The Vampire Diaries "Heart of Darkness" recap

This week, TVD came back full-force and OH MY GOD, you guys, this episode was perfect. There was so much right going on, it was completely reminiscent of Season 1 except better, because Damon and Elena finally got their hot mess of a relationship together for about five minutes.

On the heels of last week’s revelation that once an Original is killed, so is their entire vampire bloodline, the whole crew is trying to figure out which old school vamp created the Salvatore/Forbes line in order to preserve the existence of Damon, Stefan, Caroline, etc.

Stefan tells Elena to take Damon with her to retrieve Jeremy from Denver, since Klaus knows he’s there, so he’s no longer safe. He also tells her to use the trip to figure out her feelings for Damon. So off the two go, flying first class no less, to get Jer Bear from the Mile High City. Trouble is, when they get there, they discover that Jeremy has made a new BFF: Klaus’s brother Kol, who Damon swiftly stakes and whisks the three away to a nearby motel to hide out.

Damon and Elena use Jeremy’s medium abilities to contact Rose, Damon’s friend who died in Season 2 from a werewolf bite, to find out who made her. When she appears, she says it wasn’t an original, it was someone named Mary Porter, or “Scary Mary,” as Damon calls her.

Meanwhile, Stefan is back in Mystic Falls trying to get Alaric’s manic alter-ego to surface so they can find where he hid the last white oak stake before Klaus has a hissy fit and kills everyone. Klaus decides he doesn’t feel like waiting and snaps Alaric’s neck in an attempt to activate the death ring and bring crazy Ric to the surface. It doesn’t work, but when Stefan threatens to kill Alaric at his request, his alter ego’s will to live kicks in and Ric goes all Shining-faced. He reveals he hid the stake in the spelled cave that vampires can’t enter.

Tyler returns to Mystic Falls, and Caroline meets him in the woods where the two promptly hook up in the Lockwood cave which, GROSS. I think this was supposed to be romantic and passionate, but I was mainly concerned about the inevitable cave bugs, snakes, and rodents and I was appalled. Anyway, the two discuss the Salvatores’ plans to kill off the Originals except for the one that made them, and how this probably doesn’t bode well for Tyler since Klaus sired him and if he dies so does Tyler.

Caroline doesn’t have much time to think this over, as she goes to the school to plan the requisite event of the week, this year’s “Decade Dance,” which Rebecca has commandeered with the help of Matt. When Rebecca returns home from school, she finds her mom, Esther, who tells her she’s dying before grabbing her hand and falling to the floor.

Back at the motel, Damon and Elena share a few majorly awkward moments before they finally kiss, until Jeremy comes by and ruins everything and so they probably should have just left him in Denver because he is the worst. Rose found Mary Porter, who is very dead by the time the three reach her house, thanks to Kol, who tells them they will never know which Original made them. Damon asks Elena what the kiss was all about and tells her that he’s not going to help her make up her mind, she has to do that herself.

At the end of the episode, two things happen - the first is that Tyler, who is crashing at Caroline’s, sees the picture Klaus drew of her and a pony and freaks out. He leaves in a huff basically because Klaus illustrated the front of a Lisa Frank trapper keeper for Caroline. It’s weird.

The second is that Rebecca takes Crazy Ric to the cave to retrieve the stake. Once there, she herself hops into the no vamps-allowed zone, revealing that she isn’t Rebecca- she is Esther, possessing Rebecca’s body, who tells the vamp-hating Ric that they “have a lot in common.” Uh-oh.

Best moment: Damon and Elena. Duh.

Worst moment: JEREMY. WHY.

Watch a preview for next week’s episode, “Do Not Go Gentle,” here.

Jillian Harding is an aficionado of all things vampire, and she is not ashamed to admit it. From Being Human to Vampire Diaries, from True Blood to Twilight, she’s got it covered. For all your immortal news and undead tidbits, check back on Tuesdays and Thursdays and follow her on Twitter @pburbsbitten.