Once again Elena finds herself kidnapped by vampires as bait. This time it isn’t about Stefan though. Her captors have no use for him. Damon is the one with the journal with the secrets of opening the tomb and unleashing all of the vampires inside. Damon continues to act nonchalantly while Stefan desperately tries to find a way to save Elena. As Stefan begs him for any information he might have, he simply says that he hopes they kill Elena. The bigger reason why Elena was kidnapped actually has nothing to do with the Salvatores. She’s there to make sure Bonnie opens the tomb and releases the buried vampires. Elena ends up actually feeling sympathy for one of her kidnappers as she’s only doing what she’s doing to get back at the mother she lost over a century ago.
Stefan works with Bonnie’s grandmother to track down Bonnie and Elena, promising to kill the vampire he finds there if he ever sees them again. Elena and Bonnie finally realize that this is never going to end until the tomb is open and the vampires get what they want. Their plan is to open the tomb so Damon can get Katherine and then burn the rest of the vampires alive. They need Damon to make this work though. Damon already trusted Stefan and Elena once and was betrayed by them. Elena’s betrayal seemed to burn a lot worse than Stefan’s, putting Damon on guard even more. It’s up to her now to convince Damon to believe in her again.
The sub-story between Caroline and Matt didn’t work so well in this episode. It’s never really been the high point of any episode, but it seemed especially needless here. The two of them are actually pretty cute together. After being tormented and mentally scarred by Damon, Caroline deserves a good, sweet guy like Matt. After being dumped by the girl he’s loved his whole life as soon as the new, mysterious guy comes to town, Matt deserves a loyal girl, which Caroline could be for him. They just need to decide if they are going to be together or not. There were at least 3 or 4 points just in the brief moments of this side-plot where conflict rose between the two. Often, it was really small things like Caroline grabbing Matt’s hand in front of Elena and Damon. Caroline was the one constantly apologizing or making speeches when she did nothing wrong while Matt was largely unemotional. They need to just decide if they are going to remain a couple or not. I think that’s great if they do, but they should save the conflict for something more interesting rather than picking at tiny little things just to have a storyline going on between them.
Fool Me Once is all about the massive trickery and deceit going around between vampires, witches, and humans. Jeremy’s new friend and crush, Anna, isn’t nearly as innocent as she seems, but there is plenty of reasoning why he thinks there’s something strange about her. There are a number of compelling twists throughout the episode. Even though it seems like the vampires hold the power it soon becomes clear that the witches could easily trap them for eternity just as their ancestors did to all of the vampires in Mystic Falls all of those years ago. The only thing keeping them from being completely doomed is Bonnie’s compassion.
Malese Jow as Anna is a great addition to The Vampire Diaries. She’s been in a few episodes now and especially since her true identity has been revealed, the character has only become more compelling. She’s strong, fierce, and determined; not letting anyone stand in the way of what she wants. It’s actually pretty humorous the way she bosses the vampire she turned around, clearly being nothing more than a means to get what she wants. Her transformation between Anna the human she pretends to be and her true nature are polar opposites, making it pretty fun to watch her go back and forth between the two. Her character actually has a dark sense of humor, not quite up to par with Damon’s, but still very fun and twisted; emphasizing how she embraces her cold nature. When she finds Elena inside of the tomb not long after Stefan had rescued her from the last disaster she jokes that Elena must love the flirtation with danger as she attacks her and sucks her blood.
As the great diabolical plan has been executed it will be interesting to see where things go from here. Some got what they wanted while others failed miserably. Damon received some life altering information, contradicting everything he was living for. While I am a little disappointed Damon didn’t take more drastic action towards Elena in exerting his power over her after her betrayal it is good to see their relationship back on track. It seems even more genuine now, showing that there is a connection between the two of them that won‘t soon die. Still, his whole reason for staying in Mystic Falls was to get in the tomb. With that past him, he has to figure out how he wants to begin living out the rest of eternity; living in the past or embracing the present.
