Trust is important to Elena. Will Stefan learn that soon enough?

Tonight’s episode opens at the Salvatore Boarding House with a jailed and weak Damon asking Stefan where his ring is and Stefan telling him that he won’t need it anymore. Three days have passed since the party and the brothers discuss what will happen if Damon doesn’t feed on human blood – he will become weaker and weaker, mummifying, and unable to hurt anyone. Stefan confesses to injecting him with enough vervain to weaken him and says that he will move him to the family crypt once his circulation stops and they’ll re-evaluate what to do with him in 50 years. Damon tells Stefan that he’s stronger than he thinks and Stefan retorts that he’s not stronger than the vervain, leaving him alone in his cell.

At the Gilbert home, Elena wakes up and starts to write in her journal, but puts it down with a frustrated look on her face. She heads to the bathroom and finds Vickie in there, brushing her teeth. Vickie returns to Jeremy’s room and tells him that Elena found her in the bathroom. They begin to make out. Downstairs in the kitchen, Elena asks Aunt Jenna if she knows about Vickie and Jeremy…she does. Aunt Jenna tells Elena that she’s going out with Logan (her old flame and news reporter) that evening and asks if she’s heard from Stefan since he left the cryptic message three days earlier. Elena says that she hasn’t and she hasn’t tried calling him, either. She confesses that she’s not OK and couldn’t think of anything to put in her diary that morning.

Back at the Boarding House, Stefan and Zack discuss Damon being weak, but Stefan cautions him to stay out of the basement. Stefan lets Zack know that he’s returning to school. They discuss the situation with Elena and Stefan says how much he hates lying to her.

At Caroline’s house, Bonnie is sitting on Caroline’s bed holding an unlit candle, staring at it. Caroline is remembering the party and mentions Damon kissing her neck – or biting it. She tells Bonnie about having holes in her memory. Caroline tells Bonnie that she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore and just wants to get things back to normal. Bonnie picks up the amber crystal and asks Caroline about it. She tells Bonnie that Damon gave it to her – or was going to, but it’s hers now.

Elena notices Caroline at school cheerfully discussing the upcoming car wash fundraiser in memory of Coach Tanner. Elena is amazed at how Caroline acts like nothing happened. Bonnie notes that Caroline is just in denial. Stefan appears, Bonnie takes that as her cue to leave, and Stefan apologizes to Elena for not calling. He tells her that he was dealing with Damon and Elena confronts him about it taking four days. She agrees to meet him that afternoon at Mystic Grill. Caroline approaches and asks Stefan about Damon’s whereabouts, stating that “he has some serious apologizing to do”. Stefan tells her that Damon is gone and isn’t coming back. Stefan walks away and Elena tells Caroline that Damon’s leaving is a “good thing.”

That afternoon at the Grill, Matt is playing pool when Elena arrives, looking for Stefan. Meanwhile at the Boarding House, Zack goes down to the basement and tells Damon that he is full of vervain and that he’s been putting it in his coffee for sixteen years – his blood will make him worse if he tries to feed on him. Zack tells Damon that he came down to say goodbye. Damon’s arm shoots through the bars, choking Zack. Damon orders Zack to open the door. Stefan appears, saving Zack.

While waiting for Stefan, Matt and Elena end up playing pool and discuss their siblings hooking up. Elena notes that Stefan is an hour late and tells Matt that she’s not going to discuss her boy problems with him. Elena asks Matt what he thinks of Stefan and confides that she thinks he’s keeping secrets. Matt confesses that he thinks that Stefan is a nice guy. Stefan arrives and apologizes for his tardiness, telling Elena that there was a problem with his uncle. Elena pushes him for answers and confronts him about his vague non-answers. They are interrupted by an elderly man who thinks that he knows Stefan and comments that he hasn’t “aged a day”. Stefan tells him that he must have the wrong person, and he and Elena leave.

Later at the Grill, Caroline’s mother and Logan Fell meet up and discuss the results of a search that yielded nothing. They mention the watch and Logan tells her that he’s still working on it. Caroline’s mother suggests starting with Jeremy since the watch is passed on to the men in the family. Logan then meets Aunt Jenna for their dinner date. Cut to the Gilbert home where Elena is lying in her bed, upset and “miserable”. Jeremy suggest that she go downstairs and she finds Stefan in the kitchen fixing chicken parmesan for dinner for her. He tells her that he wants to know who she’s dumping if she’s going to dump him. He begins to tell her about himself, starting with Katherine.

In Jeremy’s room, Vickie pulls out some of Elena’s pain pills from her accident. She begins to crush them and Jeremy complains about how they get high all the time.

Back in the kitchen, Elena begins to help Stefan with dinner and starts to chop some garlic, which Stefan states that he loves. She cuts her finger and the vampire begins to emerge within Stefan. Elena notices the physical changes in the reflection in the window while she washed her finger at the sink. Stefan gets it under control, but not before Elena’s paranoia starts to get to her. Back at the Boarding House, Damon begins to call for Caroline, who is on the phone with someone discussing the upcoming car wash. She hears his call and a crow appears at her open window and she shoos it away. Stefan goes to the basement to see Damon, who tells him that his lies will catch up with him and he’ll lose Elena.

At the car wash, Elena asks Stefan about the rings that he and Damon wear. Stefan tells her that it’s a family crest and they discuss the type of stone. Elena suggests that he take it off to keep the soap from getting all over it and offers to put it in her bag for him. Stefan declines, telling her that it’s fine. Elena goes for more towels, finds none, and reports to Caroline. Caroline goes into the dark hallways of the school to get more towels. The door to the room is locked and then she sees Damon appear, asking her to help him. Meanwhile, at the cashier stand, the stranger from the Grill approaches and Elena tells him that she remembers him from the day before. She asks him how he thought that he knew Stefan. He tells her that it was from years ago at the Salvatore Boarding House. He told Elena about Stefan’s uncle being killed by an animal attack in June 1953. He’s sure that it was Stefan – he remembered the ring and his brother, Damon. Elena begins to ask Stefan questions about his family.

Jeremy and Vickie go for a walk to the cemetery where a bunch of Vickie’s friends are hanging out, getting high.

Elena meets Logan and asks him for a favor. Logan agrees so that he can get into good graces with Aunt Jenna. Elena asks if the station has access to old news stories from the 1950’s. Logan takes her to the station to look through the archives.

We then see Caroline walking in a trance-like state to the Boarding House (with a crow watching her). She follows Damon’s voice to the basement, where she finds him in his cell. He asks her to let him out and she tells him that he bit her. Damon tells her that she liked it and she’ll remember what he wants her to. Caroline starts to open the door but is stopped by Zack, who tells her to run. Unfortunately, Caroline had already opened it slightly and Zack is unable to stop Damon from escaping. Damon chases Caroline, who runs outside into the sunlight. Damon is trapped in the house without his ring until dark.

Back at the car wash, Bonnie is told by a girl that the parking lot needs to be swept dry and Bonnie is very annoyed by this. Bonnie ends up setting fire to the water, which then sets one of the cars on fire. Stefan pulls Bonnie from her trance-like state, and Bonnie asks if she caused the fire. Stefan tells her that he thinks that she did, and Bonnie asks him not to tell anyone.

Jeremy and Vickie are stoned in the cemetery and Vickie pulls out the pills that she stole from Elena and gives them to one of her friends. Jeremy is upset and gets the pills back. They fight about Vickie’s friends being losers. Jeremy tells her that she’s different and she tells him that he is – he’s the kid with the big house, acting out because his parents died. Vickie talks about how she has no future and if she wants to feel bad about herself, she’ll go back to Tyler. Jeremy goes home and Vickie stays at the cemetery.

Back at the news station, Elena finds video footage of Franklin Fell reporting on the animal attack in 1953. The camera catches “the nephew” standing in the doorway as the uncle’s body is taken away by the coroner and there’s Stefan…in black and white in 1953.

Caroline, having escaped from Damon, is lying in her room and her mother enters, asking why she didn’t see her at the car wash. Her mom asks if she’s OK and if it’s boy troubles. Caroline tells her that if she wants to talk about boys, she’ll call her dad since he’s dating one.

As the episode concludes with a very insightful voice-over of Elena writing in her diary with flashbacks to moments out of the ordinary with Stefan, we see Stefan finding Zack unconscious (presumably dead), Logan rifling through Jeremy’s room to find the watch, and a very shaken Bonnie showing up on her grandmother’s doorstep. Vickie and her friends are still at the cemetery. Vickie goes to fix the radio playing in the truck and Damon appears, asking her to come over to him – he needs to tell her something. Vickie helps hold up the very weak Damon, who bites her. We see her go limp and he keeps drinking. The final scene shows Stefan searching for Damon. As he opens the door to go outside, he finds Elena on the doorstep and she asks him, “What are you?”

Another great episode! I loved how Stefan started to open up to Elena, but was it enough?

The way that Bonnie’s powers keep escalating is very entertaining to me (I can’t help but think of early episodes of “Charmed” with what’s going on with her). What do you think that her grandmother will be able to tell her?

Do you have any theories about why the Gilbert watch is so important?

What did you think about the way Elena pieced things together, figuring out that Stefan isn’t something human? Did it remind you of any other book or movie?

Do you think that Stefan will confess to Elena next week?

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