The saying is: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer — however, living with them may be a bad idea
While it is a great idea to keep Katherine (Nina Dobrev) right where you can see her at all times to make sure she is not preparing to stab you in the back or stake you in the front, it is a bit confusing having her live with the Salvatore brothers when she looks exactly like Stefan’s girlfriend, Elena (Nina Dobrev). It also does not help that Katherine can crawl into either Stefan (Paul Wesley) or Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) mind and mess with them.
Thus, inviting Katherine into your home is definitely asking for trouble. And exactly how do you explain how there is a perfect double of your girlfriend running around town? Katherine was mischievous enough before she outed herself and made her presence known — now that she is being open and notorious about her presence in Mystic Falls, it is downright mind-bending and creepy.
So as our heroes were still reeling from the after-shocks of Elijah’s (Daniel Gillies) death, namely, Dr. Martin’s (Randy J. Goodwin) rage at having his plans to rescue his daughter thwarted, everyone tried to take a step back and assess where they were at in their relationships. Stefan and Elena were still happy and strong in their relationship — except with the pesky Katherine popping up to mess with their heads. Damon was trying to figure out a new plan to take down Klaus, albeit begrudgingly with Katherine’s dubious assistance. Bonnie (Katerina Graham) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) were keeping their relationship under wraps until Bonnie could clear it with Elena. Things were still a bit frosty between Matt (Zach Roerig) and Caroline (Candice Accola), and Alaric (Matt Davis) and Jenna (Sara Canning) as the tension of secrets hovered in the air. And Dr. Martin and Luka (Bryton James) simply wanted Elijah back at any cost to ensure the safe return of their missing family member.
But despite the wisdom of taking a moment and considering other options, things spiraled out of control once again. Supernatural beings are apparently more intent on simply doing and not considering the advantages of strategic alliances; and after a lethal failed attempt to rescue Elijah, Dr. Martin decided to go after Elena himself. By going on a blatant warpath, he made it all too easy for them to fool him with a switch and Katherine took him out.
In the end, there were two more bodies on the Mystic Falls death-toll list. R.I.P. Luka and Dr. Martin. We hardly knew you and yet now have to worry who stand in their place when Klaus comes to town — for Klaus still needs a witch for his sacrifice to work — and now that Bonnie is the last witch in town, that paints a bulls-eye on her.
Bonnie the witch, Caroline the vampire and Elena the doppelganger. Now all we need is for Tyler (Michael Trevino) to come back to town and Klaus will have his sacrifice to break the Curse of the Sun and the Moon.
Points of Interest
1. It a nice bit of foreshadowing, Katherine taunted Elena, “It’s getting really easy being you.” Something says that the ease with which Katherine can impersonate Elena is going to be a problem one day soon.
2. Also watching how easily Luka and Jonas used their powers to allow Luka to use astral-projection to snoop around the Salvatore mansion was awesome. Luka was like a living ghost — unfortunately, a ghost that can be incinerated.
3. Then while not entirely unexpected that Isobel (Mia Kirshner) would make a return visit, it was still cool to see her at the Gilbert front door at the end. Surely mommy dearest will be as fun-loving and over-protective as John (David Anders) — which bodes badly for any vampire in Mystic Falls.
What Worked
The continuing awkward dance between Damon and Katherine was fascinating. For a woman that Damon pined after for over a century, now that Katherine is walking amongst them Damon’s seething rage is a constant undercurrent. For every second Katherine is around it is a reminder of how he threw away all those years for a woman who did not want him. And, even now, Katherine still chooses Stefan over Damon, as was amply demonstrated when she chose to spare Stefan and sacrifice Damon by failing to tell him that he would die if he used the dagger. So when Damon bluntly asked her, “Did you know I would die?” Katherine coyly replied, “You know I always get what I want. . . I wanted out of the tomb. Didn’t matter who paid the price.” She then flippantly added, “Of course I knew that you’d die.” Unfortunately, by confirming yet again that Damon meant nothing to her, Katherine only re-enforced Damon’s hatred of her. She should have anticipated that he would not be happy about it and as Damon shoved a wooden stake in her chest saying, “That’s for not telling me the dagger would kill me,” it seemed like a just punishment.
But Katherine could not resist turning the knife in Damon’s heart a bit more by revealing, “That was part of the deal, I could only save one of you.” To which Damon angrily said, “And you chose Stefan — of course you did.” Knowing she had hurt him more than he ever could ever hurt her, Katherine tauntingly replied, “You wanted the truth, Damon. Would you rather I lie?”
Katherine may be able to dismiss or dispatch of Damon without a second thought, but feeling in need of a bit of affirmation that somebody loved her, she tried to seduce Damon, but this time, he was not such a willing dupe. It was a cheer-worthy moment when Damon calmly told her, “Katherine, there are six other bedrooms in this house, go find one.” From the look on his face, Damon felt more empowered in that moment than he had felt in over 140 years. To be able to reject Katherine was his final act of freedom. Without a claim on his heart, unwilling to fall prey to her false charms again, Damon is proving himself even more worthy of a real relationship; and if he ever hopes to truly win Elena’s heart, he must not be tempted by Katherine.
So as Damon wrestled with his inner demons and Katherine, a battle was being waged over Elijah’s body. It was fun watching Damon try to incinerate Elijah’s body, only to discover that an Original is truly indestructible, even in death. And Luka and Dr. Martin’s astral-projection attempt to remove the dagger from Elijah’s chest was inspired. It made for some fun and games as Katherine sense a presence in the mansion and tried to stop the dagger from being removed. Luka stabbing Katherine would have been even more fun had he not merely wounded her and had actually killed her. Alas, in the end, it was Luka and Dr. Martin who lie dead on the floor; and or being two powerful warlocks, it seemed all too easy to have taken them out without more of a fight.
Then while Damon, Stefan, Katherine, Luka, and Dr. Martin were preoccupied with their power-plays, young love was fighting for its chance to blossom. Bonnie had finally decided to talk to Elena about her relationship with Jeremy, offhandedly remarking, “Speaking of happy, would it freak you out if I started dating your brother?” To which Elena disbelievingly and incredulously replied, “You’re into my brother?” Such a response may have deterred someone less motivated, but Bonnie merely smiled and said, “I know it’s weird — but he’s been so good and strong — he makes me happy.” Then seeing Elena’s odd expression, she anxiously added, “I really can’t tell what you’re thinking right now.” This prompted Elena to firmly say, “I’m thinking my brother has had more pain in his life than a hundred people’s pain and he deserves to be with someone as amazing as you.” It was a brave thing on both their parts to face this previously taboo idea and embrace it as something wonderful. Though now that Bonnie has her powers back, maybe Elena won’t be so happy that Jeremy is dating a witch.
Also facing up to her fears and choosing to pursue a life with the man she loves, Caroline took a stand and sang her heart out to let Matt know how she felt about him. When Matt had challenged her saying, “You know how I feel, so it’s your move. Just make your decision or leave me alone,” it was like throwing down a gauntlet in the ring of love. That Caroline picked it up and declared herself was brave and beautiful.
The one couple stuck in a star-crossed existence is Jenna and Alaric. For when Jenna told him, “What ever you’re keeping from me, whatever you think I can’t handle, you’re wrong,” she really had no idea that the secret he was keeping was that his dead-wife was not dead after all. It was one of those “be careful what you wish for” moments. Jenna just thinks she can handle anything — but truth is always stranger than fiction and she had no idea that a dead woman would be knocking on her door.
So while it sounded so wise and wonderful when Elena told Caroline, “Maybe that’s our mistake, we’re trying to protect the people we love by keeping them out of it, but in the end, we’re hurting them anyway,” as Caroline soon learned, the truth does not guarantee no pain either. Which is more true: “ignorance is bliss” or “the truth will set you free”? In Matt’s case, coming back from the brink of death to find out the girl he is in love with is a vampire — and realizing that his sister was killed by a vampire, the truth only imprisoned Matt in a living nightmare. He may have preferred to have lived in his “bliss box” a bit longer. As he screamed, “What did you do to my sister?!” it rang in our ears and our hearts. Matt just can’t handle the truth.
Now it remains to be seen if Jenna can. Will she too retreat into a cocoon of denial, or will she be happy to know what the hell is going on in Mystic Falls?
What Didn’t Work
Where was John Gilbert during this crazy night of doppelgangers and witches run amuck? And where was Andie Star (Dawn Olivieri)? Damon gets a girlfriend and she disappears. Surely the new girlfriend would not have been pleased having to share the mansion and Damon with Katherine. No proper goodbye, she just vanishes into the ether? Such a shame since she was the perfect host for Damon’s faux dinner party last week.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
‘The House Guest” was written by Caroline Dries, and directed by Michael Katleman. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig, Sara Canning, Matt Davis. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.
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