The Alaric/Damon bromance is back on. Thank God. That's our favorite relationship on this show.

The Vampire Diaries - "Ghost World"

Mason is back to get redemption by helping Tyler. That doesn’t stop him from messing with Damon a little bit though. There's enough kink on this teen show, don't ya think? Finally, after a bit of torture, Mason partners up with Damon to get into the Lockwood cave in search of information that can help Tyler get away from Klaus’ influence. It turns out that the ghosts we see are not in the real, possibly peaceful afterlife yet. They are in limbo because they have unfinished business. All ghosts do, right? Mason is back for Tyler and, as usual, Anna is looking for her mom so that they can both move on together.

Before leaving for the cave, Damon lets Bonnie know that the ghosts are back and they can move physical matter. Bonnie puts her mind and Grimoire to the task of getting rid of them. Now that the ghosts are stronger and more present, other people can see them again. Elena walks in on Jeremy kissing Anna, and she is not pleased. Bonnie figures out that she needs Elena’s necklace to banish the ghosts. Anna has taken it, but Elena convinces Anna to give it up in order to let Jeremy live a normal life. Caroline lets Bonnie know that Jeremy kissed Anna. Bonnie is not pleased. She calls Jeremy out, and it’s safe to say that they are over, at least for now.

The best thing about this episode was that Lexi came back. Elena thought her into reality because Elena read in Stefan’s diaries that Lexi was the one who always brought him back from the ripper state. Lexi knocks Stefan out and locks him up in that chair where Caroline was tortured a few weeks back. It turns out torture and starvation are the way to get a ripper to feel again. Feeling something, whether it is anger, sadness, pain, or something good, is the way to get a ripper to reconnect with his humanity. Lexi uses her vampire/ghost powers to make Stefan feel like he has gone without human blood for years. This speeds up the whole process. Stefan begs Elena to make it stop, but Elena stands firm.

With the help of her ghost grandmother, Bonnie does the spell and removes all of the ghosts from this world. Lexi is in the middle of curing Stefan, but Elena knows how it is done now, so she can take it from here, Elena says. Elena tells Stefan that he has to get his humanity and hope back. She says, “If you don’t, you are going to lose me forever… I won’t love a ghost for the rest of my life.” Elena leaves Stefan to think and starve. Elena was always cool, but she is so much more awesome this season!

Mason finds hieroglyphs in the Lockwood cave. Damon can’t pass far enough into the cave to see them, because it’s vampire-proof. So when Mason disappears, Damon calls Alaric. Damon gives Alaric a lame apology, which Alaric seems to accept. Alaric gets a good look at the cave paintings, but he has no idea what they are. Before Anna goes, she finds her mom. They hug and disappear. Caroline briefly kicks ghost ass to save Mrs. Lockwood. Some vampire ghosts take revenge on the founding families by killing a scholar in front of the whole town.

Best line: "Please tell me that's a recipe for witch cookies."

Episode grade: B+