'The Vampire Diaries' recap: Damon will 'always choose' Elena

Tonight's episode of "The Vampire Diaries" was one of my favorites ever in terms of wow-factor and the emotional roller coaster we all took a ride on. It was also arguably one of the best episodes when it came to Damon's character and exploring him as the "anti-hero" as we measure just how far he'd go to save Elena.

As our first introduction to Klaus in the flesh (though, not in his flesh) the episode wasn't quite what I was expecting. Let's jump right in and we'll get to all that good stuff at the end.

Previously on 'The Vampire Diaries': Elijah was alive, Jeremy had an exposition explosion, Isobel spoke very slowly, Alaric was Klaus, and Matt broke my heart into 100 million tiny pieces.

8:02 - I've been seriously itching to see Matt Davis play Klaus -- and I think it's really interesting that they're going about it this way, instead of having him take on an accent or speak in a distinctly non-Alaric way. I like that they've got him using words like "buzzkill" - it makes sense that the most ancient vampire would've learned to really adapt to the times and pick up on slang and mannerisms easily.

Speaking of that buzzkill, I can't wait to see what Klaus and Elijah's relationship is like. I've seen some speculation that there was a good old love triangle happening with them and Katherine in 1491, but I'm hoping it's a different twist. I've seen enough love triangles on the show this season, I think.

I think it's interesting that Katherine was onto the Bonnie thing all along. That self-satisfied "how awesome are we" moment that Damon and Stefan shared last week was obviously premature.

Katherine begging to be killed, but Klaus considering that too merciful? Amazing. It's a good thing he's decided to torture her instead of just offing her - it means she'll be around longer.

Am I the only one who thought he was going to kiss her at the end there? It would've been so twisted. I guess Nina Dobrev doesn't really need to add another notch to her belt when it comes to kissing co-stars, though.

8:04 - Can I get myself a pair of vampire boyfriends? Seriously, I wouldn't mind having a house handed over to me. (Bonnie makes a good point, by the way. Who does clean the Salvatore broodinghouse? Somehow I can imagine Damon in rubber gloves almost as successfully as I can imagine him owning a bowl of multicolored soaps... oh.)

8:04 - The conversation that the Salvatores have about Katherine is so hard to read. They both seem a little sad, but resigned. I'm really interested to see whether either of them bothers to lift a finger to rescue her from Klaus, or if they'll just be cool to let her endure his torture for a couple centuries. (I think there's a wishful-thinking part of me that still wants Katherine and Stefan to hook up again, in some context. They're just so much cooler when they're around each other.)

8:05 - I love Stefan's little smirk when Elena lets him into the house, and not Damon. The facial expressions happening with Damon right now are a little intense, though.

Wait... they were expecting Elena to sign the lease and just stay in the house forever? She's 17. Was Damon planning on homeschooling her? Algebra? English lit? Health class perhaps?

8:07 - MATT! Hi. I feel so sorry for him right now! All this creeping around makes it look like he's having an affair with the sheriff, and that's just... not. Liz seems like she's already about to crack and let the whole vampire thing slide with Caroline. "She's my daughter. She's my baby. I just need some time," she says.

I'm glad that Caroline really did give Matt the whole truth about the Salvatores and Tyler. It saves things from getting too convoluted later, and it'll make Tyler's reappearance all the more exciting. I've always really loved Matt and Tyler's relationship if only because it makes absolutely no sense that a kid like Matt would put up with a kid like Tyler (and vice versa). I guess it's just one of those guy things.

8:08 - Meanwhile, in the history classroom that gets used once every full moon, Elena wants to go to the decade dance. I've got to hand it to her and Bonnie for being able to keep a smile on their faces when they're being stalked by the alpha vamp.

Oh my god, it's Not Now Dana! So glad she wasn't a casualty of the Grill fire.

Note: Klaus likes the Beatles, Klaus is probably not too keen on Nixon. I have to say, I'm surprised by the amount of humor they're infusing into Klaus's character at this point. He's more amusing, trying on this new skin, than he is foreboding.

8:09 - Aww, Caroline is looking really happy. I guess I was expecting her to be all guilty-faced for having to compel Matt, or to be upset that he can't love her even when she's a vampire. But nope! She's all good.

8:10 - Jeremy is a terrible liar all of a sudden. I wonder if he actually is pissed at Elena for moving in with the Salvatore brothers and leaving him in the house with Uncle Crankypants.

"His name is Klaus. I know the name is stupid but I swear he's hot," Not Now Dana says. Cue the ominous music. All of this just isn't feeling that scary to me.

8:11 - Yikes. In Alaric's body, Klaus just walked right on in to the Salvatore house. So he can compel people, but he doesn't have to adhere to vampire rules. Looks like he can walk in the sun, too. If Klaus can just hop into any body he kidnaps, why does he even need to break the curse? This is a pretty sweet deal he's got going on here.



Not to mention, it's kind of bothering me that psychic Bonnie and her 100 witches worth of power can't tell that it's not Alaric. Shouldn't she at least notice something's off?

8:15 - Katherine calls Alaric the local vampire hunter, but let's be honest... he's really sucked at vampire hunting this season. Has he gotten any bad guys, or has he been too busy eating Ben & Jerry's with Jenna and letting Elena sneak off to masquerades she's not allowed to attend? (That was his one job that night! His one job! Just saying.)

8:17 - "Jackie O?" "Duh." See, Sheriff Mom? You can't actually stake your own daughter when she's so adorable with her face and her giggling and her cute boyfriend. Speaking of...

MATT! I'm sorry, but how perfect is that shot of him through the door pane? So, so perfect. They are too adorable for me to even handle. I have all the faith in the world that he's going to be charmed by her and fall in love with vampire Caroline all over again.

8:18 - I watched "Scream" this week -- the first one -- and honestly, I just have to say that I do not understand why Elena is being that girl right now. You know, the girl who runs up the stairs when she should be running out the door? We know Klaus is going to be at the dance. She knows Klaus is going to be at the dance. Can't she just send her army of loyal protectors in for her to foil his plan while she stays at home with a glass of milk, some Oreos, and the latest Sarah Dessen? Seriously.

8:19 - There's only one thing to say about Klaus' dancing: O.M.G.

He's unhinged.

8:20 - Finally, the ring is addressed. It makes sense that it wouldn't work on Bonnie, but at this point, I think it's foolish of Elena not to wear it when she's out in public. For that matter -- how come John was willing to give up his ring to Jeremy, but now that he's got a new one from Alaric, he hasn't thought to pass it on over to his daughter with the giant target on her back?

"You know I don't have the best luck in the girlfriend department," Jeremy says. Put it lightly, why don't you?

That's kind of an odd moment between Bonnie and Damon. She looks so shocked to see him, but she knew he was coming to the dance as a chaperone.

8:22 - Klaus dedicates a song to Elena, Not Now Dana remains annoying. I'm still just not that impressed with Klaus's taunting methods. Maybe it's because Elena's been through so much already that this just seems like child's play.

8:28 - And it looks like Damon agrees with me! Klaus seems none too pleased that he wasn't impressed by the dedication.

When I saw the previews that showed Damon and Elena dancing, I was intrigued by what Stefan's reaction would be, but it turns out that Stefan is the one who handed her off to Damon in the first place (in a beautifully choreographed move, by the way).

8:29 - I really adore the way that Damon makes Elena smile here. He's probably terrified for her, but he's acting completely comfortable, like he doesn't have a care in the world, because he knows it'll make her feel better. We've been needing some good moments between these two, and this one feels genuine and fun and so very high school.

Meanwhile, Caroline and Matt dance while he tries really, really hard to find a monster in her. And he can't.

When Stefan interrupts, I wish we'd seen a little more emotion out of Matt. Suspicion, hesitation, something. He knows that there's a bunch of vampire scheming going on - he has to know - and yet he's perfectly willing to take off and drink some punch with Not Now Dana. (I'm assuming. She's the only person in the school who isn't a cast regular who's allowed to talk.)

Next up, Damon cuts in on Jeremy and Bonnie's dance -- though, to be fair, Jeremy looked like he'd rather be spelunking. Damon and Bonnie are surprisingly hot together, thanks in no small part to Kat Graham's ability to groove with the grooviest.

"Careful Damon, I might start to think you care."

Was Elena jealous of the Damon/Bonnie dance, or just suspicious of their interaction since they aren't exactly BFFs? My roommate thinks she was jealous. I think she was just curious. Weigh in in the comments and tell us who wins so that we can stop fighting over it, please.

8:31 - Poor, poor Jeremy. He's being forced to choose between saving his girlfriend and saving his sister-cousin. I mean, sister-cousin always wins, I'm sure, but I still feel really bad for him. I'm glad he can talk to Stefan. No kid in the history of children has ever needed a big brother as bad as Jeremy does.

8:32 - MATT! DANCING! He loves her.

8:32 - Bonnie makes a good point when Elena drags her outside for their Very Serious Conversation. "If the situation was reversed, would you do it for me?" Touche.

8:34 - Why don't they ever turn on the lights in this school when there's a dance happening? Maybe people need to go the bathroom or have Serious Vampire Conversations in the hallways! Jeremy getting beaten up by a bunch of guys in their '60s suits feels so appropriately old school. It's like Biff sent his goons to beat up Marty 10 years later.

8:38 - The scene in the hallway with Alaric, Elena, and Bonnie is the first time I've felt that Klaus was remotely scary. I think it's the fact that he is distinctly different from Alaric here, with his slinky walk and the way he's eying the girls. "The 60s, not my decade. I much prefer the 20s. The style, the parties, the jazz," he hisses. He reminds me of a giant snake man, but it still feels like Davis didn't oversell it, which is good.

8:39 - "You kill this body, I'll just get a new one." Um. So, again, if Klaus can live in other people's bodies and just hop from one to the next when one dies, why does he even bother to return to his own skin, ever? I mean, I get it, he looks like Joseph Morgan and he probably likes that. But still.



8:40 - "No. Klaus does not get to win tonight. No way. You still willing to do whatever it takes to kill him?" The eyebrow stuff happening right now is distracting me from the actual words being said. I'm getting nervous that he's going to tell Bonnie to just kill Alaric, in case Klaus was bluffing about the body thing.

8:41 - When Elena finds Caroline on the dance floor, I can't help but wonder what's going through Matt's head. Is he realizing that the two women he cares about most in the world are "in" on the vampire thing? Is he realizing all of the zillions of times he's said "what was that about?" and had someone respond "oh, nothing!" over the last year?

8:41 - Bonnie looks bad ass as she walks through the school in her Austin Powers clothes. I didn't think it was possible to look that tough with a beehive hairdo, but leave it to Kat Graham to pull it off.

Ahhh. I don't like listening to all the bone-crunching happening as she works her mojo on Klaus. "It's what Alaric would want," she says. "He'd want you to suffer first." Really? I think Alaric would probably just want Klaus to die. I mean, the guy hasn't actually done anything to hurt Alaric's loved ones yet. Yeah, I think Alaric would be pretty cool with a clean, easy death here.

Damon holds Stefan and Elena off, but not for long. I'm impressed that Bonnie managed to seal the door shut even with Stefan's vampire strength to contend with.

This is a gorgeously shot and lit scene. Who knew that exploding fluorescent lights and venting machines could be so pretty? It feels dramatic, and epic, and the panic in Elena's voice feels so real. It's a spectacular scene. Honestly, I can't imagine them killing Bonnie off this far from the finale, but if they do, this is a beautiful, epic way to go.

8:44 - That's it, I'm sending Nina Dobrev my therapy bills. She. Is. Amazing. I have to admit, I was prepared for Bonnie to die and I haven't really invested myself too much in her character over the last few episodes, but my heart is breaking right now and it's all because of Nina. Elena isn't a girl who cries easily, and I love that Nina wasn't scared to go for the "ugly cry" here as she's wailing about Bonnie's body. The real kicker, though, is when she says "What about Jeremy?" I basically just want to throw up now.

I appreciate Damon closing her eyes. It's a sign of respect, and I like the idea that he's grown to respect Bonnie, especially given where they started this season.

8:49 - Jeremy says, "Where's Elena and where's Bonnie?" and again, I kind of want to throw up. (And yes, like all the rest of you, I totally thought Damon was tossing Bonnie into a dumpster outside the school, which would've been a crappy way to hide a "mysterious death" from the sheriff. Nope, just the trunk of his car.)

8:50 - How come, in movies and on TV, when people are devastated, someone else always wants to get them to drink something hot? "Drink this," Stefan insists, giving Elena tea. Why? Is she about to die from dehydration? She doesn't want the tea, lay off.

Again, this scene belongs to Nina. I hate to say it, but Stefan is about as useful as a piece of furniture right now. Nina plays shattered awfully well, especially considering how tough Elena has been this season.

8:51 - I don't blame Elena for slapping Damon. When he admits that he knew Bonnie would die, he says it with such a screw-you expression on his face. I get that this is all for dramatic tension because it's a TV show, but he could've said "She's alive," right off the bat instead of doing this whole speech.

8:55 - The scene between Stefan and Damon on the stairs is my favorite scene of the entire episode. "You could've told me," Stefan says, but really, he couldn't. Stefan would've wanted to "find another way," and they might have lost their moment entirely. Damon may be a little bit reckless, but at least he thinks on his feet.

"I don't mind being the bad guy," he says. "I'll even let her hate me for it, but at the end of the day, I'll be the one to keep her alive." This says so much about the fundamental differences between these two men. Stefan still cares what people think. He still cares about people in general. But Damon cares only about Elena and, reluctantly, Stefan. To him, everyone else is expendable. Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, even Alaric - they're disposable people who are in his life now but won't be in it forever, so why should he invest time and energy into saving them?

8:56 - MiFi! I usually hate the AT&T and Ford ads shoehorned into the show, but I don't mind this plug because it gives us such a good moment between Bonnie and Elena when they first see each other on the computer screen. When Bonnie is apologizing to Elena, I think it's Kat Graham's most genuine acting moment of the series. Which is doubly impressive because she was looking at a computer bluescreen while she did it.

ALSO, LOOK AT HOW JEREMY LOOKS AT BONNIE. I'm dying.

8:57 - Elena showing up in Damon's bedroom is my second favorite scene of the episode. The fact that she came in without being invited shows that she's comfortable in his realm, and the fact that she apologized for slapping him without being prompted to apologize really gives away the fact that she's becoming more aware of his feelings. When he walks out of the room, she doesn't stop thinking about him.

So all of that chemistry between Damon and Bonnie? Looks like it wasn't actual affection. "If it comes down to you and the witch again, I will gladly let Bonnie die," Damon says. "I will always choose you."

I love the way he phrased that. It's not really romantic - "I'd kill your best friend for you!" isn't quite what every girl wants inscribed on the inside of her wedding band. But it's so very Damon in that the fact that he wants to keep Elena alive contrasts with the way he feels about everyone else in his life.

8:59 - Rise and Shine, Elijah! Yay, he's back! Cue fireworks! [Edit: I've seen some debate over whether this was Elena or Katherine. It was Elena, of course. Katherine can't get into the house. Plus, we watched her walk from Damon's bedroom to the basement. That dagger is her only hope against Klaus at this point, without killing Bonnie. Plus, it's very clear that Elijah and Klaus aren't exactly working toward the same endgame at this point.]

I really thought going into this episode that Matt Davis would finally get MVP, but I was sort of unimpressed by his Klaus. I was amused when I wanted to be terrified. I found Katherine's introduction far scarier, and I'm not sure that was the writers' intention. Nina gets MVP, because it's now three days after I saw the episode for the first time, and the broken look on her face has still stuck with me.

Okay, so now let's talk about this episode.

I want to point out that there has been a lot of press saying that a character would die in this episode, but you definitely didn't read any of that press on Zap2it. I cried a lot in the last ten minutes of "The Last Dance," and I do think it was one of the more devastating episodes, based totally on Elena's reaction, but when a character is dead for less than 5 minutes of screen time, I don't think that really counts.

I do hope that this isn't the big "series regular death" that the cast has been referring to in interviews. That feels like a bit of a cop-out. Last season, in the finale, Anna -- a recurring, but beloved character -- died, as did Mayor Lockwood, whose death would have continuing implications on the town and Tyler. I don't want it to sound like I want someone to die. I'll be sad no matter who the collateral damage is for this season's final battle. But in order for it to have emotional resonance, I don't think everyone can just conveniently come back to life.

As for Klaus, I can't quite put my finger on why he didn't measure up to my expectations. I'm hoping that next week, when we meet Joseph Morgan as Klaus, I'll be thoroughly unsettled, as I'd hoped to be this week.

(P.S. While you're anxiously awaiting next week's episode, might I suggest checking out my most recent interview with Ian Somerhalder? He describes the rather dramatic choice he thinks Damon will make if Elena rejects him outright.)

Your turn... weigh in below!