Is there a 12 step program for vampires who fall off of the “vegetarian vampire” wagon?

Elena wakes up to a thunderstorm raging outside when her window flies open.  She gets up to shut the window.  Anna is still in Jeremy’s room and they are discussing various vampire myths.  Anna tells Jeremy that she refuses to turn him and asks him why he wants to be turned.  He tells her that he can’t say why.  Elena comes to Jeremy’s room to ask him to help make sure that all of the windows are closed because of the storm and Anna made her vampire exit through the window before Elena saw her.  As Elena is leaving, she takes notice of Jeremy’s open window, but doesn’t say anything.

At the farmhouse, Frederick is whittling on a piece of wood while Pearl keeps an eye on him.  They talk about how they are running low on blood.  Pearl plans to send Anna the following day and Frederick offers to go along.  Pearl refuses to let him go after the “stunt” that he pulled at the Salvatore house.  She tells him that they can’t live for revenge and must control their emotions.  Pearl heads to town to find out who among the townspeople are under the influence of vervain.  Anna has reported that the usual suspects – the Lockwoods, the Fells, and the Forbes families have it.  Pearl tells Frederick that these people are not their enemies and that they can’t hold grudges.  She tells him that they need to exercise patience and they will get their town back.  Some other vampires enter the room when Pearl leaves.  Frederick tells him that they heard her…”no revenge.”  Then he produces the wooden stake that he’d been whittling and tells them, “she seems to have it all figured out, doesn’t she?”

Damon and Stefan are board ing up the broken window that Frederick jumped through and Damon suggests that they go to Pearl’s and get the guy who attacked them.  Stefan plays the voice of reason and tells him that they can’t do that.  Elena expresses her disbelief that Damon made a deal with Pearl. Damon tells her that he had no choice, saying that “she’s scary and she’s going to help me get Katherine back.”  Elena makes some snarky comments and tells Damon that she’s earned the right to be snarky because she woke up that morning to learn that the tomb full of vampires is empty.  Damon retorts with, “How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?”  Stefan diffuses the war of words between Damon and Elena and Damon leaves.  Stefan promises Elena that he and Damon will handle everything and Elena tells him that she refuses to sit aside and do nothing because they could get hurt, too.  (Bella/Edward argument in Eclipse, anyone?!!)

Jeremy and Anna are hanging out at the grill and Jeremy asks her if her mother knows about her.  Anna tells him that’s more proof that he’s not ready to be turned.  She compliments him on the bracelet that he’s wearing.  He tells her that it was a gift from his sister.  She takes a closer look, noting that it contains vervain, and asks him if Elena knows that they have been hanging out together.  He tells her that she doesn’t and quips that it’s not like she knows the truth about her anyway.  Anna tells him that he needs to keep her a secret.  Jeremy offers the bracelet to Anna because he likes it and he likes her.  She declines the offer, telling him that it looks better on him anyway.

Matt is working and is talking to Caroline about yelling at his mother because of her behavior.  Caroline has to leave to go to her dad’s boyfriend’s daughter’s birthday party and needs to leave before the storm makes the roads any worse.  Matt makes some comments about being safe and kisses her goodbye.

Damon is winding a clock as Stefan heads out to go hunting.  He needs to feed because of the strength he lost fighting Frederick the night before.  Damon offers him some of the two liters of “soccer mom” in the fridge and Stefan declines, leaving to go hunt in the woods.  As he is running in the woods, he is aware of something around him.  Two vampires appear and then Frederick stakes him.

Elena is at home and her cell phone rings.  She sees that it’s Damon and ignores it.  Immediately, there is a knock at the door and it’s Damon.  He comes into the house looking for Stefan because he can’t get him on his phone.  Elena tries calling him and it goes straight to voicemail.

Damon goes to Pearl’s house and bangs on the door.  Frederick answers and tells Damon that Pearl isn’t home.  Damon asks, “Where’s my brother?”  The two thug vampires produce Stefan and Damon tries to enter the house, but can’t because he hasn’t been invited. Frederick compels Mrs. Gibbons to “never let this bad man in.”  Frederick recalls the pain of being locked in the tomb because of Katherine’s infatuation with Damon and Stefan and tells Damon that he plans to give Stefan a taste of it before he kills him.  He then stakes Stefan again before shutting the door on Damon.  Damon arrives back at the car where Elena has been waiting and tells her why he couldn’t get into the house to rescue Stefan.  Elena tells him that she can get in and he refuses to let her go because they want revenge.

Stefan is being tortured by Frederick and his thugs.  They have him strung up from the rafters with ropes soaked in vervain.  They even put drops of vervain in his eye.  Harper tells them that this isn’t right and Frederick tells him that Stefan killed Beth Anne and continues the torture.  Harper continues to protest.  Frederick tells him, “Miss Pearl is no longer in charge.”  The two thug vamps then tie Harper to a chair and stake him in the leg.

Damon and Elena find Alaric at the school and tell them that they need his help to save Stefan.  Damon recaps what happened with Isobel’s ring.  Alaric threatens to kill Damon and refuses to help.  Damon tells him that the woman in charge at the house can help find Isobel.  As Damon and Elena leave, Alaric agrees to go.

Jeremy and Anna are still talking at the grill and Jeremy is still pushing her to turn him.  He tells her that something is missing in his life and he feels like he doesn’t fit in anywhere.  (Bella Swan, anyone?) Anna explains to him the reasons that vampires make other vampires – someone to do their dirty work, they’re bored, or the obvious reason…they love someone so much that they would do anything to spend all eternity to be with them.  She then tells Jeremy that he doesn’t fit into any of those categories…yet.  Anna leaves as Pearl enters the grill and fires off a quick text to Jeremy that reads “Mom.”  Pearl asks her who she was talking to and Anna tells her that he’s just a friend from the library.  Mayor Lockwood asks Pearl and Anna if they are going out in the storm because Route 5 is flooded and he’s concerned.  The hostess comes to tell him that his table is ready and Pearl becomes very interested in him when she learns that he’s a Lockwood.  She tells him that she’s changed her mind on leaving and tells him how she and her daughter just moved to town.  They make introductions and Pearl joins him for dinner.

Elena, Damon, and Alaric are checking out Alaric’s vampire hunting tools and taking note of the tranquilizer darts filled with vervain.  Once again, Damon refuses to let Elena help.  He tells her that she can drive the getaway car, but he can’t save Stefan if he’s distracted with her safety.

Matt is at work and on the phone with Caroline.  She’s on a back road somewhere in the sticks because of Route 5 being flooded.  He tells her to turn around and go back the way she went and they hang up.  She stops the car and tries to turn around and gets stuck.  She also has no signal on her cell phone.

Alaric knocks on the door of the farmhouse asking if he can use the phone because his car broke down.  Frederick lets him in and one of the thug vamps leads him back to the kitchen.  Once he’s in the kitchen, he stakes the vamp who escorted him and gets Mrs. Gibbons to go out on the back porch with Damon.  Because he is unable to compel her, he kills her after checking that she has no other family with ties to the house.  Damon then enters the house.  Elena is waiting in the car and pulls one of the vervain darts from her purse as a tree branch falls on the car, startling her.

Pearl talks about property with Mayor Lockwood and he’s impressed with her historical knowledge of the area.  Tyler is disgruntled about his father’s dining with Pearl.  Anna is playing darts and Jeremy notices her.  She signals to him not to approach and they exchange texts about her mother.  Pearl takes notice and asks Mayor Lockwood who the boy is.  He tells her that he’s Jeremy Gilbert.

Frederick is watching some of the vamps playing pool and asks someone to find out what the holdup is.  As the other vamp enters the kitchen, Damon stakes him.  Alaric returns to the car and finds that Elena is gone and heads back to the house.  Elena is at the house and notices the entrance to the cellar and makes her way down.  There are several vampires standing guard and as Damon takes one out, he notices Elena standing there.  He asks her, “Are you insane?!”

Night has fallen and Caroline is still stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal.  She gets out of the car and starts walking until she finds a signal.  She slides down a hillside toward the raging river.  As she reaches for a tree root or a vine to make her way back up the hill, she grabs a rotting human arm and screams.

Anna is about to exit the bathroom at the grill when Pearl enters and asks her, “Jeremy Gilbert?!!!”  Anna tells her that he’s a friend and asks,”What’s the big deal?”  Pearl tells her that his family is the reason she was in the tomb and she wants Anna to stop seeing him.  Anna tells her that she’s been on her own for a long time and can make her own choices and tells her that Jeremy knows about her.  Pearl slaps Anna across the face.  As Anna leaves the grill she sends a text to Jeremy telling him, “I’ll do it.”

Back in the cellar/torture chamber, Stefan thanks Harper for trying to help him.  Elena comes in with Damon right behind her. Elena releases the rope on Stefan – because of the vervain, Damon couldn’t do it.  Stefan pulls the stake from Harper’s leg and he, Elena, and Damon make their exit.  Frederick tells someone to turn down the music because  he notices that things are  “too quiet.”  A female vamp falls through the doorway with a stake in her back.  Frederick and the other vamps scramble.  Elena and Stefan struggle to get through the woods to the car, both of them falling along the way.  Elena gets a cut on her hand.  Frederick and Damon fight.  As Damon takes on a couple of other vamps, Alaric shoots another with a stake. Frederick gets away and Damon goes after him.

Elena and Stefan make it to the car and get in.  As Elena tries to start the car, she notices that the ignition/key assembly has been removed.  Frederick smashes the passenger side window and yanks Stefan out of the car and begins wailing on him and then stakes him again.  Elena gets Frederick with a stake in the back.  She pulls the stake from Stefan and he falls unconscious.  The fighting continues in the house, Alaric kills another and Damon returns to tell him that Frederick is gone.  They head out the front door to find several more vamps on the lawn.  Alaric tells Damon that he only has one more vervain dart and they go back into the house.

Matt and his mom are at home and Kelly is acting domestic, having made a casserole.  She promises Matt that she’ll try this time.  As they talk, the doorbell rings.  Matt answers the door to find a somber Caroline and Sheriff Forbes on the porch.  Sheriff Forbes asks Matt if she can talk to his mom.

Mayor Lockwood is on the phone, leaving the grill.  He tells Tyler that they have to go because they found Vickie.  Jeremy overhears this, as well as Mayor Lockwood saying that the storm unearthed a grave out and that her body has been brought into the morgue.  Jeremy asks, “She’s dead?”

Elena tries to continue to revive Stefan, urging him to wake up.  She notes the blood on her and and tells Stefan to take her wrist.  He tells her to run and she refuses, telling him that she trusts him.  Stefan drinks from her wrist.   Alaric and Damon are in the house when Pearl and Anna return to find the carnage.  Damon tells Pearl what happened to Stefan and she promises justice.  Damon and Alaric leave.  Frederick gets up, picks up a stick, and attacks Stefan.  Elena tries to stop him and Stefan goes feral on Frederick, frightening Elena with a side of him that she’s never seen.

Back at the boarding house, Elena stares out a window as Stefan comes into the room.  They talk about how she saw him behave in the woods earlier and he apologizes for her having to see him like that.  They share a tender moment and then Elena’s phone rings.  She answers the phone call from Jeremy.

Sheriff Forbes and Kelly are in the living room while Caroline pours them some coffee.  Jeremy and Tyler are silent in the kitchen and Matt is sitting in Vickie’s room.  Caroline goes in to offer him a cup of coffee and asks if there’s anything that she can do.  He tells her that he just needs to be alone and walks out of the room.  He meets Elena in the hallway and breaks down crying and hugs Elena as Caroline looks on from Vickie’s room.

Alaric and Damon sit down at the bar at the grill for a drink.  Damon tells him, “That was fun.”  He tells Alaric that he knows that he hates him and that it’s okay because, “everyone hates me.” Right after Damon tells him that they were “bad ass”, Alaric hauls off and hits him with a right hook and leaves.

Elena and Jeremy get home and he heads up to his room.  Once inside, he heads to his desk and pulls out some of the vampire research and begins to tear it up.  He pulls out the newspaper with the article about Vickie’s “animal attack” as Anna appears at the window.  She asks him what he’s doing.  He tells her that Vickie was dead all along.  Anna figures out that Vickie was the reason that Jeremy wanted to be turned – he wanted to be with Vickie.  Jeremy looks away and before he can turn back to her to tell her he’s sorry, she’s gone.

Damon returns home to find Stefan gorging himself on Damon’s stash of human blood with a very distraught look on his face.

All in all, I thought that this was one of the better episodes.  It was fast-paced with plenty of action and it certainly had some drama!   I loved Damon’s comment to Elena about turning her birth mother into a vampire.  Classic Damon!!

Do you think that Stefan’s new-found appreciation for human blood will cause problems for him and Elena? I’m pretty sure that this is the catalyst for setting up something between Elena and Damon.

Will Elena and Matt turn to one another for comfort in the loss of Vickie (and possible loss of Stefan)? I’m kind of doubting that Elena will have any romantic feelings for Matt.  I really see her turning to Damon because she can be open and honest with him.  I see more strained relations with Caroline for sure, though.

Will Jeremy end up falling for Anna anyway or will she honor her mother’s request to stay away from the Gilbert boy?  Maybe he will still want Anna to turn him because now that Vickie is gone, he really does feel that there’s nothing for him and no place for him to fit in at all.

What did you think about this episode?  Is there anything that you want to discuss?  Join us in the forum and share your thoughts.