The Vampire Diaries recap: O Bloody Night

I think we can all agree that Klaus' massacre of the 12 hybrids to the tune of "O Holy Night" is probably the best scene of season 4 to date. Hearts ripped out, decapitations, blood splatter on Klaus' clothes and face — you couldn't help but cheer. We needed this. The show needed this. R.I.P. Carol Lockwood (read our interview with Susan Walters, who also reminisces about her glorious death on Melrose Place, here). Let's dig in.

So if Damon wasn't going to release Elena from the sire bond, he did the next most decent thing: He refused to sleep with her. They woke up, fully clothed, in the same bed. He was already feeling guilty. He knows what he should have done. Instead, he got up to change his shirt so we got to see some skin (very creative, writers!). Elena insisted this feels real to her and essentially dared him to send her away. Damon said what he really wanted to do was throw her back in his bed and never let her leave. She told him to do it, which I'm guessing is what everyone was screaming at their TVs. Sadly, Elena's phone rang. "Saved by the cell phone," Damon said. Bonnie wanted Elena to meet her at the Gilbert family lake house, where she's trying to teach Jeremy not to kill Elena. Elena asked Damon if he wanted to come. (I do not want to hear what you screamed at your TVs then.)

Stefan, meanwhile, visited Klaus so he could critique the postmodern snowflake painting he'd just finished for the Winter Wonderland charity event and try to find out where Klaus is keeping the sword he'd retried from Alexander the Hot's grave. Klaus was chatty and told Stefan how the sword is needed to decode the marks on the tattoo, which is a map to the cure. Hayley made an announcement to the antsy hybrids — she'd found the witch that's gonna save their lives — and Tyler finally revealed the plan to Caroline: This witch was supposed to do the body jump spell on Klaus and put Klaus in Tyler's body, then encase Tyler's body in cement and bury it until the hybrids had safely disappeared. Caroline was not happy to hear about this, obviously. But as the first hybrid, Tyler felt the need to finish this.

As if that wasn't enough to comprehend, we next cut to Jeremy chopping wood in a white tank top that should seriously be the only thing that young man is allowed to wear on the show ever again. Exact quote from my notes: "New effing mandate." He got a little testy when Elena and Damon pulled up. He said they shouldn't be there. But he trusts Bonnie, and she said they're there to help him. So was Professor Shadypants, as Damon calls Shane. The lake house is now in Jeremy's name, so he had to invite Elena in. He did — so he could try to stake her.

Back at Salvatore Mansion, Stefan was wearing a fairly sexy V-neck when he got the frantic call from Caroline saying, "my boyfriend is a dumbass martyr." Caroline told him they need to get that sword from Klaus today before Tyler gets to him. The real point of this call was to establish that Stefan assumed Elena was at her house, and not with Damon who was supposed to take Jeremy to the cabin with Bonnie solo.

As Caroline entered Klaus at the Winter Wonderland event, she gave Stefan the go sign to fetch the sword from Klaus' safe. Only the sword wasn't there. While snooping around, Stefan found old love letters. Random, but okay. Stefan told Damon the sword was missing, and since they need Klaus around until they could find it again, Damon told him to either kill Tyler or tell Klaus what Tyler is up to with the hybrids so he'd do it. Stefan said no one was killing Tyler. And the real point of this call was to establish that Damon is repeatedly lying to Stefan about Elena — he told Stefan she was probably out running around trying to figure out how to deprogram Jeremy and hadn't taken him telling her to stay away from him well.

NEXT: Jeremy doesn't want to take the detour

Okay, technically, Elena was trying to deprogram Jeremy, it's just that she was sitting in the cabin so Shane could use the hypnotism-esque method of "persuasion" to detour Jeremy's desires to kill Elena. The plan was for Jeremy's subconscious to recognize her as someone he loves, someone he wants to protect. Then he can choose to take the detour as opposed to the conditioned response of kill. Elena had to speak to Jeremy when he was in this staid state and try to remind him that she's still herself. She told him how when their parents died, Jenna brought them to that lake house and it was like her parents were there with them. She said they'd want them to stick together now and fight for each other no matter what. Shane asked Jeremy how he felt about Elena now, and it didn't matter that the concept of "persuasion" was kinda hard to follow, because Jeremy's response was worth it: "She ruined our lives. She's not even my real sister. She's just the reason that everyone I've ever loved has died. She means nothing to me. I will kill her, even if that means I die myself." Shane snapped Jeremy out of it. "Did it work?" he asked. Not so much, Jer.

Caroline and Stefan were experiencing equally bad luck. Tyler overheard them talking about the need to keep Klaus around because he's the only way they have to find the cure since he has the sword, and he pissed that Caroline had shared his plan with Stefan. Stefan told Tyler to hold off on his plan, and Tyler told him he wouldn't. They'd already served up one hybrid for Jeremy to kill, and if they find the cure, all that means is that the hybrids go back to being werewolves who have to turn on every full moon. I wonder how far Stefan would've gone to stop Tyler if the hybrids hadn't shown up to take Stefan and Caroline hostage in the Lockwood family cellar. At this point, I still thought Jeremy or Tyler could be the character we'd have to say goodbye to. Both of them are a threat to what the Salvatores think is best for Elena, which makes them expendable.

At the lake house, Elena told Damon how strange it was that the last time she'd been there, she was so in love with Stefan, and now that's barely a memory. Was that the sire bond's work, or her being so happy with Damon that she's forgetting about Stefan? That wasn't attractive, right? Even if you want her with Damon, it's hard to like someone who can't remember someone she was SO in love with. That conversation gave Damon an idea: Professor Shane should have used someone other than the person Jeremy wants to kill to attach Jeremy's "detour feelings" to. "You. I feel that way about you," Jeremy said to Bonnie. The sweet, awkward smiles Jeremy and Bonnie shared made me say "Ahhh," but truth, I don't understand why Jeremy isn't trying to kill Damon on the spot like he did Elena. Is it just that he's got more pent-up anger against Elena, or did Connor's desire to kill Elena transfer with the mark?

Outside, Shane and Elena talked about her relationship with Damon. He said he'd once loved someone too much, too — his wife and son had died and he'd been trying to figure out a way not to miss them. Damon interrupted them to threaten Shane's life (again), but Shane saved himself by saying he could lead them to the cure because he's already been there.

Before we dove into that confusion, we had to watch Tyler break the news to his mother who insisted he have a toast with her before people like me could judge them. She accepted him wanting to switch bodies with Klaus pretty darn well all considering. How she managed to keep a straight face when Tyler said, "I'm their alpha, they're looking at me to help them," I do not know. But she told Tyler his father would be proud of him — he's a leader of people now just like his dad had been.

NEXT: Professor Shadypants gets his dozen

Okay, now Professor Shadypants' history lesson take two: As we learned earlier this season, Silas was a warlock who, with the help of his best friend witch, made an immortality spell. The lady friend got jealous when Silas wanted to make another girl immortal, so she killed Silas' girl before he could do it. Cursed to spend eternity without his one true love, Silas found a way to reverse the immortality spell, but before he had a chance to take it, his friend buried him underground leaving him and the cure to rot. Shane told Damon and Elena if they dig up Silas, they'll find the cure. When Jeremy's mark is complete, it will have the map that contains the spell to dig up Silas. He won't reveal Silas' location, because that's how he'll stay alive. He'll lead them there.

Damon phoned Stefan with the news that they no longer need the sword, so Caroline could go tell Tyler they were in favor of his plan with one small change — put Klaus' essence in Rebekah, who's daggered. Tyler was thrilled with the alternative but Hayley wasn't. She texted Shane that they had a problem and the plan was falling apart. He told her to fix it. So, after Caroline phoned Bonnie and confirmed that the dagger should work on Klaus if he's in Rebekah's body and found out that Elena was actually there with Damon, Hayley snapped her neck.

Shane had to do some quick thinking of his own: Damon told Elena his theory about Shane having killed the pastor and 11 others in that gas explosion. Shane said the pastor had lost his wife to cancer and sought him out for supernatural assistance. But the pastor was too far gone. Elena said she trusts Shane. That discussion got interrupted by Jeremy and Bonnie, who were ready to prove Jeremy could play nicely now. "Jeremy, remember the detour. Choose the right path," Shane said, as Jeremy walked toward Elena with a wooden stake in his hand. Damon stepped in between them, and Jeremy looked at a smiling Bonnie and handed the wood to Damon. Then he reached Elena and hugged her. AHHH. Sweet. So is Jeremy supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy about Bonnie and then remember that's how he feels about Elena, or is he supposed to not want to disappoint Bonnie by killing someone she clearly trusts and cares for (which, then, is kinda like a sire bond, no?).

To fix her problem, Hayley presumably told Klaus about the hybrids revolting, apparently. As some readers have pointed out in our instant react, shouldn't Stefan's vamp hearing have overheard what Hayley told Klaus, and then Stefan would know that Tyler and the hybrids were in danger? Klaus didn't let on that he'd just found out his hybrid family had betrayed him. He just told Stefan that when Stefan's being dodgy and Caroline's being kind, something is usually up. Stefan was honest and said he'd been looking for the sword because he doesn't trust Klaus. He told Klaus he'd found the love letters, and Klaus said they're his victims, which is not unlike Ripper Stefan writing their names on a wall. It's all about the loneliness, Klaus said. That's why the two of them memorialize the dead. The moment before they kill them, they hold their lives in their hands, then they rip it away. The letters and names are reminders that they're left infinitely and utterly alone. Interesting but confusing: So are those letters that Klaus writes to his victims or letters he takes from his victims' belongings?

Caroline finally came to in the bathroom, but not before Miss Mystic Falls April found her with no pulse and heard her leave a message for Stefan saying that "that little werewolf slut" Hayley was determined to ruin the plan, so he better go to the cellar to make sure Rebekah's body is still there. Caroline compelled April to forget, but she, of course, didn't know until Matt told her that April is wearing Jeremy's vervain bracelet.

While Adrian was leading Klaus to the cellar, Tyler was running late because he was leaving his mother a message saying there'd been a change of plans and he'd come to pick her up later. Tyler ran into Hayley and asked why she wasn't leading the witch to the cellar, and that's when Hayley finally told Tyler that there was no witch. "They," meaning her and Shane need Klaus for the sacrifice. And cut to Klaus leading poor Adrian up to the hybrids waiting above ground in the woods and ripping his heart out from behind. Then, it was pure awesomeness as Klaus used that sword for decapitations and ripped out more hearts.

Hayley told Tyler that if he ran now, he might make it out alive. Kim ran down into the cellar and after she couldn't tell Klaus where Tyler was, he finished the job he started on her earlier. Later, when Tyler was shown viewing the carnage in the woods (I teared up) and then Kim's body in the cellar, we saw that April had actually been hiding in the cellar. She opened the coffin and saw Rebekah. What's April's next move? Set Rebekah free? Let's hope so. With Klaus' hybrids gone, he best start rebuilding the bond with her. Plus, they can go on a rampage together.

Let's stay with Tyler, we don't know where he fled to. His mom called him and said he was supposed to be her sober cab. She sat down by the fountain in the town square, and that's when Klaus walked up, champagne bottle in hand. He was still bloody. She begged him not to hurt Tyler, because he's her son and all she has. Klaus said that went both ways — she's all Tyler has. And, he grabbed her and dunked her head in the fountain and drowned her as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" played.

NEXT: Caroline needs to stop sharing

I'm going to continue to skip around. Back at Salvatore Mansion, Caroline was freaking out because Matt couldn't find April and she couldn't reach Tyler. Stefan was more sedate. He was thinking some deep thoughts about Klaus: He actually felt a little guilty when he saw Klaus being led away to slaughter (well, more like slumber, or you'd all be dead, Stefan). Caroline admitted she felt bad, too. Stefan said they've all done horrible things. What makes them any better than Klaus? It's that they have family they can trust. Speaking of trust, Caroline asked if he had heard from Damon and whether Damon had mentioned where Elena is. Caroline wouldn't say more, but she didn't have to: "How together are they? Caroline, tell me. How together are they?" he asked. He knew. Last we saw him, he was throwing a tantrum. On the one hand, I like seeing Stefan slightly undone — it makes him more relatable than Saint Stefan. On the other, I hate that he doesn't know all the facts. Because…

Earlier, as Damon watched Elena and Jeremy decide which Christmas ornaments to bring back to their house, Damon sat outside on the deck and watched her. Elena took out plastic mistletoes and wanted a kiss, but Damon wouldn't do it. He said it was good to see her normal like that with her brother. He wants that for her. The truth is, of course, that Damon wants that with his brother, too. He misses celebrating Christmas with Stefan, which used to be their favorite holiday when they were human.

Damon was ready to do the right thing: He told her she's gonna go home. He's gonna stay there with Jeremy and teach him how to hunt, protect himself, and kill vampires without her. "I'm setting you free Elena. This is what I want. This is what will make me happy," he said. Later, we saw Jeremy thank Bonnie and hug her goodbye. Bonnie was going to drive Elena home. Elena told Damon she was prepared to fight him on this, but suddenly, every part of her body was telling her she needs to get in the car and leave him. She kissed him goodbye. Simple and gentle, but almost like she thought she should, not because the passion was there.

Your turn. What did you think of the episode? Are you happy Klaus is killing again? Is it going to be Klaus against the world now? (I miss that, really.) How angry do you want Stefan to be with Damon and Elena for doing the deed? Should Jeremy only wear tank tops from now on? What does Shane really want from Silas — is the cure a way to bring back the dead, so he can see his wife and child again and Hayley can meet her birth parents? And where's Tyler gonna go now that Klaus wants him dead?

Happy holidays, friends. 'Til Jan. 17th!