This recap includes spoilers and if you have not viewed the episode, then please don’t read any further!
The episode begins with a flashback from 1110 A.D. and we see a witch performing a spell, and five vampire hunters surrounding her. As the witch completes the spell, a hunter’s tattoo (like Connor’s) appears on each of the five hunters bodies. We also see that each hunter possesses a sword with the same symbol Klaus noticed on Connor’s vampire stakes.
At the Salvatore mansion, Damon carries in a box of Connor’s belongings he snatched from the hunter’s trailer. And don’t forget- Damon still thinks Connor is dead from the hospital explosion. He mentions to Stefan that Klaus said something about Connor being “one of the five.” Damon is hoping to find some clues in Connor’s belongings as to what “The Five” is. He then receives a call from Sheriff Forbes. She tells Damon that they never found Connor’s body in the remains of the hospital explosion. That means Connor is still out there! Damon doesn’t want to tell Stefan the news, because he claims they are in a fight. Stefan says he is still mad at Damon for blood sharing with Elena, but says they are not in a fight. Damon then tells Stefan about Connor, and then slips in that he is taking Elena to college to learn how to feed.
In the woods during “hunter defense class”, Elena begins explaining herself to Stefan. She tells him that since she almost killed Matt, she needs to properly learn to feed. Stefan is too vulnerable when it comes to blood, and Caroline, being the control freak she was, learned too well how to control her bloodlust. That just leaves Damon to teach Elena. Stefan isn’t pleased, but since Elena has to drink from the vein, Damon is her only option for learning how to feed. Elena tells Stefan that he is the one to get her through this rough patch, no matter who teaches her to feed.
At the Mystic Grill, attention seeker Rebekah is once again trying to apologize to Matt for running him off the bridge. This time she bribes him and buys him a brand new truck! Matt keeps the truck, but still doesn’t accept Rebekah’s apology. Rebekah then she sees Klaus, who tells her she is trying too hard to win Matt’s affections. Rebekah is still mad about Klaus abandoning her for his hybrids. Klaus tells Rebekah that the brotherhood of The Five still exists, to try and reclaim her on his team. Rebekah acts like she doesn’t care, and tells Klaus that, “there is no we,” and Klaus walks away.
Damon and Elena tag along with Bonnie to Whitmore College, where Grams used to teach her Occult Studies class. The class has been taken over by Professor Shane, who invited Bonnie to the school. They drop in on his class and Damon talks to Elena about picking out what student she will feed on. They pick a blonde girl and Elena catches up to her after class. Elena is about to feed on her, but panics when she sees a photo of her potential victim’s daughter on the blonde’s cell phone.
In the meantime, Bonnie meets Professor Shane, who gives Bonnie some of her Grams’ belongings from her old office. They discuss magic, and he tells her there are other ways to practice magic other than witchcraft. Bonnie then meets up with Damon and Elena and shows them a flyer for a “Murder House” Halloween frat party. Damon tells Elena this would be the perfect place for her to feed.
Damon dresses up as Jack the Ripper, and Bonnie and Elena go as his victims. Bonnie mingles at the party, while Elena chooses her victim- a guy who roofied another girl’s drink. She feeds on him, with Damon coaching her through the process. When she finishes, she tells Damon she wants more. Elena embraces the scene, feeding on multiple college students and wears their blood on her face and clothes throughout the party, adding to her costume. She lets loose and has fun, dancing the night away with Damon, the two of them dripping in blood together. Elena then sees Bonnie, and realizes how far she let herself go. Elena begins to break down, telling herself she should be going through all of this with Stefan. Bonnie gets furious with Damon, telling him that she’s acting like a different person. Damon tries to get across that Elena is a different person and that she needs to learn to revel in her feeding and flip the humanity switch. By doing this, Damon can leave a person breathing whereas Stefan would rip someone apart when feeding.
At Klaus’ house, the Mikaelson mansion, Klaus has Connor shackled up in his “Red Room of Pain,” as Stefan puts it. Klaus proceeds to tell Stefan about the history of The Five. Klaus and his siblings crossed paths with these highly skilled hunters in the 12th century. In the flashbacks, we got to see Elijah, who has been dearly missed by TVD fans since the finale of season 3. However, we only got a small glimpse of Elijah, which was disappointing. Rebekah, fell in love with one of the hunters- Alexander, who was shown in the flashback at the beginning of the episode. Alexander was not suspicious of the Original family, because he was searching for creatures of the night. Klaus and his sibling had daylight rings to protect them from the sunlight, whereas other vampires did not. Alexander’s tattoo was fully visible back then, unlike Connor’s tattoo which is invisible to everyone except Jeremy. Klaus proceeds to make a bargain with Stefan and tells him to get Rebekah on board and she will reveal the secrets with which Alexander had told her. Klaus also intrigues Stefan by telling him that the hunters of The Five hold the answer to all his prayers.
At the grill, Rebekah is hanging out with her new friend April. Stefan interrupts and convinces Rebekah to fake peace with him in order to find out what Klaus is up to. Stefan sweetens the deal by saying he will help her and Matt start off fresh on a clean slate. Rebekah agrees, and her, Stefan and Klaus all have dinner together at the Mikaelson mansion.
During the dinner, Rebekah reveals that Alexander and the rest of The Five had “the ultimate weapon which no vampire can survive.” To find this weapon, a puzzle had to be solved, but it disappeared- the tattoo. The tattoo is a map leading to the ultimate vampire weapon. Klaus then brings in Jeremy, the only one who can see Connor’s tattoo. Jeremy’s ring is taken from him and he is forced to sketch the tattoo. As Jeremy is sketching, Connor tells Jeremy that he met someone with the tattoo one day and was told that since he could see the tattoo, he was a potential hunter. Connor reveals that one day the hunter’s mark appeared on him, and the more vampires he killed, the more it spread across his body. Connor asks Jeremy, why he set him up at the hospital and Jeremy replies that he was trying to hurt those he loves. Connor cannot understand why a sympathizer like Jeremy can see his tattoo.
Rebekah and Alexander were in bed one night, and she learned that the sword was the key to reading the map. He asked her to join him on his quest to follow the map and she agreed to go along. As they were kissing, Alexander stabbed Rebekah with the dagger. After a short period of time, Rebekah wakes up and sees Klaus in the bedroom. He says that Alexander put down all of their siblings, but the dagger did not work on him because of his werewolf side. Klaus had killed Alexander, along with the rest of The Five, during the time Rebekah was daggered. Klaus was enraged that Rebekah trusted Alexander and asked what he promised her. She told him the tattoo led to the weapon, which was a cure for vampirism.
Rebekah figured out Klaus’ plan. He wanted to cure Elena, so she would become human again and he could make more hybrids. Stefan would also have human Elena back. Rebekah was furious and left. Klaus told Stefan that they needed to find the sword, and that the only person who knew its location was Rebekah. Stefan was instructed to talk to Rebekah and get her to tell him where to find the sword.
Jeremy finishes drawing Connor’s tattoo. He hands his drawing over to Klaus, and Klaus saw from Jeremy’s drawing that Connor’s tattoo was not completed like those of The Five. Jeremy is sent home, and Klaus sends in a hybrid to tighten Connor’s shackles. Connor uses his teeth and rips out the hybrid’s ear piercing.
Stefan calls over Rebekah to the Salvatore mansion and the two talk. Stefan told Rebekah how much he wants to save Elena- that once Elena would kill, she would turn off her humanity and he would never get her back. Rebekah asks Stefan if he would take the cure. He says yes- if that meant Elena and him could have children, grow old together, die together, and be buried together. Rebekah tells Stefan how she envies their love and how she truly loved Alexander and that they were to be married. They even picked out a church. She buried him at the church. Rebekah then realized that is what Stefan wanted to know, because Rebekah buried Alexander with his sword. Klaus appears and is about to dagger Rebekah. She tells him that she would have rather lived her life, loving too easily, than living his life, where he could never love. She yells at Klaus to do it, to dagger her, and he does, which is not a surprise, knowing Klaus. Klaus swears Stefan to secrecy about The Five, the sword, the cure- all of it.
Damon brings Elena home and they have one of their famous front porch scenes. Elena confesses to Damon that deep down she believes him on what a vampire should be, but she hated being like that. We all know that Elena is moral and powered by love, and she can’t stand to be any other person than her real self. Suddenly, Stefan opens the door, ending the porch moment. He said he was over at the Gilbert house hanging with Jeremy, discussing a few things. Damon asks if there was any progress on the hunter and Stefan says no.
Back at the Mikaelson mansion, Connor escapes from his shackles and kills one of Klaus’ hybrids. We see Connor’s tattoo grow even more, a star symbol being added on. This star symbol, if you noticed during the episode, was also shown in Professor Shane’s office at the college.
The episode ends with Connor going to pay Professor Shane at visit. Professor Shane then asks why Connor is not in Mystic Falls. Connor then asked why he was sent there.
*Things to think about: The cure- Can it cure all vampires? Or can it cure only some vampires? If an Original is cured, is their entire bloodline cured?
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