Vampire Diaries Post Mortem: Homecoming

Previously on the Vampire Diaries, Damon cooked up a plan, Elena put her faith in Damon and a dagger in Rebkah, Big Bad Daddy Mikael made baby boy Klaus cry and Katherine had the last laugh, but that’s  just the icing on the cake to a winter finale that left fans (especially me) dying for what will happen next in Mystic Falls.

Luring Klaus Out of Hiding

With Stefan on board with the plan to get Klaus back, he calls Klaus and tells him his father is dead.  The interesting thing about that entire conversation, Mikael was laying there daggered at their feet courtesy of Elena (who is getting damn good at this daggering thing) so that Stefan could honestly say he was telling Klaus the truth and completely circumvent the compulsion (gotta love loopholes!).

During the planning session, Mikael gives Elena, Damon and Stefan a most telling piece of advice “Klaus will leave nothing to chance, especially when it comes to trust.”

The plan, of course, works and Klaus wants to see the body and he wants to talk to Rebekah.  Will she or won’t she back their play? After all, her love for Niklaus may be twisted, but he is her brother…fortunately, Rebekah’s still angry about Nik abandoning her and killing her mother, so she plays along.

But for how long?

Daddy Dearest

Mikael rouses from the dagger to find Rebekah waiting for him, she’s passed the time painting her tootsies.  I have to say, this was a really intriguing way to bring father and daughter face to face after so many centuries.  Rebekah may be pissed at Klaus, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was Mikael who turned all of them in the first place.  Mikael who cooked up this plan for immortality that damned all of his children (and who knows how many others) to a life of blood lust, loneliness and perfect vampire pouts…

What Does One Wear To Kill a Vampire?

It’s almost absurd that Elena is fishing through her closet for something to wear to homecoming.  I get that she’s trying for normalcy and she knows a lot is going on…but really?  A dress for homecoming?

Bonnie’s all maudlin because Jeremy fell in love with his ghost girlfriend and while I get her on one level, on another, I think it’s unrealistic to expect Jeremy not to have to cope with these feelings particularly when he cared about Anna when she was taken away the first time.  

Oh and just a teensy, weensy point of order Bonnie -- you could try to be more witch and a little less bitch about the situation.  Anna is gone for good and Jeremy is grieving AGAIN.

Homecoming

“…your track record with school dances is pretty tragic…”  Love him or hate him, Ripper Stefan’s snark is almost as much fun as Damon’s.  I loved the idea that while everyone else is getting ready for the dance, Elena and Damon are in his bathroom building wolfsbane grenades and Damon keeps taking them away from her because he’ll heal faster if one blows up in his face.

In the meanwhile, Stefan pops by for some snark and sneer after he wanders off, Damon lets Elena know he has a secret contingency plan, but he won’t talk about it there.  I also like that Elena is finally wising up to the idea that trusting people just because they say one thing isn’t a good plan.  Rebekah, Klaus and Mikael are all playing out their own family drama with Mystic Falls, Elena and the Salvatores caught in the cross fire.

“If I look back at our history of epic plan failures, it’s usually because one of us let our humanity get in the way.” - Point two to Ripper Stefan which is rather ironic considering how it does all go down at the end of the day.

We pause Operation Kill Klaus for a quick aside with the adorable duo of Caroline and Tyler painting a VW bus with glitter, flowers and school logos -- it’s almost paralyzing with the cuteness. Right up until Tyler wants to go feed and mentions that Rebekah knows people who like it…which prompts a round of evil blood slut comments from Caroline.  Gawd, I love Vampire Barbie, I really do.

Elena’s Got Back

Elena and Rebekah are talking as Rebekah gets ready for the party. She’s wearing the gorgeous little red dress from the last episode.  The women are bonding as Rebekah admits she’s never been to a high school dance (not really surprising since Nik daggered her in the 1920s and she spent about 90 years as a corpse and I don’t think they had ‘high school’ dances before then).

As maudlin and touching as the scene is, Rebekah’s struggle to fit into the modern day Mystic Falls is given true poignancy as Elena returns her mother’s necklace (another sign that Elena really is letting go of Stefan) and fixes it around her neck…just before she literly stabs her in the back with a dagger. 

Go Elena!  This is the feisty young woman I admired so much from earlier seasons before she took the TSTL pill early on in season three.  This is a woman who will fight for her family and folks, we should never remember that Elena and Katherine are doppelgangers.  They have a hell of a lot more in common than we’ve seen to date.

Damon admires her work and compliments her “Katherine-esque” style.  But Elena’s already worried that her own humanity will get in the way of the plan.  Damon tries to comfort her, but as they talk, he tells her he doesn’t trust Mikael and he doesn’t trust Stefan, not as long as Stefan is under Klaus’ control. 

“Then we need a better plan.”  - Elena

“Oh, I know what to do.  You’re just not going to like it.” - Damon

“Why not?” - Elena.

“Because when this all goes down, I don’t want you having any part of it.” - Damon

“What does that mean?” -Elena

“Do you trust me?” - Damon

“Yes.” - Elena

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” - Damon

And that -- in a nutshell, is just how far the Damon and Elena relationship has come.  She didn’t hesitate, she didn’t blink, she didn’t demand.

Tyler Throws a Better Party

The Homecoming Dance is flooded out of the high school (can’t tell me someone didn’t rip out a few pipes), so the Lockwoods throw together an impromptu bash courtesy of Klaus and a few dozen hybrids he brought along.  Caroline is highly offended that Tyler could put together a better party than her (see, I seriously love her) and is so completely in the dark about the plan to go after Klaus (which is probably for the best), but Bonnie wasn’t and Bonnie didn’t clue her in either.

Stefan hooks up with Klaus and they are enjoying the party.  Then Klaus sends Stefan to fetch daddy dearest’s body so the wake can be in full turn. Back at the Salvatore Boarding House, Michael feeds on Stefan and drops him into unconciousness, which was definitely disturbing for Damon. 

Okay, now it gets crazy, but here are the highlights:

• The two head out to confront Klaus while “Elena” arrives at the party with Matt. 
• Klaus taunts “Elena” but we don’t see the whole scene, just parts of it. 
• Later Damon makes his way up the back, ripping out a hybrid heart on his way in.  
• Klaus warns Tyler that if their friends do anything stupid, his hybrids will kill them all so Tyler vervains Caroline and has Matt sneak her out (aahhh, nothing says love like a hypodermic in the neck).
• Damon and Tyler get into a fight and Tyler tries to bite him, Damon pitches him into a wall, then Bonnie witchy migraines both of them. 
• Bonnie reminds Damon he’s not supposed to kill Tyler.
• Michael arrives at the front door (he can’t enter) and faces off against Klaus
• Klaus actually cries because Mikael is so mean to him (wow, that boy has some SERIOUS daddy issues)
• Mikael’s compelled all of Klaus’ hybrids, so they don’t listen to him anymore
• Mikael also has Elena and tells Klaus to come out or he’ll kill the blood fount from which Klaus can make his hybrids
• When Klaus refuses, Mikael kills her
• Damon chooses that moment to attack as Klaus is screaming

Now it gets a little trickier, why didn’t the white oak stake go into Klaus properly? I speculate it’s because of the angle, Damon was coming in under the ribs, just the way he showed Elena. Theoretically the rib cage could have broken the white oak stake, so he was going for the best angle, but Klaus is a hell of a strong guy, so the stake didn’t quite make his heart.

At that moment, “Elena” pops up and reveals herself to be Katherine and drops a bunch of wolfsbane grenades on the Hybrids before getting the hell away from Mikael (who was darn shocked that she was even there, guess she really did want to kill Elena too bad, so sad).

Inside the Lockwood house, Stefan tackles Damon away before he can finish the job and Klaus seizes the stake and kills Mikael.

Another epic plan down the tubes because this time, Katherine and Stefan gave into their humanity.

Where Do We Go From Here?

At the end of the long night, Damon and Elena are have no idea why Stefan turned on them at the last moment when everything had gone so perfectly.  Damon truly had thought of everything, including keeping Elena far away from the fight (and for once, she did as he wished, she stayed out of it) and it still went wrong.  Elena tried to comfort Damon who was furious with his brother, frustrated with the situation and genuinely terrified that he would not be able to keep her safe from Klaus now -- when he’d been so damn close to pulling it off.

As it turns out, Klaus had warned “Elena” during the party that all of his hybrids had orders to kill Damon if anything happened to him so Katherine rushed back to the Salvatores, revived Stefan and sent him to save his brother, then she went back to Damon’s plan.

Even Katherine is a victim of her own humanity.  She encourages Stefan to get angry, though and to get even with Klaus.  In the final moments of the episode, he calls to taunt Klaus, because he’s stolen the coffins in which Klaus keeps all his siblings (sans Rebekah), leaving the Original pretty flaming mad.

And that’s it…we had a seven week hiatus that ends tomorrow night with Klaus on the warpath, Damon and Elena growing closer together and Mystic Falls a warzone for vampire politics at its bloodiest. 

And yes, I couldn’t be happier.