Didn’t anyone tell Damon not to leave any witnesses?!

Tonight’s episode opens with Stefan trying to call Elena and leaving her a voice mail when she wrecks her car.  The figure of the “person” that she hit is lying in the road and gets up.  Elena is upside-down in her car and is freaking out as the “person” walks toward her.  The “person” then runs away at vampire speed.  Seconds later, Damon appears at Elena’s window and helps get her out of the car.  As she starts to lose consciousness, she tells Damon, “I look like her,” before fainting in his arms.  Damon surveys the area and then walks away, carrying Elena away from the accident.

Alaric is typing at his computer, the words running through his inner monologue.  As he types, he says, “I found one,” and makes reference to staking Logan.  He comments on how there is evil in Mystic Falls and then the camera cuts to a framed photo of a woman.  There’s a flashback of Alaric kissing her as he leaves, telling her that he’ll be home late.

Elena wakes the following day in Damon’s car and asks where they are.  Damon tells her that they are in Georgia.  She asks who she hit with her car and Damon tells her that he would also like to know.  Elena begins to freak out because she doesn’t have her phone and no one knows where she is, and she accuses Damon of kidnapping her.  Damon points out that she doesn’t have her necklace and reminds her of how easily he can compel her.  A phone rings – Elena’s phone – and Damon pulls it from his coat and answers it.  It’s Stefan, looking for Elena.  Elena refuses to talk to him.  Stefan picks up the necklace with a worried look on his face.  Elena begs Damon to take her home.

Jeremy runs into Alaric in the school parking lot.  Alaric tells him that he’s looking for his ring in his car and finds it while they’re talking. They discuss Jeremy’s extra credit project and Jeremy tells him about what he’s working on and mentions that the Gilberts were one of the original founding families of Mystic Falls.

Stefan approaches Bonnie at school, asking for help with a spell.  Bonnie is reluctant until he tells her that it’s to help Elena because she’s with Damon.  She tries to find her by holding the necklace that Stefan gave her, but has no luck.  She tries something else and is unsuccessful once again.  Frustrated, Bonnie leaves, telling Stefan that something’s wrong.

Elena and Damon continue driving through Georgia and Elena asks about the man in the road, implying that he might be a vampire.  Damon confirms her suspicion, and tells her that he didn’t know who he was.  They arrive at a bar where the bartender and owner, Bree, jumps over the bar to greet Damon with a kiss.  She pours shots for the crowd and toasts Damon.  Elena learns that they met in college and share secrets with one another – Bree knows that Damon is a vampire and Damon knows that she’s a witch.  Bree asks Damon what he wants.

Jeremy is at the library doing research for his extra credit and he meets a girl named “Anna” when she knocks some books from the shelves.  They bump heads when they both lean down to pick them up at the same time.

Bonnie is at her Grams’ house looking through several witchcraft books to find out how to fix her powers.  Grams tells her that her powers will work when she’s no longer blocked by what is scaring her so badly.

Elena is on the phone with Aunt Jenna, lying about where she was the night before and telling her that she’s at school.  Damon is inside the bar with Bree and asks her to help him get into the tomb so that he can find out if “she” is still alive.  Bree shoots him down, reminding him that they tried unsuccessfully twenty years before.  She tells him that there is no way to do it without the crystal because Emily’s spell was “absolute.”

Bonnie is in the woods with the graveyard (where she was attacked earlier in the season) and tries unsuccessfully to levitate a leaf.  She hears noises and shouts to see if anyone is there.  The ground opens up beneath her and she falls down into a hole.

Outside the bar, Elena is on the phone with Stefan and he’s asking where she is so that he can come pick her up.  She tells him, “You lied,” and asks him how she is connected to Katherine.  Elena ends up hanging up on him.  Inside the bar, Bree makes a phone call telling someone that they would never guess who walked into the bar.

Bonnie is lying on the ground inside the hole and it appears that she has fallen into some sort of tomb or a chamber.  She calls out for help and then notices a pentagram carved into one of the stone walls.

Stefan appears at Grams’ house looking for Bonnie.  They shake hands as they meet one another.  Grams tells him that she trusts him to keep Bonnie safe, but refuses to invite him in.

In the library, Anna helps Jeremy locate the reference material for his paper and they discuss the topic of his paper about the local folklore.  Anna immediately understands what he’s going for and mentions the topic of vampires.

Elena and Damon sit at the bar and Elena asks if he thinks that she’s descended from Katherine.  They discuss the possibilities and Damon points out that it would be possible for Katherine to have children because vampires can’t procreate.  Damon is eating and Elena asks how he can do that.  He explains that he can keep up most human functions as long as he continues feeding on blood.  She also asks him if any of the “nice act” is real.

Jeremy tells Anna that there’s no such thing as vampires and Anna talks about the stories that her family told her from her ancestors.  They debate whether vampires are fact or fantasy and Anna mentions a journal that belonged to one of her ancestors, and piques Jeremy’s interest.

Bonnie tries to use her cell phone to call for help, but cannot get a signal down in the chamber.  She goes over to the pentagram, puts her ear to the wall to listen to the sounds coming from the other side, and someone comes up behind her scaring her.  It turns out to be Stefan coming to help her.  Stefan tells her to close her eyes and he jumps out of the chamber with Bonnie in his arms.  Bonnie tells him that she could hear ‘them” behind the door and they discuss how “they” can’t get out.

Elena and Damon are doing shots with a crowd in the bar and Elena is out-drinking many of the other people there.  Someone walks into the bar and he and Bree exchange meaningful looks with one another.

At the Grill, Anna and Jeremy discuss how their ancestors kept similar journals and their conversation turns to vampire movies.  Anna mentions doing a “fright night” of vampire movies and Jeremy balks at the idea of a date, telling her that he just got out of something and it’s too soon for him to do anything serious.  Anna tries to cover by saying that it would be a friend thing.

Elena’s phone rings and it is Aunt Jenna asking Elena where she is.  Elena goes outside the bar to hear better, stumbles, and drops her phone.  Someone grabs her from behind and drags her off.  Inside the bar, Bree asks Damon where Elena is and he goes to look for her.  He sees her phone on the ground and then hears Elena cry out, “Damon, no!”  Damon is attacked by another vampire who then begins to pour gasoline all over him.  The other vampire (the person that Bree exchanged the look with in her bar) accuses Damon of killing his girlfriend.  Elena figures out that the vampire is Lexi’s boyfriend and learns that Lexi turned him so that they could be together forever.  Elena begs for Damon’s “life”, telling the other vampire how much Lexi loved him and to be better than Damon.  When he spares Damon, Elena thanks him.

Stefan escorts Bonnie back to Grams’ house and Grams asks to speak with Stefan as Bonnie goes inside.  Stefan calls Grams “Sheila” and makes a reference to when they met for the first time in October 1969.  Grams points out the risk of his coming to the house earlier and the danger that they would both be in if anyone learned about who they really are.  Stefan reassures her that her secret is safe with him and that their families have a long history of protecting one another’s secrets.  She tells him that she will protect her own family before anyone else.

At the bar, Damon goes to tell Bree good-bye, asking for a kiss.  She tells him that she’s full of vervain.  She tells him that Emily’s grimoire can tell him how to reverse the spell.  Damon ends up ripping out Bree’s heart before leaving.

Driving home, Elena asks Damon why he took her along.  Damon makes several smart-aleck comments and Elena reminds him that she saved his life.

Elena shows up in Stefan’s room at the boarding house and tells him that he could have told her about her resemblance to Katherine, saying that she could have handled it and that she can’t take the lie.  Stefan tells her that she is not Katherine and that she’s the opposite of everything that Katherine was.  He tells her that the first day of school was not the first time that they met.  He tells her that it was May 23, 2009 – the day that her parents died.  He was in the woods near Old Wickery Bridge when he heard it, but he wasn’t fast enough.  Her dad would not let Stefan help him until he helped Elena to safety.  By the time he got back for her parents it was too late to save them.  Stefan tells her how he spent the months that followed making sure that she wasn’t, in fact, Katherine and how he couldn’t leave town without knowing her.  Elena asked why she looks like her.  Stefan explained that Katherine was a Pierce and they were of no relation to the Gilberts.  After some investigation, he discovered that Elena was adopted.

Jeremy and Anna are at the library and she brought him a folder stuffed with internet research about “animal attacks” over the past 75 years and how all of the bodies were drained of blood.

Stefan tells Elena how there was no record of her mother ever being pregnant, nor any records of her being admitted to the hospital to deliver a baby, although the birth certificate lists her mother on it.  Stefan tells Elena that he loves her.  They kiss and then hug.

When Elena finally comes home, Aunt Jenna confronts her about lying about where she’s been and Elena calls her out for lying, asking if she’s adopted.  Jenna is stunned as Elena storms up the stairs.

Back at the Grill, Alaric is working on something and having a drink at the bar.  Damon walks in and takes a seat a few stools down the bar.  Alaric has another flashback – a vision of a vampire draining his wife…the same vampire seated by him at the bar.

I’m so excited for the show’s return!  It’s been too long!

How long do you think that it will be before Jeremy learns that the vampires are real and that his sister is sleeping with one of them?

What do you think that Alaric is going to do about Damon?

Do you think that Grams will be playing a bigger role in episodes to come if Damon tries to get Emily’s grimoire?

I’m anxious to learn more about who Elena’s real family is and why she bears a virtually identical appearance to Katherine.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Join us in the forum and share your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you!