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The Vampire Diaries
Kill or Be Killed

Original Air Date: Oct 7, 2010

Meg – Sr. Reviewer
meg@thetwocentscorp.com

Yet again The Vampire Diaries proves it isn’t afraid to break with tradition or spill some secrets. With “Kill Or Be Killed,” the show deftly sidesteps some clichés and hands us an episode of fun, twisty reveals. In tonight’s installment, Mason teams up with Sheriff Liz to take down the Salvatores, while Caroline struggles to keep her vampirism a secret from her mother. Unfortunately, Hallmark has yet to mass produce the “Hey mom, I’m a vampire!” surprise card.

Meanwhile, Tyler tries not to murder anyone. It turns out that’s harder than you’d think. Read on for the full recap and review!

Bad Wolf

Since Tyler now knows The Big Secret about his lupine heritage, Mason tells him how he triggered the curse a year ago in a parking lot brawl (classy!) with an accidental homicide (don’t you hate when that happens?).

Mason has gone from his “peace, love and harmony” shtick to “die, bloodsucker! Die!” pretty quickly. I guess being stabbed in the gut will do that to you. After an initial brood-off, Stefan extends the olive branch and apologizes on Damon’s behalf. Unfortunately, Mason doesn’t really buy the “Yeah, sorry my bro sliced into your perfect, sculpted abs…” routine. He plays tough, which is pretty stupid, considering he only gets his shaggy superpowers once a month, while Damon and Stefan are stronger and faster all the time.

Mason pops over to Sheriff Liz (Caroline’s mom) and spills the beans on the Salvatore brothers. Since Liz is BFF with Damon, she tries to brush him off. However, Damon is outed in front of her by drinking vervain-spiked lemonade and collapsing in a writhing heap of ouch.

Mason and Sheriff Liz team up to lure the vamps into the forest and take them down. Conveniently, Stefan and Damon agree that Mason needs to be “put down.” Ergo, everyone converges in the woods and in a flurry of wooden bullets and vervain, the Salvatores are beaten and carried to Mason’s dungeon den—I’ll point out that neither the Sheriff or the deputies seem concerned when Mason says, “hey, y’all – let’s go to the derelict tomb where I keep my whips and chains!”

I love vampire Caroline – using her enhanced hearing, she immediately senses that something is wrong. She and Elena zip to the woods, where Caroline sniffs out some vampire blood. Uh oh. Mason shows up and starts smack-talking at Caroline, which is strange because I didn’t know he knew she was a vamp. When Mason grabs Elena in a chokehold, Caroline beats the crap out of him (the visual of the tiny blonde drop kicking the giant man-wolf to the ground is glorious).

Back in the crypt (not a segue I get to use often…), Liz takes out her anger issues by pumping Damon full of bullets. Why does everyone on this show love torture so much? Also, do vampires have Miranda rights? Poor Damon looks up at Liz, confused, and says, “But you’re my friend…” Aww.

Caroline balks at entering the dungeon because she can’t let her mother know she’s a vampire. Elena, because she is brain-challenged, races into the den with nary a plan, weapon or anything useful. Honey, it’s nice that you’re in love, but love does not stop bullets (unless you’re a Care Bear).

Because Caroline rocks, she jumps in to save the day. However, because she’s overzealous, she kills and feeds on a deputy. In front of her mom. How’s that for a coming out? Personally, I would have gone with a nice, calming tea and perhaps a power point presentation instead of, you know, murdering mamacita’s colleagues. Potato, potahto.

Mom is not okay with the revelation that her precious daughter is now a blood-gurgling creature of the night. It probably doesn’t help that Caroline spends this entire scene wearing a blood beard on her face (it’s kind of like fruit punch mouth). Caroline begs her mother to keep her secret. Liz just turns to Damon and asks him to kill her.

Baby Wolf

Tyler and Jeremy are man-bonding at the Mystic Grill. Enter Amy, who you may recall as that hussy who had the audacity to covet Matt (when I clearly called dibs first) and make out with Tyler a few episodes back. Amy apologizes to Tyler for leading him on and says she’s “not that type of girl.” Nope, but she is apparently the type of girl to be lured into potential danger by promises of margaritas. Big difference, there. She follows Tyler and Jeremy to the Lockwood mansion and brings her friend (Hussy #2,), who thinks Jeremy is, like, totally cute. I’ve been out of high school way too long to be able to verify that statement.

Chez Lockwood, Hussy #2 pulls Jeremy’s sketchbook out and everyone looks at his charcoal pictures of wolves, wolves, and (yup) more wolves. Tyler throws Jeremy against a wall and yells at him. Sheesh, everyone’s a critic. Jeremy fesses up that he knows Tyler is a werewolf. Then Hussy #2 manages to get in a stairwell shove-fest with Tyler and fall down the stairs. She’s only playing dead/injured, so Tyler is off the hook for triggering the curse. I’m glad they did that – on any other show, the girl would have died.

Tyler’s accidental near-kill freaks him out so much, that he gives Mason the mysterious moonstone he’s been searching for. We still don’t know what it does and I’m also pretty sure I saw 15 of that allegedly unique token at the Claire’s in the mall last weekend…

House Guests

Damon takes Sheriff Liz to the downstairs dungeon in the Salvatore mansion. He tells her that she can stay there until the vervain leaves her system, at which point they will compel her and erase her memory of everything that has happened.

Poor Caroline overhears Liz beg Damon to keep Caroline away from her and say “she’s not my daughter anymore.” Broken and distraught, she confesses to Elena that she was spying on her for Katherine and reveals just how terrified she is of Elena’s vicious doppelganger. They bond and I’m overjoyed because Caroline is back on Team Awesome!

Stefan decides that he needs to start drinking blood to be strong enough to fight Katherine. Elena cuts herself and lets him drink from her. Ew. Can someone please tell me how this is a good idea? They make out. Double ew. C’mon, you guys– phlebotomy is NOT sexy!

Into the Woods

Mason sneaks back to the woods (aka the one patch of forest where every non-town scene is located) to rendezvous with…. Katherine! We learn that she was likely the one who sicced the drunk guy on him a year ago to trigger his curse. Mason hands her the moonstone and goes in for the kiss. Dun dun!

One thing I love about this show is how brave it is about moving the storylines forward. I feel as if any other show would have dragged on and prolonged things like the Sheriff finding out about the vamps or Mason being in cahoots with Katherine. Also, did anyone mind the absence of Bonnie? I forgot about her completely – and enjoyed the episode more because of it. How about you? What did you think of the episode? Leave some comments and let me know your two cents!