The Vampire Diaries – Season 2 Episode 16 ‘The House Guest’

My recap of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ is a little late this week, but it’s worth the wait. Thursday night’s episode, ‘The House Guest’ had everything I’ve come to expect of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and more. There were lots of throw backs to episodes of old and a great cliffhanger ending that makes next Thursday feel like it’s way too far away. Ashley and I gave this one a resounding thumbs up. Let’s get started!

With Elijah dead and all that drama behind them, Stefan and Elena take a few moments to make out before school. Am I the only one who forgot that these guys are in high school? Seems to have taken a back seat to the vampire drama. I guess watching them go to school every day would get pretty boring. Anywho, Stefan wants to go but Elena wants to go to school. Clearly Elena is insane.

So Damon freaks out and holds Elena to the wall by her throat. When will Elena learn hanging out with vamps is a dangerous pass time that she should, perhaps, reconsider. Especially since Elena is the spitting image of Katherine, who everyone wants to kill. I know she’s in love, but really, maybe it’s best to just stay far away from the boys until Katherine is dealt with.

So Stefan can’t tell the difference either. That’s kind of unfortunate – makes the romance a little difficult. Am I making out with the girlfriend I love or the ex-girlfriend I hate? Only on TVD folks. As Stefan is asking ‘Katherine’ why should would ‘do that’ – which I’m assuming means trick him into making out with her by pretending to be Elena – the real Katherine appears in the doorway. Damon got it right and Stefan got it wrong? Hmm…

Elena, Katherine, Stefan and Damon all have a little discussion about what Katherine being out of the tomb means for all of them. Katherine insists she wants to help everyone kill Klaus, but no one’s buying it. I wonder why. Perhaps it’s because she’s evil and has done nothing but attempt to destroy everyone since she first returned to Mystic Falls. They’d be crazy to trust her, although she makes a good point. If Katherine kills Klaus she’s free to roam the earth in peace. She needs Elena to take him out. It’s in her best interest to keep Elena safe – for a while anyway.

I like Matt and Caroline together. I really do. While she might be better suited with Tyler – despite the whole, one bite would kill her thing – Matt really loves Caroline for who she was before Katherine turned her into a vampire. Would he still love her, though, if he knew she was a vampire? That’s a hard conversation to have – guess what honey, I’m a vampire. It’s totally cool though. I promise I won’t eat you. I’d like to see these two crazy kids make it, but no, I just can’t see that happening. I’ve been wrong though – especially when it comes to TVD. The important thing about this scene is that we learn neither Caroline nor Matt has heard from Tyler. He’ll be back.

It’s always nice to see a more relaxed Stefan and Elena. That doesn’t happen very often. Turns out Elena isn’t thrilled that Katherine is staying with Stefan and Damon. After that morning’s events, it isn’t hard to understand why. Stefan suggests they stay at Elena’s for the night, but Elena is having a girls’ night with Bonnie the powerless witch and Caroline, the permanently boy troubled vampire. Just another typical night in the life of Elena.

Okay, we learned a lot of things in this Damon/Katherine scene. I’m going to lay them out in point form:

• Fire does not destroy the body of an original.
• Damon won’t be getting that handy dagger back.
• Katherine knew Damon would die if he used the dagger.
• Elijah didn’t have a dagger to kill Klaus with so there must be another way to take out an original.
• Katherine is a heartless bitch.

  

  When we first enter the scene, Stefan is trying to convince Bonnie to try to talk Luka and his father, Doc Martin (I’m sorry, I can’t resist making the joke every time), into helping them out. Yeah. I can’t see that working after Bonnie’s little stunt with Luka. The scene ends is a squeal worthy way, though, when Jeremy convinces Bonnie to give him a little kiss because Elena isn’t around. Bonnie promises to tell Elena soon. I hope she does. I love these two together. I had a lot of hate for Bonnie at the beginning of the season, but she’s really winning me over.

  

  Ric fills Elena in on the situation with Jenna; including the fact that John is really the root of the problem. You know, the root of the problem aside from all the lies Ric has to feed her. Elena says John’s going to wind up dead if he isn’t careful. Ric tells her about the ring. Elena doesn’t seem as upset about it as one would think she would be. Ric wants to tell Jenna. Elena wants to hold off until after Klaus is dead. I agree with Ric. Jenna needs to know. She just isn’t safe. Ric leaves it up to Elena. I doubt either of them are going to have a choice about this one.

  

  Stefan and Bonnie meet with Doc Martin and Luka to offer their help in getting the Martin daughter back. Neither Martin seems convinced they’ll be able to help. I’m not so sure either. I mean, Elijah was an indestructible original. Stefan and Damon – strong as they are – clearly can’t bring that to the table. We’re left hanging as no decision is made as the scene changes.

  

  As much as I hate Katherine, I love the tension between her and Damon. It’s weird to see him off his game. Katherine insists she can’t help if Damon don’t tell her what he’s looking for in the journals. There’s a brief back and forth followed my Damon attacking her. She says she’s glad he’s alive. I say she’s lying. Anyway, Damon tells Katherine Elijah was looking for a site where witches were massacred back in the day although he doesn’t know why. Katherine provides some possible insight. Apparently witches release some sort of energy when they die a violent death and that energy remains where they die. Makes sense. Elijah wanted to do something with that energy.

  

  Stefan returns his meeting with the witches and sheds a little light on the energy situation. During his meeting he learned Elijah didn’t have a weapon to use to kill Klaus. Instead, he planned to get witches to conjure up enough energy that a weapon wouldn’t be necessary. All the pieces are starting to fit. Elijah knew that massacre site would have enough energy.

  

  Luka wants to accept the help Stefan offered. Doc Martin doesn’t agree. He says Stefan, Damon and the lot are their enemies and need to be dealt with. When Luka asks if his Dad intends to kill them, his Dad says no – they’re going to let Elijah do it. Apparently Elijah is coming back. As much as I love the Salvatore vamps, I’m excited for Elijah’s return. I liked him. In this scene we also learned the massacre site isn’t going to be easy to find – Luka and his Dad looked for months. Good luck vamps!

  

  Back at the Gilbert house, the girls get ready for their girls’ night. They invite Jenna to join them. She needs a good girls’ night thanks to her troubles with Ric. I will be so upset if Ric dies. I love him and Jenna together. And she needs a little happiness in her life. I think this may be the night Jenna finds out the truth. Jenna and Caroline discuss the fact that Ric might be hiding whatever he’s hiding to protect her. Jenna points out it isn’t his call to make. Perhaps this is the night Matt finds out the truth as well.

  

  Back at the witch family home, Luka is preparing to work his magic with the help of his father. It turns out a little projection is in order to try to pull the dagger out of Elijah and bring him back to life. Damon seems to sense a foreign presence in the house. Yeah. This is going to go badly. Katherine goes to the basement for a little snack. She now seems to sense Luka’s presence too. This is intense.

  

  While Katherine is downstairs with Luka, Damon has found something in one of the journals which he sneaks to Stefan. Is he being discreet to hide what he found from Katherine or the presence he senses. Likely Katherine. Stefan takes the journal to investigate Damon’s discovery. Meanwhile…

  

  Luka is trying to pull the dagger out of Elijah and Katherine is noticing something doesn’t feel quite right about that dungeon. She can’t see Luka but she definitely knows something’s off. Luka, the poor guy, thinks Katherine is Elena, making his father’s instructions to kill her feel a little wrong.

  

  Holy cow, folks. This is getting intense. Katherine got staked but is still alive. I’m guessing Luka missed her heart. Luka’s in real trouble though. Damon sees the dagger being pulled out of Elijah. He doesn’t want that to happen. Elijah coming back to life is bad news for everyone. I like Luka. This is going to be sad.

  

  Yup. There goes Luka. In Damon’s defense, he didn’t actually know he was killing Luka. I doubt that’s going to matter to Doc. I wonder if vamp blood cures witches. The scene flashes back and forth between the Martin house and the Salvatore dungeon. Doc is trying to save Luka but it isn’t looking good. Meanwhile, Damon tells Stefan there was sort sort of ‘witch attack’ and tells Stefan to go deal with it.

  

  No one can argue Doc Martin doesn’t have a wealth of reasons to hate vampires. Klaus has his daughter and Damon just killed his son. He’s almost certainly going to blame Damon for this, but really, it’s the Doc’s fault for sending him behind enemy lines in such a sneaky way. Damon couldn’t see him. All he saw was the dagger coming out. Fire was his only option. I doubt Doc will listen to reason here though.

  

  Um… what? Really? They’re putting this in the middle of all the action. No, TVD, I’m afraid I don’t agree with this. I love Caroline. I love her voice. I love ‘Eternal Flame’ (props for that little wink at the action unfolding at the Salvatore house). While I understand something needed to happen to bring Caroline and Matt back together, this whole scene should’ve been shown before the witch burning. It stops the episode in its tracks and completely distracts from the story line. They couldn’t shown the end of the bar scene right where it is, but Caroline’s stage debut and her reconciliation with Matt should’ve come sooner. My only complaint in an otherwise stellar episode.

  

  Getting back into the action, we find Doc Martin casting a spell on Elena and Stefan arriving to try to explain. There’s little sense trying to talk reason to a grieving parent – especially a grieving parent who blames you for their child’s death. I’m still hopeful something can be done to save Luka. Doc Martin does his magic on Stefan who falls to the ground in agony and leaves to try to find Elena.

  

  Another bar scene. Woo. Matt and Caroline are hooking up and looking happy. Bonnie tells Elena about her feelings for Jeremy and gets Elena’s blessing. A great scene, but still out of place. Luckily things are about to pick up again as Elena gets a call telling her she’s in danger around the same time as Doc Martin shows up. Yes, things are about to get messy.

  

  Bonnie tries to reason with Doc Martin but fails. Doc demands to know where Elena is. To show Bonnie he’s serious, he blows a bunch of stuff up with his mind and sends the bar into darkness. Matt leaves his reconciliation make out session with Caroline to investigate the power outage leaving Caroline alone to be filled in on the whole Doc/Luka/Elena situation. Stefan tells Caroline he has a plan but that they need to get Elena out of there.

  

  Bonnie refuses to tell Doc where Elena is so he sets the place on fire. Chaos erupts and Doc takes Bonnie down. Matt is trying to put out the fire when he notices Bonnie on the ground. He rushes to her aid. Just as Bonnie is coming around, Stefan and Elena appear. Elena yells for Doc, apologizes for Luka and asks Doc to let them help him get his daughter back. He insists Elijah is the only one that can help. Caroline takes advantage of the distraction and dives on Doc. I have to assume that was Katherine and not Elena. Regardless, Doc puts his vamp hurting skills to use and debilitates Caroline.

  

  Matt sees that Caroline is in pain and rushes to her air; attacking Doc. Doc wants to run after Elena (or Katherine, possibly) and Matt is in his way. He deals with it rationally – he breaks a beer bottle and stabs Matt in the neck. I think we can all see where this is going. Doc chases Elena, Caroline rips her wrist open and makes Matt drink her blood. Guess I was right about Matt finding out, but I really didn’t expect it to happen this way. He’s naturally a little confused about what’s taking place but goes with it anyway.

  

  Back at the Gilbert house, Bonnie and Jeremy discuss Bonnie’s feelings of helplessness without her powers. When Stefan and Elena return, they ask if Bonnie and Jeremy checked the house for unwanted guests. It seems that that would’ve been logical to me, but I’m sure it’s all part of the plan. I’m right. ‘Elena’ goes upstairs to wash her hands, is attacked by Doc and rips his throat out with her teeth. Yeah, so it was Katherine all along. Everyone rushes to investigate. Although Doc briefly comes back to life, he is killed once again and Bonnie ponders whether or not killing him was necessary. Bonnie has a secret. First…

  

  Damon and the real Elena return to the house. Katherine gives Elena her necklace back and expects a ‘thank you’. Not likely, Katherine. Meanwhile, Jenna arrives outside. She talks Isobel and lies with Ric for a while, but I think these two will be just fine. After all, Jenna’s going to find two Elenas in the house any second right? Wrong. Katherine is gone and Elena is alone. What a shock. Poor Jenna stays in the dark… for now.

  

  Now, for Bonnie’s secret. When Jonah ‘Doc’ Martin took Bonnie down, he also gave her all of her powers back. That’s not all, though. Apparently he also gave her a way to take out Klaus. Looks like Bonnie isn’t helpless anymore. I can’t help but wonder if that plan involved killing Elena. I have to bet it doesn’t although that would certainly make things more dramatic and TVD definitely loves drama.

  

  With Bonnie’s secret revealed, we head over to the Salvatore house where Katherine is trying to seduce Damon. It looks like its working as they share a passionate kiss but in the first clap-and-cheer-at-the-screen moment of this episode, Damon shoots her down. Way to go, Damon. You’re growing as a person, er, vampire. Katherine looks hurt and shocked. I love it. One of my favorite scenes in the episode. Since this is TVD, though, you know there is some huge cliffhanger coming and boy, this episode delivered.

  

  Is it wrong that I forgot Matt had a sister – a sister that turned into a vampire and was killed by Damon? Well, Matt didn’t forget. He didn’t forget his dearly departed sister or the fact that when she was in the hospital, she talked about vampires. Yeah. Caroline tells Matt she’s a vampire and Matt flips out. He’s convinced Caroline did something to his sister. We leave the scene with Matt trying to leave and Caroline refusing to let him. Can’t wait to see where this is going.

  

  The night’s biggest cliffhanger, though, came in the form of a knock on the door and an unexpected visitor while Elena and Jenna are bonding over ice cream. When I heard the knock, I expected one of three people – Klaus, Elijah or Katherine. It wasn’t. No, it was Isobel. Oh dear. That’s about all I have to say about that. Knowing Isobel and John are back and Klaus is on his way, I can’t wait to see where things go from here. That’s not even considering the Matt/Caroline storyline or Bonnie’s plan to kill Klaus. Things are heating up on ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and I can’t wait to see where things go.

   

  How did you feel about Caroline hopping on stage smack dab in the middle of all of the action with Luka? Do you like Bonnie and Jeremy together? Is Katherine friend or foe? Let me know what you think in the comments section below and make sure to check back next Saturday for my next recap!