Why is Matt lifting weights at school in the middle of the night?

The Vampire Diaries - The Reckoning

We knew that Klaus would find Elena soon, because this show delivers in a timely fashion. But we didn’t know he would find her within the first five minutes! On any other show, that would be a cheap flashforward. In fact, we were expecting to see the words “three days earlier” after the title, but we didn’t. That wasn’t the climax of the episode. That was just the beginning.

The seniors are in their school, super-gluing desks, setting mousetraps, and putting cups of water and toilet paper everywhere! Caroline brought Tyler, Bonnie, and Elena in an attempt to force them to make normal memories and live normal lives. Oh Caroline, we love you. Also, just a hint to real-life kids: Schools have lost their sense of humor about kids breaking in after hours and pranking. It’s against the law and can get you into trouble. We know, we know. Squares messing with tradition are disgusting. But that’s the way of the world. This country loves to toss people into jail, or at least community service, and ruin their records.

Klaus grabs Elena and sends all but two random students home. Those are for his personal tormenting pleasure. Rebecca grabs Tyler, and Klaus feeds Tyler his blood. Then he snaps his neck and tells Bonnie that she needs to find a way to help Tyler transition into a full hybrid, or he is going to die. Bonnie needs to contact the old witches in order to figure out how to do this, so she goes looking for Jeremy, the only person she knows now who can speak with the dead.

But where is Jeremy? In the trunk of Damon and Katherine’s car. They make out (and we expect a car accident) before Damon pushes Katherine away and says, “You just don’t do it for me anymore.” We don’t believe him, but we like that line anyway. Katherine deserves it. They pull over and get Jeremy to reach out to Anna. Anna knows how to kill Klaus. Damon bangs Jeremy’s head against a picnic table until Anna coughs up the answer. Anna tells them the location of the vampire-hunting Vampire Michael who can kill Klaus. Damon ditches Katherine and heads back to town to protect Elena.

Meanwhile, Matt has a wonderful idea to drown himself, have Bonnie do CPR, and come back with an answer from Vicki to possibly save Tyler. Vicki has no answers, but Matt gets to see her now, and he’s pretty happy about that. Heartwarming. CPR doesn’t always work that well, by the way. Dumb Matty.

Klaus orders/compels Stefan to kill the two random students and then to feed on Elena. Stefan kills the students but has trouble following Stefan’s orders when it comes to Elena. Their love is that strong. Awww. Finally, Klaus puts some feeling behind it and manages to compel Stefan into becoming what we would think of as “season one Damon.” Stefan bites Elena and she passes out.

Elena wakes up in the hospital. Klaus figured out that the original witch hated him and set things up so that if he killed the doppelganger (which he thought he had to do, in order to awaken his werewolf side), he would not be able to make his hybrids, because they need to drink Elena’s blood to fully turn. Klaus gives Tyler a vial of Elena’s blood, and he becomes a hybrid.

Damon gets back to town and picks a fight with Klaus. Klaus nearly kills Damon, but Damon name-drops Michael and Klaus flees. He totally could have killed Damon in one second before he left though. We’re glad he didn’t, but we think it was unrealistic. Damon goes to the hospital, takes Elena, and carries her to his home. She wakes up and sadly asks where he was. Damon promises that he will never leave her again. Elena tells Damon that Stefan is “really gone this time.” We are convinced that this is the moment the two will kiss, but Stefan interrupts them. Klaus has tasked Stefan with guarding Elena while he is gone. Poor Elena. Finally, Jeremy and Katherine wake Michael up, and his eyes opening are the last thing we see.

This episode was full of action, jealous Rebecca, ghosts, true love, near suicides, hot guys, and Damon. What more could we ask? On any other show, this would be the finale, not the fifth episode of the third season.

Episode grade: A