Know Thy Enemy

Vampire Diaries Episode Review

In which Elena needs new family. Isobel's return shifts things all over the place as Klaus finally becomes an active player on The Vampire Diaries.

What Happened

Jenna freaks out over Isobel and moves out of the house, refusing to talk to either Alaric or Elena when she realizes that they knew all along that Isobel wasn't dead. Isobel gets John to let her into the house and warns Elena that word about the doppleganger has spread. She wants to protect Elena and offers to take her to a safe house. Elena refuses; she doesn't trust her mother.

Damon takes Bonnie and Jeremy to the old mansion where the witches were killed. (He'd tried to save Emily Bennett when the Founders killed her on the same spot.) While he waits outside because the witches really don't like him much, Bonnie performs the spell to absorb all the magical energy released by the witches' deaths. She avoids Jeremy's question about what it took and what the price might be for using the power she's gained. He finds out later that the amount of energy required to kill Klaus will drain Bonnie completely.

Katherine goes to see Isobel, who claims that she's made a deal with Klaus: hand over Elena and the moonstone and Klaus will let Katherine live. Katherine finds the moonstone and Isobel kidnaps Elena. But then, Isobel tells Katherine that the deal was to hand Katherine and the moonstone over to Klaus. Under Klaus' compulsion, Isobel drives Elena to a nearby cemetary and tries to explain her motivations. When Klaus' minion calls to tell Isobel that her part in this is done, Isobel removes her daywalker necklace and burns to death in front of her horrified daughter.

As part of the kidnap, Isobel killed John, so Damon has to explain the Gilbert Magic Ring Thing to Carol Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes. When Sheriff Forbes goes outside, Matt approaches her and accuses her of covering up Vicki's death by vampire. Caroline finally gets home to find Matt waiting for her. Claiming that her mother wouldn't believe him, he asks Caroline to explain everything. She does, but he claims to be overwhelmed and begs her to remove his memories of the truth. Despite really not wanting to, Caroline agrees. Then... Matt goes out and gets in the sheriff's car and tells Caroline's mother everything!

Katherine wakes up in Klaus' minion's clutches and observes him performing some sort of magic spell on the kidnapped Alaric. (Oh yeah, Isobel also had Alaric kidnapped.) When he stands up, "Alaric" greets Katherine with Klaus' voice...

The Good

• Poor Jenna. I really felt for her in those first few moments. Her morning after hissyfit is a little less understandable, but since neither Elena nor Alaric seems willing to clue her in completely, I suppose she's justified based on what she does know.
• I just heart Alaric for finally taking a swing at John.
• Katherine plus Isobel. That's going to be trouble.
• I'm double-crossing you! No! I'm double-crossing you! A-ha! I'm double-double-crossing you so now we're... back on the same side?
• "I'm sorry I was such a disappointment to you," say Isobel just before killing herself. Ouch. Just warp your child for life, why don't you?
• Matt! Liz! Alaric! Klaus! Another killer ending.

The Bad

• Okay the whole moonstone in the soap dish thing just really bugs me the more I think about it. First, why does Damon even have a big decorative vase of soaps in his bathroom? It doesn't seem like his thing, does it? Second, this is not the time to get cute with hiding stuff. If there's no reason that the moonstone has to be accesible, then this is the time to hide that sucker in the deepest hole you can find, right? And finally, why was Katherine in Damon's bathroom anyways? She was just searching Stefan's room. Doesn't Stefan have a bathroom?
  
  You see my problem? I know Katherine has to somehow get her hands on the moonstone, but instead of thinking, "OMG! Katherine has the moonstone," I'm spending mental energy wondering whether Stefan has a bathroom. That's just wrong.

The Cliche

• Another deserted Civil War mansion. Are they really that thick on the ground? No wonder Elijiah couldn't find the massacre site. He was looking for an open field, silly man. Not a great big mansion. Although I suppose they could have built the house over the site of the original massacre. Now there's a horror movie waiting to happen.
• If Bonnie uses all her power to destroy Klaus, she'll die. Which quite frankly makes me suspect that she won't die any time soon because no one spells out that big a plot point five episodes in advance.

Best Lines

Damon: "Don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for 'trust.'"

What Did I Think?

Packed again, but aside from Isobel, it is mostly set-up. We finally get our first taste of Klaus. (Via his minions - Klaus is just the sort to have minions, isn't he? I don't know that even Elijah could pull off minions. Speaking of Elijah, has anyone thought to put him in a box or something or did they just leave him lying in the basement for anyone to trip over?) The specifics of Isobel's final act are a little vague. Did Klaus preload her with a suicide compulsion or was she seriously trying to atone for her crimes by removing his ability to use her against Elena?

Now Matt and Sheriff Forbes is the most interesting bit to me. That's going to come out of nowhere for the Stefan/Elena/Damon/Klaus contingent, which has the potential to really throw things out of balance in a crucial moment.