As anticipated, Damon couldn’t stay away from Mystic Falls for long. He doesn’t even make it a full episode away with Katherine. Katherine tries to keep Damon in her grasp. She loves being in control, feeling superior to others, and making boys squirm, even bad ass blood-lusting vampire types like Damon. Damon appeases her to an extent, but really only to throw it back in her face. No matter how he rebels against the idea that Elena wants him to live up to, he will love her above all else. She is one of the only things he has the capacity to have any true feelings for anymore.
His break from Mystic Falls proves to be important. Katherine finds a lead in their suicidal plot to kill Klaus. Pearl knew something that would help them. Of course, she is dead as is the only other person she ever told; her daughter, Anna. Katherine knows Jeremy is the key to reaching her and kidnaps him. When Jeremy reaches out to her, she is hesitant since she knows neither Katherine nor Damon are really friends of Jeremy’s. In attempts to protect him though, she reveals what she knows; that Klaus was on the run from Mikael, both a vampire and a killer. She knows anyone and everyone who goes against him will be slaughtered.
If the original vampire had been running from him nearly a century ago, who knows what his powers and capabilities could have developed in to since then. While Damon and Katherine are powerful, they were nothing even compared to Klaus a hundred years ago, let alone in his current state as a hybrid. Klaus himself is such an enticing villain it will be interesting to see someone so wicked that he makes Klaus go running scared can offer to the show.
Vicki makes another appearance, desperate to reach out to Matt. Matt finds himself extremely lost and not really in the spirit of Caroline’s new attitude to make the most of their senior year by creating lasting memories. He finds himself in the middle of every supernatural element he could imagine. His ex-girlfriend is caught between two vampires with the first vampire ever created out to kill her…again. His other ex-girlfriend is a vampire and his friends are witches and werewolves. Now he’s seeing his ghost sister; the only shred of family he has. Matt doesn’t understand any of it or how he ended up in the middle of all of it and seems to be the only normal, human one. Even Elena is the doppelgänger and center of a revolutionary sacrifice to create a hybrid army. Let’s not forget she did briefly die and come back to life. She might not be supernatural, but she surely doesn’t qualify as normal either. Matt takes drastic measures to do what he can to reach his sister. He has to try to piece everything together, leaving Bonnie there, without her magic, on her own to save Matt.
All of this is amongst Klaus finding out that Elena is still alive; the reason why his hybrids haven’t been successful. He has kidnapped Tyler and begins transforming him in to a hybrid now that he has Elena. Stefan is still desperate to prove his allegiance to Klaus so that he will spare Elena. Klaus isn’t buying his act anymore though. He wants proof, for him to suck Elena draw, proving his loyalty and true ripper nature. This would complete the job he thought he had already completed as well. Klaus likes to be in control, but he likes it even more when his subjects do exactly what he wants for their own, selfish reasons; giving in to a lesser, vicious nature. Elena stays with Stefan, sure that she can get through to him. She wants him to fight that part of him. Between Klaus’ compulsion and Elena’s blood practically screaming out to him, he no longer has the strength or humanity he once was able to hold on to. Elena has to learn first-hand that the Stefan she loved really has left.
Jeremy and Katherine investigate where they might find answers about Michael and killing Klaus for good. Damon returns back to Mystic Falls just in time to save Elena before Klaus drains her of all of her blood. Klaus has done what he came there to do whether his newest victims survive or not. Now that Stefan is more ripper than broody, lovesick vampire, Klaus has left Stefan in Mystic Falls to watch out for Elena. She is still the doppelgänger, something that Klaus can’t afford to completely let go of. Of course, this leaves us with evil Stefan, the much more enticing alternative. This does leave room open for Damon to not be compromised in nature, but still be a fierce, loyal, and passionate constant in Elena’s life. With Stefan’s unknown intentions, Elena is going to need Damon now more than ever.
