Review: Vampire Diaries, S3, Episode 5

Warning: This review will contain spoilers. And opinions. Lots of them.

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Well, it's that time of the week once more. And what a time it is! Last night's episode was quite possibly the best one yet (depending on how you look at it). It was certainly the most dramatic and action-packed so far. 

But let's recap a bit first.

The first few episodes left us with a few major developments: 1) Stefan and Klaus were friends back in the day. 2) Rebekah, Klaus' sister, was revived. 3) Jeremy can now communicate with spirits. 4) In order to find out how to create hybrids, Klaus needs to contact the original witch. 5) In order to do so, he needs Rebekah's necklace, aka Elena's necklace. And finally, 6) After discovering Stefan was lying to him, Klaus took him back to Mystic Falls. 

And this episode doesn't waste any time on getting to the point. While setting up for senior prank night at the school, Elena is suddenly accosted...

"Hello, supposed-to-dead doppelganger."

...by Klaus. Oh dear. 

He drags her to the gym where he torments a couple of random kids, forcing Elena to watch. Meanwhile, Rebekah goes and gets Tyler, who--you guessed it--is the leverage Klaus is going to use to get Bonnie to help him figure out how to make hybrids. 

Random people. They always get the short end of the stick.

As does Bonnie frequently.

Klaus wastes no time breaking Tyler's neck. 

Bonnie, completely terrified, runs off and enlists Matt's help in order to find a solution. Since she's now been locked out from accessing the power from the spirits of the dead witches, she needs a way to contact the other side. So she goes in search in Jeremy. 

Who is no longer in Mystic Falls. 

Because Katherine kidnapped him in order to enlist his help in finding the mystery hunter that Klaus is afraid of. (You know, Michael? Or do they spell it Mikael?) 

Jeremy, taking a nice nap in the trunk.

Anyway, Jeremy receives a few curt answers from Anna about out mystery hunter. Namely, that he's both a vampire and a hunter. Interesting combo there. And oh, there's the whole "He'll kill all of you!" thing, too.

Sorry, Anna. Damon has no use for these things you call "concerns."

Of course, Katherine doesn't heed the warning. 

Damon, after playing along for a while, suddenly realizes he hasn't had seen his phone recently. After reacquiring it from Katherine, he finds out what's going in Mystic Falls. Cue Damon leaving Jeremy with Katherine. Nice decision-making there, Damon.

Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan finally wakes up after being owned by an angry, jealous Rebekah. He finds his way to the school and quickly ends up wrapped in Klaus' plot. You know, original super compulsion and all that. 

Meanwhile, bitchy little Rebekah has a freak-out when she realizes that Elena had her necklace. The key word being had. Elena quickly enlightens them to the fact that Katherine stole it. 

"Oh, no, you didn't!"

Back in Bonnie world, Bonnie is freaking out that she can't find Jeremy. Matt, meanwhile, has formulated another plan. In order to talk to Vicky, who's been performing some impressive poltergeist action, he decides to temporarily kill himself. By drowning himself in the school swimming pool. 

Matt, seriously?

Bonnie shows up just in the nick of time to resuscitate him. And he learns quite an important bit of information.

That Klaus overhears. 

After being left in the gym with Stefan--who's been ordered to bite her when a buzzer sounds--Elena makes a run for it after her desperate attempt to get Stefan to overcome the compulsion fails. He almost manages. But no cigar. He fights it off long enough to let Elena run away...

...only for her to be caught again by Klaus. 

And here comes the obligatory super-angst that must accompany every episode of VD. Klaus, annoyed by Stefan's antics, decides to approach the problem differently. Instead of trying to compel Stefan to bite Elena over his love for her...

This is Stefan's broken face.

...he instead compels Stefan to turn off his emotions.

Ouch.

Stefan then proceeds to bite Elena. Cue cut to black.

Elena then wakes up in a hospital, where a compelled nurse is busy taking more blood from her. 

Elena's just not having a good day.

As it turns out, the key to making hybrids is Elena's blood. So, the curse on Klaus was actually a trick. If Klaus had killed the doppelganger, he wouldn't have been able to make new hybrids at all. Saving Elena's life actually enabled him to make hybrids.

Well, that sucks. 

Damon, finally arriving back in town (a bit too late, unfortunately), heads to the hospital and--in the rare Damon guilt mode--takes her back to the Salvatore house. Where a touching scene unfolds...

I love me some silhouettes.

Ah, the smell of once-a-season Damon guilt.

...until jackass Stefan shows up to interrupt. He's apparently staying around now. To watch Elena for Klaus. 

"Yes, that is correct. I am a jackass."

Well, this isn't going too well.

And oh, I can't forget the end of the episode. Katherine and Jeremy (such an odd combo), despite Anna's warning, head to the crypt where Mikael is resting. They walk up to the casket, pry it open, reveal a partially decayed Mikael, and...

That's not creepy at all.

...he opens his eyes.

Despite that last bit coming off as cliche, I have to say this episode was pretty intense. It was unpredictable and in your face, avoiding the slow escalation that some plots utilize. It wasted no time jumping into the danger. In some ways, this episode could be seen as having too many sub-plots, but I think they did a decent job at transitioning between them. 

So, once again...

Overall Grade: A