Mystic Falls 1994
The truth about what happened that year with Damon is revealed this episode. He showed up at the Salvatore House after not seeing Stefan for 50 years. Stefan and nephew uncle Zach let him back into the house. Stefan thinks that Damon is living off animal blood, but finds marks on Zach’s pregnant girlfriend Gail.
Stefan snaps his neck and takes his day ring. Damon snaps and kills people at the party including Gail and promises Stefan misery. Stefan was able to compel Zach to forget about Gail and the deaths, but he could not hide the bodies. Damon and Stefan both leave town.
All these murders conveniently happened at the same time as Kai’s coven wanted to use an Ascendent to banish him.
When Kai mentions the relic was last with his family in Oregon, Bonnie remembers the newspaper saying something about a family murder in that state. Kai says yes he killed them and let one survive. And for this the Gemini coven created this place just for him–it’s his hell.
Kai wants to go back to finish the murders of his coven, but Bonnie doesn’t want to bring back a killer. Bonnie realizes that Damon is making Gail’s favorite food because he wants to punish himself and for that she sees there is hope for him.
He wants to go back for Stefan and he wants to use what Kai knows and then ditch him. But Kai overhears and reveals that he has no magic himself, but he can temporarily take it from others. Either they take him or he will steal Bonnie’s magic and kill them both.
Starting Over
Stefan and Elena search the Mystic Falls border for Sarah. Stefan wants to go home, but Elena threatens to annoy him unless he can prove to her that he can be happy starting over. They go to a bar where Stefan shows her how easy it is to invent a new person. Elena seems to accept it and leave.
Stefan picks a fight and lets the guy beat him. Elena comes in because she forgot something and breaks it up. Stefan may be trying to move on, but he is punishing himself for abandoning Damon. Elena thinks he should deal with the death like she dealt with Bonnie’s. But Stefan can’t take her advice and tells her that Alaric erased all her good memories of Damon. She doesn’t believe that she was in love with Damon, but Stefan explains it in a way that lets us know he understands Elena and Damon were really in love. Neither of them can live without Damon.
Elena goes to Alaric and he gives her the journal she wrote to herself detailing why she had Alaric do it and why she hoped she would not undo it. For now, she doesn’t have him reverse it.
Stefan goes back until a girl comes out. It’s Ivy and she is thirsty for blood.
Matt and Tripp
Matt is determined to find what Tripp knows. Tripp trusts Matt enough to take him to his secret holding cell where he has Enzo. Tripp remembers a vampire compelling him to forget that he had just killed his wife. Tripp tells Matt that he knows Enzo killed Jay, but he wants Enzo to tell the names of all his vampire friends. So far he isn’t talking.
Alaric and Jeremy
Alaric takes a hungover Jeremy to the hospital. This gives Alaric a chance to flirt with Doctor Jo, but he gets distracted by a man with a bloody face. Later on, Alaric and Jeremy work out in the woods. Jeremy feels like he has a right to be angry because Bonnie died to save everyone else. Alaric tells Jeremy that he has a right to be angry considering all the things he went through before he died.
Jeremy returns to Salvatore Mansion and Sarah is there. When she was tossing the house, she found a photo of Zach and her mom on eclipse day. Jeremy tells her Zach was her father.
