RECAP AND REVIEW – “THE VAMPIRE DIARIES” SEASON 3 EPISODE 10 – “THE NEW DEAL” – ORIGINAL AIR DATE 1/5/2012

Recap:  Klaus returns to Mystic Falls, seeking Stefan and the return of his family.   Mayhem ensues.

Key Plot Points:

Klaus’ Stolen Family:  Klaus returns to Mystic Falls in search of Stefan and his family, daggered in coffins.    Bonnie has dreams about finding coffins in the basement of the witch spirit house.  In one dream, she opens a coffin and finds a slumbering Klaus holding the talisman/necklace.    She later goes to the house and finds Stefan there.  He asks Bonnie for her help in hiding the coffins and successfully enlists her help.   It turns out that the witch spirits want to get back at Klaus as badly as they do and they are able to hide the coffins in plain sight in the basement.    When Bonnie returns with Stefan near the end of the episode, we learn that the coffins are sealed with a spell.  Stefan had tried everything to open the coffins and could not get them to budge.  Bonnie surmises that the witch spirits led her to the coffins for a reason and that their answer to eliminating Klaus must be in one of them.

Klaus’ Search for His Family:  Klaus enlists Tyler as well as other hybrids to put pressure on Elena to find Stefan so that he can find his family members.   He gets Tyler to divest Jeremy of his vervain bracelet and then Klaus compels Jeremy to stand in the middle of the road to be hit by a car, after leaving his ring on the kitchen table.  Alaric pushes Jeremy out of the way in time and ends up being struck by the car while wearing the ring.  He also had a hybrid chase Elena while she was out for a run, making her even more paranoid.  Eventually, Elena makes a deal with Klaus to get him to leave her family alone when she returns Rebekah to him.   Klaus realizes that Elena is lying about knowing where Stefan is and threatens her friends and Jeremy.

The Gilbert Family Ring:  When Alaric came back from the dead after being struck by the car, things weren’t right.  He coughed up blood and had to go to the hospital.    Jeremy and Alaric discussed the ring and pondered why it isn’t working as well as it once did.   By the end of the episode, there’s no definitive answer as to why it’s effectiveness has faded.  Perhaps this is something to be explored further in future episodes.

 Jeremy: Jeremy is suffering in the wake of the loss of Anna and Bonnie’s breaking up with him.  He failed a midterm in Alaric’s class and was fired from the Grill.   He is hanging out with Tyler more than before, which is of great concern to Elena and Alaric, due to Tyler’s connection with Klaus.    He is compelled to try to kill himself by Klaus.   Following the failed attempt, he ends up killing a hybrid (Tony) on his front porch who sent the EMTs tending to Alaric away.   He’s disturbed by what he had to do and this just adds to his woes of seeing ghosts, losing two loves, and his other problems.   He pleads with Elena and Alaric for them to just leave Mystic Falls.  In the end, Damon compels Jeremy and tells him that he’s going to go to Denver to live with other family and that he won’t think twice about Mystic Falls.

Relationships:

Damon/Stefan:  Stefan confesses his reason for sparing Klaus’ life to Damon – to save his life.  He tells Damon that Klaus was always a step or two ahead of them and that he had threatened Damon’s life.   Damon tells Stefan to stop saving him and that he should have killed Klaus.   They end up coming to an agreement after this revelation and Damon tells Stefan that he wants in on the revenge on Klaus.  Stefan insists that it’s just the two of them, no Elena.   Damon agrees and Stefan reveals the coffins to him.

Elena/Stefan:  The divide between them grows when Stefan tells her that Klaus’ attempts to kill Jeremy aren’t his problem.   She slaps him and tells him to go to hell.

Elena/Damon:  With the divide between Elena and Stefan growing, Damon confesses his guilt over wanting what Stefan has and then KISSES her so that he has something to really feel guilty about.  The episode ends with Damon leaving a stunned Elena standing on her porch.

Tyler/Klaus: After Klaus’ attempt to kill Jeremy, Tyler begins to question his blind loyalty to his sire.

Klaus/Rebekah: When Elena returned Rebekah to Klaus, she revealed Rebekah’s desire to see him dead because she knows the truth about him killing their mother.   At the end of the episode, we see Klaus staking Rebekah’s body.  However, we do not see her body disintegrate.

Review:  

While this episode wasn’t really all that exciting with action, I really did like some of the lingering issues that were brought up in this one:

• Why doesn’t the Gilbert ring work the way it did before?   Could it have something to do with Jeremy being brought back from the dead by Bonnie?
• Did Klaus really destroy Rebekah?
• DID ELENA ENJOY THE KISS WITH DAMON?!!