Vampire Diaries Season 3 Mid-season Finale

“Homecoming”

We won’t be getting any more new episodes until January 5th. We know it hurts. We feel the same pain. However, this show isn’t one to leave us unsatisfied for a hiatus. Of course it leaves us wanting more, but we don’t feel cheated. We were pretty surprised that the show chose to kill Mikael off this early and let Klaus live keep being the Big Bad. We don’t know if we approve. Mikael had potential to be scarier. Klaus is kind of a sad whiner. All he wants is a family. Boo hoo. NOT SCARY.

It’s senior homecoming, and Elena, Damon, Stefan, and Mikael are plotting to get Klaus back to Mystic Falls, with the help of a sad, reluctant Rebecca. Elena daggers Mikael so that Stefan could call Klaus and truthfully tell Klaus that he saw Mikael daggered. Stefan is still under a compulsion, after all. Rebekah confirms that this is what happened over the phone, to Klaus. Klaus prepares to return with the hybrids he has made while he was gone.

The gang pulls the dagger out of Mikael so that he can go retrieve the big stake made out of that original white oak tree that can kill an original for good. The stake looks pretty magnificent. He kept it hidden for insurance. Elena daggers Rebekah too, in case she ends up having second thoughts about her brother. Rebekah’s reunion with her father was less than heartwarming, but Mikael seemed sad at her coldness.

Klaus returns to town and floods the high school gym so that the homecoming dance and party have to be held at Tyler’s mansion. There is a grungy looking band (My Morning Jacket) playing in the backyard, and all of Klaus’ hybrids have come to back him up. Matt and Tyler make sure Caroline is out of the action. Tyler tells Caroline that he is happy he has been made into a hybrid because he doesn’t have to transform at the full moon if he doesn’t want to anymore. Caroline doesn’t like his allegiance to Klaus, so it looks like the couple is over, for now. But we still have hope for them. What is this show even doing with Matt, at this point? Possible romance with Rebekah, maybe?

Bonnie renders Tyler unconscious so that he doesn’t have to jump into the fray on Klaus’ orders if things go wrong. Klaus contacts Stefan and asks Stefan to bring Mikael to the homecoming party. Stefan agrees, in exchange for his freedom. Stefan goes to clue Mikael and Damon in on the plan (which Katherine is also in on, by the way), and Mikael drains Stefan’s blood to keep him from interfering with Damon and Elena’s plan, because Stefan is still compelled to obey Klaus if Klaus says the right words or asks the right questions.

Mikael goes to the Lockwood party, but he can’t get into the home, because he hasn’t been invited in. That is where Klaus is. Mikael taunts Klaus about being alone, which isn’t very nice. But this is the episode where we started liking Mikael better than Klaus. Unluckily for us, it’s Mikael who ended up dead, because Stefan cared about his brother and so did Katherine. You see, if Klaus had died, Damon would have been killed next. Klaus’ hybrids had been ordered to kill Damon if anything happened to Klaus. Katherine tells Stefan this, and Stefan’s feelings for Damon wake his humanity up enough for him to act. So Stefan kills Mikael, earning his own freedom.

At some point during all of this, Katherine throws out some wolfsbane grenades toward the hybrids, and they run. It’s pretty awesome. Elena and Damon return to the Salvatore house and lament that their crafty plan failed to result in Klaus’ death. They think that Stefan is still compelled by Klaus and that Stefan betrayed them to save his new master. Damon and Elena have a moment, probably almost kiss, and agree to let Stefan go, because they are never getting him back. They get a call from Katherine, interrupting things. It was a pretty pointless phone call anyway. UGH.

Katherine confesses to Stefan that she loved both him and Damon, and that she wants to protect Stefan’s humanity. The next day, Stefan calls Klaus and lets him know that he stole all of Klaus’ coffins full of family members for revenge. Gasp! How are they going to kill Klaus now? We seriously can’t believe that we have to wait around two months for this show to come back. We hope they de-stake Rebekah and she becomes part of the gang. Elena has to make this up to her.

Episode grade: A