OBS RECAPS & REVIEWS: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES S1 – EPISODE 10: THE TURNING POINT

You’re driving down a dark highway at night and you see something in the road. Do you swerve to miss it or do you just hit it?

This episode picks up where last week left off and Logan Fell on the Gilbert’s porch, asking Jenna to invite him into the house. She brings up the email that he sent her and he asks, “What email?” Jenna refuses to invite him in and closes the door on him. As he leaves, Logan eyes a neighbor taking out his trash and then a jogger comes down the street. She recognizes him from TV and starts to chat him up. Just as she introduces herself as “Daphne”, he attacks and kills her.

The next day, Jeremy is reading through some of the old journals that his father had and notes how they are filled with comments about fear and death. Jeremy begins sketching and Elena notices it, smiling. She tells Jenna about it when she gets downstairs. Elena checks her phone and there are no messages or calls from Stefan. She and Jenna discuss things with Stefan and his leaving. They talk about Logan’s return and how Jenna wouldn’t even let him in.

At the Boarding House, Damon and Stefan are talking about where they will go. Damon mentions London – to see some old friends. Stefan tells him that he doesn’t have any friends and then Damon tells him that he only has him. Damon asks, “Where are we going?” Stefan tells him that he won’t be going with him. Damon suggests that they could try out for The Amazing Race. Stefan asks Damon where he’s going and that they are not staying in Mystic Falls. The doorbell rings and Stefan goes to answer the door. He’s surprised to find Sheriff Forbes there, asking to see Damon. Damon and the Sheriff go outside to talk in private (for her benefit, of course) and she tells him that there was another vampire attack. Damon is surprised since they killed Lexi and Sheriff Forbes speculates that she must have turned someone. She tells him that the Council is in an uproar and Stefan (of course) overhears the entire conversation.

At school, Matt and Caroline are talking and several people take notice – including Elena and Tyler. Elena and Bonnie discuss Damon’s attack on Bonnie – Bonnie is still freaked out, but very grateful to Stefan. They then discuss Elena’s breakup with Stefan.

Sheriff Forbes leaves and Stefan confronts Damon about the attack – accusing him of it. Damon tells him that there is a new vampire in town. Stefan asks who it is. Damon tells him he doesn’t know and they agree that they can’t leave town now.

To Elena’s surprise, Stefan shows up at school and tells her that they need to talk. Matt and Tyler are playing basketball and Matt asks him about what’s going on with Caroline, giving him a hard time. Elena and Stefan discuss the situation with a new vampire in town. Stefan tells her that they have no idea of who it is and that they suspect that he/she is new because they left a body. Because of the sloppiness, it couldn’t have been Damon. Stefan tells her that Damon is tracking the vampire and he tells her that he wants her to be careful. Elena confesses that she thought that he was coming to tell her good-bye and he tells her, “Not yet.”

Back at the Gilbert’s, Jeremy continues sketching, copying pictures from the journals. He talks with Jenna about his ancestor from the 1800’s, Jonathon Gilbert, and how he did all of this writing about demons and people being slaughtered. Jenna tells him that he was a writer and wrote several short stories.

Cut to Caroline holding the “vampire compass” while talking to Damon on her cell. Damon instantly appears and asks for the compass. Caroline asks why he couldn’t do it and he tells her that he interferes with the signal. He then uses his powers to tell her to go home and to forget that he asked her to do this for him. Damon goes into an old warehouse. Logan Fell opens fire on Damon, shooting him several times with wooden bullets. Logan blames Damon for making him into a vampire. Damon tells him that he didn’t do it and asked him who turned him. Logan remembers trying to stake Stefan and being grabbed by Damon. Then he woke up in the ground behind a used car dealership. Damon tells him that he had to have vampire blood in his system when he died for the transformation to happen and that he didn’t do that. He insists that some other vampire had to have found him. Logan tells him that he can’t even go into his own home because there’s no one to invite him in. He tells Damon about how he likes killing people. Damon is confused because the police have found only one body. Logan says that he was tired, but he’s been hiding the others in the warehouse and the bodies are really piling up.

At the school career fair, Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Smallwood discuss the attack and she tells him that there’s nothing to report yet. They discuss precautions and she tells him that crowded public places are probably the safest places to be. Tyler is looking at some sketches and Jeremy confronts him about art. Tyler walks away. Jeremy sees that some of the sketches are Tyler’s work. Elena and Matt talk. She asks him how he’s doing and he tells her that he heard about her breakup with Stefan. Elena tells him that she heard about him and Caroline. Matt tells her that they’re just friends and that it’s not a big deal. Stefan walks up.

Logan tells Damon about how his emotions are so strong – especially for Jenna, and Damon tells Logan that he’s probably in love with her. Damon explains that anything that he felt before is magnified because of his transformation. Damon tells him that he’ll have to learn to control himself. Logan then asks Damon how he can walk out in the sun. This is, apparently, Logan’s real sore spot about the whole vampire thing. Logan tells Damon that the Council would never suspect him or Stefan because there’s nothing about being able to go out in the sun in the journals. Damon asks him about the journals and Logan tells him that they were journals from the town’s founding fathers. Damon and Logan end up in a verbal showdown about how can Damon and Stefan walk in the sun and who turned Logan. They arrive at an impasse (was this supposed to be another “Twilight” reference?) and Logan opens fire on Damon again.

Back at the school’s career fair, Elena and Stefan are still talking. She realizes that he’s looking out for her and he tells her that he hopes that it’s OK. She walks off and he follows. He tells her that he wanted to be a doctor, but he never could because of the blood. (Awww…he wants to be like Carlisle…LOL) He tells her that he dabbled in a bunch of other things, but always had to move on before people noticed that he wasn’t aging. Stefan asks Elena about her plans for the future. She defensively tells him that she doesn’t want to discuss that because what he’s saying to her makes it clear to her that he won’t be in it. She tells him that if he’s going to leave to just go. Jenna walks up wanting to hide because Logan is there. Stefan looks concerned and confused and goes to find Logan. He sees him in the crowd in the hallway. Elena comes out with Jenna and Logan approaches them. He asks Jenna if she’s been avoiding him. Stefan suggests that Jenna and Elena go somewhere else, giving Elena a very meaningful look that she understands. Elena gets Jenna and they leave.

Stefan asks Logan what he’s doing there and Logan tells him that Damon asked him the same thing. Logan asks Stefan how he can be a “day walker”. Stefan tells him that he and Damon are the only ones that he knows of who can do that. Logan threatens to use his celebrity and expose Damon and Stefan. Stefan tells him that he can’t walk around in daylight and not to ever threaten him again before he walks off.

Elena asks Jenna how Logan acted when he came to the house and what he said. Jenna talks about how he was charming and kept trying to convince her to invite him in. She tells Elena that she refused and Elena tells her to never talk to him again. Alaric then approaches and interrupts their conversation.

Damon and Stefan are on the phone and Damon tells Stefan that Logan is a vampire. Damon says that he will destroy Logan “limb by limb”. Stefan asks Damon if he is OK and Damon tells him that he’s not and that he was ambushed, shot, and now he’s vengeful. Stefan tells him that Logan is at the school; Damon says that he’ll be right there. Elena asks Stefan if he has anything he’d like to share.

Caroline and her mother talk about her future. Caroline tells her that she’s interested in broadcast journalism. Her mother is skeptical, noting that Caroline doesn’t even read the newspaper. Sheriff Forbes walks off and is approached by Logan. She gets a very panicked look when she sees him. Logan asks if she’s going to stake him or bury him in another shallow grave. She tells him that she had no choice. He confronts her, reminding her that he was “one of you”. She tells him that he’s now “one of them”. Logan tells her to watch her back. She calls for a back-up team to come to the school, telling them to keep it within the circle and that it’s a code “V5”.

Jeremy walks up to Tyler, telling him that he didn’t know that he drew. Tyler tells him that it’s for an elective and asks why he’s so interested. Jeremy notes that it’s something that they have in common. Tyler adds “besides Vicki?” and tells him to go find one of the other guys that she screwed and that there’s no shortage. Jeremy jumps Tyler and they get into a fight. The fight is broken up by Mayor Smallwood and Alaric.

Caroline is outside of the school trying to get Bonnie on her cell. She wants to go home. Logan pulls up and offers her a ride and she accepts. Matt sees her getting into Logan’s car. Caroline mentions how this is fate because she wants to go into broadcast journalism. As she buckles her seat belt, Logan smashes her head up against the passenger window, knocking her unconscious. Stefan and Elena are looking for Logan and ask Matt if they’ve seen him. He tells them that he just saw him giving Caroline a ride home. Stefan tells Elena to stay at the school.

Outside of the school, Mayor Smallwood is with Jeremy and Tyler. He tells them to get this out of their system and to fight each other. The boys don’t want to do that. Mayor Smallwood pushes Tyler and Alaric arrives, asking what’s going on. Mayor Smallwood and Alaric get into a verbal confrontation and Alaric tells the Mayor that he looks “like a full-grown, alpha male douchebag.” Mayor Smallwood threatens Alaric, but Alaric doesn’t back down and tells the Mayor that it will be them working things out in the parking lot. Alaric asks Jeremy if he’s OK after Tyler and his dad leave.

Sheriff Forbes’ cell rings and it’s Logan, telling her that her daughter is interested in journalism. Sheriff Forbes asks what he wants and he tells her that he wants the satisfaction of turning her daughter into a vampire. Logan is ripped from his car and thrown into the road by Stefan. Damon opens fire on Logan. Stefan takes Caroline to safety and Damon gets a tire iron from the car. He asks Logan who turned him. Logan tells him that he doesn’t know. Damon rares back to knock Logan’s head off and Logan stops him, telling him that he does know. He mentions the tomb under the old church and that there’s another way to break the spell. He tells Damon that “we” can help. He tells Damon to meet him at the old church as Sheriff Forbes approaches. Damon tells Logan to take him down and to make it look real, letting Logan go free. Damon tells Sheriff Forbes that Stefan took Caroline home and that she’s fine.

Stefan returns to the school and tells Elena that Caroline is OK. Elena asks where Logan is and Stefan tells her that Damon is dealing with him. Stefan points out what happened that evening and reminds her of why they can’t be together. Elena offers him a ride home, which he first refuses and later accepts.

Tyler is sitting outside looking very pensive and Jeremy approaches him. Jeremy asks if his dad is always like that and tells him that he gets it. Tyler throws a punch and hits Jeremy. Jeremy tells him that he doesn’t have to be like this. Tyler tells him to go and Jeremy asks him what his problem is. Tyler answers (while standing under a bright, full moon), “I don’t know.”

In Elena’s car outside of the Boarding House, Elena apologizes for her comments earlier about Stefan leaving. He tells her that she had every right to say them. Elena tells Stefan about her future and how she wanted to be a writer. She tells him of how her mother nurtured that and how it was something they shared. Now that her mother is gone, she doesn’t know if she wants that any longer. She points out that she already had bad stuff in her life before Stefan entered the picture and that he can’t protect her from all bad things. Stefan tells her that he’s doing this for her and gets out to go inside. Elena goes after him and tells him, “You don’t get to make that decision for me.” She tells him that if he walks away it will be for him because she knows what she wants. Then she tells him that she loves him. Stefan turns, giving her a very pained and tortured look, walks to her, and then they kiss.

Elena and Stefan head into the house, still kissing. Stefan breaks the kiss, his face showing the change to his vampire form. Elena tells him not to do that and not to hide from him. He turns back to her and she sees the changes in his face, running her hands over it, and then starts kissing him again. They head upstairs with more kissing, clothes coming off, and they fall into Stefan’s bed for a little human-vampire sex.

Logan leaves the warehouse and hears a clanging sound. He turns and when he looks back around, Alaric is there. They have a little verbal scuffle about Jenna. Alaric tells Logan that he’s not a violent guy by design. Logan turns to change and produces a weapon. Alaric stakes him as he turns to attack. Alaric leaves Logan lying in the parking lot near the warehouse.

Tyler asks Matt for a ride home. Matt tells him that he likes Caroline and to stop the little “bromance bitch act”. Tyler tells him, “OK.”

Caroline is sleeping while her mom watches over her. Sheriff Forbes’ cell rings, she answers it, and tells someone that she’ll be righ there. She leaves Caroline’s room, closing the door behind her.

Elena and Stefan snuggle in a bed free from any feathers and discuss Stefan’s room. Stefan tells her that it’s the only place that has remained constant for him and that it holds every memory that he’s ever thought to be important enough to hold onto. Stefan goes to get Elena something to drink and a smiling Elena looks around his room and finds the photograph of Katherine. Her face falls.

Damon’s cell phone rings and it’s Sheriff Forbes calling to thank him for taking care of Logan. Damon doesn’t follow and finds out that Logan has been dealt with outside of the warehouse and that they have found all of the bodies of his victims. Sheriff Forbes tells Damon that the town (and herself) owes him so much. Damon is standing in the woods near where he was supposed to meet Logan, stunned.

Stefan returns to his room and calls for Elena. He finds the necklace that he gave her on top of the photo of Katharine. Elena drives home alone. She sees someone standing in the middle of the road and she slams on her brakes. The car rolls. She sees whatever/whomever she hit stand up and walk toward her car. Roll credits!

What did you think of this episode? Once again, they didn’t disappoint. They continue to keep me guessing and wondering what is going to happen next.

Who do you think changed Logan Fell?

What do you think that Alaric is? Do you think that he’s some kind of supernatural creature?

There’s some obvious symbolism with the moon and Tyler since that was a very long shot on the moon…what’s that all about?

Who or what do you think was in the road and caused Elena’s accident?

Join us in the forum and share your thoughts!