Warning! Contains Spoilers!

Bonnie! Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Last night’s The Vampire Diaries finally dialed Bonnie’s friends into where she has been all summer as finding her becomes their priority.

The short version: Damon and Elena try to help Stefan regain his memory. Matt attempts to figure out what’s causing his blackouts. Caroline and Jesse’s friendship is tested. Jeremy makes an alarming confession. Stefan puts his trust in Caroline. Tyler makes a shocking appearance. Bonnie accepts her death.

There’s more intrigue in the details. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) attempts Vampire Amnesia 101 on Stefan (Paul Wesley). While joy riding in a stolen car, Stefan flips through his journals to try and jog his memory. But, he still can’t remember that he killed their father, or anything else except the present. He believes he’s a vampire but his hunger isn’t satisfied with blood bags. Stefan tells Damon he must be the fun brother and Damon’s the safe brother. When Damon flips the car at high speed, demolishing it, Stephan admits Damon is the fun one as they lay sprawled out on the road.

Elena (Nina Dobrev) calls Caroline (Candice Accola) and expresses her concern about Damon being in charge of getting Stefan’s memory back. Caroline impresses Elena with her knowledge of retrograde amnesia, recounting the chemistry, biology, and advanced biology she’s studied up on. Caroline wants to impress Dr. Maxfield (Rick Cosnett) enough to get close to him and get the answer to why he covered up their roommate’s “death by vampire”. She tells Elena she may have found a study buddy, which is Jesse (Kendrick Sampson). He also happens to be Dr. Maxfield’s lab assistant. (Convenient!)

Back in Mystic Falls, it’s Remembrance Day. Damon and Stefan enjoy drinks at the grill. Inside, everyone has raises a drink for a dead loved one, and a bell is rung in remembrance of them. Damon explains to Stefan the origins of Remembrance Day and its bell ringing ceremony. Back in the 1820s, people who died of cholera were buried with a string attached to a bell above ground because they were paranoid of being buried alive. If they were, they could ring the bell and family members who would hang around the grave for 24 hours waiting for the bell, would be ready to rescue their loved one. (Creepy!)

Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) is visited by Bonnie, who says watching him work out is her main source of entertainment. (Who could not watch a hot, muscular guy work out!) He confronts her about no one knowing that Bonnie is dead and that she can’t help with getting Stefan’s memory back. They’re interrupted by a call from a freaked out Matt.

At Matt’s place, Matt (Zach Roerig) shows Jeremy a strange knife. Matt says he woke up covered in mud and possessing the knife. He has no memory of what happened and knows this isn’t the first time he’s blacked out. Matt suspects it has to do with whatever Silas saw when he tried to mind control him and couldn’t. He thinks Nadia, the Traveler, put something in his head and it’s still there. (More like, who she put in your body!)
He set up cameras all over the house to figure out what’s going on. He asks Jeremy for help in contacting Bonnie; that she could help him. Jeremy is vague about her whereabouts and then leaves.

Back at the grill, Elena shows up. She and Damon lose track of where Stefan is. Damon remembers him talking to their waitress at the bar. Stefan has gone to make a meal out of the waitress, as his hunger kicks into high gear. Stefan corners her in the back room, compels her not to move and goes in for the kill (or bite) but Damon tackles him before he can.

At the cemetery, where more bell ringing and drinking is happening, Damon and Elena take Stefan inside the Salvatore family crypt. Damon’s plan is to minimize human contact for Stefan until they can get his memory restored. In the Remembrance Day tradition, and to get Stefan up to speed, Damon remembers their father (and rings a bell), their uncle who he (oops) killed (rings bell), and their mother, who died of consumption (rings bell). They don’t have the opportunity to crack open the bottle of wine to toast each one, as Jeremy texts Damon and asks to meet with him alone.

After Damon leaves, Elena catches Stefan up on her family history, and how they first met. He says he doesn’t understand how he can’t remember her, as she’s a strong, pretty woman. She takes him to the high school and re-creates their first meeting and other memories of them at the school. When his hunger kicks in after seeing a bloodied football player in the school hall, Elena takes him to the quarry.

Meanwhile, Caroline and Jesse are at the cemetery, where Caroline impresses Jesse as he quizzes her for an exam to get into Dr. Maxfield’s advanced biology class. Jesse asks about Taylor, and Caroline responds that he’s more or less out of the picture, and that she thinks a lot of him. Jesse then distracts Caroline and goes in for a kiss, which he says he’s wanted to do since move-in day. He then starts quizzing her on biology again as she continues to act surprised at the kiss.

Damon shows up at Jeremy’s place, thinking that Bonnie is there (the reason why Jeremy called him). Jeremy then explains that he’s been lying to everyone all summer about Bonnie. He explains that he’s not supposed to be alive and that magic balances everything out. Bonnie (Katerina Graham) stands behind Jeremy and pleads with him not to tell Damon. Jeremy explains that when she brought him back, Bonnie had to die. Damon doesn’t want to hear it because it will change Elena’s life. Jeremy says people need to know. Damon comforts Jeremy with a hug. (There’s that caring side coming out again!)

Back at the quarry, Stefan tries to kiss Elena. But she rebuffs him, and reveals that she is now with Damon. She says they weren’t hiding their relationship from him. But Stefan becomes enraged, thinking Damon stole her. He leaves to take care of his blood hunger. (He had forgotten about it while distracted with Elena).

Matt checks out his camera recording after he wakes up from a nap and finds his palm is cut and bleeding. The recording shows him answering his cell phone and his eyes turning black. He speaks some unknown language to the caller, and then hangs up. From there, he sees himself pick up a knife and address the camera directly. He tells Matt he is the passenger inside him and he is to protect the knife at all costs or he will kill Matt.

Elena alerts Damon to Stefan possibly being at the graveyard that night and that he’s hungry. Damon holds off on telling Elena about Bonnie and goes to find Stefan.

At the cemetery, Stefan is slowly getting drunk and bumps into Caroline. He tells her he’s still feeling like The Ripper. When Jesse joins them, Caroline compels him to go away and hide (she’ll find him) after Stefan expresses his desire to rip off Jesse’s arm. (He’s really hungry!). Caroline tells Stefan he doesn’t do people because it turns out ugly.
When he asks about having blood bags, she tells him to follow her to her car. However, she doesn’t go far when she realizes he’s not behind her. (She fell for that old trick?)

In the Salvatore crypt, Jesse tries to reach Caroline on her phone. He doesn’t know why he’s in the crypt. Suddenly, Stefan comes behind him and chomps down on his neck.
Then Stefan backs off and talks about his amnesia, his blood lust, and such. He finishes off Jesse just as Caroline rushes into the crypt. She pulls Stefan off him and tells him this is not him, that’s he’s better than this. Caroline feeds Jesse her blood to save his life. (Is he now a vampire?)

Meanwhile, Jeremy heads over to Matt’s and tells him that Bonnie is dead.

At the Salvatore house, Elena and Damon find Stefan burning all his journals. Stefan doesn’t want his former life or live in the Salvatore house. He promises not to go on a ripper rampage; that Caroline has promised to call him every hour to make sure and he trusts her. He leaves and Elena tells Damon they need Bonnie to fix Stefan. Damon tells her that Bonnie can’t help them because she’s dead.

Back at the crypt, Stefan meets Caroline and tells her he’s going to be staying there. She tells him about Bonnie. He, of course, can’t remember her. Caroline talks about trying to move on without Bonnie and Tyler. Stefan says he’ll be there for her, as she was for him the night before.

Later, at the graveyard/woods, everyone gathers for a memorial service for Bonnie, organized by Jeremy. As they mementos on a large tree stump, Bonnie tells Jeremy about her and everyone needing the memorial service. Jeremy then rings a bell in honor of and remembrance of Bonnie. She asks him to tell them that she isn’t going anywhere; that she has always been with them. Speaking through Jeremy, and standing beside each of them, she gives them words of comfort and encouragement. Bonnie tells Jeremy she’ll be okay (she has accepted her death). Just then, Tyler (Michael Trevino) shows up, much to everyone’s surprise.

Meanwhile, in his lab, Dr. Maxfield tells Jesse that his vitals are normal and asks what happened to him. He tells the professor that Caroline took him to a party at Mystic Falls but can’t remember the rest. Dr. Maxfield tells Jesse that he has vampire blood in him; that someone either healed him or wants to turn him into a vampire. He believes it was the latter and that he was compelled to forget. He tells Jesse that having the vamp blood is step one of creating a new vampire. He tells him this is step two as he injects Jesse with a something and he flat lines on the exam table. (Is the professor a vampire creator?)

My questions for this episode: Is Dr Maxfield a mad scientist? Is his ‘secret society’ on campus a vampire club? Does he create vampires for his own use? Will Jesse become a vampire? Will Caroline get caught up in the professor’s society? Will Bonnie now be everyone’s guardian angel? Will Caroline go back to Tyler? Will Stefan regain his memory? Who can help him now that Bonnie can’t?

What did you think of the episode?

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