The vampire Diaries S03e20 Recap 'Do Not Go Gentle'
In tonight’s episode, the school holds a 1920′s-theme dance, and Caroline goads Elena into asking Stephan to go with her; Bonnie invites Jamie to be her accommodation to the dance, while Klaus attempts to derail plans that Tyler has for Caroline; and the Salvatore brothers seek help in undoing a dangerous spell.
The show begins with Klaus in the living room painting, when Rebekah walks in to update her brother regarding the missing stake. She tells him that she “persuaded” Alaric/Ric to give it to her, and she hands it over to him. Strange, he doesn’t examine it. He simply tosses it into the fire. Then, he tells her to pack her bags because they’re leaving town. She hesitates, telling him that the school dance is the following night, and she was on the planning committee. She begs him to go with her, telling him that it would mean a lot to her. He considers the request, then tells her they’ll have “one last hurrah!” [Hurrah, indeed!]
Elsewhere, Alaric calls Damon to tell him that he gave Rebekah the stake. Then, he also informs him of his plan to leave town because he’s still having black outs, which means that he’s still a threat to everyone. Rebekah/Esther shows up as Ric is finishing his conversation with Damon. To say that it’s wickedly delicious that they are conspiring together, would be an understatement. It’s truly been the biggest surprise of this season. Yet, it puts the viewer in a quandary because Esther is out to destroy ALL the vampires, which isn’t something that WE want! They talk about their plan, then Ric asks her how she intends to get herself back into her own body? She smiles at him and says with a little help from a vampire she knows. Out of nowhere, we see a flash, and Ric stabs Rebekah; she collapses; then, the shot pans to Esther laid out in her coffin as her eyes open, and she gasps for air. [Game back on...]
At the gymnasium, Elena is helping Caroline decorate for the dance. They speak of dates and Elena’s lack thereof, when Caroline tries to cajole her into asking Stephan. She hesitates because of what she just went through with Damon, however, Caroline assures her that Stephan was the one who had encouraged her to sort through her feelings for the brothers, so there’s no harm or foul in what she did. Elena decides she’s right and calls him.
She tells him that she’d like to go to the dance with him, and he tells her that he’d love that. They both hang up smiling. Stephan turns around to find Damon there. Sarcastically, he recommends that his brother take her a wrist corsage so that the pin won’t prick her. Stephan wants to say something but doesn’t know what?
The scene shifts to Damon at the hospital to meet with Dr. Fell [a woman from a previous episode who dated Alaric]. He’s there to ask for help regarding his friend. At the mention of Alaric’s name, the scene shifts to Esther taking him to the place where Klaus first killed her hundreds of years ago. She tells him that she needs his ring to bind it to the stake, “thus rendering the white oak indestructible.” He balks about giving her the one thing that protects him and could save his life, but she patiently explains that it’s required for the spell, and he needs to trust her. He gives her the ring, which she puts into a wooden bowl and begins to cast a spell over it. Ric watches her work, fascinated by what she’s doing. Fire erupts in the bowl. Their eyes connect over the flames. Then, she stirs the white ash stake into the bowl, and the ring melds to it.
As quickly as it erupted, the fire just as quickly dissipates.
Esther holds it in the air in front of Alaric, saying: “The ultimate weapon for the ultimate hunter!”
Meanwhile, Stephan picks up Elena for the dance. He looks very dapper; she looks very beautiful. He pins a flower to the strap of her dress. It’s a white rose. Hm. I believe the meaning of the white rose is “pure love”. It seems fitting. Time will tell…
At the dance, Caroline tells Matt that Elena is spoken for. “Sometimes,” she tells him, “people who love her get caught in the crossfire.” Matt assures her that they’re just friends. No more is she relieved to hear that then Tyler shows up. Caroline is both happy and concerned for him to be there. She tells him that he doesn’t need to be jealous of Klaus. He tells her that he is jealous but he’s also competitive. Caroline assures him that there’s nothing to compete for because she loves him.
Across the dance-floor, Elena asks Stephan to show her some moves. He laughs and tells her that he was blacked out for most of that decade. Still, she pulls his hand toward the floor as the song, “You Do Something to Me” fills the room. As they move around the floor, he asks how Bonnie is doing, and Elena tells him that she’s doing better. He says that he’s thought about talking to her but been unsure. Elena tells him to do it. Then, she makes an attempt to talk to him about Damon and what went on between them during the trip, but he doesn’t want to hear it – it’s not important. His eyes softened when he looks at her, and he tells her that he’s honored to be her date for the evening. Before we can get a reaction from her, Damon shows up and tells Stephan that they need to talk.
Jeremy bumps into Bonnie and they have an uncomfortable few words exchanged with the other. She mentions in a bitter tone that he doesn’t need to wear his ring anymore.
“When my sister stops hanging around with vampires, then I’ll take it off,” he tells her before walking away from her and Jamie, and right into a conversation between Damon, Stephan and Elena discussing the possibility of killing Alaric. Jeremy is troubled by what he’s overheard and runs out with Elena following after him to try and explain. Just as they get outside, Esther shows up and tells her if she wants to help Alaric she’ll go with her. Jeremy begs her not to go, but she tells him to go get Stephan and Damon. After he leaves, Esther assures Elena that she means her no harm, but declares that Elena will go with her. And, she does.
When the Salvatore brothers find out what’s happened, they take off in pursuit only to find that a binding spell has created a wall that prevents Stephan and Damon from following them. They watch, frustrated, as Elena follows after Esther moving further and further from their sight.
The scene then shifts to Bonnie and Jamie in a room talking. They’re getting to know one another better. She’s impressed by his “moves”. And, she informs him that her friends are very special to her. He mentions the crazy town they live in full of vampires and werewolves, but that he’s just a normal guy, which is what she wanted, maybe even needed to hear. She kisses him. Before things can go any further, Damon shows up and tells Bonnie they’ve got a problem.
Elena’s got a little problem of her own. Esther takes her to the cave where Ric is, and she begs her not to hurt him. She tells Elena that she’s going to make him better than he is, but she needs the blood of the Doppelganger one final time to remake Alaric into someone of the strength, who can take on her children and kill them. Elena doesn’t like what she’s hearing and protests. Esther, however, informs Elena that Ric has embraced his darkest side, and that each time he went through a devastating change, [referencing his wife becoming a vampire and is girlfriend, Jenna being killed by one] she was there for him–with him, nurturing him. She holds a hard stare on Elena and replies, “Vampires took everything from him, now he’s going to get his revenge.”
The scene shifts to Klaus showing up at the dance, while Caroline is dancing with Tyler. He cuts in over Caroline’s protests, but Tyler backs away so that they can dance. It appears that he wants to see their interaction for himself. Klaus tells her she’d have fit in perfectly during the 20′s because people back then were freely reckless. Then, he changes the subject and lets her know that he’s leaving town the following day. He challenges her: “Perhaps, you’ll show up on my doorstep one day,” then warns: “Mark my words, a small-town boy and a small-town life will not appeal to you in the long-run.”
He makes his leave, and gets stuck by the barrier-spell, unable to move beyond it.
“What’s this?” he grumbles.
Stephan comes up behind him. “Your mother’s back,” he quips.
Klaus looks surprised momentarily, but then they head to find Bonnie. He demands that she use her powers to break the barrier wall.
“Work your magic witch, or I’ll start killing people you care about!”
Stephan steps up behind him and says in a snide tone that he’s not really made a threat because the only people Bonnie cares about are Caroline and Tyler. “Everyone else,” he adds a un-humored laugh to his comment and states: “She’d tell to go to hell.”
The comment makes Klaus release Jamie.
Back at the cave, Elena tries to talk to Ric – she attempts to reason with him not to do this thing. He tells her that Jenna’s blood is on his hands, but Elena disagrees and says she won’t give him her blood. Esther steps up, showing Elena that it really doesn’t matter what she wants, and points at her until we see some of Elena’s blood burst through. It’s put in the bowl, which Esther tells Ric to drink.
“Is it finished?” he asks.
“Not just yet,” Esther notes, then she swipes him with something.
Back at the gymnasium, Bonnie is making her own plan. Damon hands her a vial of blood, but Bonnie is very cool toward him.
Sarcastically, Damon replies that he’s sorry they were forced to kill her mother in order to save Elena! Still, she says nothing to him.
As the spell is conducted, they figure out where she is, and Caroline tries to assure Stephan that Elena will be fine. Tyler tosses the idea out there that maybe they should kill Klaus even if it does kill him. Caroline cringes, thinking that’s a horrible suggestions. She tells him that’s not the best case scenario. Then, she reminds him that Klaus can’t know that he’s not sired anymore. He looks at her, and she tells him she loves him. They kiss.
Back at the cave, Esther is explaining things to Elena, telling her that he’ll soon awake to undo the evil that she once created. Alaric, she assures, will never be what my children began out as. Elena tells her she has no guarantee of that. Still, Esther states her plan: when the time is right, Ric will die, and, when this is over, we’ll have rid the earth of vampires once and for all!
Elena again states that Esther can’t be sure what’s going to happen. Esther makes the mistake of invoking Elena’s Aunt Jenna.
She bristles when her Aunt’s name is mentioned and tells her not to use her aunt as justification for her plan, which she believes is evil in its own right. Esther, not dissuaded by Elena’s protests of hearing her aunt’s name, tells her that Jenna though made a vampire remained pure and knows peace on the other side. Esther tells Elena that Jenna wasn’t in the place where she was.
No more has she said this than Jeremy bursts in with a gun.
Esther looks at him, slightly horrified. “How foolish of you to risk your lives in defense of those who would kill you. If that’s your choice…” He points the gun at Esther, but Alaric wakes up and stabs her with the white ask stake that has the melded ring attached to it.
As soon as she falls to the ground, he looks around, confused and asks. “Where’s my ring? “What the hell happened?”
Elsewhere, Stephan tells Klaus he’s done with revenge, and that they’ve stopped his mother once before and they’ll stop it again. Klaus talks about the fun times they had in decades past – tried to remind him of their brotherhood, when Damon steps up and states that Stephan already has a brother.” Then, he makes a face that only Damon can make and says in a faux apologetic tone, “Sorry to be territorial!”
Klaus gets his dig in, reminding the brothers of a choice that Elena will soon have to make. He looks between them, as Bonnie comes in to tell them that the spell is broken, and Klaus leaves.
Back at the cave, we learn that Klaus came and claimed Esther’s body.
Ric tells Jeremy that he’s not going to complete the transition, over great protests. Elena tries to comfort him. Alaric tries to relieve their anxiety by telling them that Damon is there, and he’ll make sure it all goes down right. [Why do we get a feeling that’s anything but how it’s going to go down?]
Jeremy looks at Ric and tells him that he doesn’t want some crap speech about how he’s suppose to be the man of the house now. Ric agrees not to do that, and they hug.
Elena starts to cry, blaming herself for all of it. She laments that she forced him to stay and take care of them, when he wanted no part of it. However, Ric tells her taking care of them was the closest thing to the life he always wanted that he would probably ever have had, then tells her to go.
They walk outside and a bunch of people are standing there holding candles. Stephan, Damon, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Bonnie, with Jeremy and Elena stepping over to the group. They all look at him and he looks back at each of them while, “Be Still and Know That I’m With You” is playing. After a few moments of looking at those who came to wish him well, Alaric turns around and goes back inside. [This was the Kleenex moment]
Back at his mansion, Klaus opens a coffin and finds Rebekah serenely laid out, then he looks to another coffin that holds his mother. He goes to Esther and tells her that her plan failed. He yells at her that his survival will haunt her through eternity, and screams that she will never destroy him. [Yeah, somehow, that felt like a lot of hot air too, but the scene was good!]
Meanwhile, Jamie takes Bonnie home and reassuring tells her that there was nothing she could do. She agrees but says it doesn’t make it any easier. He thanks her for protecting him. She shrugs and tells him it’s what she does. He tells her that she’s amazing. She gets teary-eyed and asks him to stay with her.
Over at the bar, where Matt works, he and Jeremy are having a drink. They toast Alaric. He wipes a tear from his eyes – stares straight ahead with a sigh, and wipes another tear.
At the school, Elena is cleaning out Alaric’s locker. Angrily, she’s packing things up because she doesn’t want a janitor to do it. Stephan tries to calm her down, because she’s so upset. She breaks down and tells him that she and Jeremy have no one to take care of them now. She looks lost–afriad. He tells her that he wants her to come with him.
He takes her to the dance floor, where they were the night that Klaus compelled him to turn his feelings off.
“Someone kept telling me it was okay to feel no matter how much it hurt…to never loose hope.” She has a pout on her face and asks if she was the one who gave him that horrible advice.
He chuckles and tells her it was a comment made by “just a girl I use to date.”
“I don’t have anyone anymore!” She cries and melts into his arms.
Damon is in the woods outside of the cave when Dr. Fell comes out to tell him that she gave Ric a sedative and says that he’ll go quietly. Damon is drinking a bottle of booze.
“You shouldn’t leave him alone in there,” she advises.
“It’s what he wants.”
She studies Damon for a minute then asks if it’s really what he thinks Ric would want: to die alone. Damon goes inside to sit with Ric.
Ric jokes, remembering what he told him in the previous episode about a friend of his. “Is this the part where you give me a dream: rainbows….rolling green hills…..”
Damon rolls his eyes and cringes at that ribbing, then he apologizes for killing Alaric twice.
“Do I have to really die to get a real apology out of you?”
Damon hands him the bottle, and Alaric takes a drink.
Back at Bonnie’s house, she wakes in Jamie’s arms with a start. Frantically, she looks around, trying to get her bearings when she sees that Esther has come to her.
“Your sister’s need you to finish what I started, Bonnie….”
Bonnie shakes her head, and we see Jamie waking her up and telling her that it’s okay. She was just having a bad dream.
Back at the cave, Damon and Ric are propped against the wall. Ric seems out of it as the candles flicker all around them. Damon takes one final drink then caps the bottle. It’s a full moon outside, and he leaves.
As he’s making his way through the woods, Bonnie shows up in a trance-like state. He asks her what she’s doing out, and she incapacitates Damon. Then she hurries into the cave. When she sees Ric, she stabs herself and offers him her blood to drink. Immediately, Ric comes to and bites Bonnie, until she falls to the ground. Then, he takes the white ash stake and looks out into the darkness.
If that wasn’t a “good to the last vampy, wolfy, witchy drop,” I don’t know what was! And the tale intensifies even more next week when the Salvatore brothers discover that Bonnie has been bitten by not just A vampire but Alaric. Never a dull moment, not with this show! Rest up, guys and gals…..it’s going to be a wild ride next week. Get ready…
