing is, for Damon, Katherine is still a goddess. Just not one he cares to worship anymore. She's not someone you can fight, she's something that happens to you. There's nothing you can do to stop her, he knows. But that won't stop him trying. Ha. Ass.
Back at the hospital, Bonnie get the report from Matt. Damon stopped by, he says. Things are looking up. The forecast calls for sun. Bonnie's not so sure.
But then there's Caroline, all sunshine and rainbows. So Bonnie cries and hugs her and smiles. Because that's all you can do. You cry and say a prayer of thanks that the tornado decided to hop.
The problem here is Bonnie's been gone a while and she doesn't know her enemies quite well enough. A vampire's been invited in and she doesn't know enough to properly freak the hell out. Damon's blood didn't just heal Caroline, it entered sacred space. A spiritual gate to a physical place. The door's open now. Anyone can walk in.
My Mom the Sheriff gets herself on Carol Lockwood's bad side, implying the mayor had some skeletons in the closet. Carol takes that to mean fangs. The councilwomen start fighting about the right way to deal with vampires. As things get ugly, Damon steps in, the problem trying to be the solution. “We have to stick together, trust each other,” he says. “We'll get through this.” He's not saying what they think he's saying. That doesn't mean he's lying.
At the door, Tyler is observing the comings and goings of the sympathizers. A truck pulls up, totally conspicuous in its ugliness. Out steps Ty's Uncle Mason. (Who totally makes up for the truck.) Mason doesn't quite recognize him, can't believe Ty is Ty. “What happened to you?” He asks.
And Tyler must like him at least a little because he DOESN'T say, “Uh, my dad just died?” Instead, they hug. He invites Mason inside.
Stefan and Elena wake John up at the hospital. He sees Elena and thinks Katherine, panicking. So Elena places his ring in his hand, the one Katherine cut off. Along with his fingers. The gesture is meant to do both things: protect his life from Katherine and open his heart to Elena.
It doesn't work. John doesn't know anything. He'd rather die than help them, than see his daughter with a vampire. And that's John's, well, his madness you could call it. Or maybe it's just the way he is. Because it's not Stefan he can't look at in this scene, it's Elena. He'll look at his daughter and forever see a vampire's face.
“You see the world with such hatred,” Elena says. “It's going to get you killed.” That's Elena, my sweet, innocent best friend. What she still doesn't get is it's almost always the other way around.
Elena storms out. But Stefan's not done yet. In a lot of ways, Stefan and John are the same. So when Stefan opens a vein and forces John to drink, John gets it with the weight of a full on spaz attack. Death is one thing, this is something else. A spiritual gate ….
So Stefan tells him to run. What do you do when a vampire's been invited in? You move.
Elena, it turns out, is totally cool with Stefan threatening the life of her Uncle-Father. But Stefan is totally not cool with Damon kissing Elena/Katherine. I'm thinking these two really need to reorder their priorities. Anyway, Elena wants to blame Katherine (even though this might be the one time she's somewhat innocent).
At the Lockwood mansion, Damon finds out Mason is a surfer not a vampire-hunter. Which seems to make him suspicious for some reason. He also learns the vampire-whistle messed with Tyler via Bonnie who I guess has decided to become the resident expert due to the magical hangover guilt. The guilt runs amok of Damon's temper and bickering ensues. The end result is Bonnie giving Damon a magical migraine just to prove she can. When she walks off, he's like, “ow” but he doesn't really get to be mad because that's the kind of thing HE does all the time to everyone else.
Actually, Bonnie's the one who's pissed and goes venting to Elena about how Damon's walking around like he some big hero for healing Caroline. Which, sorry Bonnie, is kind of weak. I mean, I'm sure that's not even close to the worst thing he's done today. But Elena, who is really Katherine, responds with a mad lib prescribed for these situations. “I'm sorry (human), what (vampire) has done is just awful.”
That's all it takes and Bonnie feels much better. Until she reaches out a swift hand to grab Elena's elbow. She immediately realizes this is a really awkward thing to do to your best female friend and takes off. Okay, okay, just kidding. She got one of those psychic-touch witch vibes (which seem to be the only lasting psychic thing she's got since she pretty much never gets number obsessed or predicts the placement of kitchen tools anymore).
Unfortunately, no one's ever explained to Bonnie, in exact square footage, just how far a vampire can hear. So Katherine, already suspicious, hears Bonnie call the real Elena. *Gulp*
Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own anything.
Characters/Pairings: Ensemble, S/E, D/E (amongst others)
Warnings: Spoilers through 2 x 1, The Return, language
Rating: R (language)
Caroline Forbes here: Miss Mystic Falls, community event co-ordinator, head cheerleader, and Newly Minted Kick Ass Vampire-ess of the midAtlantic. Once, I would have put 'aspiring broadcast journalist' on that list but My Mother the Sheriff went all depressing and logical on that dream. So for now, it's just me and you, the Blogsphere. Welcome to the Vampire Diaries, the docu-dramady that is my life. Don't worry, I promise this isn't like that second hour of American Idol that's all just interviews and results and blah, blah. This is Watch With Caroline, so you should basically assume it's totally worth tuning in.
Before things even get started with season 2.0, there's your standard catch up recap. I, for one, don't support that montage-summary nonsense. If you're new to our show and you like what you see, whip out your google-fu, find some streaming video, and mainline season 1 like any self respecting TV viewer in 2010 would. Otherwise, shut your trap and keep up. K? Thanks.
I'm not going to start with anything too witty or deep as we hop into season 2. Instead, I'll just start with a heartfelt kudos to whoever decided to keep the action continuous and not do that thing where a summer break in TV programming equals a summer break in our TV lives so all of us come back a year older. That's just such a bad idea with high school based teen dramas because high school's already only four years so it's not long until people's ages get awkward and you wonder why no one's graduated. I mean, I'm already starting to get nervous about the kids on Glee.
So we start in the kitchen with a curly-haired Elena-looking Katherine and Uncle-Father John. (Though, to Katherine, I guess he's just Minion John.) The vibe here would be weird anyway even if Katherine weren't pretending to be her double so you kinda gotta forgive John for not noticing that his daughter-niece is not, in fact, his daughter-niece.
While the real Elena's being all extra sweet and loving outside as she chats with Stefan on the phone, Katherine, counterpoint, is cutting the Magic Protecto-Ring right off John's hand. She's does the creepy vamp-eye thing … for some reason. I guess, on her part, it's just to be scary. On the show's part I think it's to remind everyone what vampires look like 'round these parts. So today's lesson is: if you see someone with totally black eyes and an extra veiny face, you run away because he/she is a vampire. Granted, if you see someone who's smokin' hot and chilling in a bar, there's a chance that's a vampire too. Can't win.
Elena comes in calling for Jeremy. As she walks to the kitchen, we know Katherine is like just off to stage left so the tension's pretty thick. Thick enough you could cut it with a … oh, hey, is that a Huge Knife on the floor? Elena freaks as she realizes Katherine missed the tension and maimed her Uncle-Father instead. John tries a cryptic and annoying, “Behind you!”
Elena saves it by doing the sensible thing and turning to scream at … nothing. Hah. So she picks up the knife and holds it all awkwardly almost like she wants to be disarmed by the person who skillfully wielded in it a finger-severing manner. Passing on the opportunity, Katherine zooms right out the door.
So Elena runs screaming for her brother, still carrying the Huge Knife (which is making me really nervous. Could you tell?). And I think she throws it on the floor or something before dive-bombing Jeremy on his bed. I think so. Just like I think he wakes with a fright because of the aforementioned dive-bombing. But, it might also be because his sister just accidentally stabbed him with a Huge Knife. I dunno.
Thankfully, it only takes the paramedics the space of the title card to arrive and wheel John out. Stefan shows up right after which I think is a good thing to note. In Mystic Falls, despite what you might think, the paramedics will show up slightly faster than your local vampire (and probably only slightly slower than a pizza).
Stefan and Elena run off to check on Jeremy who may or may not be dead. Elena thinks about getting a paramedic which is pretty smart since if Brother Bear's A) alive, he might need his stomach pumped and if he's B) dead, he'll have someone other than Elena to feed on. Win-win. Stefan goes all tough love on Jeremy who is upset about Anna (the girl he was just using for her vamping abilities). He then agrees to sit with Jer while Elena deals with the paramedics.
At Mystic Falls Hosptial, Matt fills Bonnie in on the non-vampire drama of the night. He says they crashed because Tyler heard this sound and now I, Caroline, am … is ... pretty bad off. Okay, we'll just go with the third person here.
Bonnie looks ready to vom. And can you blame her? I mean, she's just been totally gobsmacked by the fact that this whole witchcraft thing comes with huge amounts of guilt, angst, and drama. See, she was supposed to de-magic that mysterious vampire-torturing invention, right? But that thing's got shadiness all over it. I mean, back in the day, Emily the Witch made it even though she was BFF or something with Katherine. Not only that, she also made it seem like Jonathan Gilbert invented it to get herself off the hook. So, she made this thing that would completely rock Kat's world (and not in a good way) and totally lied about it.
Fast forward to now, and Bonnie's replaying the whole sha-bang. If you don't follow, you haven't been paying attention. Watch: Bonnie, descendent of Emily, lied to Elena, Katherine's double, about an invention that basically f to the u-c-k'd up Elena's entire world. Only Bonnie was a little braver about it, I guess. She pretty much knew Elena was going to be furiousfuckingmad about the lie since it would get her boyfriend killed and all. And for Bonnie's bravery what does she get but way more tragedy than she bargained for. Because Matt's a wreck and something's up with Tyler and Caroline's, like, in a coma or something else equally serious and distressing.
So Bonnie's looking pretty sick, realizing she drank the same cocktail of magic and betrayal as Emily and ended up with a whopping magical hangover.
Enter Damon, who calls My Mom the Sheriff “Liz” and acts all concerned. But Mom's in her work shoes and thinks she needs Damon's help. So he ushers her away from that empty but way too public nurses' station to a … still very public hallway. Damon does his thing where he crosses his arms and his voice jumps an octave and he pretends to be all shocked and mostly clueless about vampires. Mom dodges a woman in loudly clicking high heels as she whispers about the mayor and how he was mistaken for a vampire and thus killed. “Liz” gets all upset about how her daughter is dying and if the mayor was a vampire then nothing is what she thinks it is. So she turns to Damon, exactly like he's someone who cares.
Elena shows up to join the vigil and finds out Caroline might not make it. Damon's there to taunt Bonnie (maybe because he's figured her out, maybe he just has something against witches) about her inability to help. He offers to give Caroline some blood to help her heal. Elena's all, “No way!” Like it's her call to make and Bonnie's like, “Do it!” like it's hers. Obviously neither one of them has heard of a little thing called Informed Consent. Gosh, this is why minors do not get to make medical decisions.
Anyway, Damon says he and Bonnie are even if he does it (even though it was his idea in the first place). Bonnie's all sassy. “No,” she says, just like that and then tells him he'll do it anyway, “For Elena.” Which is SO awkward. I mean, Elena was against the idea from the start and Bonnie bringing up Damon's lurve for Elena was clearly going to make Elena feel kind of skeeved. So, really I have no idea why Bonnie's punishing Elena here when it's Damon she's pissed at. Must be the whole magical guilt hangover thing.
When Bonnie conveniently takes off to do … something, Damon tries to bring up the whole kissing business. Since he kissed Katherine and not Elena, Elena's clueless. But he thinks she's dodging. She talks tomb vampire (Katherine) and he asks, very significantly, “After I left?” Which is kind of funny because it's like he thinks kissing his brother's girl is such a big event that nothing else could possibly happen afterwards for the whole rest of the night. But Elena's still confused and Damon's annoyed that he's like 160-some years old and he still has to put up with this shit. This is life shit and teenaged life shit, at that. And he's dead. He was told he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.
Cue Aunt Jenna. Elena's all where the hell where you been while my little bro was trying to vamp himself, you are the worst guardian ever. And Aunt Jenna, even though she does totally suck as a guardian, is really convenient for advancing plots. So, rather than give her niece a pass on the rudeness while her friend is dying, she gets in Elena's face about how she was at the fire department and Elena knew that. It quickly dissolves into “Did to/Did not.” At which point, Damon takes a pause to look incredibly constipated and figure everything out.
At the homestead, Stefan paces with intensity, hunches with intensity, and stares down at a sleeping Jeremy with, you guessed it, intensity. I, for one, am still pretty concerned about the younger Gilbert. He must have taken some really serious stuff if he's managed to fall asleep with Stefan being so intense at him.
Katherine shows up, doing her Elena act. I don't know if it's the leather or the lack of necklace or the way she rubs all up on him but Stefan figures her out pretty quick and whips out some more of that intensity he's been practicing. There's some choking against various walls and it all basically seems like standard angry vampire foreplay until Kat just totally owns him and takes off just ahead of Elena and Damon, who are entering.
“What happened?” Elena asks as her boyfriend resets his bones.
Fooled once, Damon says, “Katherine happened.” Like she's an event, a natural disaster. He doesn't mean to be fooled again.
Damon admits Katherine pulled one over on him with the Hi-My-Name-Is-Elena bit. Damon's eyes are a little dangerous and a little challenging and a little scared. It's not about what he did, it's about what he thought he did.
Stefan's eyes are hollowed out with concern. Damon's changed so much since animal attacks and fog and crows. He looks different these days, looks something like Stefan's brother. But that's Damon, wounded and prideful and skittish as quicksilver. He lives on the tipping point. All it might take is a breath, a kiss, a flap of a butterfly's wings.
Elena comes back from giving Jeremy the weather report. She realizes Katherine's been invited in and she's known the Salvatores long enough by now to be freaked the hell out. Giving an invitation to a vampire is like giving away a key to a sacred place. You say, “Come in,” and you can't take it back. Suddenly there's this spiritual gate into a physical space. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
See: Elena wonders what they'll do. Damon snarks, “Move.” Only he's not kidding. He explains that if Katherine wants them dead, they're dead. Since they're not, all they can do is be glad the tornado hopped the house.
They need to know Katherine's Evil Plan, part A. Stefan wants to know what happened during those crazy Damon meets the doppleganger shenanigans. Damon does his best to make light of things- for everyone's benefit- but Stefan was ready for a fight before he even asked. So Damon says he kissed Katherine when he thought she was Elena. And the whole flash-sprint-tackle attempt by Stefan? We see it coming. So does Damon. “Don't be obvious,” he chides.
Elena gets between them, trying to be the solution even though she's already the problem.
It wasn't her Damon kissed. “I wouldn't do that,” she says, looking at them both, saying several things at once and different things to each. She's already better at being Katherine than Katherine is at being her.
Stefan and Elena want to go get the report from John. They want to shore up their weak points and get ready for the gale. Damon doesn't want to play anymore. His plan is to ignore the bitch, stroll out into the storm with his umbrella until the rain gives up and goes away. Or lightning strikes.
The thing is, for Damon, Katherine is still a goddess. Just not one he cares to worship anymore. She's not someone you can fight, she's something that happens to you. There's nothing you can do to stop her, he knows. But that won't stop him trying. Ha. Ass.
Back at the hospital, Bonnie get the report from Matt. Damon stopped by, he says. Things are looking up. The forecast calls for sun. Bonnie's not so sure.
But then there's Caroline, all sunshine and rainbows. So Bonnie cries and hugs her and smiles. Because that's all you can do. You cry and say a prayer of thanks that the tornado decided to hop.
The problem here is Bonnie's been gone a while and she doesn't know her enemies quite well enough. A vampire's been invited in and she doesn't know enough to properly freak the hell out. Damon's blood didn't just heal Caroline, it entered sacred space. A spiritual gate to a physical place. The door's open now. Anyone can walk in.
My Mom the Sheriff gets herself on Carol Lockwood's bad side, implying the mayor had some skeletons in the closet. Carol takes that to mean fangs. The councilwomen start fighting about the right way to deal with vampires. As things get ugly, Damon steps in, the problem trying to be the solution. “We have to stick together, trust each other,” he says. “We'll get through this.” He's not saying what they think he's saying. That doesn't mean he's lying.
At the door, Tyler is observing the comings and goings of the sympathizers. A truck pulls up, totally conspicuous in its ugliness. Out steps Ty's Uncle Mason. (Who totally makes up for the truck.) Mason doesn't quite recognize him, can't believe Ty is Ty. “What happened to you?” He asks.
And Tyler must like him at least a little because he DOESN'T say, “Uh, my dad just died?” Instead, they hug. He invites Mason inside.
Stefan and Elena wake John up at the hospital. He sees Elena and thinks Katherine, panicking. So Elena places his ring in his hand, the one Katherine cut off. Along with his fingers. The gesture is meant to do both things: protect his life from Katherine and open his heart to Elena.
It doesn't work. John doesn't know anything. He'd rather die than help them, than see his daughter with a vampire. And that's John's, well, his madness you could call it. Or maybe it's just the way he is. Because it's not Stefan he can't look at in this scene, it's Elena. He'll look at his daughter and forever see a vampire's face.
“You see the world with such hatred,” Elena says. “It's going to get you killed.” That's Elena, my sweet, innocent best friend. What she still doesn't get is it's almost always the other way around.
Elena storms out. But Stefan's not done yet. In a lot of ways, Stefan and John are the same. So when Stefan opens a vein and forces John to drink, John gets it with the weight of a full on spaz attack. Death is one thing, this is something else. A spiritual gate ….
So Stefan tells him to run. What do you do when a vampire's been invited in? You move.
Elena, it turns out, is totally cool with Stefan threatening the life of her Uncle-Father. But Stefan is totally not cool with Damon kissing Elena/Katherine. I'm thinking these two really need to reorder their priorities. Anyway, Elena wants to blame Katherine (even though this might be the one time she's somewhat innocent).
At the Lockwood mansion, Damon finds out Mason is a surfer not a vampire-hunter. Which seems to make him suspicious for some reason. He also learns the vampire-whistle messed with Tyler via Bonnie who I guess has decided to become the resident expert due to the magical hangover guilt. The guilt runs amok of Damon's temper and bickering ensues. The end result is Bonnie giving Damon a magical migraine just to prove she can. When she walks off, he's like, “ow” but he doesn't really get to be mad because that's the kind of thing HE does all the time to everyone else.
Actually, Bonnie's the one who's pissed and goes venting to Elena about how Damon's walking around like he some big hero for healing Caroline. Which, sorry Bonnie, is kind of weak. I mean, I'm sure that's not even close to the worst thing he's done today. But Elena, who is really Katherine, responds with a mad lib prescribed for these situations. “I'm sorry (human), what (vampire) has done is just awful.”
That's all it takes and Bonnie feels much better. Until she reaches out a swift hand to grab Elena's elbow. She immediately realizes this is a really awkward thing to do to your best female friend and takes off. Okay, okay, just kidding. She got one of those psychic-touch witch vibes (which seem to be the only lasting psychic thing she's got since she pretty much never gets number obsessed or predicts the placement of kitchen tools anymore).
Unfortunately, no one's ever explained to Bonnie, in exact square footage, just how far a vampire can hear. So Katherine, already suspicious, hears Bonnie call the real Elena. *Gulp*