In any case, the finale was everything I hoped it would be and more. It is a pity and a shame that we may not get to see what happens next. But here’s how it went.

Diana wakes up – in Grant’s car. He’s sitting in the driver’s seat. Her phone’s been ringing all night, but Grant didn’t wake her. She checks her messages and says she needs to go. Grant lets Diana know he will take her across the country if that’s what she wants, and she does, someday. But today, the Circle needs her.

She meets the Circle (minus Faye, who’s been kidnapped by Eben and the Witch Hunters) back at the abandoned house. They are locked in a debate about how to get Faye back – with or without John Blackwell’s help. Diana says that together they are more powerful than they were separately, but Melissa reminds her they could not defeat a Witch Hunter who only had one demon in him, and Eben has six.

Cassie’s phone rings and Eben’s on the other end. He tells her to bring a crystal to the boat where their parents burned or Faye will burn like they did. He knows they can’t form the Crystal Skull without all six crystals, so he’ll take one, thank you very much.

Adam says, “Let’s do it,” but Jake is sure Eben can’t be trusted. The only way to get Faye is to kill Eben before he hurts her, and the way to do that is with the Crystal Skull. Diana demurs. They think that because it’s what Blackwell told them, and he can’t be trusted, but Jake says his grandfather told them it’s the most dangerous weapon ever created. Eben is afraid of it, and Blackwell is the only one who knows how it works, but Diana and Cassie will have to be part of creating it.

Adam, Jake and Melissa go off to the boatyard to see if they can rescue Faye.

Cassie and Diana meet Blackwell to create the skull. He explains they have to destroy the family crystals and that will unbind the Circle. Diana says no – they can’t unbind the Circle without talking to the other members. Cassie argues that Faye will die if they don’t create the Skull. It’s worth the risk even if they don’t know what will happen to the other members of the Circle when it is unbound.

Blackwell begins the ritual, and starts to look like the creepy dude I’ve always seen lurking beneath the surface. And the ritual is creepy too.

At the boatyard, Melissa, Jake and Adam are feeling the effects of the unbinding, and Jake is ready to go after Faye, but Adam stops him – with his individual power. Now they know the Circle is not bound any more. It’s too dangerous to go on the ferry.

On the ferry, Faye has also discovered her power is back. She’s loose and looking for a way out. And she bests a Witch Hunter to get her phone back. I LOVE FAYE.

At the Meade house, Charles’ mother has come to call, and Dawn is also there. Kate Meade is clearly concerned about Faye. As they talk, Faye calls her mother. She tells her where she is and what’s happening – and that she knows she’s a witch. And Dawn knows she knows. (I love the comedic exchange in the midst of the stressful situation!) During their conversation, Faye is attacked. The situation is now urgent.

Dawn begs Charles’ mother not to let history repeat itself. Kate Meade says the second generation’s power was destroyed when it was stripped, but she will give them her own! Go Grandma!

Meanwhile, back at the beach where the skull is forming, something is happening beneath the water. It is churning and bubbling. Cassie walks into the water as she feels the pull of the skull. She picks it up out of the water. It is not yet fully formed, but she is clearly feeling a connection to it. She encourages Diana to touch the mass, and as both Cassie and Diana touch it, the Skull forms.

Cassie looks satisfied. Diana looks terrified.

Melissa, Adam and Jake are worried about Cassie and Diana – neither will answer their phones. Adam is going after them, while Melissa and Jake stay at the ferry and go after Faye. This is one of the best scenes of the finale. Adam and Jake encourage each other, and we see the deepening feelings between Adam and Melissa. It’s a moment of warmth in a series where there always seems to be tension and danger.

Blackwell takes the skull, but Cassie wants to hold it. Diana insists they do whatever it takes to save Faye. Blackwell says the skull reflects an individual’s power, but without limitations. Cassie seems to be mesmerized by the power of the skull and her connection to it, so she takes it from Blackwell. Blackwell wants it back, and claims Cassie’s dark magic isn’t advanced enough to use it. Diana supports Cassie’s claim on the skull, and if she needs help to kill Eben with it, Blackwell can guide her. Cassie chimes in – they all have the same goal – isn’t that right?

And then the moment of truth … Blackwell admits they don’t have the same goal, but they will. The girls fall to the ground at his bidding.

Back at the Meade home, Kate Meade has transferred her power. Dawn thanks her and leaves. Charles tells his mother he knows that Diana is not his daughter. Turns out his mother has known all along that Blackwell was Diana’s blood father, but she tells Charles blood does not define a family. Kate claims that the demons in Eben cannot be killed without the Crystal Skull but Charles knows there is another way; however, he needs his mother’s help. He speaks of redemption, and we all know what he’s talking about.

Melissa and Jake make their way onto the ferry, and find Faye. Eben disarms them, and the demons can be seen running around his head.

Cassie and Diana regain consciousness at the abandoned house. The Skull is sitting on a table, and Blackwell is looking through a book. The girls quickly discover they are encircled and can’t escape. Turns out Blackwell couldn’t care less about the other members of the Circle – or Eben.

Jake, Faye and Melissa are now wearing robes and tied to a post on the ferry – just as Blackwell was 16 years before, and it is encircled with ash. Eben enters and gives the standard lecture about how he has to kill them because they are abominations, and he sets the ash circle on fire. As he and his minions leave, the entire room catches fire.

Dawn and Charles arrive and see smoke, and hear screaming. Charles takes on Eben and tells Dawn to circle around the other way. Charles’ strategy becomes clear – he’s going to get the demons out of Eben and take them on himself! Meanwhile, Dawn puts out the fires and breaks the kids’ bonds. Off they go, but when they hear Eben screaming, Jake follows the screams as Dawn takes off the other way with Faye and Melissa.

Charles has taken on the demons and Jake shows up just in time to shove a knife into Eben’s gut, avenging his parents and his brother, Nick. But he looks up to find Charles gone.

Back at the abandoned house, Blackwell says Witch Hunters have always been the best way to galvanize witches (and here I am reminded of the chase for the moonstone and the doppelgänger in my other favorite show!). The strategy becomes clear – Blackwell wanted children, but not their parents. Broken orphans are easier to control, but Amelia figured it out and tried to get Ethan to help kill Blackwell before his evil plot could take hold.

Blackwell – dressed all in black to match his heart – explains that the deaths of the parents gave him the opportunity to disappear and wait until the right moment to return.

We head back to the boat. Charles has run outside, and Dawn and the girls have caught up to him. They can see the demons running loose inside him. He asks Dawn to tell Diana that he loves her, and then jumps overboard.

Blackwell begins to chant over the skull as Cassie and Diana watch, stuck in the ash circle. Inside the skull, black vapor dances. Cassie demands, “If you are not using the skull to kill Witch Hunters, then what is it for?” And Blackwell replies, “To kill witches … every single one without Balcoin blood.”

Then he holds up his hand to reveal the mark of the Balcoins – the imprint of the medallion.

On the boat, Dawn, Faye and Melissa are suddenly in distress, burning from the inside out. Blackwell explains that the other witches have kept the Balcoins weak for 200 years. The time has come for a cleansing.

Adam arrives at the abandoned house, also in distress.

Blackwell drops his final bombshell. There are 4 more Balcoin children – born in other towns, raised in other Circles, on their way to Chance Harbor to join Diana and Cassie.

Diana declares that Adam’s grandfather was right. Blackwell says a Balcoin Circle will be perfect. It is made of the purest race. (Race?) Together, a pure Balcoin Circle will be a weapon more powerful than any Crystal Skull.

Megalomaniacal much Blackwell?

Adam, crawling along the floor and burning up, is not going down without a fight, but Blackwell counter attacks.

When Cassie sees that the Skull is burning Adam – and understands that this is happening to all the members of the Circle, including Jake who has caught up with Dawn, Faye and Melissa – she reacts swiftly. Realizing her dark magic is not enough to break through the barrier, she turns on Diana, knowing Diana’s survival instinct will kick in.

And it does. Diana fights back and the barrier is broken. Cassie grabs the skull and begins to reverse the spell. Blackwell fights back and for a moment, it looks like he is being successful, as blood begins to drip from Cassie’s nose, but Diana joins her and Blackwell begins to burn!

And together, they kill him!

Later, Cassie, Diana and Adam greet Faye, Melissa and Jake at the door of Cassie’s house. Cassie admits that none of what has happened should have – she just wanted to believe in her father. Melissa says they were all fooled by him, but Cassie insists she should have known it was wrong.

She apologizes, and they move on to the next bit of business – how to destroy the indestructible Crystal Skull so nothing like this ever happens again. Cassie describes its power as dark and seductive (and Faye hears it calling her name). Adam suggests they surround it with lead and drop it deep in the ocean. Cassie says Adam should do it because “no one’s more reliable”. Even Jake agrees.

Cassie wants to rebind the Circle, but the others are not so sure. With Eben and Blackwell gone, there’s no compelling reason to increase their group power. And all the evil stuff started to happen once the Circle was bound. Better to go back to the way it was … maybe.

But Cassie reminds them there are other Balcoins coming, and being bound is a protection against them. Diana wants no part of it, and she’s leaving town. Cassie begs her to stay – she’s the only family Cassie has left, but Diana reminds her that no matter where she may go, that will never change. She needs to leave Chance Harbor.

Diana feels lost – something Cassie understands better than most. When she came to Chance Harbor, Diana was the one who helped her. Now Cassie wants to do the same for Diana, but Diana is terrified of her dark magic, and she can’t get away from it and be with Cassie at the same time, so she leaves.

Jake and Faye leave the promise of a rekindled love affair glowing as Faye departs.

Grant meets up with Diana at the coffee house – she’s packed a bag and ready to go with him.

Melissa comes home to find Faye in her room with champagne and in a partying mood.

Jake opens a package from Grandpa Royce. It contains a note that says, “The Circles are coming together – your fight is far from over.” Inside the package is a talisman every bit as mysterious as the Balcoin Medallion.

Charles – who is not dead – sits in a chair as his mother carves into his wrist the same symbol that bound the demons in Heather, which also made her catatonic.

Adam holds the Crystal Skull in his hands and seems to be seduced by its power. Is it Adam … or did Blackwell take possession of him during their battle at the abandoned house?

Diana gets into Grant’s car, and as she begins to fasten her seat belt, notices something on her hand – the imprint of the Balcoin Medallion.

Remember Diana that no matter where you go, there you are!

Cassie stands alone staring at the same symbol on the palm of her own hand. She turns it toward the fireplace and lights a fire, and her face glows with satisfaction.

And on the outskirts of Chance Harbor, on a promontory, stands 4 figures – 3 boys and a 1 girl, dressed in black. On their palms is the imprint of the Balcoin Medallion.

So this is where it ends?

It breaks my heart to have watched the show build and build and build – all the elements coming together – and now we are left to wonder what happens next, because there will be no Season 2.

It also seems to me that the shows that are rich in storytelling, with interesting characters and complex plotlines – and intricate mythology and/or history – seem to be on cable. I do not pretend to understand the entertainment business well enough to know why, but that is my observation. So I am hoping that somewhere out in the world of cable, some smart executive sees the potential that is in The Secret Circle and picks it up for at least another season.

I believe the show – and its loyal and passionate fans (of which I am one) – deserve it. This season was 22 episodes of great entertainment.

Thank you Kevin Williamson for making it happen, thank you Andrew Miller for keeping it happening each week. And thank you to the cast, Britt Robertson, Thomas Dekker, Phoebe Tonkin, Shelley Hennig, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Chris Zylka, Louis Hunter, Gale Harold, and Natasha Henstridge for giving it your all in every episode and making me excited to see what happens next.

Photo Courtesy of The CW

The Fall Schedule:

Monday:
8:00: 90210
9:00: Gossip Girl

Tuesday:
8:00: Hart of Dixie
9:00: Emily Owens, M.D.

Wednesday:
8:00: Arrow
9:00: Supernatural

Thursday:
8:00: The Vampire Diaries
9:00: Beauty and the Beast

Friday:
8:00: America’s Next Top Model
9:00: Nikita

New Midseason Shows:

The Carrie Diaries will be on Mondays at 9 starting in January. Cult will also start midseason.

The New Shows:

Arrow is a Green Arrow adaptation starring Stephen Amell (Private Practice), Paul Blackthorne (The River), and Katie Cassidy (Gossip Girl).

See more at the official site.

Beauty and the Beast is a remake of the 1980s show, starring Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) and Jay Ryan (Go Girls).

See more at the official site.

The Carrie Diaries is a Sex and the City prequel starring AnnaSophia Robb (Soul Surfer), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who), Austin Butler (Switched at Birth), and Matt Letscher (Scandal).

See more at the official site.

Cult is a drama about a cult of fans recreating crimes from a TV show, starring Jessica Lucas (Melrose Place) and Matt Davis (The Vampire Diaries).

See more at the official site.

Emily Owens, M.D. is a medical drama about a doctor starting her first job, starring Mamie Gummer (The Good Wife), Justin Hartley (Smallville), Michael Rady (The Mentalist), and Jack Coleman (Heroes).

See more at the official site.

(Photo courtesy of the CW.)

The lyrics above flashed through my mind as I watched the final episode of Season 3 at the moment when it became clear that Damon had actually met Elena before Stefan saved her from drowning.

The episode opens with Elena waking to “So What” by Pink! Dressed in her cheerleading uniform, she joins Aunt Jenna for breakfast. Clearly we’ve flashed back to a pre-vampire time in her life. We meet her Mom, and then Elena awakens in present time, in a hospital bed.

Meredith is reassuring Jeremy that Elena has a mild concussion. She asks him if there is anyone he wants to call. Next thing you know, he’s locked horns with Damon, who is furious (as is Stefan) because Elena is now an exposed target. The Salvatores are turning back.

Meredith encounters Ric in her office. He spills the vials of vampire blood out on her desk, and tells her that her license is being revoked, and that Mayor Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes are also being relieved of their duties. Ric is in control! He wants Elena released to his custody, but when he goes to get her, her hospital bed is empty. Matt, Tyler and Caroline have rescued her and brought her home. (Is it me, or is this not the first place Ric will look for her?)

Elena has another flashback to when she was a cheerleader. She was dating Matt, and Bonnie was her non-witch best friend. Bonnie noticed that Elena didn’t seem to be responding to Matt the same way anymore, and admonished her not to string him along.

Clearly, it is time to choose – which Salvatore brother will Elena select?

She wakes to find herself alone with Matt. They reminisce, she apologizes, and she acknowledges that she needs to let one of the Salvatore Brothers go … just as Stefan appears.

(And right there, I knew what her choice would be, and I cried a little inside.)

There is an exchange between Stefan and Matt about choices. Matt is convinced that allowing Elena to make her own choices is wrong, but Stefan is all about free will because he had it taken away from him, so he values it highly. And while it is true that the freedom to make one’s own choices is a value to be treasured, one is not always aware of exactly what the consequences of a choice will be. I shared Matt’s concern.

Enter Elijah!!!

Elsewhere, Ric is interrogating Jeremy about the location of Klaus’ body, and Jeremy is not very cooperative. Ric wants to kill Klaus and all of his line, and tells Jeremy once that’s done, Bonnie can spell him the way she did with Klaus so they can lock him away and Elena can live a long, normal, human life. When she dies, he will die and there will be no more vampires.

Meanwhile, Elijah is attempting to strike a bargain with Elena, Stefan, Matt and Damon (by phone). He says he and his family can take Klaus’ body and the weapon and scatter. Ric will go looking for them, but they have been running for 1000 years. They’re good at it, and can surely make it another 50 years. Klaus promises not to revive Klaus in her – or her children’s – lifetime, but Elijah has broken his word before. Damon is totally against the deal, but Elena goes for it. (And here I am thinking, “Stupid girl, will you never learn?”)

At the Lockwood mansion, Carol and Liz are explaining to Caroline and Tyler that they need to leave town after being out to the council. They don’t have a choice – stay and die or leave and live. Caroline is reluctant but Tyler convinces her it’s the right thing to do. Caroline says she needs two hours to help her friends.

Damon and Bonnie arrive at a storage facility, and I’m excited. I love Damon and Bonnie team-ups! Damon has stashed Klaus’ body here. Even Damon finds Klaus’ desiccated state creepy. At Bonnie’s request, Damon leaves her alone with Klaus. Something’s up and I have no idea what, but I’m sure it’s not good.

Stefan has an intimate moment with Elena, who is clearly struggling with her choice, and then we hear Stefan and Damon plotting. Jeremy is going to lead Alaric to them. Damon describes the stark contrast between them and their approaches. For Damon, there is nothing more important than keeping Elena alive and he would sacrifice anyone and anything (including Elena’s free will) to ensure that.

Stefan, in contrast, believes in freedom to choose – no matter where the consequences of the choice may lead.

Damon hears a noise and hangs up on Stefan, assuming it is Rebekah, but it’s Ric. He gets Damon in a lock and when Damon won’t tell him which storage locker Klaus is in, Ric breaks his neck – again.

Elsewhere, Matt is serving up “over-honeyed tea” to Elena (and I recall that in the books on which the show is based, Matt’s last name is “Honeycutt”). Elena tells Matt for the first time that Stefan saved her life. She says she doesn’t feel that she “owes” Stefan her life, but he made her glad she was alive, and that’s what love should be.

“You should love the person who makes you glad that you’re alive.”

But there’s a problem – when she is with Damon, he consumes her. And she doesn’t want to lose anyone else. She’s sure if she makes a choice between the brothers, she will lose the one she doesn’t choose.

Flashback to “Family Night” ditch. Elena is calling Jenna from the bonfire, asking for a ride. She and Matt have had a fight and she needs someone else to get her home. Jenna hands the phone to Miranda, who tells Elena that Matt is trying to figure out where he stands with her. He seems to have his life mapped out and he is pressing Elena on the future. She claims she doesn’t know how she feels, but Mom knows best. Elena needs to tell Matt how she feels, and set him free.

Elena awakens in Matt’s truck, and Matt has doped her! He’s taking Elena out of town to keep her safe.

At the storage facility, Rebekah arrives. Damon manages to grab and silence her as Ric comes upon locker 1020 – which is now empty since Damon and Bex are rushing it out of the facility. But Ric catches up to them. He quickly dispatches Bex, then Damon, and then opens the coffin and plunges the Original Stake into Klaus’s heart! Klaus catches fire. Ric removes the stake and closes the coffin lid and turns for Rebekah, knowing that Damon will be dead soon. Damon pushes Rebekah behind him, tells her to run, and then takes on Ric, who quickly dispatches him and takes off.

Damon calls Stefan to tell him the bad news. Both of them are feeling OK at the moment, but they know it took an hour for the effects of Finn’s death to be felt by Sage, and an hour is not enough time for Damon to return to Mystic Falls. But it’s not his own goodbye that Stefan is worried about – it’s the one between Damon and Elena. Damon tells Stefan he will just have to say goodbye for both of them.

Jeremy tells Stefan that Elena is not at home; he and Matt are getting her out of town. Elijah and Caroline arrive and Stefan has to tell them the news. Jeremy calls Matt, who tells Elena the bad news, and now she is insisting they have to go back before everyone dies! Matt tells her Damon is not with them. Damon is 100 miles from where they are, but they are driving toward him. Elena has to choose: go back to Stefan, or forward to Damon!

Going backward is rarely a good choice …

Elena calls Damon. She has made her choice, and Matt is taking her home. (And here my brain is going, “Stupid girl, stupid girl, stupid girl.”) She’s not just going back to Stefan, but to Caroline and Tyler. Damon presses her and she makes it clear she is choosing Stefan. (“Stupid girl, stupid girl.”)

Then here’s the kicker – TIMING. Stefan came into her life at a critical moment, and she fell for him on the spot. (Please go back and check the lyrics above!) Elena cares enough about Damon to let him go. But maybe if she’d met Damon first, it would be different. (Please go back and check the lyrics above … again!)

Elena and Damon say goodbye, and Ric is pissed. Rebekah has somehow eluded him.

Caroline has run back to meet Tyler, and BRAVO to Michael Trevino for his acting chops! The look on his face when Caroline tells him that Klaus is dead – especially when we find out later what has transpired with Bonnie – is wonderful! If you get to watch it again, check out that big hug. Tyler tells Caroline to leave.

Caroline has called Elena and let her know Tyler is starting to feel the effects of Klaus’ demise. Matt is pretty broken up by it, too. In the woods, Bex is telling Elijah about Klaus’ fate. Elijah tells her Tyler Lockwood is dead, but how are the others alive if they are “descended” from Klaus?

Bonnie shows up at the Lockwood dungeon, and in walks a very much alive Tyler. Once again, all the kudos to Michael Trevino! He’s got Joseph Morgan’s walk and attitude DOWN! Brilliant! There has been transference, and that explains the look on Tyler’s face in that hug with Caroline – Klaus finally got a piece of what he’s longed for. Bonnie did a transference spell to save her friends, and she’s not concerned with blowback from her ancestors or anyone else in the spirit world. She’s done being pushed around by them.

But Bex is pissed. The deal made with Elijah is off – Klaus is dead, and the only way to get rid of Ric is to get rid of Elena. And as Matt and Elena drive across Wickery Bridge, Bex stands in the middle of the road. Matt swerves to avoid hitting her (why – what harm would that do? She’s immortal, for the lord’s sake!!!) and his truck flies through the air and into the water … in virtually the same place where Elena and her family went just a few years ago.

In the water, Elena is reliving the experience of being in the car with her parents while Damon is getting the crap kicked out of him by Ric at the storage facility, and reliving an experience of his own – the first time he met Elena.

Big reveal – it was before Stefan saved her! (Please go to the top of this post and read the lyrics!) Before Elena’s parents came to pick her up from the bonfire, Elena encountered Damon on the road. He thinks she’s Katherine, but Elena tells him no. He’s momentarily taken aback, but then we see the Damon of Season 1! They have a conversation – Elena’s fight with Matt, his mapped out future, she doesn’t know what she wants. Damon, who’s been around a long time, tells her she wants what everyone wants: “A love that consumes you. You want passion, adventure, and even a little danger.”

Now, isn’t that what I’ve been saying for 3 years? This is the life Damon represents – passion, adventure, and risk. What fun. I don’t pretend to understand how Elena can still want a life with Stefan. Steady, solid, and BORING Stefan. But that’s me.

As Elena’s parents approach in their car, Elena asks Damon what he wants. He says he wants Elena to get everything she’s looking for, and as he says it, he is compelling her to forget he’s been there.

Back at the storage facility, Ric is about to stake Damon, but when Damon reaches out to defend himself, he is surprisingly able to fight Ric off. Ric is getting weaker, and Damon knows it’s because Elena must be dying.

In Matt’s truck, Elena is flashing between her current experience with Matt and her former experience with her parents. In both dreams, Stefan arrives. In the past, Elena’s father tells him to save Elena. But in the present, Elena tells Stefan to save Matt.

Why? Is Elena sacrificing herself to save the people she loves – knowing that if she dies, Ric will die also? Is she sacrificing herself knowing that Stefan and Damon are about to die, and life without them is not worth living?

As Ric dies in a distraught Damon’s arms, Jeremy is calling Matt wondering where the hell he and Elena are. Then he encounters Ric in the hall – and realizes Alaric’s a ghost! Which means Elena …

… is lying on a gurney with Stefan looking over her. Damon arrives at the hospital and demands that Meredith tell him where she is! Meredith tells him that Elena had a cerebral hemorrhage and that Meredith gave her vampire blood.

And Elena wakes up!!!

THIS IS THE BEST SET UP FOR A NEXT SEASON – EVER!

Did Elena know Meredith had given her vampire blood? Did she make the decision to save Matt knowing she’d “live”? Was it part of her plan to spend eternity with Stefan, knowing she’d made the right choice for her at this point in her “life”? Or is she going to wake up a vampire and have all her memories flooding back – the ones that Damon compelled away? She will learn she met Damon first, and he suggested a life far different from the one Stefan represents. She will wake with her most dominant trait magnified. Wow will she see the brothers Salvatore from this new perspective? Will she regret her decisions?

So, this turn of events nullifies “Elena’s choice”. The triangle begins all over again with a totally new set of rules. How will Stefan look to her now that all her emotions are magnified? What does steady, stable, and boring look like, especially if your true nature is strong and adventurous, And if, being a vampire, you no longer need safety and security? How will Damon look when she remembers everything he’s made her forget? Elena will see the side of himself that Damon claims he hides so he won’t have to live up to expectations, which is really a protective mechanism so he can avoid being hurt. Elena will see that vulnerability. How will she feel about that?

And let us not forget that in addition to being a vampire (should Elena complete the transition – there’s another choice), Elena is also a doppelgänger! Not only that, she is descended directly from the Original Petrova doppelgänger, Tatia. What does that mean in the mythology? Will Elena have special attributes as a vampire/doppelgänger that the other vampires don’t have? (The ability to make the transition back to human form, for instance?)

Oh, the possibilities!!!

Next season is going to be like all the other seasons – all about the choices we make and where they lead us. Elena will be reflecting on her choices of the past, and living a new life with new choices.

I can’t wait to see where this new journey takes us all. Which brings me back to the song I started off with …

If the planets were in perfect place, if your sign was on the rise
if my stars were in complete accord, but the sun was in your eyes
You’d have only seen my shadow, as I passed you on the street
and it might have been a hundred years, before our souls would meet again
and we would still be strangers, too early and too late
we are children of coincidence, coincidence and fate.

Photo Courtesy of The CW

Be sure to catch the season finale of Nikita, Friday May 18th at 8/7c on The CW … and celebrate the Season 3 pickup!!!

Photo & Video Copyright © 2012 TheTelevixen.com

Melissa wants to help Nick, but everyone else, including his own brothers, insists the Nick they knew is long gone. Melissa leaves with Adam close behind. The rest of the Circle disperses but Blackwell wants to talk to Diana. She tells him she doesn’t trust him, and leaves. Blackwell tells Cassie they need everyone in the circle to assemble the crystal skull to keep the witch hunters from killing them. Adam and Melissa have uncloaked the missing crystal, and it is somewhere in the high school.

The Balcoin blood has a special connection to the crystals, and it will help Cassie locate it. Blackwell tells her that can’t be caught at the high school, and I wonder why. He instructs Cassie to use her blood and a symbol that looks like a compass to locate the crystal. Blackwell reassures her he wants only the best for her and the Circle. A trusting Cassie goes off to find the final crystal.

At the high school, Cassie draws blood from her finger to trace the symbol on the floor. Suddenly, her mother appears, holding the crystal and calling after Diana’s mother, Elizabeth. But when Cassie follows her, she disappears around a corner.

At Diana’s house, Cassie explains what happened and asks for Diana to help her see more, by combining their powers – and their Balcoin blood. She baits Diana by holding out the promise that Diana may be able to see her Mom. Diana wants nothing to do with dark magic.

Meanwhile, Jake is arming himself with a knife. He doesn’t want to end off like the guys at the carnival.

Diana assures her dad that she is staying away from Blackwell … and yes, she’s going to the prom but he won’t be there. Charles gives her a gift – a piece of jewelry that belonged to her mother, Elizabeth – a necklace with a rosebud pendant. It’s a sweet moment between father and daughter.

The four other members of the Circle are making travel arrangements to prom. Faye is going with Jake – which was the plan 4 years ago – but it didn’t work out. The group puts the kibosh on Faye’s idea of a limo, but she insists they will all dance!

As Diana leaves Charles’ car to enter the school, Dawn approaches. They cannot give the most evil man they know the world’s most powerful weapon. Dawn says she will talk to Blackwell but Charles warns her that they have no crystals and no power. But, Dawn has power, it’s just not the witchy kind …

Over at the old house, Melissa encounters “Nick” who says he needs her help. Melissa is still in love with “Nick” so she’s vulnerable. Nick says he needs the crystal, and that he’s dying. (Isn’t he already dead? This is so confusing.) Adam shows up, and Nick, feeling threatened (demons feel threatened?) pushes Melissa and takes off. They are all dressed up for prom, which begs the question – what are they doing at the old house?

Blackwell shows up at the Chamberlain house, where he asks Dawn what she said to Charles to make him stay in Chance Harbor. Dawn explains she simply said that the Circle was the best protection for Diana. Blackwell tells her that Diana is hostile, but Dawn says she just needs time to get used to the idea. She also reminds him that 16 years ago he made a mistake taking loyalty for granted. Diana is loyal to Charles. Blackwell says that Charles is the problem, but Dawn reminds him that the town saw the fight between them at the Brew, so if harm comes to Charles, Blackwell will be the first – and probably only – suspect. And Diana will hate him. Blackwell has a way to break the bond of loyalty between Charles and Diana … by exposing him.

Back at the old house, Faye, Melissa and Adam are drinking bubbly, waiting for Jake, who’s out looking for Nick. When Jake shows up without having seen him, he tells Melissa that Adam may have saved her life. Faye says, “Let’s go to prom,” and off they go.

Cassie and Diana are at the Brew picking up coffee when Diana spots Grant, and Cassie encourages her to talk to him. As they talk and make arrangements to meet up later, Cassie gets a text: Nick attacked Melissa, meet us at school.

Meanwhile, Blackwell is giving Charles a unique experience: he’s re-enacting what he did to Amelia – in his own kitchen!

At the prom, Faye really wants to party, but the Circle is intent on hunting down the crystal. Dawn is frantically trying to get Charles on the phone, but each time he picks up the calls from Dawn, he hears Amelia and Cassie. Suddenly, everything he did to Amelia is happening to him – and Blackwell is standing right outside the window, clearly in control.

While Adam and Melissa stand guard, Cassie and Diana draw symbols on the floor with their blood. At first, nothing happens, but Diana gets the idea that they should be connected and grabs Cassie’s arm. Suddenly they are transported back in time to 16 years earlier. Amelia walks past them and up to Elizabeth – and Diana sees her mother for the first time.

Amelia and Elizabeth are arguing, and Elizabeth says she’s on her way to meet the others. Amelia is trying to tell her that something bad is going to happen at the ferry. She’s warning Elizabeth to take Diana and leave town. Amelia knew something bad was going to happen.

Nick shows up, breaks a back window – and the guard’s neck – and enters the school, hot on the trail of the crystal.

Meanwhile, Amelia continues to try to get Elizabeth to listen to her, telling Elizabeth not to go to the boat. They never should have trusted John. He’s not who he said he is. Elizabeth has never trusted John, and she told Amelia that when she brought him in to their Circle. Amelia agrees that yes, she was wrong. John’s been using them, and she only discovered it a few days ago.

Elizabeth asks that if Amelia knew a few days ago, why did it take so long for her to tell Elizabeth about it? Amelia loves to be in control, and she expects the rest of the Circle to just fall in line behind her, but Amelia tells her she knows that John is Diana’s father. John won all the Circle members over – but they were the two idiots who slept with him.

Elizabeth says it was a mistake, but she’s not sorry. As she grabs her necklace – the same one that Diana is now wearing – she says John gave her the most amazing gift: Diana. But if Diana gets any of John’s darkness, it will be Amelia’s fault because she convinced the rest of the Circle to trust him. As Cassie and Diana (in another time) follow Amelia to see where she hides the crystal, Adam and Melissa – still outside the classroom door guarding Cassie and Diana – have a heart-to-heart. They’ve been paired up in the last few episodes, and I like them together … a lot.

This time, Melissa is feeling like an outsider. Interestingly, she sounds very much like a normal teenager, lamenting how different she feels and wondering if she, or any of the circles, will have a normal life. Don’t all teens worry about being outsiders, not belonging, or what the future holds for them and if they are up to handling it. Melissa thought having magic would be magical, but it’s not turning out that way. Adam sweetly reminds her that it can. He magically creates a speaker so that the prom music is piped into the hallway, then dims the lights and dances with her. It’s a lovely scene.

On the dance floor, Faye and Jake are having a heart to heart of their own. She reminds him how he stood her up 2 years ago. As they dance, Jake confesses he’s feeling guilty about not being there for Nick. Faye talks him down from the emotional ledge.

Cassie and Diana follow Amelia to Mr. Conant’s classroom. Apparently Adam’s grandfather was a teacher at the high school. He gave Amelia the Conant crystal to protect herself from Blackwell, but she’s returning it because she’s leaving Chance Harbor.

When Mr. Conant won’t let her leave, Amelia confesses that Ethan is turning Blackwell over to the witch hunters as they speak. Ethan apparently believes that if the witch hunters can get rid of Blackwell, it’s worth the risk. The six girls in the Circle who got pregnant – Blackwell made it happen. Blackwell used magic on the girls that he didn’t impregnate so they would conceive with their boyfriends. So back in the day, all these kids were out having sex when they weren’t in school? Yikes!

Mr. Conant says Blackwell is building a Circle for himself, centered on Balcoin blood. The realization hits Cassie hard. She says it out loud to Diana as her mother tells Mr. Conant she is leaving so the Circle can never be bound. Mr. Conant tells Amelia he will hide the crystal in the trophy case outside the gym – cloaked. In case she changes her mind, she will know where it is. She tells Mr. Conant to tell Ethan that she doesn’t love him but he’ll know that’s a lie, so she says he must make him believe it, for his safety and Cassie’s. Cassie can never know who she is.

Cassie and Diana now know that Blackwell used all their parents and now he is using their Circle! He never cared about their mothers, or them, at all. But what is he using them for?

The spell is broken, and Cassie and Diana are on the floor in the classroom. Cassie is overwhelmed and apologizes to Diana, who was right all along. Diana tells Cassie that she should apologize to the Circle. The only reason Blackwell is in their lives is because Cassie let him in, just like Amelia did with her Circle. Diana’s mother and half of the Circle’s parents are dead because Amelia couldn’t see Blackwell for what he really is.

Maybe it’s not too late to save this Circle – even if it’s too late for Nick.

Diana rushes out of the room as Adam and Melissa rush in. Cassie brings them up to speed and tells them she knows where the crystal is, and because they have no idea what Blackwell is up to, they have to get it before he does.

Outside, Nick rushes past, and Cassie, Adam and Melissa dash off in the other direction on the way to the trophy case, joining up with Jake and Faye. Nick rushes past Dawn in the hall, knocking her out of the way as she stares in shock.

Adam reaches the case first and has the crystal in his hand, but Nick comes up behind him, shattering the glass, grabbing the crystal and running off, with Jake in hot pursuit right behind him.

Diana has run home only to find her father cowering on the kitchen floor. He’s mumbling that everything he’s ever done – good or bad – he did to protect her. Diana is scared. She picks up his phone and Charles takes it from her. He says, “She’s haunting me. She burned down the kitchen. Amelia.” Diana figures out that Charles killed Amelia. Her world is thrown off its axis, and she rushes out the front door.

Outside, it’s cold, and misty. Blackwell is walking along on the sidewalk in front of the Meade house. Grant pulls up behind her, and she breaks down in his arms. Blackwell watches and leaves.

Meanwhile, the Scooby Crew is after Nick – who is once again in a creepy place, to Faye’s chagrin. It’s a very big junk yard. They go off looking for him, and not only do they find him, they also find Eben! Cassie charges out with her dark magic, and gets the crystal out of Nick’s hand. He flings it to the ground, but when Cassie grabs it, Eben casts her up in the air and down on the hood of car. Falling unconscious to the ground, the crystal falls from her hand. Nick makes a grab for it, and Jake takes off after him, followed by Melissa. Adam and Faye stand in front of him as he threatens to kill them all. A car behind them suddenly moves in, but another car crashes into it, preventing it from hitting them. That other car is powered by John Blackwell.

Blackwell tells them to go help Cassie, but Faye says she’s staying behind – Eben could kill Blackwell. Sure enough, Eben throws a car at Blackwell. Meanwhile, Nick is back to get the crystal which is lying next to Cassie’s unconscious body. Jake intervenes and there is a knife fight. In a moment of weakness, Jake cannot stab his brother,but it’s not really his brother, and Nick has no problem disarming Jake and then choking him. Fortunately, Melissa finds the knife and sticks it into Nick’s back. Jake is saved, and once again, Nick is dead.

Blackwell appears and picks up the crystal. But where’s Faye? According to Blackwell, Eben took her, but if they can build the skull, they can save Faye.

Why don’t I believe him?

Photo Courtesy of The CW

We see a series of “historical tableaux” ending with a long shot of our favorite history teacher, the now vampire-hunting vampire, Alaric Saltzman, stretched out at his desk in Mystic Falls High School – stake in hand, contemplating who knows what until he hears the voice of … no, it’s Caroline.

She’s talking to Tyler about cleaning up after the decade dance, but Tyler tells her Klaus has summoned him to help pack. Klaus and Kompany are leaving Mystic Falls, and Tyler is bound to behave as if he is still sired.

In the gym, Caroline encounters Rebekah, who tells her that Matt was called to work at the last minute, so she’s there alone, cleaning up – and she’s got major attitude. She chastises Caroline for being two minutes late. Clearly what she’s upset about is that, as she says herself, she didn’t get to attend the dance that she organized. And then Caroline does what we all love her for: she shows Rebekah compassion, telling her she’s sorry about her mom. Remarkably, Bex responds by telling Caroline she’s sorry about Ric.

As Rebekah leaves for cleanup in the gym, she encounters Ric in the hall, and clearly, she did NOT expect to see him. When he attacks Bex and is about to stake her, it’s Caroline to the rescue! Grabbing the stake, she shoves it into Ric’s chest, but when he simply pulls it out, the two blondes take off at vamp speed. Caroline reaches her car just in time to see Ric behind her in the window. He breaks her neck and she falls to the ground. We see a sizzling Ric (no ring to protect him from the sunlight, after all), dragging “Vampire Barbie” back into the school, with Bex watching from the sidelines.

Yep – best opening scene of the series!

Over at Casa de Gilbert, Elena and Jeremy apparently can’t wait to redecorate Ric’s old room. Elena spreads drop cloths as Jeremy pours more paint. Stefan shows up to comment on how weird this is, but Elena tells him they’ve got to keep moving. Someone should tell Elena activity does not mask thoughts and feelings – and burying them is worse than dealing with them. Not that she’d listen.

Jeremy is confused about Stefan and Elena’s “relationship status” but who isn’t? Getting no clarity from either of them, he unleashes his frustration with a request: can we please have one day – just one – without any vampires in it? The doorbell rings, and Stefan answers it to find Damon and Bonnie, and Bonnie is bleeding from the neck. Damon says, “We have a problem.”

Back at the Mikaelson manse, Rebekah is telling her brother that Ric just tried to kill her, and thanks to their mother, he’s got a white oak stake that can’t kill him. And he’s strong … they can’t defeat him. For now he’s stuck in the school without a daylight ring, but when it’s dark, he will come after them. She wants to leave – NOW.

Klaus agrees but insists on collecting Elena before they leave. Bex argues he doesn’t need Elena or any more hybrids. Klaus counters that he needs protection – from their mother – but Rebekah says they can protect each other just like they always have, always and forever. Klaus refuses to leave without Elena, so Bex tells him he either leaves with her now, or he is on his own. When he makes no move to go, she stabs him one more time: “Fine. Choose your hybrids over your family.” She storms out, crashing into Tyler on her way.

At the Gilbert home, Bonnie is explaining that the witches took control of her while she was sleeping because they wanted Ric to turn. Damon is annoyed with himself for alloying his friend Ric to “die with dignity” instead of just killing him. So what are they going to do now? Bonnie explains that a witch can’t really make an immortal creature – there is always a loophole. Problem is, she doesn’t know what that workaround is in this particular case.

Upstairs, Elena’s phone rings. She sees it is an incoming call from Ric – and when she answers it, she’s angry, thinking it is a prankster, but Ric is on the other end. He tells her he’s got Caroline at the school and if Elena wants to keep her alive, she needs to get to the school right away, and if she tells anyone, he will kill Caroline.

Caroline is looking really bad. She’s tied to a chair with a rope in her mouth, face bleeding, and palms down on the desk with pencils driven through them – right, just like a crucifixion!

Back downstairs, the doorbell rings and Jeremy answers the door. It’s Klaus on the other side and Jeremy is not happy to see him (“What the hell are you doing here?” GO JEREMY!) Stefan shows up at his side. Klaus has never been invited into Casa Gilbert. Stefan tells Jeremy to go to his room (and again, the look Jeremy gives him is priceless – like “Screw you, what am I, 5?”) and Damon comes up from behind and says “Now”. Jeremy, recognizing he’s dealing with 3 vampires, reluctantly leaves.

When Klaus announces he’s leaving town, just needs to pick up the doppelgänger, Damon shuts the door in his face!

The brothers are off looking for Elena, while Klaus paces outside, anxiously trying to find a way in or get the occupants out! Taking a page out of Brother Elijah’s book, his weapon of choice is not a handful of coins, but a rolled newspaper. He hurls it through the window, breaking the glass and the plantation shutters!

At the school, Caroline can hear Elena approaching, and Elena can hear Caroline. When she arrives at Ric’s classroom, Ric tells her to free Caroline herself. (Matt Davis looks deliciously blasé and malevolent.) As Elena attempts to remove one of the pencils, Alaric grabs it from behind.

Klaus spies his next weapon – a child’s rubber ball, abandoned in a neighbor’s yard. As Stefan, Damon, Bonnie and Jeremy discover that Elena’s car is gone, the ball breaks through the front door … and right behind it is Klaus with a supply of – I don’t know – pickets? From the picket fence of the same neighbor’s yard. He starts hurling them like darts!

Damon ducks, and then springs back up shouting “missed me” and grabbing the weapon out of the wall to hurl right back at Klaus. GO DAMON! Next one is over his head, and he shouts “Missed me again”! Gotta love Damon! In the midst of all this, Stefan gets a call – from Alaric.

As Klaus approaches with a propane tank and a lit newspaper, Stefan comes outside and tells him to put it out. And Klaus counters with: “Come outside and make me.”

That may have been the best line of the show. It demonstrates so clearly that no matter how big or bad a villain Klaus may appear, inside he’s just a frightened and angry kid who didn’t get enough love and wants to appear invulnerable to pain so no one will hurt him.

Stefan informs Klaus that Ric has Elena and Caroline and unless Klaus turns himself over, Ric will kill them both. Klaus wants to make sure he’s not being set up, but Stefan reminds him that if he dies, they all may die, Tyler certainly will die, and Damon is willing to gamble with those odds (as always). As “the boys” negotiate, Bonnie joins them – with an idea. She suggests a desiccation spell (like her mom used on Mikael) but they still need vampire power to take Ric down, including Klaus. He reminds them that if they can’t pull it off before sunset (8 hours from now), he’ll be gone, Elena will be dead, and they will be stuck with Ric.

The action moves back to the school, and turns out the ropes around Caroline’s mouth are vervain-soaked. Ouch. Alaric explains that the torture is designed as incentive for Elena to put Caroline out of her misery. Ric taught her how to hunt vampires but she’s never actually staked one.

Over at Casa Salvatore, Bonnie and Damon wait for Abby to arrive. Abby shows up while Stefan and Klaus are at the school. Stefan says he’d leave with Klaus if it meant protecting Elena, and Klaus appears to be a Stelena shipper, saying Stefan is her better option. But Stefan makes it clear all the trouble Klaus has gone to – trying to put a wedge between them – has only made them closer. They have survived worse, and they will survive him.

Abby has no trouble walking across the Salvatore threshold, and Damon explains that sure enough, when Elena died, the seal broke. Abby refuses the blood Damon offers, and then Bonnie tells her mother that she wants to desiccate Ric the way Abby did Mikael. Abby warns her that the spell is dangerous, that Bonnie’s magic comes from the earth, and is pure. The desiccation spell uses Dark Magic. Abby doesn’t think Bonnie can handle it, but Bonnie tells Abby she doesn’t know her – or what she can handle. And Damon backs Bonnie up! (Remember, Damon has personal experience with Bonnie and exactly how far she is willing and able to go in the magic department. This is really nice to see.) Abby informs them that the spell involved stopping the vampire’s heart, but to do that, you need to find a balance among the living. In order to do the spell, Bonnie will have to stop a human heart. (Which begs the question, whose heart did Abby stop to desiccate Mikael?)

In this case, the sacrificial human is Jeremy. He is convinced he’s the perfect choice because Elena’s his sister. He will fight for her. Damon wants Jeremy’s lifesaving ring – Jeremy has already used up two of his lives, and if Bonnie can’t restart his heart, Damon fears they will have a Ric Jr. to deal with. Stefan and Klaus arrive, and Bonnie tells them to drink her blood (which she is conveniently carrying in a little bottle) so they will all be linked. One of them will then have to make a physical connection to his bloodstream through a vein or an artery. Two of them hold Ric down, the other takes his best shot at the “contact point”.

Before they execute their plan, Klaus reveals that he’s responsible for their bloodline and of course, for Tyler’s, and there’s no way to know if he’s telling the truth or buying insurance. But why didn’t Rose know this? Damon points out the fact that Klaus may be lying and he dares them to call his bluff.

Inside the school, Ric and Elena are locked in a debate over right and wrong. He tells her if she doesn’t side with the humans, she’s as bad as the vampires. And she needs to kill Caroline, or Ric will make it hurt.

When Elena takes a shot at him with the stake, he grabs her arm and she counters by heaving the beaker of vervain in Ric’s face! GO ELENA! As he writhes in pain, Elena frees Caroline and tells her to get help. Elena knows she can’t outrun Ric. Sure enough, Caroline escapes but Ric blocks Elena.

Caroline runs straight into Klaus, who tells her to go home and stay there. That’s twice now that he’s saved her life! This is NOT a guy I’d want to be obligated to.

Ric is roughing up Elena, and eventually she asks him why he doesn’t just kill her.

Stefan and Damon grab Ric from behind, but he’s too strong, knocking Stefan out and breaking Damon’s neck … but Klaus is able to make contact with Ric’s heart while Bonnie is jibber-jabbering in the woods over Jeremy’s body. Klaus isn’t able to hold the connection and Ric grabs the stake, but before he can put Klaus away, Elena grabs something sharp and threatens to cut her own throat. She’s figured it out! If she dies, Ric will die. That’s why he can’t kill her. They are linked via her blood – the blood Esther used in the spell to turn him into the invincible vampire hunter.

Ric tells her she’s wrong, but she calls his bluff and starts to cut her own throat. Ric’s concentration is broken, and Klaus is able to get away, as does Elena, or so it appears. Apparently, Klaus grabbed Elena outside because now she’s at his place with a needle in her arm, being drained of all her blood. Now that Klaus knows if Elena dies, Ric also dies, Klaus is going to take her blood until she’s dead. Tyler walks in, and now he’s in the throes of a dilemma. He can’t help Elena without giving himself away.

Meanwhile, the Salvatore brothers awaken to find Alaric standing over them. He tells them Klaus is killing Elena to kill him so they’d better go do what they do best – save Elena’s life.

Klaus lies to Elena, and uses Stefan’s argument to him earlier. He tells Elena he doesn’t need his hybrids so much anymore because in trying to kill them, his mother just strengthened the bonds with his siblings. But Elena sees the faulty logic – if that was really true, Klaus wouldn’t need her blood at all. He wants a back-up family. Klaus fight back, telling Elena that she knows once she picks a brother, the Salvatore bond will be broken. He’s saving her from having to make the choice, but he wants to know who she would have picked. She practically spits in his face, and he leaves.

Tyler returns to help Elena and informs Klaus that he transformed into a werewolf 100 times because of his love for Caroline, which is stronger than any sire bond – not that Klaus would understand that. And by the way, Klaus doesn’t give a crap about Tyler or any of his hybrids. He just doesn’t want to be alone. As Tyler goes to help Elena, Klaus grabs her and shoves her. She falls and hits her head on the sharp end of a table, and she’s out!

Tyler and Klaus are locked in a fight when the Salvatore boys show up. Stefan establishes contact, and since they are linked, Bonnie gets a signal – not knowing it’s Klaus and not Alaric on the other end. As she chants, Klaus is looking worse and worse.

Actually, the look on his face is heartbreaking as he sinks deeper and deeper into desiccation, especially when he looks at Stefan. Bonnie revives Jeremy, Klaus is done, and it’s brilliant. If he did create their bloodline, they are rid of him without killing him and hurting themselves, but Stefan reminds them they still have Ric to deal with.

The brothers take Elena home. She’s feeling secure that Ric can’t hurt her, day or night. The brothers are about to go on a road trip to dispose of Klaus’ body in the Atlantic, but before they go, Elena explains that she can’t make a choice because she’s afraid of losing the brother she doesn’t choose – and she’s lost too many people already.

As the brothers leave, Elena finds all her friends in her kitchen … celebrating. Compared to last episode’s group scene – the Ric “funeral” scene – this scene is totally dumb. Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, Jeremy and Matt all look happy, energetic and giddy, just the way you’d look after a day of torture and spells and fights to the death. Yeah right. Worst scene of the episode.

Liz Forbes shows up at the Lockwood Mansion for an emergency council meeting, called by none other that Ric! And he “outs” the Forbes and Lockwood children! Who the hell are all these people, and where’s Meredith??? Ric vamps to the door to block the Sheriff’s exit. Oh the shock, the horror! Now what?

On their road trip to the Atlantic, Damon’s cracking jokes and celebrating. Stefan admits that 150 years down the road, they make a good team, but what happens when Elena makes a decision? Stefan says if she chooses Damon, he will leave town. Damon is philosophical: in 60 years, it will be over and they will go back to being brothers, and he agrees to the same terms on his side. Although it’s a lot for one girl, they both agree she’s very special.

The special girl, meanwhile, is back to painting, but clearly she is suffering from effects of the blood draw, or the crack on the head, or both. Elena falls to the floor, unconscious, blood dripping from her nose.

Did anyone take her to the hospital to have her checked out?

Only the Season 3 finale remains. Have we seen the last of Klaus? Will we see Elijah? Who will Elena choose? Will Elena choose at all? And what’s Ric’s next move?

Photo Courtesy of The CW

This week’s episode opens with friends coming to Grandma Jane’s house to mourn her death, and I can’t help feeling so sorry for Cassie Blake. First her mother, and now her grandmother – both of them killed by Charles Meade. And Charles is the only father that Cassie’s “sister” Diana has ever known.

When Cassie speaks to Diana (who is not completely convinced that she actually is a child of John Blackwell), she makes it clear that if it turns out Diana really is her sister, she would be very pleased. It’s a sweet moment.

Enter Faye, as Jake bursts in looking as if he’s been crying. He’s upset. Apparently word is that Jane’s death was caused by the Witch Hunters. Faye reminds Jake that most of the people in attendance are fragile old people who are already upset. (Love it when the sweet side of Faye peeks out from behind the mean girl façade.) She suggests another way for Jake to take the edge off.

Meanwhile, Dawn continues with her attempts to have Blackwell help her get her power back and he rebuffs her completely.

Cassie sneaks off to her room for some alone time but Adam joins her. Cassie is feeling terrible about losing the only remaining connection to her mother. Now there is no one left alive who knows “the real Cassie”, who she was before “everything changed”.

Adam tells her that although he may not have known her before, he knows her now. (And he does. He mentions Cassie’s defining characteristic – her strength – in a previous scene.) Cassie kisses him, but they are interrupted by Blackwell. Adam leaves and Cassie tells Blackwell that she is not OK. She’s not happy about the fact that it appears her father has slept with half of Chance Harbor. (And to think this guy was disapproving when Cassie slept with Adam!)

But Blackwell claims he only ever loved Amelia and Elizabeth was a rebound thing. Finding out that it resulted in a child was a shock to him too. (Why don’t I believe this?) He convinces Cassie that it’s more important than ever to find and destroy the Witch Hunters, and since Cassie believes they are responsible for Grandma Jane’s death, she’s totally on board with whatever Blackwell wants to do.

Diana returns home where she has a heart-to-heart with Charles. When she asks him if there is any chance John Blackwell could be her father, the shock and disbelief from this curveball is written all over Charles’ face. Diana presses, and when Charles hesitates further, she presses even more. Charles admits he and her mother hit a rough patch and separated for a few weeks – just long enough for something to happen between Elizabeth and Blackwell.

Diana is trying to take it in and Charles makes a compelling case that he is her father … the only one she’s ever known, and the only one she needs. He asks her not to speak to Blackwell, who – based on his own experience – will first earn her trust, then play on her fears, and finally make her do things she never thought she’d ever do. Their hug is the second touching moment of the episode.

At the old house, Blackwell works with Cassie, Adam and Melissa, using the existing crystals to determine the location of the rest. And it points to Jake’s house.

Faye and Jake created a diversion so Jake can grab a bottle of suspicious pills from Dawn’s purse. Jake and Faye are now “taking the edge off” in Jake’s room, but when Faye decides to use what she thought were some “happy pills” in Dawn’s purse, what she finds when she opens the bottle is the crystal! They rush to the old house with it where Faye announces “5 down, 1 to go” while Jake shares the news that Faye’s crystal is dead.

The only crystal missing is the Conant family’s. This did not appear on the map. Blackwell suggests Adam’s grandfather cloaked it by spelling it and hiding it away before he died. They wonder if it’s worth the effort to look if Faye’s crystal is dead, and Blackwell convinces them there’s a way to recharge it. He tells the Circle to meet back at the house (with Diana) in the evening, and he tells Adam he needs to find his family crystal.

Cassie arrives at Diana’s home and Diana tells her she has told her father about Blackwell. She says he took it fairly well, considering she told him that the man he hates most in the world slept with his wife!

Cassie explains the plan about the crystal, but the ever-cautious Diana doesn’t think recharging the crystal is a good idea. She questions the wisdom of doing whatever Blackwell says. Cassie believes it’s the only way to stop the Witch Hunters, and based on her experience, it’s the only way to go. But they need the complete Circle – including Diana – to perform the spell.

Adam and Melissa (who have been paired up a lot lately and I think it’s a great pairing) are searching the Boathouse which was built by Adam’s grandfather who was a history teacher. Adam mentions the kiss he shared with Cassie, and Melissa suggests a plan of her own to “take the edge off” – mid-day drinking!

Back at the old house, the rest of the Circle is bickering. Diana comes in to announce she is Blackwell’s child too, and Faye tells everyone that her mom was part of his harem too! They are not happy about Blackwell’s “sleeping around” and Diana voices her concern about listening to him. Cassie continues to be a believer.

The wind starts to blow through the house, the floor shakes, and the table in the center of the room spins. The crystal that Faye set on the table moves to the center, and Jake makes a mad grab for it as it sinks through the table and disappears. Jake determines that there is ash around the house and the group considers that there is a traitor among the witches … someone who wants to stop the Circle for rejoining the crystals into the skull. Someone helping Eben.

Jake is pretty sure that Isaac will help him because Isaac would not believe in what Eben is doing. When Cassie says she’ll run the idea by her father, Diana puts the brakes on that idea, and Jake agrees – Isaac would never trust Blackwell.

At the Boathouse, Melissa suggests that there was something between Cassie and Adam from the very beginning, and perhaps – despite the elixir – it will just keep developing over and over. Adam reminds her about the curse. (And all of this is reminding me about another “curse” and another “elixir” in another show on the same network!!!)

Suddenly, Jake sees an old coin, framed and hanging on the wall. He recognizes it as his grandfather’s- it’s the one he used to do magic tricks with. Adam manipulates the coin (using sleight of hand called the “French drop”) and after a few attempts, is able to cloak it. Unfortunately, he has no idea how to uncloak it!

Out in the woods (which look suspiciously like the area where Bella met Edward in Twilight), the group meets up with a Witch Hunter named Ian while Charles takes a few shots at Blackwell in public. When Blackwell starts to fight back and threaten Charles, he is reminded that he’s in a public place. Everyone, including Diana, will know that if anything happens to Charles, Blackwell will be the first suspect. Blackwell doesn’t look too happy about that “inconvenient truth”. Charles plans to take Diana out of Chance Harbor so Blackwell will never see her again. Blackwell doesn’t look happy about that either.

Elsewhere, Dawn discovers that her crystal is gone! (Hee hee hee hee!)

Back in the woods, Ian informs Jake that Isaac is dead and that Eben killed him. Ian was part of the group who kidnapped the Circle and tried to kill them at Halloween. Cassie is convinced that – since they know where she lives – Ian is part of the group responsible for grandmother’s death. When he denies it, “that old Black(well) magic” cranks up. She knocks Ian to the ground and he starts choking. Jake tried to stop her but she knocks him to the ground. It’s Diana who intervenes successfully.

So, it appears that one Dark Magic Child can short-circuit the powers of another!

Ian tells Jake that Eben killed Isaac because Isaac turned on him. Isaac believed that all magic was rooted in evil, and he hated that Eben was using it (having gotten it from the “traitor”). When the witch helped Eben summon the demons, he was no longer useful. Eben told Isaac to kill him, and when Isaac didn’t do it, the traitor escaped, so Eben killed Isaac as punishment.

Damn … this is complex!

But Ian never found out who the traitor was. He tracked him to Chance Harbor and then lost him. Jake allows Ian to leave.

They now know that the traitor wasn’t bringing the crystal to the hunters, and that means he was on his own so they can track the crystal down and bring it back. Diana suggest that if Isaac turned on Eben, then perhaps Ian and those loyal to Isaac could also be convinced to turn on Eben.

Cassie suggests a truce is just how their parents were slaughtered but Diana is not convinced that killing the Witch Hunters is the only way to stop the war between Witches and Witch Hunters. Jake thinks that finding the crystal and rejoining the crystals into the skull will give them power no matter what happens.

Back at the old house, the group discusses their plan. It’s four of them against the one traitor. Faye is less than thrilled that part of their advantage is “the Dark Magic Super Twins”. Diana swears that even if she has Dark Magic (she is still unconvinced), she would never use it. Together they determine that the crystal is at Hudson Field – which Faye describes as “the creepiest place on earth”.

Can’t wait to see a place that a witch thinks is creepy!

Over at the Boathouse, Adam and Melissa are still trying to determine how to get the coin to reappear. Adam remembers grandpa used to say something, and Melissa suggests what he said was what was written on the coin. Although he can’t see it, Adam still has the coin in his hand. He puts it in his lap, places a piece of paper over it and rubs the outline with a pencil – and voila – the words on the coin appear. He and Melissa read them together and the coin reappears! And along with it appears a secret panel in the wall! Unfortunately, it reveals nothing.

Blackwell shows up at Dawn’s house and when she asks about his face, Blackwell tells her Charles hit him when he found out Diana’s his daughter. Dawn is shocked. Blackwell reveals that although he and Dawn “tried”, it wasn’t meant to be. Dawn says Blackwell has never forgiven her for it.

So “crazy Grandpa Armstrong” is not a lunatic after all. Back in the day Blackwell was running around “boinking” all the Chance Harbor high school witches trying to make his very own coven with his Balcoin bloodline. (Bloodline – has a familiar ring to it!)

Blackwell wants Dawn to stop Charles from leaving town with Diana. He needs a complete circle to complete the skull. Blackwell is trying to complete what they started 16 years ago – but this Circle is stronger because his own children are in it. If Dawn will help him, he will help her get her power back. But Dawn says that even if the Witch Hunters are defeated, the Elders will never allow her to have her power back. Blackwell tells her the rest of his plan: once the Witch Hunters are gone, they are going to get rid of the elders. Dawn agrees to talk to Charles.

The Scoobies arrive at Hudson Field – an amusement park which is “closed for the season” (Chance Harbor not being California, Texas or Florida!). Faye is not happy about the prospects of entering the park … she has a fear of clowns, something I have never understood myself, but I’ll play along. Lurking in the background is the presumed traitor.

The place is spooky, and when Jake suggest they split up to double their efforts, Diana’s first instinct is to go with Faye. Faye declines, and Cassie is not thrilled with Diana’s lack of enthusiasm. Their first encounter is with a rat – which prompts an actual “Scoobie” wise-crack from Faye. Gotta love it!

Dawn arrives at Charles’ house (apparently she just walks right in) and he tells her he’s leaving town for a while. She says half the town saw him fighting with Blackwell, and Charles says Blackwell is the reason he’s leaving. Diana is the one good thing in his life and he’s not going to let John Blackwell have her for his own purposes. Dawn realizes that Blackwell has their children working for him in secret just like he had them in the past, and she says it’s hers and Charles’ fault. They brought Cassie back to Chance Harbor to get their power back. Charles is aware of that, but he’s leaving. Dawn reminds him that no matter where they go, the Circle is still bound, and this time around, it won’t be their spouses who wind up dead – it will be their children.

I don’t know if Dawn is expressing maternal concern (although I believe she truly does love her daughter) or is just manipulating Charles once again, but nothing she says is false.

At the park, Jake and Faye discover Ian on a ride. He’s dead, with his throat slashed. When they turn on the ride, several other dead Witch Hunters are sitting – throats slashed – in the cars. Cassie and Diana hear the ride and join Faye and Jake, who speculates that the traitor is apparently looking to kill witches and witch hunters too. They split up again, with Faye and Jake following a trail of blood.

At the old house, Adam and Melissa are working on locating the missing crystal and Blackwell wanders in. They don’t seem to notice the cuts on his face. Adam informs him they’ve narrowed the location of the crystal to the high school.

The action moves back to the park where Diana tells Cassie that since her fathered arrived in Chance Harbor (notice Diana is still not acknowledging that Blackwell is her father too), Cassie has lost all sense of what is right. Diana is scared that Cassie is letting her Dark Magic dominate her, but Cassie counters this assertion. What Diana is really afraid of is that she will turn out to be like Cassie. Diana says she’s sure she could never kill anyone, but Cassie reminds her that Dark Magic is what saved Diana’s life – saved them all – when the Witch Hunters were going to kill them. Diana doesn’t really know what she would or would not do given the choice Cassie had to make on Halloween, and Diana admits she’s right, but killing is still wrong.

Suddenly, the traitor appears and the girls take off after him. As they girls give chase, Jake and Faye discover the traitor’s lair … and his sway (that transfers powers from witches to mortals) … and something else – a picture of Jake’s parents!

Cassie brings down the traitor who drops the crystal and turns to reveal himself.

IT’S NICK!!!

Wait … isn’t Nick dead?

This is the most interesting twist yet, and with only two episodes left in the first season, it will be fascinating to see where this takes us. One this is clear at this point – Blackwell cannot be trusted.

Photo Courtesy of The CW

“Do Not Go Gentle” was one of those episodes that had me crying more than once because it pulled at my heartstrings. One of the hallmarks of any good story is that you care about the people in it. You come to know them in a strange way, and when something terrible happens to them, it hurts.

The episode opens with Klaus expressing his artistic side – in oil. It’s a very angry picture, all in black, and no doubt, reflective of his state of mind. Enter Esther – in the body of Bex – holding the “last of the white oak stakes that can kill us”. Klaus takes it from her and throws it into the fire with a satisfied grin, then he tells her to pack her bags because they’re leaving today … Klaus, Bex and the doppelgänger, Elena. Esther reminds him she’s the head of the dance committee and when he says he’s not going to a dance, she also reminds him that Caroline will be there. Esther knows her son. He agrees to a last hurrah.

Damon’s on the phone with Ric. Becca’s got the stake (it’s not at Ric’s) and he wants to get out of town because he keeps blacking out. After hanging up, we see that Esther and Ric are alone with the Original family coffins, and it’s actually “bad” Ric who was on the phone with Damon – who he says is too arrogant to believe his best friend would betray him. Esther says Klaus is also unable to refuse his little sister, unaware he is headed to his own death. Bex opens a coffin and inside is Esther’s body. It seems if Ric will take the dagger she’s dipped in the white oak ash and stab Bex with it, Bex will be “dead” and Esther can be revived in her own body. So naturally, that’s what he does.

(The plot thickens and I have to take notes to keep up.)

At the high school gym, Elena is helping Caroline decorate for the dance. Matt and Jeremy are working together hanging stars and Elena has asked Matt to please help Jeremy readjust. A new bromance? Matt’s already helped get Jeremy his old grill job back. Elena says Jeremy’s having a hard time with the Ric situation but Caroline suggests his problem might be witnessing her dalliance with Damon. Caroline also tells her that Bonnie asked Jamie to the dance as her date. Caroline suggests Elena ask Stefan and tells her he is her “epic” love. Clearly, Caroline is biased, and Elena calls her on it. Caroline is on Stefan’s side because he was good to her when she turned – a real friend. Damon, on the other hand … well, we all know how Damon treated Caroline when he first came to town.

So Caroline is a Stelena shipper and she convinces Elena to ask Stefan to the dance. And he agrees. Damon overhears the conversation and makes a few, choice snarky remarks, obviously peeved at Elena’s choice of date, and then walks off to meet up with Meredith at the hospital. He not only tells her, but also shows her that Alaric has NOT been taking the herbs Bonnie left for him.

Meanwhile, at the cemetery – right in front of the Salvatore family crypt, no less – Esther explains that a long time ago, right on this spot, Klaus literally ripped out her heart. The violence of her death marked the ground for all time. They enter the tomb and inside, there is the stake and a chalice (it’s never good when there’s a chalice, especially if it’s sitting inside a tomb). Esther says she needs Ric’s ring. When he asks why he would give up the one thing that can protect him, she says she will give him all the protection he needs.

I’d have trouble with that. Esther’s behavior has not exactly been trustworthy up to now.

She continues to explain, and again I’m taking notes. When the last stake is used, it will burn up in the body of its first victim. (remember Mikael?) If he is to be successful in killing all her children, she must bind the protective magic in his ring with the last stake. This will render the white oak indestructible. (Or is it re-useable?)

I had to replay this section of the episode four times before I got all that. Complex stuff this Esther is messing with.

Ric hands over his ring (oh no) and Esther drops it into the chalice. She chants some witchy woo over it and the ring melts. Then she takes the stake and dips it into the chalice, except now she looks more like a chemist using a mortar and pestle! When she raises it, the stake is covered at the large end with liquid ring! She turns it pointed side down and the silver drips down the sides until the stake is coated – and it looks like Hermione Granger’s magic wand! Esther declares it the ultimate weapon for the ultimate hunter.

Later that evening, Elena is dressed like a flapper (looking very much like Katherine back in 1929 – except for the hair) and Stefan arrives to take her to the dance. There’s a little old-fashioned furtive looking at each other, and off they go.

Bonnie appears to be having a great time with Jamie, and good for her because lord knows she gets no love and rarely smiles. It’s nice to see. (You can hate Tweet me for that if you like! I don’t care, I like her. But then again, we DO share a name!)

Matt looks absolutely adorable in a newsboy cap, and he’s really growing on me. I like that they are making him more and more an integral part of the whole gang, even if he’s just human. Caroline warns Matt not to get caught in the Elena-generated crossfire. Then Tyler arrives, looking like a gangster from Chicago, and Matt is not pleased.

Tyler’s not going to just lay low and let Klaus move in on his girl, even if it’s dangerous, and he literally sweeps Caroline off her feet just as Stefan and Elena arrive. The joint is rockin’ and they join in, but suddenly the music turns soft and romantic and the conversation turns serious.

First Stefan says he’s sorry about what happened with Bonnie’s mom, and Elena suggests that he apologize to Bonnie. Then she wants to talk about the trip to Denver and what happened between Damon and her, but Stefan doesn’t want to know.

This is one of the reasons I don’t like Stelena. No fire. All in his head, no fire in his heart. That would NOT excite me, and it’s not exactly interesting to watch it play out on screen either.

Stefan is just honored to be Elena’s date, all while “You Do Something to Me” plays in the background. (***yawn***)

And just as I think I’m going to fall asleep, a wild-eyed Damon appears and says, “We three need to talk,” and off they go with Jeremy close behind. And he literally runs into Bonnie on the way out.

Out in the hall, Damon is suggesting that they “put Alaric out of his misery” just as Jeremy walks in on them. He turns and walks back into the dance. Like Caroline, Jeremy is not exactly a Damon fan either, for equally good reason. After all, Damon did kill him once!

But Damon’s reasoning is consistent. He suggests that Elena’s in danger, and we know that any time Elena’s in danger, Damon will do anything to protect her even if it means killing his best – and only – friend. Remember his words “I will always choose you Elena”? The man is totally devoted to her, consistently, no matter who or what. Elena comes first.

Elena runs after Jeremy, promising him that no one is going to hurt Alaric. Little does she know …

Who shows up behind her? Esther, telling her if Elena wants to help Alaric, she needs to come with her. Elena instructs Jeremy to get Damon and Stefan – NOW.

“I mean you no harm, but willingly or not, you will come.” Say what? Esther is the bomb at speaking out of both sides of her mouth at the same time.

As they walk off, I’ve seen enough of the ground in the wide shots to notice that there is NO SALT, but seconds later when Jeremy reappears with Damon and Stefan, suddenly there is a quarry sized amount of salt surrounding the entire school, keeping Damon and Stefan inside its barrier.

Then there is this whole distracting scene with Bonnie and Jamie. I like them, but I feel this whole thing slows down the action. It’s actually nice to see Bonnie getting some love from a nice, normal guy – but it’s short-lived, of course, because Damon barges in and beckons Bonnie to follow because “there’s trouble and we need you.” If I was Bonnie, I’d be so pissed at being yanked around like a toy all the time by these people, but she knows this might involve her friend Elena and Bonnie cannot say no to Elena.

Out in the cemetery, Esther is apologizing for taking Elena away from the dance but that’s the price of being the doppelgänger and her blood is a potent binding agent in spells. Elena begs Esther not to hurt Ric, but when he appears from the crypt, it’s obvious Esther is no threat to him at all. He’s “Bad Ric”, but there’s something else.

Elena asks Esther what she’s doing and Esther tells her she will remake him, like her children. Uh oh. She’s going to turn Ric into Mikael – a vampire who hunts vampires! Elena points out that there’s a danger that Ric could be even worse than her children (who we know she hates), but Esther is convinced that won’t happen because Ric has embraced his “darkest aspect”.

WTF?

According to Esther, dark Ric’s hatred of vampires will “become more pure and uncompromising?” Ahh, I get it. Each vampire has a characteristic that is magnified when they are turned. In bad Ric, this is apparently “vampire hatred”. Elena claims Esther can’t be sure of this because she doesn’t know Ric.

Elena couldn’t be more wrong. Every time Ric died with that ring on, Esther was there on the other side. She spoke to him and nurtured him. She fed his hatred, telling him that vampires took from him, and now he’s going to take from them. Esther is what has been driving Ric crazy! Yikes!

At the dance, “The Man I Love” is playing as Caroline dances with Tyler, and in walks Klaus, wearing an off-white suit. Now, this is a bit obvious, no? Tyler, the good guy, is in the black hat, and Klaus, the evil guy, is in a white suit. Really?

Tyler pretends to be compelled to allow Klaus to cut in, and Caroline erupts, asking him why he always has to prove that he’s the alpha male. Klaus’s response is perfect: “I don’t have to prove anything, luv – I AM the alpha male.” Pure Klaus.

Klaus leads her into a dance and tells her he’s leaving. He’d ask her to come along, but they both know she’s not ready. After an intense look, Caroline nearly laughs in his face and he is crestfallen. In his anger, he tells her that a small town boy and a small town life won’t be enough for Caroline. Is that true, or is this what Klaus wants to be true? Then he leaves. Outside, he is bound by the ring of salt, and asks aloud “What is this?” Stefan answers, “Your mother’s back.”

Now the part of this that I don’t get is how did Klaus get into the dance? No matter!

Somewhere in the high school, Bonnie is chanting Latin over candles yet again. She is trying to break the salt barrier. Matt says people are walking right past it so he and Jeremy can leave and save Elena. Klaus grabs Jamie by the neck and threatens to kill him if Bonnie doesn’t break the spell. Stefan tells Klaus that Bonnie is helping them for the sake of Caroline and Tyler. If Klaus starts hurting the people Bonnie she loves, she will tell them all to go to hell.

In the Salvatore mausoleum, Elena is arguing with Ric as Esther lights candles and prepares the spell. She forces blood from Elena, and it flows from Elena’s hand into the mortar – or is it a chalice now – because Esther tells Ric to “drink”. Elena begs him not to, but he does, and when he asks if it’s finished, Esther replies, “Not just yet,” and plunges the “super stake” into him. And here is where we start to hear the word choice – over and over. Funny, but I wrote about that last week.

Bonnie is going to do a locator spell to find Elena. Damon makes a half-hearted attempt to apologize for turning her mother into a vampire, but says he had no choice.

Elsewhere, Stefan is telling Caroline and Tyler that Matt and Jeremy have gone off alone to save Elena. Caroline is furious, and Stefan says they had no other choice.

The action moves back to the mausoleum and we see Elena remove the stake from Alaric’s chest. Esther tells her he’ll wake soon and may be his old self for a time. If that happens, she can say goodbye before his transition is complete. Elena is angry and tells Esther that this is worse than turning her children into vampires, but Esther says Alaric will never be what her children became. When his task is complete, he will die. Elena asks how that can be, if he is immortal, but Esther tells her that she has granted Ric enough power to complete his task. When it is complete, and the time is right, he will die. All Elena needs to know is that when it’s all over, the earth will be rid of vampires once and for all. Elena says that will kill the good along with the bad and tells Esther she’s no better than her son Klaus.

Then Esther tells Elena that Jenna is at peace. Even as a vampire, Jenna was pure and did not dwell in the place that Esther inhabited on the other side. Jenna knows a peace that Esther never has.

A noise draws Esther outside. Matt is cocking the trigger of his rifle and Jeremy has a cross-bow, and they demand to know where Elena is. Esther says they are foolish to risk their lives in defense of those who would kill them (what), but if that is their choice … Esther spells Matt and Jeremy to aim at each other! As they struggle not to shoot at each other, Ric emerges from the crypt and stabs Esther with the “ultimate weapon”. It’s “good Ric” and he has no idea what’s happened!

Klaus tries to blame everything on Stefan and then tries to re-engender their friendship – which never really was a friendship. Damon breaks in and Klaus wonders what will happen to the unshakeable bond of brotherhood the Salvatores have when Elena makes her “choice”.

There it is again – choice.

Bonnie emerges to tell them the spell is broken and Klaus vamps off. Stefan thanks her, but Bonnie – seemingly unaware that the spell is broken because Esther is “dead” – tells Stefan that she didn’t do it for him.

At the crypt, Klaus has taken Esther’s body. Jeremy joins Elena and Ric inside to tell them Damon is outside. Ric tells Jeremy that he is not going to complete the transition. His alter ego is much too dangerous and he can’t let himself turn into a vampire. Jeremy is angry at Alaric’s “choice”. He tells Elena and Jeremy to go, and that Damon will make sure everything happens the way Ric wants it to go. Ric hugs Jeremy, who then leaves. Elena is full of sorrow and guilt, blaming herself, but Ric tells her that taking care of her and Jeremy is the closest he’s ever come to the life he always wanted. Elena hugs Ric as Jeremy did, and tears are falling not just from her eyes, but from my eyes as well. My eyes are full of tears as I write this.

As Elena and Ric emerge from the tomb, the gang stands in a tableau of silent solidarity to honor their friend, their teacher, their surrogate parent. This scene was just exceptional – no speaking, just silence and coming together for a man who arrived in town alone, and leaves surrounded by admiration and love. We should all make the impact in our lives that Alaric Saltzman had in Mystic Falls. The look on Ric’s face, the look of a man forcing himself to hold it together, broke my heart into a thousand tiny little pieces.

Over at the Mikaelson Mansion, Klaus endangers his sister, and rages at his mother in her coffin. He is determined that her plan will fail. She will never destroy him.

Jamie has brought Bonnie home. He tells her she is amazing but she says she’d settle for ordinary.

At the Mystic Grill, Matt and Jeremy are knocking back a few, toasting Alaric, and a tear falls from Jeremy’s eye. He brushes it away, and another falls. Kudos to Steven McQueen – it is not easy to cry and still look like a man.

Elena is trying to clean out Alaric’s classroom. She’s busy distracting herself, trying not to think about the fact that her family keeps dying. Stefan asks her to come with him and hey go to the gym where Klaus compelled Stefan to turn off his feelings. Stefan reminds Elena that she kept telling him it was OK to feel. Our emotions, good or bad, make us human. Elena is feeling alone, but Stefan tells her she has him.

Outside the tomb, Meredith tells Damon – who already on his way to getting wasted with booze – that she’s given Ric a sedative. Damon tells her he offered to snap Ric’s neck but he wouldn’t take him up on the offer. Meredith thanks him for giving Ric the “choice”. Damon reflects that lately his own choices have been a bit controversial. Meredith tells him not to leave Ric alone too long. Damon thinks Ric wants to be alone, but Meredith asks him, “Is it really?”

Damon enters the tomb and sits down beside Ric who is actually looking not so good.

Ric: “Is this the part where you give me a dream, rainbows and rolling green hills?”
Damon: “I was drunk when I told you that.”
Ric, laughing: “And I said I’d use it against you.”
Damon: “Sorry I killed you … twice.”
Ric: “So I actually have to die to get a real apology out of you?”

Film has a history of fine pairings in brilliant scenes that touch the heart and become classics. That is how I feel about this scene between Ric and Damon. It was just perfect. Brilliant writing, incredibly well-played by two fine actors. It made me cry out loud. I was sobbing.

Esther is haunting Bonnie’s dreams, telling her to finish what Esther started. When Damon exits the tomb, he finds Bonnie – looking somewhat dazed – walking towards him. She passes him and when he tries to talk to her, she ignores him. Then she turns and gives him the “mind daggers”. She enters the tomb with the sleeping Alaric and stabs herself with the ultimate weapon. It’s clear now that this is Esther possessing Bonnie. She force feeds Alaric her blood and he turns. Then he bites into her neck. It’s ugly – he’s ugly. He’s the worst vampire I’ve ever seen and he’s got the ultimate stake!

And … there are only two episodes to go!

Photo Courtesy of The CW

Let’s catch you up on how the season closed out.

First off—the sisters did NOT have a face off. (Boo!) Bridget did, however learn that Siobhan is alive. This is AFTER she kills Bodaway in self-defense, spills everything to Andrew and Juliet and they leave her, and she escapes a murder attempt by Catherine.

Siobhan gives birth to her girls and Henry requests paternity. They’re not his, she lies that they are, and when he calls her on it, he leaves her. She winds up destitute when her attempt to steal her jewelry from the penthouse is interrupted by Bodaway. When a nurse finds her staring at her daughters through the glass in the NICU ad she admits they have nowhere to go, the nurse offers to find her a cot.

Malcolm is likely dead although we don’t get it 100% confirmed. Jimmy Kemper is also killed by Bodaway.

Henry is sort of still jacked up on Tyler’s murder because Siobhan’s attempt to pay off the witness, followed by a threat to out her as a prostitute, fails when the girl ODs (while Siobhan hides in the closet and her labor kicks in. Yes, really).

After Machado sort of rescues Bridget from Catherine, he’s back home with the FBI for about ten minutes before he finds out Bodaway is in New York and comes running back (at apparent hyper speed across the country).

Before all that, Catherine had been planning the Siobhan murder for months because Siobhan evicted her from her house, then she fell into an affair with Olivia, who begged off the hook up when Catherine was revealed to be ragingly bonkers. Catherine loads Bridget up with pills and then drops her into a bathtub and when that fails, she holds the whole family hostage at gunpoint until Machado orchestrates a meet for Catherine with Olivia and gets the jump on her (while she’s dragging Bridget along to still kill her later). So, now she’s locked up.

Back in the finale, following an elaborate dream sequence wedding, Bridget decides to do the big reveal of her truth and then is sidetracked when Andrew lays the mother of all vows on her and she can’t do it. It’s all for naught when Arbogast tells Andrew about the affair with Henry (which he apparently knew for a while) and Andrew storms into their vow renewal (engagement?) party and announces they’re done to the entire room.

Later that evening after an underused Madchen Amick has helped her clear the party, Bridget comes clean with Andrew that she never had an affair with Henry because she’s not Siobhan and she loves him and Juliet. He listens very quietly and you think for half a second he might be a little OK with all this and then he grits out that she needs to go. Then he and Juliet take the wedding trip on their own.

Bridget is of course crushed but doesn’t get to dwell on that too much when she runs into Bodaway at the apartment and he’s super confused because she interrupts his attack on Siobhan. She gets the drop on him as Machado comes in and then Solomon reads her in that Siobhan survived the boat way back there in September. She races to see Henry, demanding an explanation, and he lays it out for her that the whole thing was a revenge trip because of Sean’s death. She’s understandably leveled by the idea that Siobhan wanted her dead.

And that’s what we’re left with after 22 episodes. I’m pretty sure if CBS had kept this, we never would have had the back nine. As it stands, I feel like things happened in “soap” time. It would have been a lot for one month of TV if we were watching it five days a week and the heightened shenanigans would have been altogether appropriate. But eight months is a long time to spend with these characters and all the drama when the end result is Bridget’s back where she started again, only now Siobhan is in the same boat (no pun intended). Bridget just doesn’t know that yet.

We’ll find out in May if the rest of their story that will be televised.

SMG brought her A game to all of it, and the whole cast just seemed to dance as fast as they could around all the developments, but I kept feeling that they all deserved better. If they come back, I hope they get it. If they don’t come back, I hope we seem them soon working on projects that are worthy.

Thanks so much for reading this season!

Photo Courtesy of The CW

Over at the old house, Cassie and Diana arrive to find Adam and Jake cozied up over a book on witch massacres (witch history). It seems there was a 200 year period known as “The Burning Times” where witches were routinely burned at the stake – even before the Witch Hunters had demons helping them. Cassie reminds them that all of this is why they need to find their family crystals. The only crystal they have is Cassie’s.

Enter Faye and Melissa. They tell the group that they haven’t been able to locate Faye’s family crystal. Faye, believing she is Blackwell’s child and, therefore, has Dark Magic, grabs Cassie’s crystal to give it a shot. She gleefully bursts vases and glasses and other glass objects all around the room until Blackwell arrives. He grabs the crystal from her and in a very stern daddy-like voice, admonishes her to be careful. Crystals can be drained of their power.

Adam wants to know why they can’t just ask their grandparents for the crystals, and Blackwell tells them the Elders will take their powers just as they did with their parents. Jake says he is going to his granddad’s house – his family crystal would definitely be there. Adam’s grandparents are on the east coast so his options are limited. Diana’s grandmother disappeared after she tried to kill Cassie. Melissa thinks she can search her grandmother’s place with little problem.

Blackwell tells them to be careful and not work alone. They need to be in groups to use their magic if need be, so Diana, Adam and Melissa start off together, leaving Jake, Cassie and Faye to join forces.

First stop for group #1: Diana stops to tell Grant she has to break their date. She begs Melissa and Adam to let her have just an hour with Grant and they go it alone, but not before Melissa runs into Callum as Adam grabs a couple of coffees. Before Adam joins back up with her, Jake arrives and confronts Callum. He gets even creepier after he finds out Jake’s a witch, and starts talking about the price of witch blood on the open market. Wait. There’s a market for witch blood? Now, that’s creepy. No wonder Callum seems like walking slime. With the witch blood crack, Jake attacks, but Melissa pulls him off and they leave the scene.

Meanwhile, Cassie returns home to find Grandma Jane in the kitchen acting very chipper, considering what Charles has put her through. Cassie asks her if she will please try to get alone with Blackwell, and Jane grudgingly agrees.

Cassie is then off with Jake, who asks her why she told Adam she was going with him before they’d actually made plans. Cassie tells him it’s difficult to be around Adam, but Jake calls her on that. It shouldn’t be a problem since she drank the elixir. She says difficult isn’t the right word, but the look on Jake’s face says he knows Cassie hasn’t lost her feelings for Adam at all, and he feels sorry for her. And perhaps a bit for himself. Lest we forget, Jake has a thing for Cassie too. This was a terrific scene between the two characters, and some great acting from Chris Zylka.

Joined by Faye, they begin to drive away and we can see Callum following on his motorcycle, wearing the most gigantic helmet I’ve ever seen!
Back at Melissa’s grandma’s, she and Adam are surrounded by crystals. Apparently Grandma was a hippy and collected them in Sedona back in the day! So they collect them all!

Jake, Cassie and Faye arrive at Grandpa’s house. They knock, but he’s apparently not home so they use their powers to unlock a plethora of locks on the front door. Apparently, Grandpa is some kind of “Beautiful Mind” conspiracy theorist. Maps, diagrams, writing on the walls with strings all over the place. But the first thing Cassie notices is that there is a list with the Circle’s names and birthdates on the wall.

Now here is something interesting – in the beginning of the episode, we are told Dawn’s journal entry is dated 7/12/1994, and Faye’s birthday is 9 months later! (Not that we didn’t know that before … it’s her Mom’s computer password after all). The other interesting thing is that all the kids in the Circle were born within a few months of each other! Me thinks this is not a coincidence.

While our Scooby Crew looks for the Armstrong crystal at Grandpa’s house, Blackwell is having a confrontation with Charles! Very bad blood here, perhaps even worse than with Ethan Conant. Charles feels betrayed and accuses Blackwell of killing his wife, Elizabeth but Blackwell denies it – naturally – and he calls Charles “Charlie”. (And Gale Harold acts circles around Joe Lando. Sorry Joe!)

Back at the House of Armstrong, Grandpa bursts in and denies that Jake is his grandson, and uses witchcraft to pin the 3 youngsters against a wall with a pool table, no less. They, in turn, use their combined power to push it right back to him. Reality dawns and Grandpa seems genuinely glad to see Jake, sweeping him into a big bear hug, but it dawns on him that they have powers … and they are bound! Grandpa asks Jake if his brother is part of this, too. Apparently Grandpa is completely unaware that Nick is dead. When Jake tells him, Grandpa is beyond sad and shocked – he is terrified. He says it’s too late, the Circle will be the death of all of them.

Back at Casa Blake, Jane greets Charles. They are plotting the demise of Blackwell. Jane is planning to use a spell to kill Blackwell. The ingredients are a chair with a symbol carved under the seat – malleus malficurum, or “the hammer of the witches” – a crystal, and a witch’s cruet she prepared for Blackwell 16 years ago. The cruet contains his blood and a ring he used to wear. The symbol on the chair will block his power, the crystal will immobilize him, and then they can use the cruet to kill him.

Now here comes a boatload of mythology from Jake’s Grandpa:

300 years ago, 18 families escaped from the Salem Witch Trials.
They split into 3 circles – 2 stayed in the east, but one went west, to Chance Harbor.
16 years ago, a Balcoin named John Blackwell tried to corrupt the Circle.
He lied to them, taught them dark magic, and pushed them to confront the Witch Hunters.
They were massacred, but Grandpa never believed that Blackwell was dead.
Grandpa figured out Blackwell knew he couldn’t control the Circle from the outside.
He needed to find a way to control it from within. What Blackwell wanted from the Circle was children!
He wanted enough children to ensure that the next circle would be dark.
If the other two Circles have also been tipped towards darkness and the three original Circles are brought together, it will tip the balance of power between good and evil.

Phoebe’s face reflects her thoughts – she looks at Jake as if to say, “Your grandpa is a loon,” and Jake is apparently feeling the same way, because he says, “We shouldn’t have come here.” Cassie asks if there is a way to protect the Circle, but Grandpa says no. Their fate is sealed because the Circle has been bound. Cassie presses on about the Crystal, but Grandpa tells her it’s buried deep in a mine, and it’s been spelled so that no witch with dark magic can get near it.

And then we get the coup de grace – when combined together, the 6 crystals form a Crystal Skull!! It’s the most powerful weapon of destruction ever created. (And there was this really cool movie about it – Indiana Jones!!!)

At the Meade house, Diana and Grant are trying to have a date, but Melissa breaks in and signals that there is an emergency. Diana meets Melissa and Adam in the garage. They need her help to identify the right crystal. Grant walks in on the group, and they mumble some lame crap about what they are up to. Diana suggests she meet him at the boat in 20 minutes, and Grant – looking confused and a bit crestfallen – reluctantly agrees.

Diana, pissed at the intrusion, joins with Adam and Melissa and together they determine the real crystal, and Diana rushes off for her date.

Meanwhile, Faye is sharing her mother’s diary (and dropping her American accent!) and the fact that Mommy had an affair with Blackwell right around she became pregnant with Faye (see!!!!) Cassie is not happy with this news! Jake reveals that Isaac told him Cassie wasn’t the only Blackwell child, and the girls are not happy that he didn’t offer this information up sooner but they are interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

Callum has followed them to the cabin in the woods and broken through a window to steal the map to the mine where the crystal is hidden. Doubtlessly, this little artifact is worth big bucks on the black market for witch stuff, but Cassie took pictures of everything on Grandpa’s walls, including the map – she’s sending it to Adam and Melissa – and they can beat Callum there!

Grandpa and Jake share a very tender moment, where Grandpa hugs him again and tells him how sorry he is about Nick. Jake’s expressions are heartbreaking, and Chris Zylka’s acting chops are impressing the hell out of me!

In the least interesting part of this episode, Diana and Grant keep trying to have their date. At this point I am not even sure why Grant is here, and there is nothing remotely interesting about him – or a possible non-Adam relationship for Diana. I want to believe that Grant is not what he seems – that when his true nature and purpose are revealed, it will be one of those notorious “game-changing moments” but so far, this is all a giant snooze. Diana is called away and she leaves to meet Melissa and Adam at the mine.

Adam and Melissa have arrived at the mine, and it’s actually seriously creepy. And it is an iron ore mine, which means they are powerless. After some difficulty – and a seriously good rope swing a la Indiana Jones – Adam and Melissa retrieve the Armstrong crystal. No sooner do they have it in their possession than they are confronted by Callum … with a gun!

Over at Grandma Jane’s house, her plan is set into motion but it delays the execution by witch’s cruet to determine if John is her daughter’s killer. She knows Amelia’s death was no accident.

Callum demonstrates that he is more than willing to use his gun – if not to shoot, at least to pistol whip Adam, so Melissa grabs the crystal from Adam’s pocket and gives it to Callum. The rest of the Scooby Crew show up at the mine and are greeted by Diana (when did she arrive) who tells them she just heard a shot and thinks Adam and Melissa are still in there.

They all see Callum making his escape and Faye and Diana take off after him, but Cassie holds Jake back saying they need to make sure Melissa and Adam are OK. Cassie can’t go into the mine – it’s spelled and she can’t breathe. Jake goes into the mine and Cassie runs to catch up with the girls.

Callum is making a getaway on his motorcycle, and Faye, convinced she has dark magic, tries to block him with her body and a spell. It doesn’t work and Diana pushes her out of the bike’s path just as Cassie makes her way outside. Cassie disables Callum just as Adam, Melissa and Jake run out behind her. Callum is marked by the Circle so he can never return to Chance Harbor without them knowing it.

Blackwell defends himself with Jane, and the clear crystal indicates he is telling the truth – he didn’t kill Amelia. Jane only wanted to kill Blackwell because she thought he’d killed her daughter. But Charles, who is the actual killer, panics (because Blackwell might know the truth). He throws a match into the cruet … and kills Jane! Blackwell knew what Jane was up to and remade it into Jane’s cruet. The only reason Charles is still alive is Blackwell has use for him.

Well, doesn’t that sound ominous!

At the old house, Faye confronts Blackwell with Dawn’s journal. He tells her the affair existed only in Dawn’s mind, but in another display of Blackwell charm, he is very nice to Faye, telling her that her father would be very proud of her. Is that true, or just more Blackwell deception?

Cassie checks up on Diana, who tells her she needs to take a break from the Circle. Cassie reminds her she was the original leader – the first one to find her Book of Shadows, the one who insisted on binding the circle, but Melissa wants a break and a chance to have a “normal” relationship. Cassie presses her and Diana agrees to see the witch hunter angle through, but after that, she’s done.

Cassie won’t let her off the hook. She says Diana should have done a better job protecting Adam and Melissa, but Diana tells her she arrived in time to help, but when she tried to step inside mine, she started to suffocate.

BAM! The other Blackwell child is revealed, and Cassie realizes Diana is her sister!

Well, I could not have been more wrong about that.

Photo Courtesy of The CW