The Vampire Diaries "Growing Pains" Recap - "We'll get through this like we get through everything. One day at a time."

Previously on The Vampire Diaries...

• Klaus and Stefan give a whole new meaning to the buddy movie.
• Alaric gets a new home.
• Klaus becomes a father. 
• Vampire Barbie enrolls in Mystic Falls High.
• The Original family reunited.
• Tyler comes out, and gets "cured" by Mr. Forbes.
• The Ghosts of Episodes Past haunt the town, kill townies, and say good-bye.
• Mystic Falls gets a (new) serial killer.
• Klaus "dies", and steals Tyler's body.
• Alaric dies, becomes a Super-Vamp, dies again.
• Elena bites the big one. 

The show opens with a new cold open replaying the last three seasons. Then Elena wakes up, and we see the "Alive" clip released last week. Damon is still bitter about Elena choosing Stefan. He's also pissed at his little brother for saving Matt instead of Elena. Meanwhile, Klaus wants back in his body which was saved when Alaric closed the coffin, stifling the fire, and saving Klaus' body. Of course, she doesn't want to do that, but wants Klaus to inhabit a less dangerous body.

"And now the world has one more quarterback."

"I made a mistake that I'm going to regret fr the rest of my life. Now, let my try to fix it."

The Founder's Council is on the war path. Liz lost her job, the mayor is on lockdown, and Caroline is on the run. Thanks Evil Alaric for ruining all the fun! (I miss you. Please come back!) Caroline doesn't get too far, though. As she's heading out of town, she gets darted, again, and winds up in a van with a drugged Rebekah who just won her fight with Damon by getting saked, and bagged. The council doesn't stop there. The also head to the Gilbert house to grab Stefan. Elena is so busy regaining her compelled memories, she doesn't even hear them break in, and draw down on her boyfriend.

Earlier, in happier times, Stefan watched Elena try to force food down her throat. She can't, because she's in transition, and the only food she craves is human blood. This strikes her as funny, and Elena begins to laugh uncontrollably. Then she begins to cry the same amount. She's a hot mess! Her emotions are all over the map. Besides food, daylight is also starting to affect her, so she heads upstairs to take a nap when all of the memories Damon compelled her to forget return. Uh, oh! This could be great, or it could be a great disaster. When she comes downstairs, and sees Stefan being captured, the vigilantes decide to take her along as well. This isn't too much of a problem until the vigilante leader, a deranged pastor, realizes that Elena is in transition. No bueno!

"Keep 'em busy little sister."

"That annoying woman," Mayor Lockwood calls her "son" to inform him Caroline has been captured, when he takes off to save the day. Knocking over a van, causing the vehicle carrying Caroline and Rebekah to be over turned, Klaus rips off the doors and saves Caroline, leaving Rebekah to fend for herself. But not before revealing his true identity to her. This ends up not going over well with her, which he pays for later.

"Touch it (black magic) again, and the spirits will make you pay in ways that will make you suffer."

Once in the woods, Caroline and "Tyler" begin to have reunion sex. Until Klaus makes the mistake of calling her "Love." Bam! Caroline realizes "Tyler" is Klaus, and berates him for taking advantage. To his credit, he did try to tell her repeatedly, but she kept smothering him with her kisses. The two head to Bonnie so she can put Klaus back into his own body, but Bonnie has just been admonished by Grams for using black magic to save Elena. Bonnie was this close to bringing Elena's spirit back when Grams showed up. Bonnie listened, and let Elena go. Now, she has to do the very thing Grams warned her against when Klaus begins to rip Tyler's heart out. I think this is arguably the grossest TVD scene to date. Bonnie uses the black magic to stop Klaus, but the spirits take their revenge on Grams for Bonnie's indiscretions. I don't know what the spirits did to Grams, but DAMN BONNIE AND KLAUS TO THE FIERY PITS OF HELL!

"Stefan, I'm out of time. I'm dying."

Damon, Matt, Liz, and the Mayor plan how to save everyone from the Council. The Scooby Gang 2.0 figures out where everyone is being held, and Damon and Matt go to rescue the captives. Stefan, Elena, and Bex are being held in cells on the pastor's farm. Elena has 3 hours left according to Blondie Bex. During that time, she and Stefan say their good-byes. Again. Stefan tries to get her released, but gets shot (twice) for his trouble. Stef gets his payback when he and Bex team up to kill the guard so Elena can feed, and survive. I guess Rebekah was moved by their professions of love, and has a change of heart.

"So we just storm the place with no weapons?"
"Nah, we don't need weapons. We've got bait."

Damon and Matt arrive at the farm, and unbeknownst to Matt, Damon's plan involves using him as bait. Plus, I'm sure Damon is hungry by now since he hasn't had anything all day except a glass of bourbon at Elena's earlier that morning. After taking a bite o' Matt, Damon yells, "Woo hoo, anybody home? There's a big, bad vampire out here." Hahaha..., and then Damon gets shot. It works though. He's able to draw the guards outside, kill them, and then try to kill Matt for existing, but a newly revived  Vampire Elena jumps him just in time. Damon isn't the only one who is upset Stefan chose to save Matt instead of Elena. Matt is also pissed. He even voices his feelings to Stefan who says, "You're alive because Elena chose to save your life over her own."

Courtesy of Iansmolderholic

While the boys hash out their feelings, Damon takes Elena home. She basically tells Damon to get over himself, and stop blaming everyone for the fact she chose Stefan, and not him. She also reveals to him that she remembers everything, and asks why he never told her that they had met first. "Would it have mattered?" he asks. From the look on her face he can see it wouldn't, so he doesn't see why he should have. Elena tries to use the fact that Damon would have gone against her wishes, and saved her had he been in Stefan's shoes as justification for her choice, but Damon hits back. He tells her that his selfishness would have meant she would have been able to live out a human life. Getting married, having children, and all of the other things she had dreamed for herself.

"From this moment on, you're not my family. You're not my sister. You're nothing."

Just Random Gifs

While Elena and Stefan talk about all of the possibilities their new life possesses, Klaus and Rebekah discuss the end of theirs. A royally pissed off Rebekah returns home to find her brother packing his Doppleganger blood supply so he can hit the road and create more hybrids. He doesn't get why she's angry. She's indestructable. Caroline isn't. In a fit of rage, Rebekah begins to destroy the last of Elena's human blood. Klaus retaliates by banishing his little sister from his life, and snapping her neck before walking out.

In the final moments of the premiere, the crazy pastor leaks gas inside his farmhouse, and blows his followers to smithereens.

"Growing Pains" was no "The Return," but that Katherine Pierce is a hard act to follow. In a way, this episode was a reboot of the entire series, and the season 4 premiere seemed like a pilot episode, and not an episode 4 years in the making. Having said that, the show delivered. It showed what arc the series will take now its human heroine has become a vampire. We learned how she's being affected by her new emotions, and how they are affecting those who love her. We also saw that the triangle may be revolving throughout the season as Elena struggles with her emotions. 

Elena isn't the only one going through changes. Rebekah has been cast out of her brother Klaus' life. What is the Most Hated Girl in Mystic Falls to do?  As for her tyrannical brother, his life has also been altered. His doppleganger has now been turned, ending any possibility of creating his much sought after hybrid army. He has pushed away the only one who's been by his side his entire life. Will he leave the town he's tried to create a home for himself in, or stay and fight the revitalized Founder's Council? I'm just as clueless about that as I am about the pastor killing his parish. 

The residents of Mystic Falls have gone through a lot this past year, and from the looks of things, this year won't end much better. I guess TVD fans we all need to hang on to our hats, because we're in for a bumpy ride. 

In the next episode of The Vampire Diaries, Stefan shows Elena the benefits of her new vamp powers. The Scoobies attend a memorial service for the dearly departed folks of Mystic Falls. Elena falls off her new bunny diet, and eats a parishioner.