Sometimes the truth is just too much to bear…

Tonight’s episode opens with Elena’s journal entry from last week’s episode and the flashbacks accompanying her revelation about Stefan. Cut to a flashback of Stefan in Civil War era attire on the front porch of a beautiful antebellum home awaiting the arrival of a carriage. The carriage pulls up an out steps “Miss Pierce” who tells Stefan to call her “Katherine.” Here we see the first meeting of Stefan and his lost love.

Back in the present, Elena confronts Stefan about what he is. He tells her that she knows and she denies it, telling him that it’s impossible. Stefan tells her that every belief that she’s ever had is about to change and confesses, “I’m a vampire.” Elena runs off and goes home where Stefan appears, telling her that she’s safe with him. Stefan tells her that Damon is responsible for the attacks and that he doesn’t drink human blood. He asks her to trust him and Elena asks him to go. (All the while, the music is eerily reminiscent of a moment in another vampire film where the heroine learns the truth about her love interest.)

In the old cemetery where we last saw Vicki and her friends partying, Damon finishes drinking from her friends and douses their bodies with liquor. He calls Stefan asking where his ring is and tells Stefan that the dead bodies will be on him until his ring is returned. Stefan tells him that he’ll need time to get it. Damon then sets fire to the bodies and then we learn that Vicki is still alive.

The next day, Elena agrees to meet Stefan at Mystic Grill for him to explain everything to her. She questions the superstitions about vampires and Stefan dismisses them as myth (again…very reminiscent of another popular vampire series). Stefan explains to her what Damon did with Caroline. She asks if there are others like them and he tells her “not anymore”. He tells her that there was a time when the town was very aware of vampires and asks for her secrecy. Stefan promises to answer all of her questions and that it will be her choice if she wants to see him any longer or not.

Cut back to the cemetery where the sheriff finds the charred bodies in the woods. Logan fell is also there. They seem sure that it was a vampire attack, but decide that a drug deal gone bad storyline is best for the news. One of the deputies finds Vicki’s I.D. in the brush and they aren’t sure if she’s one of the bodies because they are so badly burned.

At the boarding house, Damon is calling Stefan again asking for his ring and telling him that he’s bored being in the house all day…more of a threat than anything. He then tells Vicki not to bleed all over the couch and we see an unconscious Vickie on the couch. Damon ends up giving her some of his blood to help her recover from the injuries that he inflicted upon her.

We then see Elena and Stefan driving to a place in the woods, which Elena refers to as “nowhere”. Stefan tells her that he wants to show her something and tells her that the place used to be his home. He also confesses that he’s been seventeen years old since 1864. (Sound familiar, anyone? LOL!) He then tells her that he and Damon were both born in the house that once stood there. We’re then graced with a flashback of Stefan and Damon playing football in front of the beautiful, white antebellum home. Katherine appears and asks if she can play and saying, “Who needs rules?” Back in the present, Elena realizes that Stefan knew Katherine in 1864 and Stefan tells her about Damon’s motives for telling her about Katherine – they both loved the same girl 145 years ago. Stefan notes that she wasn’t just any girl.

Cut back to 1864 and we see Stefan chasing Katherine around a garden and Damon clad in a Confederate uniform. Damon tells them that he was granted extended leave. Katherine tells them that she needs an escort to the Founders’ Ball and both brothers volunteer. She says, “How will I ever choose?” Back in the present, Stefan tells Elena that Katherine chose him. Elena realizes that it was the first Founders’ party and that the signatures on the document were actually Stefan’s and Damon’s. Stefan also points out to Elena that Damon doesn’t get mad – he gets even.

At the boarding house, Vicki just finished taking a shower and asks Damon what he gave her. He tells her that it was blood and that she loved it. She asks how she got there and he tells her the whole truth – dead bodies and all. He tells her that they are going to party and she asks for “another hit”. Damon asks for the same.

Back in the woods, Stefan reveals that on the night of the party, Katherine was also with Damon and that Katherine “wasn’t ours to steal.” In another flashback, we see Stefan and Katherine in bed and Stefan tells her that he’ll love her forever. She points out that forever is a very long time and then her face changes and her fangs emerge. Katherine bites Stefan. In the morning, Katherine is dressing and Stefan awakes. She dismisses her servant. Stefan feels his neck and notes that Katherine looked like a demon the night before. He tells her to go away and she uses her powers on him, telling him that he won’t tell anyone and they will go about their lives like nothing happened. She then tells him that she has plans for a future with both him and Damon. Stefan tells of how she compelled them to keep the secret from each other. Back in the present, Elena notices that Stefan has Damon’s ring and tells him not to give it back to him. Stefan tells her that Damon will retaliate by hurting her if he doesn’t.

We then see the sheriff and the mayor discussing the dead bodies. Logan enters and gives the Gilbert watch to the mayor, who takes it apart. He opens a trinket box, pulls something out, places it into the casing of the pocket watch, and says, “It’s ready.”

Vicki is dancing around the boarding house in her underwear and a tank top, ranting about Tyler and Jeremy, talking a mile a minute. (Ironically, Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” is the song playing on the stereo.) Damon and Vicki dance around, drinking liquor and then they trash Stefan’s room. Damon takes notice of a photo of Katherine. Vicki and Damon then slow dance and Vicki spills her guts to Damon about her life and compares it to Matt’s. Damon tells her that she’s so damaged and that she has no self-esteem and that he knows what can help her. Then he snaps her neck. Some time passes and Vicki comes to. Damon tells her that she’s dead and that he killed her. He then explains that she’ll have to feed to complete the process to be like him. He tells her that she’s going to crave blood. Vicki tells him that she’s going home and Damon tells her to stop by Jeremy’s house.

Back in the woods we see the sheriff arrive and give an ammo clip loaded with wooden bullets to the mayor. She tells him that the bullets will wound him so that he can get close enough to stake the vampire.

Vicki arrives at the Gilbert house and she’s wearing sunglasses. She tells Jeremy that her eyes hurt, her head hurts, and she’s hungry. She goes into the kitchen and binges.

Elena asks Stefan about the mind control and asks him if he’s ever used it on her. He tells her about the vervain in the necklace that he gave her and that it protects her from being compelled. He wanted to protect her from Damon, as well as himself. He then tells her never to take the necklace off. (Again, we hear music reminiscent of Twilight.)

Matt shows up at the Gilbert’s to help Jeremy with Vicki. Vicki tells him that her gums hurt and she’s freaking out about all of the noise. She then sees a news report about the bodies in the woods. Jeremy asks what happened after he left the night before and Vicki pushes him into the couch. Stefan and Elena arrive and Stefan uses his powers to tell Vicki that she’ll be fine. He tells Jeremy and Matt to take her upstairs to rest and to close all of the blinds. Stefan tells Elena that she’s transforming into a vampire and that Damon must have gotten to her. Stefan explains how she’ll have to consume human blood to complete the transformation or she’ll die. Upstairs, Vicki apologizes to Jeremy for being so much trouble and they hug. Vicki starts to go for Jeremy’s neck and she runs out of the house and vanishes. Stefan tells Elena that he can track her and she tells him to go find her.

The mayor detects a vampire near the old cemetery and calls the sheriff. They head to the cemetery.

Elena tells Jeremy that Vicki will be fine. The doorbell rings and Elena answers the door. It’s Damon. Elena tries to shut the door to no avail and tells Jeremy to go upstairs. Damon calls her out for being afraid of him and comes into the house, since he’s already been invited in. Damon surmises that Stefan must have “’fessed up” since she’s so afraid of him. He tells her that he’s not going to kill her yet – it wouldn’t suit his agenda and wants to know where Stefan is. She tells him that he went to find Vicki. Damon tells her not to be judgmental and that Vicki will thank him for it. Elena fires back, asking him if he thanked Katherine. Damon leaves, giving Elena a tip to “be careful who you invite in the house.”

In the woods, Stefan finds Vicki in tears. She is starting to remember things going back to her first attack. Stefan apologizes to her and tells her that Damon had no right to do this to her. Vicki asks what happens if she doesn’t feed, and Stefan tells her that she will fade away. Stefan tells her that he can help. She asks him to take her home and a gunshot rings out. The mayor shoots Stefan with one of the wooden bullets. As the mayor is about to stake Stefan, Damon attacks him. He then removes the bullet from Stefan’s chest and asks for his ring. As he removes the bullet, he notes that “It’s wood. They know.” Stefan then looks back to the mayor, who just became Vicki’s meal. Vicki runs off into the woods and Damon responds, “Whoops.” He then retrieves the watch/compass from the ground near the mayor’s dead body.

The sheriff and her deputy arrive on the scene and find the mayor alone. The sheriff then orders to find the watch.

The episode concludes at Elena’s house. Elena sees the blood on Stefan and he tells her that he’s fine. He also tells her the truth about Vicki – how he lost her. He promises that he will help her and they’ll come up with a story for Jeremy and Matt. She calls it out as “a lie”. Stefan apologizes to her. Elena promises Stefan that she’ll keep his secret, but she cannot be with him. She goes inside alone and slumps to the floor against the door in tears.

What did you think of the flashbacks for the Stefan/Damon/Katherine back story?Did anyone else think that the music in tonight’s episode was similar to the music used in key revelation scenes in Twilight?

Do you think that we’ll get flashbacks in the future from Damon’s POV?

Now that the townspeople know and Stefan and Damon know that they know, what do you think they’ll do? Do you think that they know that it’s the Salvatores that they are hunting?

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