by Cassie Title
This week's "Vampire Diaries" brought us Tyler confronting Caroline, the return of Uncle John, and the arrival of an extremely sadistic wolf pack. But the real aha! moment? Damon bathes! That’s right, Crushers—"TVD" made sure to stress Damon’s good hygiene not once, but twice: with his beginning-of-the-show shower and his end-of-the-episode-blood-bath (literally!), which I guess isn’t all too clean, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The theme of this episode is trust, and unsurprisingly, Tyler loses his in Caroline after learning she'd been lying to him about being the only vampire in Mystic Falls and not knowing about Mason's death. Also on the trust theme, Uncle John (who’s back and more cryptic than ever), claims to want and know how to protect Elena (he and Isobel know about the sacrifice!) but won’t talk until he’s convinced he can put his confidence in Elena, Damon, and Stefan. (I’m sorry, but I’m thinking the trust talk should be going the other way.)
Enter Jenna and Alaric. Understandably, Jenna’s perplexed about John’s return. "It’s okay I’m confused, right? Because we were not expecting you, like, ever." Oh Jenna, when aren’t you confused? Seriously, someone has got to fill homegirl in on, well, everything. Now that she knows that John’s Elena’s biological father, she only needs to be let it on the 40 or so other supernatural secrets everybody’s been keeping from her. And hey, Alaric! It’s great to see you somewhere other than the Grille. (I was starting to think that man was either becoming a vampire or turning into an alcoholic.)
In other news, certain characters are finally catching on to major plot points! Stefan not only assumes that the moonstone wasn’t de-spelled after all, since Luka and Dr. Martin are working with Elijah, but that Jules was the one who told Tyler about Damon killing Mason. I’ve never been more impressed.
That is, until Jules shows up at Tyler’s. Jules is nothing if not a creepily believable cult leader! When she says, "We live by a code of loyalty, we take care of each other. It’s my duty and honor to help you. Please let me," I can’t help but suspect that she’s going to indoctrinate Tyler into her werewolf cult-pack after emptying out the contents of the Lockwood mansion.
Case in point: After Jules enjoys a steamy make-out session with her lycanthrope lover, Brady, she tells him she’s sure that the vamps in Mystic Falls were responsible for Mason’s death and explains that "she wants the boy more than she wants vengeance." Are they trying to break the curse using Tyler?! Do we smell a sacrificial ritual?
Out of the woods and into the town square, Uncle John notices his nephew, and so did we! Looking good, Jer! Where have you been? Oh, and Bonnie’s back too! Bonnie confronts Dr. Martin about working with Elijah, only to be saved from furthering the conversation by…Jeremy’s adorable arms? Are they dating, now?! Please, oh please!
And an episode of "TVD" wouldn't be complete without a good old-fashioned kidnapping. Jules and Brady lock Caroline in a cage in their trailer, using her as a hostage in exchange for Tyler (who they think is in danger from Stefan and Damon). Damon joins the (hunting) party, and soon enough a full-blown vampire vs. werewolf battle ensues. Tyler frees Caroline (after too much hesitation), but things don’t go so well; it looks like Stefan and Damon are outnumbered...until the werewolves (minus Tyler) start clutching their heads like they’re hearing the Gilbert device. Only, it's not a device—it's Dr. Martin, doing some warlocky hand motion to incapacitate the furry foes. And why does he do it? Apparently, Elijah’s word is legit! Before leaving, he tells Tyler to tell the wolves to leave town.
Big reveal! John tells Damon how to kill an original. You need to dip a dagger into ash from a white oak tree, the one that was around from the beginning. As the mythology grows on this show, we better keep finding these things out, because if it turns out like "Lost" (read: COMPLETELY. UNSATISFYING. RESOLUTION.), I don’t know what I’ll do.
Naturally, after a hard day of fighting werewolves, our favorite vamps need to cleanse themselves. While Caroline showers, Damon takes a bath with sexy reporter Andie. Damon: "Just kiss me. Be my distraction." Oh, Ian Somerhalder, I’ll be your distraction. Even if you do end up biting me to prove you’re still going through your existential crisis.
As the episode wraps up, Tyler joins the wolves (who also know about the moonstone! More fuel for my curse-breaking theory), and Uncle John visits our fave evil vamp, Katherine! Looks like our girl had a plan all along (did you ever doubt it?). She wants out of the tomb, and John’s already on it.
What are John, Isobel and Katherine planning? Are Jules and Brady on Tyler’s side? Will Elena ever go back to school? Were you happy to see the book mythology (on how to kill an original) come into play? Was Caroline too hard on Tyler? And when are we going to meet Klaus? Tell us in the comments!
** Hollywood Crush Twitter