Episode 2.15 – “The Dinner Party”

So many surprises in this episode!  Let’s get right to it.

Elena is reading the Gilbert journals, learning all about Stefan’s wicked past.  It feels like we’ve already tread this ground before with previous shows where the good vampire has a dark past (Buffy, True Blood, etc) but I suppose it’s a given that they have to go there.  Damon calls to let Stefan know that Tyler ran away from home.  He also shares with him his plan to get rid of Elijah with the magic dagger and ash. 

Jenna and Elijah are wandering through old ruined properties in town.  He tells her that the “founding fathers” of Mystic Falls didn’t actually found anything, the region had been settled a couple hundred years earlier by witches from Salem.  (Why do I think this is going to come into play later?)  Alaric shows up acting like a jealous boyfriend, which is making Jenna feel a little uncomfortable by the looks of it.  The moment Jenna leaves to get something from the car, Elijah mentions that Alaric is on the list that Elena gave him of loved ones to protect.  Alaric points out that Jenna is on the list too and Elijah teases that he doesn’t pursue younger women. 

Bonnie and Jeremy meet at the Grill; he invites her over to his place that night to “practice” her witchcraft to help her get stronger.  Luka shows up demanding to know what happened the night before since he can’t remember anything.  He doesn’t buy it when she denies knowing anything about it, but Jeremy gets all manly and demands that Luka back off.  (Doesn’t it seem like Luka wouldn’t be afraid of Jeremy?  Besides his powers he probably outweighs him by at least ten pounds of muscle, I’m just saying…)

When she arrives later, Jeremy has a bajillion candles lit and Bonnie freaks out a little, not having realized it was a date.  She doesn’t want to continue anything with him until she has a chance to talk to Elena first, make sure she’s cool with it.

Elena seems pretty upset about what she reads in the journal about Stefan.  Stefan takes over the storytelling about the past and we get more flashbacks into his undead life of debauchery.  (seriously, how many chicks does he need to kill in one night?)  We see Damon (with awful hair again) get fed up with him and leave after compelling some of Stefan’s intended victims to leave and never think of this place again.  Stefan promises to do better if he won’t leave, but Damon isn’t listening.  That’s what drove Stefan into switching off his emotions.  “It sounds like you were Damon,” Elena says.  “I was much worse,” Stefan admits. 

He goes on to tell her about how he would haunt the camps during the war and feed from the wounded.  There he meets a mysterious woman in a cloak who turns out to be Lexi.  He takes her home to offer shelter for the day but she balks when she sees the dead women in his parlor.  “My god, you’re a ripper…” she gasps.  But that doesn’t seem to be enough to send her packing, she just accepts it and tells him “we’re going to have to change that.”�

Damon, Andi, and Alaric are sitting at the Grill talking about Elijah when he shows up with Jenna.  At Andi’s suggestion, Damon invites them all back to his place for a dinner party that night and Alaric looks none too happy about it but Elijah seems to take it in stride.  I was surprised to see Damon turn up at the tomb next, bringing Katherine a bottle of blood and a change of clothes.  He wants to know if the dagger can really kill an Original.  She begs him not to kill Elijah or she’ll be trapped in the tomb forever, and offers to help him kill Elijah and protect Elena if he helps her get out of there first.  He takes her begging to mean that it can be done with the dagger and leaves, happy that she’s confirmed it. 

Jenna confides to Andi that she is really into Alaric, but is afraid that he’s keeping things from her.  Andi replies that she’s so grateful that Damon tells her everything.  (hee, that made me laugh!)  In the other room, Alaric says he thinks this dinner party is a bad idea.  “There’s no such thing as a bad idea,” Damon counters, “just poorly executed awesome ones.”  He promises that the dinner party is just a fact finding mission, no violence, scouts honor.  Why do I not believe him?  Maybe because the instant Alaric leaves, Damon dips the dagger in the ash and hides it in the study. 

John shows up uninvited and for some reason they let him stay.    Elijah is the last to arrive and warns that if Damon has any dishonorable intentions and crosses him, he’ll kill him and everyone in the house.  Damon insists that it’s just a get to know you kind of night and the dinner party begins!  The topic of witches settling the town comes up again.  Elijah’s looking for a location where a bunch of witches were rounded up and burned together in a field. 

Elena finds that Jonathan Gilbert researched the Originals in his journals.  There’s even a picture of the dagger in there and it mentions the ash of the old tree.  Stefan confides that they have the dagger, given to Damon by John and she reads on to see that it must be wielded by a human or it will kill any demon who wields it.  (ah you sneaky devil, so that’s what you were up to John!)  Stefan desperately tries to reach Damon on the phone but he isn’t picking up.  Instead he’s luring Elijah into the study where the dagger awaits.  Luckily, he tries calling Alaric next who manages to intercept Damon just in time, right after Elijah confirms that he needs to find that location where the witches were burned as part of the ritual. 

Jenna absents herself to finish up on the dessert and the candid talk returns since all the others present are in on Elijah’s identity.  Elijah’s in the middle of delivering a threat when Alaric stabs him from behind through the chair!!!  I was soooo not expecting that!  But a moment later he pulls the dagger out asking Damon to get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert and I’m thinking chop off his head!  Seriously, after Elijah came back before?  Dismember him and stick his parts in a blender!  But instead they just dump him in the cellar.  I found myself yelling at the screen, No, don’t do it, don’t leave him down there!

Elena is pretty pissed off that Damon and Stefan were scheming to kill Elijah behind her back.  Stefan accuses her of giving up and Lexi wouldn’t let him give up, so he’s not going to let her give up.   Lexi encouraged him to turn his emotions back on and get through the pain in order to feel love again.  He wants Elena to fight for her survival the way he did.  They go back inside and Elena reads that the dagger has to remain in place in order for the Original to stay dead.  Of course when Damon and Alaric run down to check, Elijah’s body is gone.  He shows up at his witch Jonas’ place asking him to find Elena for him.  Uh oh. 

Bonnie and Jeremy are playing with fire – literally.  That is, Bonnie’s practicing how to channel the energy from the flame and he asks her to try and channel his energy.  They move closer, she lays a hand over his heart, but before it can go any further, Jonas arrives and demands to know what she did to his son.  Tossing Jeremy aside, he recites an incantation, stealing Bonnie’s powers, threatening that if anything bad happens to Luka because of her, she’ll be sorry. 

Elijah shows up at the lakeside cabin and stoops to pick up a handful of pebbles.  Never a good sign.  Using them to demolish the front door, he approaches, saying “I might not be able to enter this house, but I’m a very patient man.  I will wait you out.”  Elena goes to talk to him, leaving Stefan hiding around the corner – I wonder what they have planned… they seemed to know he was coming. 

“The deal is off.”  Elijah declares and she asks to renegotiate, but he doesn’t seem very open to the idea, telling her she doesn’t have anything left to negotiate with.  Elena disagrees, pulling out a long knife.  His plans will fall through if she bleeds to death, she says.  Elijah isn’t buying it, knowing that Stefan won’t let her die.  Elena agrees, but says that after she has some of Stefan’s blood in her, she’ll kill herself, turning into a vampire just like Katherine did and then no more Petrova Doppleganger.  That brings a smile of admiration to his lips, but in the end he still thinks she’s bluffing.  Elena plunges the knife into her midsection and collapses.  Elijah quickly promises to honor her deal, giving his word and Elena stumbles forward to let him heal her.  Only the instant she’s close enough, she plunges the witch’s dagger into him!  Elijah dies (maybe for good this time) and Elena collapses next to him.  Stefan rushes over and feeds her some of his blood and Damon steps out from around the corner.  “Little tip, don’t pull the dagger out.” He says. 

Last six minutes of the show:

Jenna asks Alaric what happened to Isobel but he refuses to talk to her about it.  He not only doesn’t tell her anything, he doesn’t answer when she asks if he’s being honest with her.  She leaves amid tears and John steps out, offering to clear things up with Jenna about Isobel tomorrow, all he wants is his ring.  Alaric leaves the ring for him on the kitchen counter telling him after what he did to Damon, John’s going to need it more than he will. 

Stefan and Damon dump Elijah’s body in the cellar and Damon finds the moonstone in Elijah’s pocket.  Elena tells them, you want me to fight, fine I’ll fight.  But from this moment on we’re doing it my way.  Seems fair, Damon agrees and so does Stefan.  Damon goes up to his room and finds Katherine naked in his shower.  (except for perfect make up of course)  He stares at her dumbly when she asks for a robe, asking how she got out.  Little known fact?  Elijah’s compulsion over her would disappear the moment he dies, so she knew that if she begged him not to kill Elijah that would be exactly what he would do.  But she’s still there, she didn’t run, she’s going to help him protect Elena just like she promised.  “So, how about that robe?”  Katherine asks, dripping all over his floor. 

Random thoughts I had:

Didn’t Elena already have some inkling that Stefan wasn’t always a fluffy bunny vampire?  Why does she seem so shocked that he was a murderous vampire in the past?

How badass was Elena is this one?  Stabbing not only herself but Elijah too?  Awesome!

I missed Caroline in this one, but now that Tyler’s gone, I guess I can see giving her a break.

I wonder what being without her powers is going to do to Bonnie?

I wonder how long it’ll be before Klaus turns up?  And if I were them, I’d carve Elijah up into bits, burn the pieces, scatter the ashes and then get the dagger ready for when Klaus makes an appearance.

Hooray for more Katherine/Elena hijinx to ensue!