The Vampire Diaries, Season 1, Episode 4

There’s the episode recap; anything you missed, no worries, you’ll catch up with the last episode here. Elena wakes up in the night, finding herself alone in the house, –’til she sees a shadow on the wall. In the living room, the lights won’t work, –but the TV does, and the news shows the latest victim of the animal attacks; herself. Suddenly, Damon is everywhere, and chasing her, –when he finally catches her and sinks his teeth in, Stefan snaps awake. This time, it’s Stefan’s nightmare! He wakes up to find Damon mocking him for his nightmare, Damon tells him the “deadly beast” was captured, that it was a mountain lion, –apparently, Damon is ‘covering his tracks.’

Damon rattles on more, needling Stefan about his plans to seduce Elena. Stefan confesses in his diary that he doesn’t know how he’ll stop Damon, but that he will, somehow. At Elena’s house, Jenna is cussing at the TV, –she explains to Elena that the news anchor, Logan Fell, was the reason she left town. Elena is polishing heirlooms from her mother’s safety deposit box, and Jeremy states an interest in their value. Not too long after, Stefan shows up at the door. He and Elena instantly fall into a make out session, that ends with the two on her bed, and Stefan losing control of his hunger.

They agree to chill out a bit, and Stefan and Elena also agree to go to the Founder’s Party; the party that the original Mystic Falls founders attended for the establishment of the small town. Damon manipulates Caroline into taking him to the Party, as well; and also manipulates her into wearing a blue dress, not the “childish” yellow one. Hilarious moment, –Damon is making fun of Edward, from Twilight, being whipped, by Bella. Though apparently, he can speak freely about what vampires are like in the “real world,” because Caroline already knows his dirty secret. They have a soft, cute moment, when Caroline suddenly asks if Damon is going to kill her. He says yes, though he wants her to do something for him first.

Instead of doing the obvious, and saying “Blow me,” Caroline agrees to do “anything” for him, –which means snooping. At the Grill, Ty has lunch with his parents, and ignores Vickie, the server. Also at the Grill, Bonnie tells Elena she doesn’t really want to go to the Party without a date, –but she goes anyway. When Tyler tries to get all cozy with Vickie, once his parents are gone, she does her best to blow him off. But when he agrees to take her to the Party, she instantly thaws. Jeremy, watching the whole incident in disgust, tells her it’s sad to see her knowingly make the wrong choice.

Finally, Zach confronts Damon about why he’s back in Mystic Falls, but Damon doesn’t feel the need to tell Zach anything; instead, he strangles him. Stefan interrupts, possibly saving Zach’s life, and when Damon disappears, they plan to poison him with vervain; a plant that Damon made sure didn’t grow in the area for over a hundred years. Zach reveals a hidden stash of vervain, growing in the basement, –a deadly secret, for relatives of vampires. Especially psychotic vampires, like Damon. They agree that once Damon is weakened by the vervain, they can ‘stop’ him. So, are they planning to kill him?!

Ty goes over to Elena’s house, to pick up Elena’s family heirlooms, and she practically has to pry Jeremy and Tyler off each other. When Elena leaves, Jeremy hangs in the door for a moment, and Ty asks if it would make any difference if he told him, that he actually liked Vickie. Jeremy isn’t impressed, and doesn’t believe him. While digging through nail polish, getting ready for the Founders’ Party, Bonnie confides in Elena something that Caroline told her about Katherine. The story according to Damon is, that Katherine chose Damon, and by being a manipulative liar, Stefan broke them up. Elena doesn’t believe it, but Bonnie urges her to not be so trusting.

While Damon and Stefan are getting ready, bickering snidely with one another, Bonnie and Elena are getting ready as well. Elena gets a call; the mayor’s wife can’t find the pocket watch that belonged to her father, and her grandfather. She finds it in Jeremy’s room, and accuses him of trying to sell it on eBay for pot. Jeremy, hurt and upset, tells her it was supposed to be his, since the watch is passed to the first-born son as per family tradition. He tells Elena to take the watch and get out. Damon decides to have a drink with Stefan, but just as he’s about to sip, –he pours it out. Damon knew about the poison!

Damon claims that now he’s going to the party angry, hinting at possible violence: “Who knows what I’ll do?” At the party, Tyler immediately drags Vickie out of the crowd, around to the back, i.e., away from his parents and their hoity toity friends. Zach comments on the failure of Stefan’s first attempt to poison Damon; but this was how Stefan wanted it to work out. This way, Stefan figures, Damon won’t see another attempt coming so soon. Elena quietly enters Jeremy’s room, and puts the watch on his desk, then leaves. As soon as Caroline enters with Damon, her mother automatically asserts her disapproval of Caroline’s date.

Floating amongst the party, Jenna is reunited with Logan Fell, –her evil ex, and blows him off before he can get too friendly with her. In one of the artifacts rooms, Elena is reading the original Founders Party guest list, –and sees Stefan and Damon on it! Elena begins to ask Stefan about it, but Damn and Caroline approach. Damon tells her that they were the “original” Salvatore brothers; their ancestors. With some verbal pushing and prodding, Caroline manages to drag Stefan out to dance, leaving Elena alone with Damon. He apologizes for the way he had acted the other night, and trying to kiss her. Meanwhile, out on the dance floor, Stefan gives Caroline a glass of champagne.

Damon tells Elena a story about the “original” Salvatore brothers. The church that was fired on, killing civilians, was actually purposely set ablaze to kill Union sympathizers, and someone dear to the Salvatore brothers was trapped inside. When they tried to rescue her, they were shot in cold blood; “murdered.” Elena tells Damon gently that she doesn’t want to get caught up in the issues between him and Stefan. Outside, Tyler and Vickie are talking by the lake, and once again, the hard-headed Vickie suspects that she’s being kept out of the loop because she’s not good enough for him. They get into a fight, and Vickie tries to drag him off, but Tyler gets pissed and shakes her off.

Just as things start to get ugly, Tyler’s mom comes out of nowhere, and snaps at him. He introduces them, and Vickie leaves. Once her back is turned, Ty’s mom, the mayor’s wife, calls Vickie trash. Bonnie, alone at a table, sits quietly, and suddenly, ignites an unlit candle, much to her surprise. Stefan offers Damon a drink, when he and Elena join Stefan and Caroline on the dance floor; feeling smart, Damon declines the champagne. Stefan and Elena dance, and Caroline remarks how cute they look together; Damon tells her not to talk, looking, despite himself, a bit sad.

Logan approaches Jenna again at the party, and asks for a second chance, but again, Jenna blows him off. While outside, Elena tells Stefan about Damon apologizing to her, and asks about Katherine. Stefan begins to shut down, saying that Damon is trying to pull them apart, and Elena says it’s working. Bonnie tells Elena that she feels guilty, because she planted the seed of doubt, but Elena doesn’t blame her. Damon drags Caroline upstairs, and makes her block a doorway while he ‘steals’ a yellow crystal, in a tarnished setting from a secret compartment in an old chest. He claims it’s his, but Caroline has doubts.

For the third and final time, Logan approaches Jenna, and begs her for a date, –this time, she accepts, and tells him she’ll go to lunch with him. In the dining room, the mayor’s wife complains to a waiter to light candles; to help him out, Bonnie tries lighting them again with her mind. At the last second, she turns away, giving up. When she turns around again, every candle in the room is lit. In the bathroom, Elena notices a bruise under Caroline’s scarf, –and suddenly, finds all the bite marks and bruises all over her. Caroline runs off, making a half-attempt to justify Damon, while Elena runs off to find Stefan.

Elena tells Stefan she takes everything back, that she believes him about Damon being a lunatic, and tries to tell her about what’s happening with Caroline. Stefan tells her he’s “taking care of it,” and asks the confused and suspicious Elena to just trust him. She tells Stefan that trust must be earned, –while they’re talking, Stefan spies Damon hauling Caroline away from the party, into the gardens. Stefan leaves Elena there, and goes after Damon. At Elena’s house, Vickie comes by to see Jeremy, and they make up, –aww, there’s lots of sweet, cute teenage making out. But back at the party, something sinister is about to happen.

Caroline is crying, and telling Damon she’s sorry, that she didn’t tell Elena anything. He soothes her, and when she’s at ease, he sinks his teeth into her. He attempts to drain her, –but instead of poisoning Damon himself, Stefan steps out of the shadows and reveals, he poisoned Caroline’s blood instead. Caroline lives, and finds the yellow crystal on the ground. Elena finds Caroline, and comforts her, –while Stefan locks Damon away underground. But woah, big surprise! something weird is going on, –all the town officials, the mayor and his wife, the sheriff, the news-anchor, are talking about the five drained bodies, and declare “they are back.” Sounds like the next episode is bound to be spooky, and a little more revealing. So what are the town officials up to? Just what kind of witch is Bonnie? And what the heck was the yellow crystal? We can’t wait to find out, so we can tell you all about it!