In this episode of The Vampire Diaries, Alaric (Matt Davis) tries to decipher the cave drawings in the Lockwood tunnels, Elena (Nina Dobrev) spends the afternoon with Rebekah (Claire Holt) hearing her story of transformation, and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) tries a new tactic in the save Stefan (Paul Wesley) playbook.
The carvings in the cave reveal the story of the original family which most surprisingly includes Michael (Sebastian Roche) or as Damon prefers – “Papa Original.”
Alaric comes across a symbol that he needs some help in translating and calls in Bonnie (Kat Graham) for help. The necklace that wouldn’t burn is the key to reading the story; it belonged to the original witch, and who that is takes us all for surprise. The original witch is none other than the mother of the original family. She herself transformed them into vampires.
Rebekah lays out a story of an ordinary family just trying to survive in a new world. Â Parents that want to protect their children. Children who are curious. A son that is seeking his father’s approval, and a father that is a bit of a tyrant.
Michael convinced his wife to transform their children into heightened beings in order to protect them and to help with the transformation, killed them himself to start the process. The ritual turned them into monsters and they became “an abomination of nature.” The neighbors, werewolves, became their natural enemy.
Klaus (Joseph Morgan) triggered his werewolf curse when he killed his first human. The blood they required to survive began to control them. Their mother put the hybrid curse on Klaus to make amends for her affair In the end, his father discovered the truth about his paternity and turned against the entire family. Rebekah believes that it was her own father that murdered their mother, but Alaric sheds some light on that.
Meanwhile, Stefan and Damon are enjoying an afternoon of brotherly bonding in a quaint gin joint. They are joined by a special guest, Michael, who is awake and ready to restart his hunt. He persuades Stefan to help his cause and bring Klaus back to Mystic Falls by threatening to kill Damon.
Elena tells Rebekah the truth about Klaus killing their mother. She responds by almost crushing Elena’s throat. After a moment, she comes to her senses and experiences a super emotional moment – touching.
Almost as touching as the moment of humanity between Stefan and Damon, before Damon kicks Stefan’s behind. Seems like everyone’s having a breakdown tonight.
Speaking of breakdowns, Damon is definitely breaking down Elena’s defenses. Their bond is at an all-time high as they share some pillow talk time. Her admiration for Rebekah’s humanity makes her even more compassionate than the character we already knew.
Rebekah’s allegiance to Klaus for the last thousand years was based on a disbelief, will she be able to move past that now that she knows the truth or will she stand by him until the end? Â And where will Stefan places his allegiances now that options have been presented? So many questions and not enough answers.
We’ll be back next week though with another recap so stay tuned!
