Bonnie’s supernatural background comes back to haunt her when her dead ancestor, Emily, begins to take over her mind. Damon works even more aggressively to get back Bonnie’s necklace. We learn the significance of this jewel, it turns out it belonged to Katherine. Before Katherine died she gave it back to Emily, her handmaid. Damon is desperate to get it and this clearly plays a part in his “diabolical plan”.
Stefan is angry over Lexi’s death, but he has ulterior motives and actually befriends Damon after some playful opposition. Stefan decided he needs to stay away from Elena, for her own protection. He agrees to see her when he hears what’s going on with Bonnie, he realized she was a witch from the beginning. He discovers Emily, who he and Damon knew, is the one haunting Bonnie. Stefan has a hunch, but isn’t sure why Damon is so desperate to get the necklace. Bonnie begins losing control of her mind when the girls have a séance to call her spirit. This proves to Caroline that this haunting and Bonnie’s nature aren’t the nonsense that she thought.
There was a lot of interesting material with Damon in this episode, some of it that showed a very different side and mental capacity than we have seen from him in the past. He is done playing nice and scares Bonnie severely, being both intimate towards her and dangerously threatening. He begins getting in to Bonnie’s head; using her fear of Emily against her. This is still in his nature, where the change comes is when we learn what he’s planning. We learn it’s really about revenge; something that he has been carrying with him for over a century. This is the first time that we really see Damon truly caring about something that doesn’t involve himself or proving his power to others. He still takes a violent and hateful approach to what he’s been dealing with, but the fact that he cares enough and something can affect him so heavily is a revelation to his character. Ian Somerhalder shows great anguish and regret on his face in these moments.
What really is surprising is that we learn that he is really looking for some sort of justice, emphasizing that the people he is after are bad and deserve what comes to them, showing a different side to him. You would think he would be indifferent to “bad people” or even admire them for carrying on his same lifestyle. He is constantly trying to convert Stefan to his ways. Through this episode we get to see a bit of the Damon that might have existed before his vampire days and a clue as to what he has been internally struggling with for so many years.
There’s an interesting and somewhat startling new development in this episode with a new character that has been introduced, the school’s history teacher, Alaric Saltzman. In the books the teacher role was really more of a front. What he was really interested in was the vampire attacks and fooling the vampire and everyone else in Mystic Falls. In the episode though, he has a lapis lazuli ring, just like the one that Damon and Stefan have that shield them from burning in to the sun, that other vampire’s don’t even have. Also, when Alaric goes out with Elena’s aunt, when he isn’t invited in he is unable to walk inside. Clearly, he is a vampire, whether he still has some motive of opposition or deceit towards the Salvatores and the town’s vampires will be interesting to see. Also, Jeremy is doing a history assignment about the town’s history, quite possibly showing the vampiric presence that has been in the town and could start to remember what Damon has washed away from his brain. We also get the return of another vampire who Damon killed, who quite possibly might target Elena’s family. Damon and Stefan plan on leaving town once and for all. We learn that what Damon really was in town for had nothing to do with Stefan and Elena; they were just a good distraction while he was trying to set things right in his mind. Stefan thinks he has done enough damage and knows he has to forget Elena and move on. I have a feeling with some new vampires in town they might stick around a bit longer than originally planned.
The whole bickering and role playing with Damon and Stefan was hilarious. In the last episode or so, I mentioned how Stefan’s one look; the wrinkled, brooding eyebrow was getting a little old. When Damon mocks Stefan in his voice, Stefan is actually the one to ask “You prefer the brooding forehead?” This is one of the many reasons why I love this show, it’s not afraid to mock itself. Usually Damon is the one to do this since it goes along with his sarcastic personality so well. It was great hearing Stefan mock himself though since he’s usually serious and all business. The whole buddy-buddy thing, even though they were still giving each other a bad time, was still pretty amusing. Damon and Stefan actually play football with each other and joke with one another even though they’re still taking stabs at each other. It’s a switch and at the end of the episode there is even a small bit of understanding between Stefan and Damon.
