'Vampire Diaries': Damon and Elena dance, while Stefan almost kills

On "Vampire Diaries," Damon and Elena get close at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and Stefan has a hard time controlling his need for human blood.

Let's get on with the show.

Stefan lies to Elena when she asks if he's done with his grieving (and secondly, if he's done drinking human blood). He assures her he's back to his normal self, except he drove into the school parking lot in that sweet ride from the last episode. Stefan, you liar, you. And in his trunk is a healthy supply of fresh human blood stolen from the blood bank.

Sheriff Forbes commiserates with John (guest star David Anders) and Damon at the Salvatore household about the stolen blood from the blood bank. John has the bright idea for him to team up with Damon to investigate. Damon agrees to the plan, but obviously, he's not 100% down with it. Back at the high school, Bonnie's back (finally) and her hair's changed! Caroline brings up the upcoming Miss Mystic Falls pageant for Founder's Day that she and Elena are both on, but the latter isn't too enthused about it.

Anna pays a visit to Damon and he alleges that she stop stealing the damn blood from the blood bank because they (the humans) are onto the vamps. Of course, Anna says she didn't take the blood for at least a week, because well, she's not the culprit. Within their little convo, Damon finds out it's just Pearl, Anna and Harper at the vamp house now. Ruh-roh. Damon catches Stefan back at home and he eggs him on about him drinking human blood. Stefan denies denies denies, but Damon's smarter than he looks and isn't buying his little brother's schtick. "I'm clean," Stefan says, but Damon's suspicious.

Thirsty for his stash, Stefan runs down to the basement with the cooler stocked with blood and good ol' Damon catches him red-handed. Stefan's found an attitude because he's very nonchalant about the whole stealing thing. He keeps reassuring his big brother that he's fine and tells him to back off. Uh, don't think Damon will be doing that anytime soon.

At the Miss Mystic Falls interview portions, Caroline and Elena have completely opposite experiences. Elena's doing it for her mother and it's pretty sweet that she's doing it in her name. Back at the Salvatore house, Damon calls John out on catching vampires. He brings up an invention that was allegedly burned in the church fire but later found out that the vampires weren't actually dead, just trapped inside, which means said invention is retrievable. John brings up his uncle's close encounters with Pearl; when her name's said, Damon kicks him out after he realizes John didn't know where Katherine was (because he'd know that she and Pearl were best buds). John threatens to tell the council about Damon's undead status. Yippee.

Bonnie gives Elena and Stefan a look after dance rehearsals for Miss Mystic Falls. Bonnie and Elena have a private conversation and Bonnie shares why she's been unable to speak to her and Stefan. Everything Grams did, according to Bonnie, was to protect everyone from the vampires and now that they're out, it means that she died for nothing. Heavy words for a teenager, but so true. Bonnie blames Stefan and Damon for her death; Stefan hears all this.

Outside, Stefan has a minor freakout after sensing fresh human blood from a basketball player's gash and ends up grabbing Alaric's throat. Later, Alaric asks Elena before they drive over to the pageant about Stefan's well-being but she's totally oblivious to his recent 180 at school. While Elena and Jenna prep for Elena's big reveal, Elena confesses that she's missing her mom.

John and Jeremy divulge in Gilbert family history and John finds out Jeremy read the Jonathan Gilbert journal. Of course when Jeremy asks him for his thoughts on what he wrote, all he says is that it's writings of a mad man. Uh huh, sure. Damon swoops in and tells Elena the worst thing she can imagine: that Stefan is back on human blood. Damon warns her that Stefan on human blood is incredibly unpredictable. Stefan comes in midway into their conversation and Elena confesses to him that she knows about the blood. Oh brother. After their little convo, Stefan turns into an animal, punching the glass in one of the bathrooms. When he opens the door to reveal Amber Bradley (guest star Spencer Locke), scary Stefan goes a little nuts.

Stefan compels Amber but is going absolutely crazy about the downard spiral he's on. When Elena is introduced and Stefan is nowhere to be found as her escort, Damon steps in and acts as her backup plan. A mighty fine alternative. During the dance, it's glaringly obvious the chemistry between Damon and Elena. You snooze, you lose, Stefan. Meanwhile, Stefan caves into his desires and goes for Amber's neck.

Caroline is announced as the winner of Miss Mystic Falls, and she's ecstatic! While Stefan fights his urges to kill Amber, John and Sheriff Forbes discover the bloodied glass in the bathroom Stefan was just in. Stefan compels Amber to be scared of him and to run, which she does. Meanwhile at the party, Damon and Elena peace out and look for Stefan, with Bonnie close on their tail. While Amber's running, Stefan suddenly shows up and grabs her, taking another chunk out of her neck. Guess he changed his mind. Thankfully for Amber, Damon and Elena (with Bonnie) find Stefan. While he tries to fend off Damon, Bonnie uses her witching powers to get inside Stefan's head. Stefan runs away after seeing the state he's in and everyone's faces.

Anna and Pearl corner Damon. Pearl shows him a watch similar to the one that Jonathan Gilbert invented that detected the town's vampires. What she gave him, she has no idea what it is, but now it's in Damon's safe hands. There is no catch, according to Pearl. Should Damon believe her?

Back in his room, Stefan tells Elena she shouldn't be there. "The blood brings out what's inside of me," Stefan explains. He's struggling with his identity and the blood acts as a symbol of that. Stefan gets violent with Elena and it's the first time we see him hit absolute bottom. Elena takes the vervain drip and stabs Stefan's back. Damon locks Stefan up in the basement. When Damon asks if she's coming, he chooses to stay with her.

What are your thoughts on the "Miss Mystic Falls" episode? Discuss below!

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