"Happy Birthday, Elena! Stefan killed Andie. Cake?"
Damon is convinced that Stefan has gone off the deep end with blood as his only life source. You remember "
Miss Mystic Falls"... it's understandable. "We've been through this before, Elena. Stefan's gone." Even still, Elena isn't ready to give up on Stefan. After all, he did call her on her birthday; albeit silently.
Not to worry, the drunk history teacher will comply! He kinda owes her after bailing on her birthday. Tyler's given her a map of Smoky Mountain. Also known as wolf pack territory. There, they embrace their transition during the full moon. Dangerous? Yes. But if that's where Stefan is, then Elena's going to find him. "Because I'm not the kind of person who checks out."
"Your self loathing is suffocating."
After a steamy hot night with Caroline, Tyler wakes up alone in his bed- much to his dismay. I'm sure he checked the night stand for a "I had such a great night" note, but that scene ended up on the editing floor. Instead, he's dodging the guilty eye from his mom. One Carol Lockwood who's slipping vervain into the coffee as a way to test her son for vampire.
Vervain won't out Tyler's inner "monster," but speaking poorly of his friend will. "And Caroline, she's not a prostitute." Last week I requested that Tyler redeem himself by saving Caroline; so far, it looks like he might do just that!
As for Jeremy and Matt, they're at The Grill discussing another female vampire: Vicki. "We are not contacting my sister." Regardless, she's still contacting Jeremy. "She said, 'Help me.'" Hearing that, Matt can't refuse to help. Unfortunately, before they even begin the seance Matt is overcome with emotion as he goes through memorabilia.

Looking at a framed photo of a young version of himself and his smiling carefree sister, he loses the will to continue, and turns to photo face down. Jeremy is clearly disappointed, but respects Matt's decision and leaves. Vicki, however, isn't ready to give up.
The picture is standing right side up.
Stefan's not going to let these high school boys beat him at the brooding game. No, sir! Following Klaus, the werewolf/vampire hybrid, into the woods brings out a whole new form of self loathing. Especially when he's immediately recognized by the pack as a vampire. "The important question is: Who am I?"
Tossing Ray before them, the pack knows the hybrid means business. Without hesitation, Klaus detects the human, compels him to play the role of blood donor, and begins creating his army of hybrid comrades.
Except something's not right. The eyes of the newly turned are bleeding and they have the shakes something fierce. Creepy not knowing what this creation will evolve to. How will Klaus lead this manic army? Ray's uncomfortable in this new state and is getting rowdy. He attacks Stefan, then runs off into the woods! Well, it's a good thing that Stefan rolls with Klaus. All he needs is his blood to cure the bite. Sadly he's ordered to find Ray first.
Now there's something to loathe about.
"I'd feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour."
Elena and Alaric arrive to Smoky Mountain well before the full moon, but just to be sure of Ric's safety, she gives him John's supernaturally charmed ring. His depression is making him reluctant to take it. "Whiskey drinking, all around lost cause." Of course, Elena's persistence forces him to oblige in the end.

Alaric isn't a complete lost cause. He did rat out their mission to Damon, which being present among a wolf pack puts him in extreme danger, but does give Elena extra hope towards living to see 19. Damon's greeting towards her stupidity- shoving her off a cliff into the river below.
Hilarious!
He's there to take her home. "Unless you want to relive that deathbed kissy thing." Nice try Damon, but even you can't resist Elena's damsel in distress cries for help. She's got all these males wrapped around her finger. They're staying.
Stefan overhears them as they make their way along the mountainside, and quickly distracts Klaus before he sees his un-dead doppelgänger. "You'd better hurry because that bite looks nasty." In search of Ray, Stefan leaves the pack of defective hybrids.
Where else would Ray be than hunting down the special ops team? They are able to use the wolfsbane grenade and vervain drenched ropes to pin him to the tree for about, oh, 1 minute. "Damon, we gotta get out of these mountains now!"
Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
No chance at being faster than a hybrid, even if it's defective. No chance. "Don't move." Elena gets tripped up and stares straight into the wolf's salivating snout. Damon calls to the wolf and lets it chase him away from Elena. After too much hesitation and deliberation, Elena agrees to follow Ric to the car.
They make it safely and share a heart to heart about their need to support each other. "You're not a lost cause, Ric. You're just lost." Sitting, hoping for Damon's safe return, Ric agrees to this notion of team. "I'm keeping the ring then." Not a bad welcome gift.
Damon's not going to get the gift of healing from Klaus if he gets bit, so let's hope he wins this fight with Ray. So, did Ray miraculously store his clothes into the small pouch on his hind leg, or was that a different wolf that almost ate Elena? Nonetheless, goodbye, Ray. After a very unconvincing fight scene, Stefan steps in and does the brutal heart snatching move. "Fancy meeting you here." Stefan tells Damon to get lost and take Elena home. Damon does just that, but not before telling his brother that she's never giving up on him, and his late night phone calls don't help.
"I can't get my hands dirty."
All day Tyler has been searching for Caroline. No one's seen her. At The Grill, Matt gets a little suspicious about their "friendship," but then remembers that she usually helps him through his full moon transition. Taking a sip from his coffee mug, he questions his taste buds because, again, the cream tastes bad. Matt reveals that it's the vervain Mayor Lockwood has them put into
the coffee.
Tyler rushes home to confront his mom about her knowledge on the vervain and vampire presence in Mystic Falls. She doesn't let on that while he's been searching for Caroline, she's had some guy named Bill take her to a holding cell someplace. The only front that the mayor is arguing with is that all vampires are monsters. Tyler hangs his head as he discovers that she has no idea of the Lockwood family history.
Seeing as the moon is at its peak. Tyler rushes to the cellar to tie himself up, dragging his mom along for the show. "It's in our blood." Carol Lockwood watches-behind bars- Tyler's excruciating transformation into his own kind of monster. Once he's completed she tells him that she'll protect him, and Caroline.
But it may be too late for Caroline. She's tied to a chair in an unknown cellar. Footsteps approach the door and in steps Bill. A.k.a "Daddy."
On the mountainside, Stefan returns to Klaus, dead Ray in hand. "You look like hell." He's showing a little more heartbreak due to watching Elena drive away, but plays it off that he's currently dying. Klaus is extremely frustrated because he did everything
they told him to do in order to create his new breed, including killing the doppelgänger, but it failed. This whole scene is so nerve-wracking. There's no way Klaus believes that Elena's could be alive, but he's so close to
discovering the truth! Biting into his hand like a Fuji apple, Klaus passes Stefan his blood in an empty beer bottle. He had to save his only comrade.
Overall, it's been a very long day for the Mystic Falls crew. After some reflecting, Matt decides to go through with contacting Vicki, so he brings a few of her things over to the Gilbert house. Setting up in the kitchen, Vicki makes her presence known to Jeremy. When asked how they could help, she said that she could come back...to life. The window breaks and Anna is there in Vicki's place. She tries pleading with Jeremy that working with Vicki will be a very bad idea.
Will it, though? Anna wasn't fond of Vicki because of Jeremy's adoration for her, so could this be a jealous plea?
Upstairs in Elena's room, Damon is gazing out of the window. Immediately she asks if he's drunk. Last time he was drunk and gazing out of the window her brother died. Sober Damon just wants to commend Elena for not giving up on his brother. So, he'll help her find him on the condition that she doesn't forget the feeling she had on the mountain. That feeling that forced her to urge him to run.
Ric watches from the staircase. Once Damon leaves, he gives a subtle word of warning. Yah, Elena, it's best you leave that alone.
Photos: CW
Written by: Al Septien and Turi Meyer
Directed by: Josh Butler
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