Picking up very shortly after we left off two weeks (TWO WEEKS!) ago, we're joining Elena and Stefan as they wake up in Elena's bed. Actually, Elena is already awake and is watching Stefan sleep. Stefan and I agree that it's creepy when someone watches you sleep. It's like he wanted to make sure once and for all that I understand he's a million times more awesome than Edward Cullen. Appreciated, but really unnecessary. Anyway, Elena argues that she isn't staring, she's gazing and it isn't creepy, it's romantic. Stefan covers his face with a pillow for approximately one second before they start making out.
Cut to a much less well-lit room at a bed and breakfast across town where Katherine and Mason are having some vigorous, tossy, foreplay. They're both in a much more impressive state of undress than the teenage lovers we just left. Taylor Kinney's giant back tat is partially visible and as I suspected a few episodes back when I first caught a glimpse of it through the arm hole of his tank top, it involves wings. Katherine pretends to be worried about the amount of noise they're making and what the establishment's proprietress, Ms. Flowers, will think of her if she's having loud sex. If Mason Lockwood wanted to have loud sex with me in the back pew at church I'd do it, and I wouldn't give a fuck who thought I was a floozy! But I guess this isn't about me, is it?
Cut back to the Gilbert Boudoir where Elena is putting the brakes on and Stefan is flirting and suggesting a shower a deux. They exposit that they're both helping with the preparations for the latest Lockwood shindig today and she asks if maybe he should sit this one out since Mason did try to kill him sometime in the last three days.
And back at the sexiest B&B ever, Katherine has just tossed Mason down on the bed and started covering his torso with kisses. I wonder if Nina Dobrev finishes a day of shooting these kinds of scenes and promptly sends Julie and Kevin cars as a thank you. Katherine stops and asks Mason where the moonstone is. He's a little breathless and distracted, probably thinking about how this isn't the best time for a conversation, and just says it's somewhere safe. Katherine, as I'm sure you can imagine, isn't pleased. "Don't you trust me?" she purrs. Mason doesn't trust anyone.
"I don't trust Mason," we hear Stefan say, just before we get back to he and Elena in the Boudoir. He tells her that he wants to help at the Lockwood house to keep an eye on our favorite wolf. Elena acquiesces, pricks her finger and feeds her boyfriend a little blood. Remember when I was bitching about how much I didn't like when Elena stabbed her hand and let him suck on it? Well this is more the speed I can get behind. A finger prick allows for much less blood and it's a more sensible approach to the "a little every day" plan they devised to begin with. Also, the entire time they're going about the blood exchange, they're having a conversation - about how they have to be fake broken up, about what might happen if Katherine finds out they're faking - and the blood sucking is treated as if he's taking a regular dose of medicine.
By contrast, at the B&B, Katherine takes a little nibble of Mason's neck. He admonishes her and then she licks the blood off of his neck and he appears not to hate that at all. She promises him that once he gives her the moonstone, they'll live happily ever after together and he in turn promises her that he'll bring her the stone tonight. Katherine tells Mason she loves him (just as Elena and Stefan profess their love) and Mason returns the volley. File this under "love is blind" kids, because it seems Mason actually believes the scheming bitch.
Knock, knock, knock. Jeremy has dropped by the Salvatore Manse for a visit. Damon, ever the happy host, tries to slam the door in his face. Jeremy tells Damon that Tyler has to kill someone before he can become a werewolf and that Mason, already a full-on werewolf, is after a moonstone which is a "special rock connected to the werewolf legend" and it just so happens that Jeremy knows where the moonstone is. Damon is intrigued but wants to know why Jeremy is bringing this info to him. "Do I need a reason?" Jeremy asks, which is the playing-it-cool version of "because I want you to like me and let me play with the big kids!" Damon, always happy for an opportunity to be a pot-stirring, hive-poking, pain in the ass, asks what Elena has to say about the moonstone discovery. Jeremy is irked by how Elena doesn't want him getting involved and Damon notes that as a Gilbert, Jeremy just can't help himself. Damon says Jeremy's search for purpose in his life is obvious and tragic but I disagree. I think it's inevitable and kind of hot. Damon finally let's Jeremy in.
The Lookwood estate is crawling with people which makes me wonder if this is the most civic minded town in the world since it appears that a large percentage of its residents participate in town and/or charity events almost daily. It's really quite impressive if you think about it. Anyway, Jenna and Mrs. Mayor are having a convo about how everyone - including the recently deceased Mr. Mayor - loves a masquerade ball and then we catch a tiny glimpse of Matt helping Tyler carry a table and the two of them nearly dropping it. Mrs. Mayor is off to scold the boys and we follow Jenna over to where Stefan is moving chairs. Jenna invites Stefan to dinner. Stefan says that wouldn't be a great idea since he and Elena are on a break but Jenna busts him saying that they didn't sound all that broken up this morning in Elena's bedroom. I'd like to point out that while I'm not against Stefan and Elena having sex, Elena is 16 and Jenna is her guardian and I really think she could stand to be a touch more parental in these situations. D'oh-faces all around. Moving on.
Outside, Elena spots Bonnie who is still acting hella bitchy. Elena assures Bonnie that Caroline isn't there and isn't coming. Bonnie's all "don't take her side!" and Elena and I are like, "there are no sides, you annoying, self-righteous witch!" But Bonnie makes it all about her and how ever since Caroline vamped, now she has no friends which may be true but that's her own damn fault since both Caroline and Elena have tried to stay friends with her and she refuses. They take a walk for a heart to heart.
Salvatore Dungeon. Sheriff Liz is stretched out on her cot, a full tray of practically gourmet lunch on the chair next to her, when Caroline opens the door. Liz sits up uncomfortably and the smile fades from Car's face as she sees the un-touched food and notes that her mom didn't eat much. No response. "Good news: Dr. Damon said the vervain's almost out of your system. So, with any luck you'll be freshly compelled and back in your own bed by tonight." No response, no eye contact. Caroline asks her mom sadly, "are you really just gonna pretend like I don't exist?" Finally her mom answers her but unfortunately it's in the affirmative and then she asks Caroline to leave. Car picks up the tray of food, "as usual, you don't care - got it. Just like before I was a vampire. It's not like I died or anything," she says as she goes to the door. Her mom asks, barely holding back tears, "are you...are you really dead?" Oh my gosh, it is both horribly sad and wonderfully sweet to see these two finally having an honest talk about something which they're only able to have at all because Caroline is kind of dead. Caroline says she is dead but she also isn't. Liz, a vampire hunter from way back, asks how it's possible and I begin to wonder if she's secretly really stupid. But I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she means how is it possible that her own daughter could be a vampire without her knowing about it and not "how is it possible to be both dead and not dead at the same time." Caroline shuts the door and comes back in to explain.
Upstairs, Alaric is letting himself in with a box full of goodies when Damon greets him brightly, "Ric!" First of all, how much do I love that Damon is happy to see his BFF? Second, how much do I love that Ric lets himself into the Salvatore house? The answer to both of those questions is SO, SO MUCH! Ric catches sight of Jeremy and asks him why he's there. Jeremy says that he's helping Damon and that he's the one with the moonstone deets. Damon shrugs all, "what're ya gonna do?" and Ric asks Jer if Elena knows he's there. I know Jer has to be getting sick of that question because I'm not him and even I'm getting sick of that question. Also, Ric's hair is much improved since "Bad Moon Rising" but it's still not great. It's, like, dorkily parted way off to one side and combed over. I think maybe the hair people don't find Matt Davis's Ernesto Riley alter ego very funny and their taking out their feelings of exasperation on his hair. Just a theory. Anyway, Damon and Jeremy tell Ric that Elena doesn't know Jeremy is there and then Damon gets down to brass tacks asking what Ric brought over and digging into the box. Isabel's research, Aztec curse, blah blah blah, bunch of stuff we already know and then Ric drops this on us "according to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse...it's sealed with a moonstone." Jeremy would like clarification on "sealed" and Damon gets all peevish as he explains it's a witch thing where whatever seals the curse can usually unseal the curse. He's so crabby about how witches are always getting the better of him, it amuses me. Ric surmises that Mason probably believes he can break the curse with the moonstone and Damon tells him that if they "start believing in some supernatural, witchy-woo legend from a picture book" they're idiots. Then he asks where the stone is (Jeremy says Tyler has it) and wonders if Jeremy can get it. Jeremy says, "so you do believe it?" and Damon says that since this new info comes from the same place that says a werewolf bite an kill a vampire, ignoring it would be even more idiotic than believing it. Damon logic hurts my head. Off they go.
Somewhere on the enormous Lockwood property, Elena is just about to finish updating Bonnie on all that's gone down since she bitchily cut herself out of her friends lives. Bonnie continues to try and make it all about her by complaining that she's the odd man out just because she is anti-vampire. Bonnie, sweety, one of your besties is a vampire, the other is in love with one, either embrace the fangs or get new friends, there are no other fucking choices! Elena just keeps cutting Bonnie a ton more slack than she deserves and Bonnie keeps insisting that she's not going to stop hating vampires and that it isn't fair for Elena to not be her friend because of that. They head back to the house before my head explodes in frustration.
Y'all might want to prepare yourselves because I've written 2000 words already and we're only 10 minutes into the episode. Ready for more?
Up at the house, Mason is hefting something to and fro when he spots Stefan and plays it cool with a "hey Stefan" but he's clearly taken aback. You know, on account of how he thought Stefan was really super dead and all. He mentions that he wasn't expecting to see Stefan there...or anywhere. Mason asks what Stefan did to the Sheriff and Stefan, channeling Damon's wry conversational style, says that she's fine but that Mason will have to do his own dirty work from now on. Mason cheerfully bids him farewell and then turns to go like his pants are on fire. As he flees, he bumps into Bonnie who is visibly wigged by the vibe she got from her contact with him. Stefan can see that something's up with B and asks her about it. She says that when she touched him, she saw him kissing Elena and Stefan knows it wasn't Elena, but Katherine. A light bulb goes on over Stefan's head. Commercials.
When we return, Elena is watching Stefan and Bonnie chat on the lawn and feeling left out when Damon sneaks up behind her and startles her. He refers to Stefan as his "baby bro" and then tells her she should get Jeremy to stop following him around. She's shocked, SHOCKED I say, to hear that Jeremy is anywhere near Damon. She's clearly in deep denial about his overwhelming magnetism. Jeremy arrives then and Damon skulks off. Elena gives Jer the 3rd degree like she's his over-protective mother and he tells her to piss off. I'm all for him taking control of his place in this whole vampy drama, but I think it's a little revisionist of him to try and blame her for his being involved in it in the first place.
On the porch the brothers Salvatore are comparing notes. "Katherine's with Mason Lockwood?" Damon asks incredulously. Stefan notes that the timing of the arrivals do coincide so there's sense to be made there and Damon counters, "I know but, Mason Lockwood? Werewolf thing aside, the guy's a surfer!" Damon is sure that Katherine is using Mason and Stefan can't imagine what she'd be using him for. I already know it's moonstone related and still my first thought was "his body." Damon catches Stefan up on the moonstone stuff and while Stefan wonders why Katherine would give a sugar-coated shit about a bauble that lifts were-curses, I'm wondering what is happening with the lighting in this scene that makes Stefan's face look so very orange while his hair looks like it's in black and white. Honestly, every time we switch over to Paul Wesley's coverage in this scene, it looks like the whole thing was shot in black and white and they added an orange overlay to his skin in post production, yet in the wide shot, he looks normal. It's very distracting. Damon concedes he has no idea why Katherine would want the moonstone but quite rightly points out that Katherine is always up to something that makes little sense to anyone else. Stefan asks how they'll find the moonstone and Damon tells him that Jeremy is getting it from Tyler right now. Stefan gets all big-brotherly and protective of the Germ. Lord in Heaven but I'm tired of everyone acting like Jeremy is seven. Damon says that Jeremy involved himself.
MATT! Somewhere on the property, Lanterns are being hung and do you know who's hanging them? Matt! Oh, also, Tyler is helping him...or maybe just standing nearby and watching. They talk about how Matt is really confused by Caroline's behavior. "She's this amazing girl one minute and then this raging, jealous freak the next," he complains. Tyler, who is all of a sudden the voice of reason in this town, says, "look, you know what I think of Caroline Forbes: she's an insecure, neurotic, bitchy little twerp." Matt starts to give him the business but Tyler persists, "But the girl's got heart. She means well. You've just gotta take the good with the bad sometimes." And there it is! Matt sees Tyler's very good point and then goes off to get an extension chord and think about things.
When Matt is gone, Jeremy stops lurking and pops out to make friendly conversation with Tyler. Tyler is nice about it right from the start which is really amazing progress since usually he has to spend the first 2 minutes of every conversation he ever has with Jeremy pretending he hates him. Jeremy tells Tyler that he's been researching the moonstone and Tyler asks why. "I don't know, curiosity, boredom," Jeremy lies. He tells Tyler that he's discovered it's part of an Aztec legend and says no more. He says that he wants to make sure it's the same kind of stone and asks to borrow it. Oh, Jeremy. He wouldn't give it to his uncle yesterday, you think he's going to loan it to the over-eager kid he pretends to hate? Tyler tells Jer that the stone is now in the possession of his wolfy uncle because Tyler decided he was sick of curses and legends and all that other bothersome crap. Jeremy plays it off like it's no big deal as we pan out to see that the Salvatores are a good distance away employing their super hearing to get the scoop. Scoop procured, looks exchanged, off they go.
And now for the positively riveting portion of tonight's proceedings - text message theater. Elena's bugged that she's out of the loop so she texts Stefan to ask what's up. He says every thing's fine, he and Damon are with Bonnie and he'll fill her in later. She's like "Damon and Bonnie in the same place? Wha?" And we see Damon man-handling Bonnie into a secluded spot that honestly looks like a house without exterior walls has been erected somewhere on this property. Damon says they need a favor and she gives him lip. "So predictable," Damon and I both say.
Elena furiously texts asking to be filled in now.
Stefan goes about trying to catch a fly with honey, telling Bonnie that this is their opportunity to get the upper hand in their fight against Katherine and Mason (Damon tosses in a half-hearted "pretty please" for good measure).
Elena stares at her phone in frustration and when she doesn't receive a response from Stefan in approximately 20 seconds, she breaks down and calls him. She must not know that guys don't generally like that kind of needy behavior.
Bonnie is ready to listen to their proposal when Stefan gets the call. He excuses himself to take the call and fill Elena in leaving Damon behind to sell the plan to Bonnie. Who hates him and likes to try and make his head explode. Heh. Damon says that they want her to touch Mason again (tough job!) and see if she can tell where Katherine is. She tells him that she doesn't get to pick what she sees, she just gets random visions when she touches people. Ok, backup plan. He inquires about her "witchy juju thing" that she does that makes his head feel all explody. She tells him that what she's doing there, is giving him an aneurysm over and over again, and the only reason it merely hurts and doesn't kill him is because of his supernatural healing abilities. He would like her to do it to Mason and she declines. He tells her that Mason is a werewolf and Katherine is evil "they're the BAD GUYS. Really? You're gonna play morality police with me right now? Let me put it to you another way - they're a threat to Elena. Now you, witch, are going to get over yourself and help us." Stefan returns now to help, "yeah, he meant that as a question. With a 'please' on the end." Heh.
Out front, Mason finds Bonnie attempting to unload a very large table from a truck and his chivalrous nature takes over. He comes to help her and she juju's his brain, taking him down. He drops to his knees screaming in agony. She apologizes and then Damon comes over and knees him right in the face knocking him out cold. He awesomely opens the passenger door of Mason's truck for Bonnie to get in, closing it behind her, because he's got a tiny vestige of chivalry left in him somewhere too. Then he and Stefan load Mason's unconscious body into the back, Stefan heads back inside, and Damon and Bonnie drive off to the Manse dropping us into a commercial break on their way.
We return to find Caroline, still in the Salvatore dungeon having a nice conversation with her mom for probably the first time in her entire life. She's explaining that she mostly only drinks blood-bag blood that Damon steals from the hospital and that it isn't as tasty as a fresh kill but it's better than the bunny blood that Stefan drinks. Liz is relieved to know that Caroline keeps herself full and therefore doesn't need to kill. Caroline explains that a desire to kill is in her nature now that she's vamped but that she's controlling the urges and is getting pretty good at it. She's still Caroline so she takes this opportunity to brag herself up at the expense of her friend when she says she's better than Stefan at controlling her diet because he's a blood-aholic. Liz says she doesn't want "this" for her daughter and Caroline knows, "but, when life gives you lemons..." she says and then announces that Damon's home which she knows only because of her super hearing. Liz is quietly impressed.
Upstairs, Damon has an unconscious Mason slung over his shoulder and Bonnie is following behind with Mason's bag. Damon ties Mason to a sturdy chair in the Salvatore library with Mason's own were-restraint chains and he asks Bonnie for help in stretching out a drop cloth to keep from getting blood on the rug. Bonnie tells Damon to hurry up with the retraining because Mason will be coming to soon. Bonnie takes Mason's head in her hands and Damon asks what she's up to. She's going to try and find out where the moonstone that Damon's so hot after is. "Oh good! Yeah, find out if he gave it to Katherine. And find out where she is. And, find out what they're going to do with it once they get it," Damon asks, pretty nicely for him. I'm really digging the rapport these two have when she isn't hating him blindly and he isn't baiting her assily. Head in hands, Bonnie is using her witchy juju to divine some deets on the moonstone's whereabouts. It's somewhere small, dark and damp - a well. Mason wakes just then and grabs her wrist. Immediately, Damon wrenches Mason's hand off of Bonnie and she crabbily goes to leave telling him that's all she's got for him. "Hey judgey," he says to stop her, "thank you." I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love it when Damon is sincere. As Bonnie leaves, Damon punches Mason across the face and calls him wolf boy in an effort to get his attention.
On her way out of the Manse, Bonnie encounters Caroline. The two have an awkward conversation about Liz and Bonnie tries to make a friendly gesture but chickens out and makes to leave again. Caroline asks if Bonnie found the moonstone and Bonnie says she didn't but she thinks it's in one of their childhood haunts out in the woods and asks Car if she can remember exactly where that is. Caroline tells her it's on the edge of the old Lockwood property and offers to come with while Bonnie texts this info to someone, Stefan I'm guessing. The girls are off to look for a stone and try to mend fences.
At the Lockwoods, party prep is in full swing. Matt and Elena are sorting through boxes of masquerade masks and Matt's asking why Caroline isn't there since this is the type of thing she lives for. Elena tries to dodge the question with vagaries and Matt asks if Caroline has started seeing someone else. Elena assures him that Caroline is still single. Stefan and Tyler both happen by then and Tyler inquires whether anyone's seen his uncle lately. Stefan says Mason took off a while ago and mentioned he wasn't sure when he'd be back. Tyler finds that weird and, judging by his expression, a little hurtful. Stefan reads his text from Bonnie and goes to leave, shaking his head at Elena when she looks at him questioningly. Elena heaves an annoyed sigh and Matt notes that he isn't going to ask what's going on between Elena and Stefan. Elena runs off after Stefan, leaving Matt to sort masks himself. The scene was so short but I adore that Matt and Elena have become the kind of friends who talk to each other about their significant others without any of that tiresome ex-boyfriend/girlfriend nonsense getting in the way. Also, I always love it when several characters interact with each other in scenes because it's so much more true to life.
Anyway, back in the Salvatore library-slash-torture-room, Mason has come to and Damon is heating up an iron poker in the fire. Mason thrashes around until he tips his chair over backwards. Damon comes over and sticks his hot poker (not a euphemism, but it really should be) in Mason's chest just below his right collarbone. Taylor Kinney screams in pain so incredibly convincingly that I get a little uncomfortable. Damon then checks the wound and says that it's a plus that Mason can feel pain but a definite minus that he heals quickly. He sets Mason's chair back upright, puts his poker back in the fire and starts the interrogation. First he'd like to know how Mason knows Katherine and what Katherine's up to. Mason isn't answering so Damon sticks him again, in the gut this time.
Stefan has just come upon the well out in the woods and Elena comes up behind him, dying to know what's going on, as Stefan uses his vamp strength to gain access to the well. Into the well he jumps and instantly begins burning. He screams for Elena and tells her that the well is full of vervain. Uh oh! Looks like someone really doesn't trust the vampire he loves.
Back from commercial, Elena is screaming for Stefan and trying to budge a ginormous chain with her tiny, puny little arms. Caroline comes racing up in a blur from across the forest to find out what's wrong. Elena breathlessly explains that Timmy, er, Stefan is stuck down the well and just before Caroline bravely jumps in after him, Elena stops her to add the part about the well being full of vervain stew. Car thinks for a second and then grabs the chain but before we can see what the girls plan to do with it, we cut to...
Damon's House of Books and Torture. Where did Mason meet Elena? Did she seduce him? Did she tell him she loved him. Damon's litany of Katherine-related questions show us that he's both extremely bitter about how she's treated him and not nearly as over her as he likes to think. But he does helpfully exposit that because Mason is supernatural, he can't be compelled. Thanks for the pro-tip, Damon. Jeremy arrives at this moment, carrying Alaric's box-o-research. Damon tells him, again, to leave. He ignores Damon, again, and says that he found something helpful in the box. Damon finds that "cool" and asks what it is. It's wolfsbane - the werewolf equivalent of vervain. That's what Damon needed, another weapon in his wolf-torturing arsenal. When Mason doesn't answer Damon's next question - what's Katherine doing in Mystic Falls - our favorite wicked vamp caresses the wolfy stud's cheek with a sprig of wolfsbane. Sizzling and pained grunting ensues. Jeremy looks very uncomfortable, Damon smirks. "Why's she here?" Damon asks again. "She's here with me!" Mason answers this time. Oh, poor, stupid, gorgeous Mason. Mason accuses Damon of jealousy and Damon shoves a handful of wolfsbane into Mason's mouth. Sizzle, choke, scream, spit, choke. Jer looks like he kind of wants to vomit.
In the woods, Caroline and Elena have rigged the chain so that Car can use it to lower Elena down into the well. As Caroline starts to lower, Bonnie runs up and asks why Caroline just took off in a blur. "I heard Elena screaming," Caroline explains flatly before nicely ordering Bonnie to help Elena. Down Elena goes. At the bottom, Stefan is face down looking toe up, if you know what I mean. Always a shame when the pretty faces get ruined like this, thank God he's a fast healer. Elena wraps the chain around him and Caroline pulls him up. Car and Bonnie help him gently to the ground before Car hollers down to Elena that she needs to hurry and get ready to come back up. Elena finds the stone as well as a whole bunch of creepy-ass snakes. There's a lot of screaming and doom-doom-doom music (as opposed to dun dun dun music) and then Elena is pulled out of the well. She immediately cuts her hand with a rock and feeds him her blood. Caroline turns away to avoid being tempted by her friend's blood. 
Torture Emporium. I can't sugar coat it, Mason looks like shit. He's got this disgusting bloody ooze coming out of his mouth and dripping off of his chin and he's crying in pain. There's a vein in his forehead that's threatening to burst. Damon won't let up with the questions. Mason declines to tell Damon why he wants the moonstone and Damon moves in for more awfulness but Jeremy jumps in. "If he was going to say anything, he would have already!" Oh, Jer, now you've just made Damon angry. Please don't make Damon angry, you're too cute and too young to die. Damon starts to stick a sprig of wolfsbane in Mason's eye when he finally folds and tells Damon that the stone is in the well. Day late and a dollar short with that epiphany, my friend. Damon already knows WHERE it is, he wants to know what it does and why they want it. Mason says that Katherine is going to use the stone to lift the curse. Damon is skeptical that a vampire would go out of her way to lift a curse that keeps a werewolf from turning whenever he wants. Mason says it's so that he won't have to turn anymore at all and that she's doing it for him because she loves him. I rolled my eyes at his naivete but Damon finds it much more funny than I do. He gets a real good laugh and says, "Now I get it, you're just stupid! Katherine doesn't love you. She's using you, you moron." It sounds really mean, but there was a kind of pity in his voice that probably comes from having been in a similarly moronic state for over a century and a half. 
Damon hands Jeremy what's left of the wolfsbane and advises him to skedaddle. Jeremy declines and tries to talk Damon out of doing anything more to Mason. Mason, resigned to his fate now, implores Jeremy to help Tyler and not let him activate the curse. Jeremy quietly implores Damon again and Damon snaps, he vamp-speeds his hand around Jeremy's neck and pins him to a chair across the room. He tells Jer that if he really wants to be a part of the Mystic Falls Scooby Gang, it's a kill or be killed proposition. He uses both his emphatic arguing voice and his SUPER CRAZY EYES and tells Jeremy to suck it up or leave. Jeremy chokes and gasps for air when Damon releases his death grip but he stays in the chair like, "no harm, no foul." Does anyone else think Jeremy has a little battered-wife thing happening in his relationship with Damon? Anyway, Damon says Mason wants to be killed and Mason doesn't argue. "It really is a curse isn't it," Damon asks, and Mason tries to hold back tears. Jeremy decides he can't sit there and watch the assisted suicide of his new friend's favorite uncle so he takes his leave. Damon speechifies, "I look at you and I see myself. A less dashing, less intelligent version." Mason says that he loves her and Damon's empathy reaches a crescendo, "Oh, I know! I've been where you are! But Katherine will only rip your heart out. Let me do it for her." And that's when he violently jams his hand into Masons chest and, indeed, rips the heart right out. The face that Sommerhalder makes while doing this is deeply unnerving but also very, very sexy. Please don't bother to tell me how sick that makes me, I already know. Mason...dies.
Allow me a second to say that both Ian Sommerhalder and Taylor Kinney absolutely murdered all of their torture scenes in this episode. I thought Mason was a great character and I genuinely enjoyed his storyline, and Kinney's acting, every bit as much as I liked to look at him (and I REALLY liked to look at him), but his brutal, untimely death does make for another very interesting wrinkle in the story.
After a few commercials have given us a second to mourn Mason's passing, we find Alaric and Jenna cookin' and makin' out in the Gilbert kitchen. They're really very cute but seriously, his hair is still an issue for me. It's so...flat. Matt Davis is always with his hair up and crazy, why can't we get a little Matt Davis action up on Alaric's head? I'm sorry, where was I? Right, smooching in the kitchen. Ric sets the table and spies Elena sneaking in the house. He catches her eye and mouths a question - "are you ok?" She nods and mimes a request that he not tell Jenna she's home then heads upstairs.
Salvatore Dungeon of Mother/Daughter Bonding. Caroline is telling her mom the great story of how she rescued her friends from danger and how Bonnie wasn't mean to her once. She's happy and so cute. Liz listens in stunned silence. Caroline thinks her mom is about to say something hurtful so she tries to stop her but Liz persists "you've become this person...this strong, this confident person." She smiles like a proud mom and Caroline's eyes swell with gratitude. Liz tells Caroline that the memory-wiping compulsion isn't necessary, she'll keep her daughter's secret and she won't tell the Salvatores that she wasn't compelled to forget. "I'll never do anything to hurt you," she tells Caroline, tearfully. Excuse me in advance for needing to transcribe this entire monologue but it's so touching and so heartbreaking and Candice Accola was so amazing that I really must. "We never talk like this. Ever. And today meant so much to me," she says, causing a tear to run down Liz's cheek while she agrees. Car scoots closer to her mom on the cot and takes her hands. "I know I can trust you. But you're never going to trust them," she tells her mom and begins getting choked up. Her compulsion eyes kick into high gear now, "I'm going to take you home. You're going to forget that I'm a vampire. You'll remember that you got sick with the flu. You had a fever and chills and ickiness, but I made you soup and it was really salty. We bickered and you got better. And then your selfish little daughter, who loves you no matter what, went right back to ignoring you. And all is right in the world." I teared up on first viewing, cried out-right on second viewing and needed two tissues to get through that transcription just now. As sad as it is, I think Caroline did the right thing. I believe Sheriff Mom would have kept Caroline's secret but I don't believe she would have done the same for the Salvatores and they are Caroline's family now too.
Upstairs, Stefan has just gotten home with the moonstone to find his brother wrapping Mason's corpse up in the drop cloth for disposal. Stefan tosses Damon the moonstone and the latter puts it in his pocket then uses Mason's phone to text Mrs. Mayor: "Carol, big opportunity in Florida, gonna be gone a long time. Will send for my things once I get settled. Much love, Mason." They never struck me as having a "much love" kind of relationship, but ok. Stefan is anxious to get rid of the body but Damon has picked this moment to act like a teenage girl and call Katherine with Mason's phone against the better judgement of Stefan, and everyone else on the planet, who all think it's a catastrophically bad idea to provoke her. Damon taunts her with the news that he has killed her boy toy and snagged her moonstone. She lets him know that he's fucked with the wrong crazy bitch. That she doesn't just have a plan B or a plan C, she's got as many plans as there are letters in the alphabet. Damon suddenly realizes that he's fucked up the one thing they had going for them (the element of surprise) and that they're now good and screwed. "Give my love to Stefan," she says before she hangs up on him.
Gilbert kitchen. Elena comes in and starts making small talk with Ric while Jenna's on the phone across the room. Ric asks her if everything went ok today and she says that after a few hiccups, things went fine. Then Jenna comes over and says that the phone is for Elena but doesn't say who it is. It's Katherine. DUN! Katherine tells her that she knows that Elena and Stefan had sex this morning and that she'll always be a step ahead of Elena and the Scoobies. She lets Elena know that she's had Jenna off of vervain for a while now and made Jenna her mole days ago. Elena turns toward Jenna who's busy slicing bread. Ric sees her and would like to know what's up but she gives him the finger (the "wait a second" finger, not the "fuck you" finger). Just as Katherine is telling Elena that she convinced Jenna to kill herself, Elena turns to see her aunt plunging a big kitchen knife into her gut. "Jenna, NO!" she yells. Both Elena and Ric rush to Jenna's aid and we take our final commercial break.
At the hospital, Elena is letting Jeremy know that the doctors told Ric Jenna got lucky and is going to be ok. Elena confirms that Jenna doesn't remember what happened or why. Jeremy comforts his sister as she becomes upset at the realization that Katherine is only proving that she can and will follow through on her threats. Jeremy looks beyond hot as he hugs her and promises that Katherine will pay. BEYOND hot.
Lockwood estate. Tyler finds his mom and compliments her on how things look. He asks if she's seen Mason and she tells him that Mason left town. Tyler is shocked and hurt.
Salvatore manse. Elena finds Stefan pouting by the fire. He's so sorry about what happened to Jenna. They agree that it was there fault for thinking that they could out-smart her and stay together. She says she loves him so much, and she knows he loves her but it has to be over for the welfare of the people they love. The entire time, he stands there crying in the most amazing, believable, heart-crushing way. No joke, I've never seen any man on television or in the movies cry better than Paul Wesley did right there. And I've seen some REALLY good crying in my life, believe me, but Paul takes the cake.
Elena leaves, also crying pretty damn hard, and on her way out she's stopped by Damon. He's really sorry and really mad at himself as he admits that he pissed Katherine off because he didn't think. She lets him off the hook because as stupid as his taunting was, we all know it wasn't his fault and he needs to know it too. This was in Katherine's back pocket long before Damon murdered Mason.
Speaking of the evil bitch from hell, Katherine is in her room at the B&B telling someone that she needs a werewolf and since she lost hers, she needs this person's help to get a new one. We cut to a Katherine POV as Matt repeats his marching orders "I'm going to go after Tyler Lockwood. And I'm not going to stop. Until he kills me." Oh sweet baby Jesus! I really don't think that Williamson and Plec would tell us in advance that a beloved character is going to be killed off when they could instead pull the ol' switcheroo but I've never spent a week hoping I'm right so hard in my entire life!
Next week, all the men in Mystic Falls put on dark suits and look SMOKIN' hot!
1 comment:
WHEW!!! Um, so, is this your full time job now? Holy moly, writing your blog on TVD epidsodes must be EXHAUSTING!! LOL!!! Can't wait for the next one, will have to schedule some vacation time in order to read it.
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