Reactions: 3.12 “The Ties That Bind”

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHELIJAH!

You guys don’t EVEN KNOW. Okay, actually if you’re avid readers, you know EXACTLY what we all went through in those last 20 seconds of last night’s episode. DEAR FREAKING LORD THE DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! So I won’t spend too much time up here gushing, because we’ll take care of that below. So let’s get on it the reactions!

Main Players: Cin, Christina and Abby (SBH staff); Dayna, Melissa, and Stephanie (SBH contributors and friends).

GLASS CASE OF EMOTION

FUCK YESSSSSS

Christina: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG ELIJAH IS BACK ELIJAH YOU GUYS ELIJAH PRAISE JEBUS ELIJAH DAMON PULLED THE DAGGER OUT HE PULLED IT OUT THE DAGGER IS OUT AND ELIJAH MY DEAR SWEET AMAZING ELIJAH IS BACK AND I CANNOT CONTAIN ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. You guys, you readers, you have NO idea how happy this revelation makes us. NO IDEA. Like holy shit. If I hadn’t been laying down already, I would have keeled over. #hepulledthedaggerout. The whole episode was those last 20 seconds. My brain can process nothing else. AAAAND he ripped out the hybrid’s heart JUST FOR OLD TIMES SAKE. Mother fucking BAMF. Right outta coffin and he’s ripping out hearts. “So Niklaus, what’d I miss?” AAAAHHH I DIE. Like, I need to see it again. And again and again. Thank god the government hasn’t gotten a hold of YouTube’s balls yet because then we couldn’t link you to THIS.
Cin: I GASPED LIKE 3 TIMES IN A ROW & THEN, LIKE, ALMOST PASSED THE FUCK OUT!!! ELLLLLIIIIIIIJJJJJAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!! LIKE, I WAS SOOOOOOO NOT EVEN PAYING ATTENTION AND DIDN’T SEE THE DAGGER IN DAMON’S HAND BUT THEN… THEN HE CAME AND **DYING FOREVER** Seriously ya’ll, the outside reader/observer just does NOT even understand. My husband was in the other end of the house and the noises that emitted from me had me coming into the living room to see what had happened. When I could speak all I could say was “ELIJAHHHHHH!!!” – he looked at me & said, “Oh. Finally.” And you guys, he doesn’t even WATCH TVD and he knew. HE KNEW! Because I love Elijah just that much. Elijah is my everything on this show. E-VER-Y-THING!!! I have been miserable and bitchy and half watching and pissed off this entire season. Like literally, all around not fucking happy at all with a lot of stuff simply because my boo was still in that fucking coffin with a dagger in his chest. It was like a black cloud of hurt and anger that hung over everything. BUT NOW? NOW the sun is out again and I can sing!!! And Damon, I’ve been calling for you’re death – and for now I’m kinda glad you are still around because THANK YOU SO MUCH. But then again, you’ve served the ultimate purpose now, so I can be mean to you when you’re stupid again. Which will be soon I’m sure. ANYWAY, *breathes* I am just so f-ing happy ya’ll. Nothing hurts. NOTHING AT ALL!!! My heart was pounding in my chest for an hour and seriously, I couldn’t concentrate on anything but ELIJAH. I rewatched the scene about 15 times, the last few times right before I went to bed and ya’ll – I almost cried. Like, misty things were totally happening and I just smiled and felt whole again. After I got my heart palpitations under control and could just feel feelings… I’m complete now. Also, watch that YouTube clip. Over & over & over again. How AWESOME was it that Klaus was terrified? Minus the sound effect, his reaction of utter shock & horror perfectly compliments the shock & squee of the entire fandom. Excellent.
Christina: His reaction was exactly mine! Only I think mine contained a bit more unadulterated joy.
Abby: I HEREBY FORGIVE DAMON SALVATORE FOR ANYTHING HE’S EVER DONE THAT’S ANNOYED ME. I FORGIVE HIM FOR THE EYE THING, THE EYEBROW THING, THE WEIRD SMIRKY THING AND ALL THE TIMES I’VE WANTED TO PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE. ELIJAHELIJAHELIJAHELIJAHELIJAHELIJAH!!!!! YAY YAY YAY I MISSED HIM SO MUCH. WELCOME HOME NOW PLEASE GO SNATCH OUT SOME MORE HEARTS RIGHT AWAY OKAY? I LOVE YOU.
Stephanie: I missed out an the Damon death panel discussion the other day but it serves all of you right that my number one boyfriend (his snarkiness speaks to my soul) was the one to undagger ELIJAH (who’s my number two boyfriend). AND OMG ELIJAH IS BACK!!!!! Like the rest of you I’m so FLIPPIN’ ECSTATIC. When he popped up on screen I made a sound so high pitched that I think only the dogs could hear me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Elijah being back I just can’t even describe how happy this makes me. He’ll always be the original Original. LONG LIVE ELIJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Melissa: I’m walking on sunshine, whoa! I’m walking on sunshine, whoa! I’m walking on sunshine, whoa! And don’t it feel good?! All the hearts for Damon & his eye-thing and anything else he ever wants to do because he PULLED THE DAGGER OUT!!!
Abby: We really need to find that goddamn dagger and drop it in the sea or melt it in a fire or whatever it takes to destroy it permanently. ELIJAH FOREVER.
Dayna: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Damon for ALL the awards EVER!!!!!! He pulled the dagger out!!!
Stephanie: WORD Dayna. Can we make him Deputy Mayor to Elijah?
Dayna: Works for me!
Cin: Ok, Ok. I will be *nicer* to Damon for now because he did it. HE really did #pullthedaggerout , and Abby, I totally agree, someone throw that mother f-ing dagger into the Bermuda Triangle because if that thing ever, let me repeat – EVER – goes in my Elijah’s heart again… Gurlllll… Nobody even wants to know.
Christina: I still kind of hate Damon. He’s done too many douchetastic things to be forgiven COMPLETELY, but I will give that man a hug and a hearty pat on the back. No, really, I will admit to him that I was wrong in thinking that he had become pretty much worthless (okay not worthless, but that dude was having a lot go wrong all the time) because he has fucking saved us. I’m so ecstatic.
Stephanie: Christina don’t be talking bad about Damon now. Alaric will come after your ass 😉 Of course though, who wouldn’t want Alaric to come after their ass if you know what I mean?
Christina: Alaric? Oh let him come at me. I got some booze. I can take him down 😉
Cin: I’m not done squee-ing about Elijah yet. You guys, this is like – wow. A dream come true of course but as I’ve been saying ALL SEASON – having Elijah back just ups the game so much in so many ways. Forget Rebekah and Mikael (I totally blanked on his name for a second there. LOL) THIS is what the part of the Original storyline I have been wanting to see. Elijah is just so rich in possiblities and his awesomeness just can’t be duplicated. Also, I’m not sure we have squee’d enough to show our real delight. Last night a few of us were truly almost in need of medical attention. As usual, SB at OCTV wins at everything in her recap because she is absolutely right. Elijah being undaggered is the get out of jail free card for me. The weekend pass. I will accept and put up with a lot of crap from every single angle – and believe me, I was snarky and just ready to rip into this episode like a Christmas present last night on twitter – but then, they #pulledthedaggerout and everything else just faded away. Because nothing else matters. Just Elijah.

That's no hybrid heart in his hand. It's the fandom's. Because he OWNS US ALL.

Do The Writers Read Our Blog?
Christina: Because, seriously! Not ONLY did we get another “HAHAHA YES!” from Klaus, but they fucking referenced coconut water, y’all. Fucking coconut water!!!! AAAH God, I died.
Cin: The coconut water WAS just for us. I know it. *nods*
Melissa: While this episode made me fall back in love with Damon, it also ensured I’ll hate his portrayer forever.
Dayna: I died at the coconut water reference. I’ve managed to make a complete disconnect in my brain between Damon and Ian. It’s better that way. And allows me to continue to enjoy Damon.
Stephanie: It’s true. You’ve got to disassociate Damon from Ian because otherwise you just see Derek Zoolander as a vampire killing vampires & falling in love with a less than entertaining girl who tends to make stupid decisions all the time. Actually, that might be highly entertaining to imagine.
Cin: *DYING FOREVER* Steph! I just spit out my coffee! ROFL
Stephanie: I might have just ruined the whole Damon character for you because truthfully sometimes I do imagine it’s Derek Zoolander on screen and you can’t help but laugh.
Cin: Ruin? NO! You totally just made it SO MUCH BETTER for me. Thank you. LOL
Stephanie: Hahaha. My work here is done then.
Christina: Also, Elijah, you guys? Did we already fucking mention that Elijah is OUT OF THE COFFIN?! This episode was FOR US! 😀 EEEEEEEEEE!
Cin: Christina, stop stoking my squee. It’s already OUT OF CONTROL! Anyway, so I almost wonder if it was a calculated move to have Damon be the one to #pullthedaggerout since he’s kinda been getting a bunch of heat from bloggers for the last long while. I mean, the casual fan WORSHIPS him, but I think that’s one of the major areas that has begun to separate the ‘fangirls’ from the outspoken bloggers and fans of the show who analyse every single thing. I don’t know how to explain it but I have noticed a separation this season for sure between those 2 groups. MY POINT is, having Damon this monumental thing that pretty much EVERYONE EVER wanted to be done, that earns him a bunch of points with the doubters. Like me. So for now, I’ll go back to doing Damon’s bi-weekly mani-pedi’s and not spitting in his scotch decanter. But as always, I’m watching him. AND if I find that dagger…
Christina: That’s me too — total doubter. Which is why I don’t forgive him completely, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Dayna: That’s an interesting thought about it being a calculated decision to have Damon be the one to resurrect Elijah. I haven’t seen that he’s gotten a shit-ton of criticism outside of our circle, though. I mean, you always have the shipper wars, but he’s by far he most popular character on the show.
Cin: I don’t know, I’ve seen a fair share with bloggers like Thomas Galvin & SB at OCTV and the like. That’s who I’m talking about, I admittedly don’t read a ton of TVD press and recaps and such because I feel it taints how I view the show but few bloggers are as raw as we are here in these reactions about how they really feel. And I understand that. AND when Damon isn’t an idiot, we’ve given him his due too. But a general feeling of just kinda “Over it” where a bunch of his crap is concerned can be felt when you talk to a lot of people who do analyse the show.
Dayna: Well yeah, and there are plenty of things to shake your head over with Damon, but even so they still seem to like the character.
Cin: I totally see that too, but this season and most of last, when he crossed the line – I definitely saw large amount of people not just blindly following. I mean, I will blindly follow Elijah anywhere. This is a given. And I know a lot of people feel that way about Damon as a character and I have to respect that – BUT it’s hard to write about this show and adore Damon consistently anymore. Not the way he’s been written for the past year. It’s just something that got me thinking. I don’t know, I may be talking out of my ass – but it’s just curious you know. I mean, *I* think Damon has been earning some flack over the past 20 episodes or so, and if I see it and other people see it then maybe the writers have too. Maybe it has all been calculated because they thought some of the fans followed him too blindly even back when he was the ‘villain’ (but hell, that’s when he was awesome!). So maybe THEY wanted him to be able to do something huge like this to help boost him in their eyes too. I’m seriously babbling now, but am I making any sense?
Abby: Perfect sense, and I agree with you. Damon has taken a back seat in terms of “oh my god he did WHAT?” moments, for the most part. He needed to do something awesome to avoid becoming just the snarky guy who hangs out with Alaric and macks on Elena. His ‘presence’ in the storyline has really been pushed aside by Klaus and Stefan. This isn’t the Damon Salvatore Diaries, so I don’t think him being sidelined a bit is necessarily bad, but I think they made a good choice in having him do the undaggering honors.
Stephanie: Agreed with all this. Even though Damon is my favorite character on the show, I still don’t agree with everything he’s done nor do I feel the need to be his constant cheerleader. Damon has done his fair share of shitty things over the seasons which he deserved getting flack for; however, I’ve missed the villainous Damon from the first season. He was just so badass then that you couldn’t help but like him so I was glad to see him finally get a ‘WHAT THE F DID YOU DO?’ scene again. Him undaggering Elijah was his ‘being the better villain’ move.
Christina: Wow, guys. I agree with all of this. Stephanie, you make a really good point there. I miss Damon of Season 1. We didn’t have the blog back then, but in our recaps and reactions in early Season 2, you could see how much we loved him. I mean, “Damon Salvatore” is the biggest one in our Category Cloud over on the right sidebar. But then he got dumb. And I’m not just snarking there. There were times when he would do things and we’re like “Damon, where did your brain go?” It was like Sassy Gay Friend — “WHAT WHAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”. But undaggering Elijah, you’re absolutely right — it’s Damon being the better villain, just like we always knew he could be. I mean, I still think STEFAN is a better villain than Damon, but, like I said, it’s a step.
Stephanie: Oh as much as it pains me to say it, season 3 Stefan is definitely a better villain than Damon. However, I’m glad we’re finally getting some of the old Damon back because I’ve certainly missed him. Caring and sweet Damon just doesn’t have the same flair as ‘I don’t give an F’ Damon. Maybe when they’ll perfect the Damon blend where he’s still entertaining and badass but allows the softer side to come out every once in a while.

Klaus 1 – House Witches 0
Christina: Bad ass. Klaus threatens them and they relent. Just like that; amazing.
Abby: That was just freaking perfect. Klaus often seems almost normal, like he might actually not be that big a deal, and then he pulls something like THAT, and you know that not only is he not one bit intimidated by the 100 Dead Witches, he’s totally willing to go murder hundreds or thousands of people if you so much as rumple his henley.
Cin: Until the last scene, this Klaus in Witchy Mansion totally owned the episode for me. I was totally #Klaused. I have been warming to him as this season has progressed for sure. But this kind of shit right here. Boss.
Christina: It was my second favorite moment of the episode. BTW, I’m not ashamed to say that Klaus GROWLING like that kinda turns me on. Amiright?
Abby: You ARE right.
Dayna: Klaus, like a fucking BOSS!! Even Damon was like “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”
Stephanie: Oh what I wouldn’t give to have Klaus growl in my ear. He was freaking brilliant in this scene. I love that one week we can see his softer side but it doesn’t affect his menacing and dangerous side the next. THAT is some superb writing and acting my friends.
Christina: PREACH! I’ve said it before and I will KEEP ON saying it: Klaus is one of the better developed characters on this entire show. We’ve gotten multiple sides of him, and we’ve gotten it to the point that it cuts us deep. It makes him that much more compelling, that much more frightening, and it confuses us so much more as to which side we’re supposed to be on.
Cin: I’m still kinda laughing that those 100 dead witches caved so damn easily. I mean, it was just words, are they that paranoid and terrified of him? Flipping the switch off like that just showed Klaus (and the audience) that they are scaredy cats and that he has complete power over them. Again, witches on this show totally suck.
Stephanie: Do you think if we got wizards to replace the witches it’d make the show 100x better? I mean wizards HAVE to be more competent than witches, right? I mean Gandolf the Grey totally became The White Wizard because he got shit done.
Cin: Stephanie, you keep talking about LoTR’s and I’m going to find you and kiss you. Seriously.
Stephanie: LoTR’s and TVD are pretty similar, right? I mean Stefan is obviously Frodo, Klaus is Golum (but a hot one at that), and that damn necklace is the ring that must be destroyed. I could probably make comparison’s to LoTR’s all day.
Cin: You are my favorite person ever. Well, besides Elijah.
Stephanie: I’ll take being second to Elijah any day. LOL.

Meredith 1 – Damon 0
Abby: I’m glad someone has finally addressed this issue. If they know about vampires, and they know about the healing properties of the blood, it stands to reason that some of the founders would’ve started finding uses for it.
Dayna: Or better yet, analyze the shit out of vampire blood to try and isolate what it is about it that heals people.
Abby: If Meredith Fell doesn’t try to talk Alaric into taking out a vampire so she can chain it up and use it’s blood for medical miracles at some point, I think I’ll be disappointed. If Alaric doesn’t at least consider doing it, I’ll be even more disappointed.
Stephanie: You wouldn’t be the only one Abby. In fact, if Meredith decides to convince Alaric to start up their own blood bank of chained up vampires in the old crypt, I’d be a-okay with that. However, Damon? Damon might not be happy about seeing how he’s a vampire & Alaric is BFF and I don’t think I can handle another bromance time-out.
Abby: Meredith is a weirdo, but so is everyone else in this town. I cautiously like the character. That said, I feel like the relationship with Alaric seems forced and awkward, and it isn’t working for me. The “let’s swap our secrets” stuff tonight just felt flat.
Cin: Can we take a step back and mention how very amaturely Damon got taken down by the vervain needle? Just sad. And totally hilarious at the same time.
Stephanie: I was just baffled by this. First, Klaus can’t compel him because he drinks vervain but somehow he gets knocked out by a syringe of the stuff? Oh come on now show! I’m going to pretended he had too much whiskey at lunch and he needed a nap thus used the moment as a perfect excuse to pass out.
Cin: Right?!? This could very well go into the ‘Things That Make You Go “Hmm”’’ section as well because wasn’t the point of building up an immunity to vervain exactly this? Dumb.
Melissa: But doesn’t even the smallest bit of vervain block compulsion? And he was waking up within minutes. I think its like when Katherine got that 10 second jump on Stefan. He’d been drinking vervain too, she just had more in the syringe. So it was enough for a reaction, not enough to maintain it.
Cin: Ok, I’ll give you that, but it still doesn’t excuse the fact that she walked up to him and he went down. She’s a stupid human girl. And even though she is Council Member – there was nothing stealthy about all of that. Where are these vampire reflexes and alertness? It was just kinda pathetic to see him be dropped like a stone by a 110 pound girl.

Stefan Has Feelings After All
Christina: Who else is disappointed that Stefan is upset that Elena kissed Damon? UGH. Come on, dude. I thought you were better than that. Though his punching Damon for kissing her was pretty superb.
Abby: That entire scene felt totally wrong to me. It was weirdly timed, I didn’t care about it and Stefan being all pouty and sulky was super lame. This show rarely hits a false note for me, but this episode had a lot of them.
Cin: I agree with both of you. I was very disappointed and expected him not to care, the Stefan we have come to know in S3 *shouldn’t* care. This is just more fuel to stoke the shipper fires and to put more indecisive ‘He still cares’ from Elena. We needed to stay with the not caring this season with Stefan. False note indeed.
Melissa: This is one I’m willing to let play out a little before I completely judge. Especially because as is, I didn’t mind it. On the Stefan ‘caring’ side of things, I think it would be weird if he didn’t show a flicker of emotion. And we all know he cares because he’s still fighting to get rid of Klaus and not let him hurt the endangered species list. He might be claiming its only revenge but if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t be there. So that made sense to me. And I liked that he didn’t turn it into a huge deal. But what I’d like to see is Stefan being pissed at Damon because Damon’s taking advantage. I mean yeah, Elena has a side in it too but Damon is the kind of guy who takes advantage of a moment and I’d like the idea of Stefan being pissed about that. But ya know, old emo Stefan wouldn’t have punched Damon. GROWTH.
Dayna: I was never a big fan anyway, but I’m pretty over Stefan. He’s jumped through hoops to make sure Elena let him go; now he’s pissed because she and Damon kissed? Whatever, Stefan. Just go be evil and cool somewhere, because I just CAN’T with the emo and the whining again. For realz.
Stephanie: I agree Dayna. This scene annoyed me BIG time because Stefan did a complete 180 from what he’s been telling Elena since he got back. Dude you left her and said goodbye to y’all’s relationship, MOVE ON. I think what really annoyed me though is how he told her that she was better than both of them. Uh isn’t that for her to decide? I’m sorry I just didn’t really like this portrayal of Stefan after we’ve been treated to badass Evil Stefan. He was just a wet balloon to me this week.
Dayna: Could Elena’s timing have been any worse, though? Seriously, you want to discuss this NOW?
Stephanie: Well Elena’s not always the brightest bulb so we really shouldn’t have been surprised.
Christina: Word. It felt like a really weird time to bring it up. Like, “Hey, I just pulled a bunch of wooden buck shot out of your stomach with my bare hands by the way I made out with your brother.” I actually liked Stefan’s reaction of saying nothing and then walking away, BUT you could tell that he was clearly upset… and that upset me. Maybe because I’m not emotionally ready to deal with STEARS again. But… I thought he was over it. I don’t want any more Humanity Dimmer Switch conversations.
Melissa: The timing made sense to me actually. I mean there aren’t many other moments that Elena’s going to be able to talk to Stefan. And I liked that she took ownership. She didn’t say Damon kissed me, she said she kissed Damon. So it worked for me.
Abby: If Stefan *hadn’t* punched Damon in the face, I’d have thought less of him. You go, Stefan.
Stephanie: Despite my annoyance towards Stefan’s reaction to Elena’s confession, I was a huge fan of the punch because like you Abby I would have been disappointed in Stefan if he hadn’t done it. I mean come on, Damon, HIS BROTHER, kissed his recently dumped ex-girlfriend. OF COURSE, Stefan was going to punch him. It wasn’t unwarranted and Damon knew that so I was really happy that he just accepted it like, ‘You’re right bro, I totally deserve that for macking on your ex-lady. Want to get another one in?’. Also Salvatore brother fights totally turn me on. Now the question is are these two brothers, who have made huge strides in the relationship over the last season and a half, going to go to war AGAIN over a girl? While I’d like to see something new, i.e. Damon/Elena, I don’t care who she chooses as the brotherly dynamic of the triangle is by far the relationship I’m the most interested in. I can totally see it paralleling the Damon/Pacey dynamic on Dawson’s Creek. I hope not though because I really like when Damon & Stefan are friendly with each other. My favorite Stefan/Damon moment was when Damon freed him from Elena’s detox chamber and took him to the bar.
Cin: I agree with ya’ll. He should have shown Elena stone cold but STILL let Damon have it. Of course he should let Damon have it. Because even if he were over it, which of course he isn’t (but Elena doesn’t need to know that, but OF COURSE now she does) you don’t garden in your brother’s flower bed. Just, no.
Christina: Ya don’t hoe in it either. Boom. Also, word to everything everyone said. I guess I’m more upset that Elena knows the power she holds over Stefan now… sort of. “You’re better than both of us.” Pssh. True, technically, because really Damon/Elena AND Stefan/Elena both spell a lifetime of drama. But still. If a boy said that to me, I think I’d be pissed. It’s right up there with them telling you not to overthink your relationship. Ugh.
Stephanie: She should have responded, “When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it,” and then gave him the bird.

An Actual Animal Attack
Abby: Tyler deserves all the bone-breaking, sweating, chained-up horrors that Bill Forbes can dish out. That said, I’m really sorry that wolfy Tyler didn’t kill him forever.
Melissa: Ditto. I wanted Tyler to kill him forever and then Caroline would be upset but she would understand because Daddy Torture-Fuck made Tyler turn. And then when Klaus inevitably killed Tyler for being a piss-ant, Caroline would join the rest of us in being all meh, he was kind of a loser anyway.
Stephanie: Bill Forbes will always be HRG from Heroes to me. However, I’m kind of glad that he isn’t dead yet because I really want to see the scene where Bill admits his attraction to Tyler being nearly naked and chained up. Like father, like daughter, right?
Dayna: What I don’t get is if hybrids can control their transformation, and they have total recall of anything that happens while they are transformed, then why would he still lose control of himself? I though the point of being hybridized was to HAVE control?
Christina: I don’t get it either. The other thing I don’t get is this: When CarDaddy left, he still basically hated her and what she was. So why is he suddenly back willing to help Tyler? Did Caroline call him? Did I miss something??
Cin: I don’t think you missed anything. It was in the script that he suddenly cares? *dramatic eye roll* I wish someone would pop his neck while he’s on the V. Teach him some respect.
Stephanie: I’m telling you it’s just because he wants to see Tyler naked repeatedly.
Christina: He did tell him he had to keep working at it.
Melissa: Is there a parent on this show that hasn’t wanted to see Tyler naked?
Cin: TRUE FACTS!!! LOL
Stephanie: Does Alaric and his pseudo-parenting count?
Melissa: Oh shit. Did that little Elena/Alaric family moment mean Alaric’s acting like a responsible adult/parent? I hate when I miss the parental growth moment. Now he can shoot teenagers & lust after slightly older teenagers. He’s so blessed.

Things That Make You Go “Hmm…”
Dayna: Melissa mentioned this on Twitter last night – it seems like Grayson and Miranda knew that Elena was the doppelganger? That whole thing about Mikael showing up and looking for her, etc, that Abby was talking about? What are we supposed to do with that? How could they have known Elena would grow up to be the doppelganger?
Stephanie: This revelation came out of nowhere and just kind of got lost in this really weirdly edited episode that felt disjointed at times. I would almost bet that Elena’s “parents” have some hidden message somewhere for her about Klaus, that coffin, and how to take him down. I’d even bet it’s at the lake house which got brought up again so I’m sure we’ll end up back there again this season and get another look at the weapons closest.
Abby: Amen on the weird editing. There’s obviously some big reveal coming but I’m kind of sick of big reveals and just want the story to unfold naturally for a while. You know, as naturally as you can get with all these supernatural beasties and their human buddies who are always making terrible decisions.
Dayna: It felt like there was just too much they wanted to do in the episode and they skipped some dots along the way, which made connecting them a little hard at times.
Christina: I too was really intrigued by this. Like why bring it up if it didn’t have some relevance. I can’t wait to find out what exactly is behind Mikael coming to look for her as an infant. Was it just to head off Klaus? Or was there another reason. Did Mikael want to steal her and train her to become an Original Killing Machine? And her parents… was that why they adopted her? Because they knew who she was going to be? So many questions…. and so maybe the whole weird editing thing was deliberate and they’re just trying to get us off the scent. To make us forget so that when they bring it up again, it’ll be that much larger of a shock?
Cin: I’m gonna confess right now that I was paying ZERO attention to this scene or any of these revelations. So you all are enlighting me. LOL Carry on.
Stephanie: The thing I realized is that we’ve heard about Elena’s parents for SO LONG but yet we hardly know anything about them that could give us insight into what their roles were in the whole vampire hunting club that the founding families had going on. And yes I too want to know what the Mikael was up to with coming after Elena. At first I thought it was to kill her but that would have been too easy. Maybe she has to sacrifice herself (again) to end Klaus or to maybe weaken him. I don’t know but I’m sure she’ll probably get told she has to die once more. It’s the one constant of this show. If you want to defeat the Big Bad, Elena has to die which then causes every guy to fall at feet begging her to let them save her.
Melissa: I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a throwaway reference & edited quickly to keep us from focusing on it because that is a pretty major reveal. I would think Mikael would want to kill Elena but I wouldn’t be surprised if he would keep her alive to draw Klaus out. I’m more curious about how Miranda & Grayson knew, considering they had no pictures of Katherine and (as far as we know) had never met her. How’d they know about doppelgangers or that their daughter was one? And furthermore, what was their plan to stop Klaus?
Stephanie: Guys, what if John purposely impregnated Isabel so that Grayson & Miranda could adopt the doppelganger? Like what if they did the math and realized that due to some special Mayan-type calculations it was the perfect time to create the doppelganger? Stretch? Yea probably so. My theories are always entirely unrealistic.
Cin: That is a good theory and totally realistic. What are the chances of a girl from another town just totally coincidentally being of the Petrova bloodline and just HAPPEN to drop get pregnant by a Gilbert and then leave her baby with the Gilberts? There has to be a purposeful connection. For all they make of the founding families and how much information they had for such a long time. That is really one of the only scenarios that makes sense.
Stephanie: Right?! After what we learned last night it is too much of a coincidence not to be connected.

Isn’t It Bromantic?
Abby: Everything about Alaric and Damon was excellent this week. Puffy hearts for the day-drinking duo! And it WAS bromantic. So, very, very bromantic.
Stephanie: Bromance awesomeness for all the awards. Aside from Elijah’s re-emergence, the bromance aspect this week is the only thing that kept me from falling asleep while watching. Everything was such a snoozefest which rarely is the case with TVD.
Cin: The bromance is reaching levels where I don’t know why they keep trying to tell themselves they don’t want to just fuck. I mean, it’s SO OBVIOUS now.
Dayna: I want Damon and Alaric in their own spin-off, and the Originals in theirs. I seriously don’t give a rat’s ass about the rest of the characters.
Stephanie: I’m SO down with both of these things happening. Alaric & Damon could become the new Winchester brothers or just host their own bar review show on the Travel channel. I’d watch in either case.
Cin: I could live with that. As long as they admit the truth and start getting it on. AND I still want the Stefan/Klaus/Elijah show more… but yeah, two entirely different shows for sure.

In Witch We Have Some Complaints
Abby: Bonnie & her mom? Yawn. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about the emotional reunion, I didn’t care about Jamie, and the only good thing about it was that moment when they turned on the girls. Even though I saw it coming from a mile off, I still thought it was great. Also, I liked her house. I suspect that Abby Bennett will either pull a Grams & die in some “I’m atoning for leaving you by sacrificing myself for you” kind of way or else she’ll turn out to be a total selfish bitch and disappoint at the last minute, in the exact opposite of Uncle John and Elena. And I kinda hate Jamie already.
Cin: Who is Jamie? Was that’s BonBon’s mommy?
Christina: It was Bonnie’s… half-brother?
Abby: Jamie was the dude who shot Stefan a whole bunch. Also, can I complain? I wish Damon hadn’t killed Bree. I could have kept her around forever. And Gloria! And what happened to Lucy? Why do we keep getting stuck with the lame witches when there are cool ones out there?!
Cin: PREACH! Every decent witch we get is killed in short order. It’s like they save the awesome for ones with a short shelf life. UGH! Also, OK, yeah – Jamie was kinda just, why is here there exactly? Someone new to kill in a few episodes? Gotcha.
Stephanie: I too would like to know where the hell Lucy is. That bitch was Awesome with a capital ‘A’. Ugh, Abby & Bonnie just bore me to tears with their whining and ‘woe is me’ attitudes. At least Lucy was entertaining and actually got shit done. Seriously, Lucy NEEDS to get back to Mystic Falls immediately because then I might actually care about the witches.
Abby: Can we start saying “WitchyAbby, or ExWitchAbby, or NoJujuAbby? I’m going to end up with a complex if this character sticks around.
Christina: Dude! Yes, nickname, please. I was getting all confused earlier haha
Stephanie: Hahahaha. Love “NoJujuAbby”!!!
Melissa: Abby Bennett. Juju free since ‘93. But in all seriousness, I too have some complaints. I don’t think Jamie is related to Bonnie in any way, half/step, nothing. He’s like NoJuju!Abby’s found family, kinda like Alaric has become part of the Gilbert family. At least that’s the impression I got.
Christina: You an I were clearly watching different shows because I didn’t get that at all. Then again you were probably ACTUALLY watching the show and I was just drifting in and out except the Klaus scenes 😛
Melissa: Haha. I was paying decent attention. But yeah, I don’t think she and Jamie are related. But honestly, I felt most frustrated because this was so obviously a case of too little too late with Bonnie’s character. And having her mother act like her didn’t help. Ya’ll mentioned earlier about how Damon pulling the dagger out may have been a calculated move (and I agree) but I wonder if there were some conscious decisions about making Bonnie’s mom play a key role so as to give Bonnie more to do than just be the witch prop. When we’re not hating on Bonnie, most of the bloggers seem to agree that the biggest problem with her character is the way the writers use her only as a prop and have given us no insight into why she reacts or acts the way she does. While I didn’t see nearly as much Bonnie hate during this ep, I didn’t see any new found love either. Which is why I think its too little/too late. Trying to humanize Bonnie after keeping her a prop for so long (and an annoyingly bitchy, judgy little prop at that) doesn’t feel like something that will work.
Stephanie: Y’all I wish I could care about this Bonnie/Abby/Jamie discussion so to participate but they bore me so much that I can’t make myself even want to talk about them. The Bennett family, outside of Shelia & Lucy, are such buzzkills. They need to just go to family therapy and talk their shit out. Maybe then they’ll be entertaining to watch.

Our Feelings. Let Us Sum Them Up
Abby: I have to say that I didn’t like this episode overall. My general feeling about it was “Eh, whatever”. Until the last 20 seconds, and now my world is full of rainbows and kittens and unicorns and happiness and tonight I’m going to sleep on a bed of puffy clouds of joy ELIJAH.
Stephanie: Agreed. This show rarely falters but this week it was like a skeleton of its self. It was total filler episode where NOTHING happen… Well except for ELIJAH! I can forgive them because of his return. Also lets face it, if anything did actually go down in this episode it would have overshadowed by Elijah’s return and everyone would have forgotten about it once we saw him.
Dayna: They did a really great job of not letting word get out, and not broadcasting within the episode itself that it was coming. That said, My CW feed is apparently a couple of minutes behind a lot of the country, and I saw it on Twitter a couple of minutes before it happened.
Christina: I don’t know if I CAN adequately sum up my feelings. I agree with all of you: the episode itself was pretty boring. And how DARE they make Bonnie a central character of the episode’s plot? RIGHT?! I think that’s what killed it for me. I know they’re trying SO HARD to make Bonnie a part of the team, but I’ve been so done with her for so long, it doesn’t really work for me. So thus, the only 3 parts of the episode that I absolutely fully enjoyed were 1) ELIJAH DEAR SWEET GLASS CASE OF EMOTION ELIJAH!, 2) Klaus in the Witch House growling and threatening and being awesome, 3) Stefan punching Damon. Because somebody had to.
Melissa: I have to agree with the skeleton (nice one Stephanie) comment. There were moments that were interesting, but as a whole it suffered. And if Elijah hadn’t returned, I think there’d be a lot more frustration being voiced. I liked the stuff Christina mentioned & I found the moment where Elena told Stefan she kissed Damon to be a good one. And the small reveal that the Gilberts knew Elena was the doppelganger. But otherwise it was a really bad episode. I don’t even have enough rage to complain about stuff. It was so meh.
Cin: It seems we are all on the same page. I was bored and rolling my eyes and totally not caring about any of it – and then the skies opened up and I became whole again. God Bless ELIJAH!!!

From The Tweetosphere:
@_danielgillies: Boom
@thomascgalvin: “The leg bone’s connected to the… wait, never mind.” #TVD
@AbbyGraham: You kids are idiots. #tvd
@hollye83: I’m calling this hybrid Nick Carter Lite. #TVD
@Snowballx: TOO MANY B FOLK ON ONE SCREEN! Someone is dying soon! #TVD *tears*
@cinjudes: Shut. The. Front. Door!!! #isitChristmas RT @theSBH: COCONUT WATER!!!!!! AAAAAAH MY GOD I’M DYING #TVD
@thomascgalvin: “To be cured, you have to take off your clothes, then I rub this oil all over you, then I have to take photos” “Wait a second…” #TVD
@caulkcrinolines: Is Bonnie finally getting a plotline? #TVD
@TikisGrandad: Appurently, Elroy is real real angry at Klaudius so Darren warned me he might not be in the best mood. Why can’t brothers just get along?
@AbbyGraham: There’s so much eye-rolling going on in my TL that it’s basically a giant game of marbles. #TVD
@cinjudes: I. Can’t. Breath!!!!! #theypulledthedaggerout #dyingforever #Elijah!!!