The Vampire Diaries Season 2 Episode 17  “Know Thy Enemy” – Original Air Date 4/7/2011

By OBS Staff Member ifellhard

This episode opens where the previous episode ended with Isobel on the porch of the Gilbert house and Jenna stunned by her presence.  Elena tells Jenna not to invite her into the house and Jenna is pissed at Elena because she knew that Isobel was still alive.  Elena begs Jenna for a chance to explain, but she doesn’t want to hear it.

Stefan and Damon talk with Elena about Isobel’s appearance.  Katherine suggests that they keep her presence a secret from Isobel and John.  She tells them that they want Klaus dead and that she’s on “Team Salvatore”.  Stefan tells Damon to call Alaric to let him know about Isobel.

Alaric shows up at the Gilbert house and Jenna is still really pissed and won’t talk to either of them.  She leaves and tells him and Elena that she’ll be staying on campus.  Alaric begs her for a chance to explain and they are interrupted by John.  He tells Alaric and Elena to let Jenna go.  Alaric punches John and leaves.  Elena tells John that it’s all his fault.

Caroline is on her phone freaking out because she can’t find Matt.  Caroline’s mom thinks that they are just fighting and remembers that there’s an event at the Lockwood house that Matt will be working.

Elena and Stefan talk.  John asks Elena and Stefan to go downstairs to talk.  They reluctantly oblige and find Isobel downstairs.  Isobel explains that the she asked John for a do-over.  Elena is upset that John invited Isobel into her home.  He tells them that Isobel has information about Klaus and Isobel tells them that she has been working to find Klaus since she was last in Mystic Falls.  She then tells them that she was unable to find him, but there have been lots of rumors.  John ensures them that Isobel has been working to help them all along.  Isobel tells Elena that she has a safehouse for her – a house with the deed in Elena’s name so no uninvited vampires can enter it.  Isobel asks Elena to let her help and Elena tells her to get the hell out.

Damon, Bonnie, & Jeremy go to the Martins’ to get his grimoires and to find the one with the spell to harness the energy left when a witch dies violently.  Dr. Martin told her that if she can find the spot of the massacre, she can use the energy of the witches who died there. Bonnie realizes that Damon knows where the site is and then uses her powers to find the book with the spell in it.

Isobel enters the house that is supposed to be Elena’s safehouse and Katherine attacks her.  They end up hugging and exchange pleasantries.  Isobel tells her that she’s been busy making a deal with Klaus to save Katherine’s life.  They talk over drinks and talk about Isobel’s visit to the Gilbert house.  Isobel tells her that John thinks that she’s helping him protect Elena and he’s been useful in keeping her informed all along.  Isobel tells that she was unable to get near Klaus, but was able to get one of his witches.  She says that Klaus is willing to grant Katherine her freedom for the moonstone and the doppelganger.  They then toast to Isobel’s plan.

Stefan, Damon, & Elena talk about Isobel and discuss whether she’s telling the truth or not.  Damon suggests that Elena stay with them so that they can protect her.  Katherine enters and asks them what the plan is, as well as where the moonstone is.  They don’t reveal anything to her.

At the luncheon at the Lockwoods’ Carol Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes talk about the fire at the Grill.  Stefan and Elena arrive to talk to Caroline about Matt.  Caroline leaves to find Matt.

Jeremy, Bonnie, & Damon seek out the site of the massacre.  Damon tells them that he knows it’s location because he tried to save Emily Bennett.  They arrive at a home in the woods and enter the house.  Damon ends up stuck in the sunlight by the powers of the witches who died there. His ring didn’t even help him.

Katherine searches throughout the Salvatore house for the moonstone and swipes some cash that she finds.  She goes to the bathroom to wash up after rummaging through a fireplace and realizes that the stone is hiding in plain sight in the soapdish. 

Isobel walks up to Alaric on the street and tells him that she needs to clean up some loose ends.  She apologizes for what she’s about to do and for compelling him to let her go.  She confesses that she loved him so much.  She then tells someone, “He’s all yours.” A witch uses his powers on Alaric and he falls to the street and Isobel leaves.

Damon waits outside the house of the massacre.  The powers don’t like him being there and close the doors to the house on him.   Bonnie & Jeremy are going through the grimoire.  Bonnie begins to hear the whispers of the spirits of the witches who died.   Bonnie goes to another room and Jeremy follows.  Bonnie finds the spot as they set the candles.  There’s more whispers from the spirits and when the candles are set aflame, Bonnie declares that the spirits are ready.

At the luncheon, Elena accepts the donation to her mother’s scholarship in Jenna’s place.  Isobel shows up and starts talking to John.  When asked why she’s there, she tells him that she’s a distraction.  She shows her fangs and then bites him.  As Elena talks about her mom and her work with the historical society, there is a noise as John crashes to the floor.  Everyone begins to rush about. Katherine(who I dressed just like Elena) grabs Elena and compliments her on her dress.  Stefan helps tend to John and tells everyone that he just needed some air.  “Elena” and Stefan leave and she gets on the phone with Damon and tells him that “It’s Isobel.”  Stefan tells Damon to get to the Lockwoods to deal with John’s body.  Stefan realizes that “Elena” is Katherine and she stakes him and chucks him into the trees.

Bonnie is weeping and screaming as she works the spell.  Jeremy is on the floor, scared.  When she stops, he asks if she’s OK and she tells him, “I did it.”

Carol Lockwood takes care of escorting the guests out from the luncheon and Damon arrives.  Sheriff Forbes tells him that John is dead and Damon tells him that he’ll be fine in a couple of hours because of his ring.   Damon tells them that they will need a cover story and a place to take John’s body.  Sheriff Forbes calls off the coroner, telling him that it was a false alarm.  Matt is outside the house and asks Sheriff Forbes for Vickie’s file because he wants to see how they covered up how she was killed by a vampire. 

Damon goes home with John and dumps him in the floor.  He’s covered in John’s blood and goes to wash up in the bathroom.  While in the bathroom, he notices that the moonstone is no longer in the soap dish. 

Isobel answers her phone and drives with Elena unconscious in the back.  Katherine calls Isobel from her house and tells her to hurry.  Isobel apologizes to Katherine, saying that she had to do what she was told.  She said that “he wanted the moonstone and he wanted you”.  Elena begins to awaken and overhears the conversation.  Katherine asks who “he” is and Isobel hangs up on her.  Katherine turns around and the same witch who got Alaric is there and he uses his powers to subdue her. 

Caroline leaves another voice mail for Matt asking him to call her and she goes home.  She finds Matt waiting in her house.  He tells her that Sheriff Forbes brought him there to cool off and that the needs to know more.  She tells him that he will tell him anything he wants to know.

Bonnie and Jeremy leave the old house and Bonnie begins to chant – it was a warning from the dead witches telling her to be careful with all of the power.  Jeremy asks her how much power she can draw from them and, smirking, Bonnie stirs up the wind with leaves flying around, lightning crashing, thunder, and clouds swirling.  She tells him, “The answer to your question is a lot.”

Stefan and Damon arrive at Isobel’s house and enter.  Stefan goes upstairs and Damon searches downstairs and they find no one there.

Isobel goes to a cemetery and Elena asks her if she was compelled to betray Katherine.  Isobel tells her that even if she was, she could tell.  Elena asks if Isobel is taking her to Klaus.  Isobel stops at her grave and talks about her parents visiting an empty grave and ponders maybe the human part of her is there – the part she abandoned when she chose to become a vampire.  She tells Elena that she got to meet the part that would betray her own flesh and blood.  Isobel’s phone rings.  She answers it and it’s the person who has Katherine and the moonstone. They ask if the doppelganger is safe.  Isobel confirms that she is and that person tells Isobel to let Elena go.  They tell her that Klaus has what he needs for now and Isobel’s part that she was compelled to do is finished.  Isobel hangs up and tells Elena that she’s sorry that she was such a disappointment to her.  She rips her protective necklace off and burns in the sun on top of her grave.

Caroline explains things to Matt and confesses to compelling him to forget in the woods.  She tells him that she couldn’t stay away because she loves him so much.  Matt tells her that he’s all alone – his mother doesn’t care, his sister is dead, and all of his friends are liars.  He says that it’s all too much and he doesn’t want to know any of it.  He asks Caroline to make him forget and she agrees and compels him.

Elena holds Isobel’s necklace and she tells Stefan that she’s surprised that she feels bad about Isobel being gone.  She wonders why she let her go.  He tells her that they have to assume that Klaus knows anything John told Isobel.  He goes on to say that Klaus knows that Elena won’t turn herself, Damon and Stefan will keep her safe, and he knows that she won’t run.  Damon chimes in that that’s exactly why they need to take extra precautions to make sure that they don’t get played.  Damon shows Elena the deed to their house in Zack’s name and tells her to sign it and put it in her name, making it a safehouse for her because she can control who gets invited in.   John begins to sputter to life and Damon grabs him.  John tells Elena that he’s sorry and she tells Damon to let him go because she and John need to talk.

Jeremy reads through the spellbook and begins to freak out because he realizes that if Bonnie uses too much of the borrowed power, it could kill her.  He asks how much it will take to kill an original.  Bonnie says that it will take all of it and Jeremy tells her that he won’t let her do that.  She tells him that there was a reason she was called to do this – she’s not doing this just for Elena.  She explains that it’s for everyone.  Bonnie leaves and Jeremy is pissed and sulking.

Matt goes out and gets into Sheriff Forbes’ patrol car.  He tells her that he drank the vervain and got Caroline to tell him everything.  She asks him to tell her everything that Caroline said.  Matt says it feels like she died and Sheriff Forbes tells him that she did.

John and Elena talk about Isobel and Katherine being close.  He admits that he never realized that they were working against him.  Elena asks why he trusted Isobel at all.  He tells her that he was there when Isobel gave birth and he saw the heartbreak she felt over giving Elena up and because she was the first girl he ever loved and believed her when she said she’d help keep Elena safe.  Elena is stunned by this.  He pledges to do whatever Elena wants him to do and will leave if that’s what she wants.  She tells him he screws up everything he touches, but he’s the only parent she has left and maybe she can learn not to hate him.  

Stefan and Damon talk about Bonnie and the spell.  Damon comments that she is “locked and loaded”.   Stefan says that Katherine has no idea that Bonnie has her powers back and that Bonnie is their secret weapon. 

Katherine is on the floor and comes to.  The witch that took her is casting over Alaric.  Alaric looks at the witch and the witch removes Alaric’s bindings.  The witch bows before him and Alaric steps toward Katherine.  Katherine tries to flee, but she’s bound by the apartment.  Alaric begins to speak in a Slavic tongue and Katherine says, “Klaus”.

Were you shocked by Isobel’s double-crossing of both John and Katherine?  What did you think of her suicide? 

Do you think that Elena let John off too easily by not ordering him away?

How do you think Sheriff Forbes will react to the knowledge of Caroline being a vampire and what else will she find out as a result of Matt’s interrogation of Caroline?  Does this put Damon and Stefan at risk as well?

Did anyone suspect that Alaric was actually Klaus?

What else from this episode would you like to discuss?