'The Vampire Diaries' recap: How to kill an Original before dessert

Here are five things I liked about "The Dinner Party," and two things that made me upset:

1. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) role reversals. Damon informs Stefan that he plans on killing Elijah (Daniel Gillies) that evening, but not before he's crossed all his Ts. In other words, “I've become you,” Damon says to Stefan. There was also an interesting game of role reversals as Stefan told Elena (Nina Dobrev) about his early days as a vampire. Feeling guilty about what he did to Damon and his father, Stefan tried to bury his emotions by going full throttle vampire. “I relished in it,” he says. And the flashbacks proved it. He killed Jonathan Gilbert, but he survived thanks to his ring. He had girls practically lining up to die next. In came Damon sounding a lot like present day Stefan, begging him to be more careful and clever so they can stay hidden in Mystic Falls. Although there were no big reveals in their scenes, the flashbacks of Stefan and Damon were very revealing and well played. Wesley and Somerhalder are both quite adept at pulling off the qualities that we usually associate with the other brother. Then again, it might just be Damon's wavy, innocent-like hair.

2. Lexi (Arielle Kebbel) returns! What a pleasant surprise to see Lexi, one of my Season 1 favorites, even if it was only in flashback. It was Stefan's best friend who found him at his darkest and introduced him to the good parts of being a vampire. That included letting the wall down and allowing all emotions, both good and bad, back in. “Once you can hurt, you can love,” she said. I also enjoyed the pointed scene between Damon, who killed Lexi, and Stefan – “You remember her?” Stefan says – cut to a flashback between Damon and Lexi, who prophetically tells him the hate he feels for his brother will consume him.

3. Alaric's (Matt Davis) back, and he brought Jenna (Sara Canning) along for a storyline! After being relegated to brief exposition and text messages for most of the season, Alaric finally stepped back into the story in a major way. Between Damon's lying, Jenna's cold shoulder, John's (David Anders) meddling and Elijah's just all-around mighty power, Alaric had his hands full at Damon's loaded dinner party/fact-finding mission. Alaric the vampire slayer came back with a vengeance when he found out wielding the dagger John gave Damon would kill him. Alaric stepped in, stabbed Elijah himself and followed it with this gem of a line: “Now get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert.”

But fixing things with Jenna was not so easy when she confronted him about Isobel. I think it was the most we've heard Jenna speak all season. He ended up giving his ring back to John to make things right with Jenna. “After what you did to Damon, you're going to need more than me,” he said. On the kind of odd, but awesome bromance front, Alaric and Damon were able to patch things up. “I'm your friend, dammit. And you don't have any friends, so no more lying,” Alaric warned.

4. Elena takes a stand. Finally. Stefan's story about not giving up seemed to work. Elena decides to take an active role to “fight forward” when Elijah came to collect, so to say. Elijah's death didn't take because the dagger needed to be left in, a detail which Elena conveniently didn't get to until later. Elijah tracked Elena to the cabin with help from Luka's dad, but Elena didn't just offer herself up. Instead of waiting for her death, she threatened to kill herself and become a (useless to the sacrifice) vampire during renegotiations with Elijah. He called her bluff, but much to his surprise – and mine! – Elena stabbed herself. Ouch. Think about what it took to do that. Elijah swooped in and promised to keep everyone safe if she let him heal her. She took the opportunity to stick the dagger in him for good.

5. The wicked vampire is free. Damon came home to find someone in his shower, which is getting quite the workout. Now that Elijah is free, the compulsion wore off and Katherine (Dobrev) is free to leave the tomb. But instead of leaving town, she kept her word. She's staying to help with Elena. This seems like an awful quick change of heart. This is Katherine, who's been nothing but manipulative and self-servicing all season and is also in cahoots with John. Does she have an ulterior motive for helping Elena? Can she really be trusted with Elena's life? Will Stefan and Damon trust her enough to help? I'm actually hoping she's up to no good because what fun is a Katherine on the outside if she's not being a naughty minx? And I can't wait to see what Caroline's (Candice Accola) reaction is to Katherine's new freedom.

Speaking of foes, here's some things I didn't like...

6. Elijah's dead. He walked softly with elegant, European air and carried a big stick. This was not an easy role to play, but Gillies pulled off Elijah's ancient, commanding and powerful old-world charm. Plus, he gets credit for some of the most creative and shocking death scenes I've seen on TV. Two words: Head swipe. Here's hoping he gets unstaked long enough for a return appearance.

7. Bonnie (Katerina Graham) loses her powers. Magic, fire, touching. Bonnie and Jeremy's (Steven R. McQueen) “hang” was very romantic until Luka's dad stormed in and took away Bonnie's powers with a chant. Is it really that easy to strip someone of their abilities? Shouldn't it take more than a few sentences to take away a person's history? Is he really that powerful? I know magic is an ability, but it also seems to be an innate part of who Bonnie is. Even when she wasn't actively practicing, she was exhibiting signs of her abilities.

Readers, are you upset Elijah is dead? What did you think of Lexi's return? Were you surprised that Katherine made it out of the tomb and stayed? Did this episode make up for a lack of Alaric this season?

-- Vlada Gelman (follow my TV musings on Twitter at @stayingin)

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Photo: Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Alaric (Matt Davis) talk. Credit: Annette Brown / The CW

Comments

[Danny]

Best vampire diaries episode of the season! Maybee both seasons?! Had me surprised in many spots and had me saying," didn`t see that coming"! I hate to see Elijah go because he adds so much drama to the show, but what a great way for him to go! At the hand of a human and not a vampire! The only thing that would have been better, would have been for him to get killed by a pack of revenge minded, turned werewolves, later in the season.

[joe and judy]

What I want to know is how Damon will react when he realizes that Katherine knew Damon would die too when he used that knife on Elijah and that she just didn't care as long as she was set free from the tomb upon Elijah's death! Yup, let's trust her! Also, I am STILL waiting to see the promised tidbit from a couple of months ago about what happens to a person who has been "glamored"(or whatever the correct term for this show is), too many times! Anyone remember that spoiler?

[Atreyu90602]

I liked this episode, but, became bitter when Luka's dad came in and stole Bonnie's power... As easy as takening candy from a Baby.... Why wont you allow Bonnie to wise up already and really channel her ability.. I mean Emily ( From the Dead no less ) could fight off Damon take over Bonnie with a wave of her hand... What the heck. Bonnie's cousin could take down Kathrine with a spell. As you can tell, I really like this character ( Bonnie ) She always gets the raw deal.. maybe the writers might allow her to have some love from Jeremy.

Elija.... I like him...to bad he wants to kill off the main charcter..LOL.
Lexi.. I'm glad to see her back...To remind Stephan of his past and to let Damon know he really hurt his brother, by killing her. ( good choices )
Arlic...Um, did not expect that.
John Gilbert....Yuck

[Delio]

Best Episode this season hands down.
Elijah (the bamf) dying, made me sad though. :( Now they're all screwed.
I mean how many times did everyone almost die before Elijah goes in and saves them?

[Jennifer]

I have to say that this episode has to go down as one of my favorites. I love any episode where we get to see a piece of the boys history. It's so incredible to see Stefan at a time when he was well as he put it...worse than Damon. And seeing Damon so innocent and vulnerable is powerful. I have to agree with you that killing Elijah is upsetting, I mean where is the story supposed to go from here? I mean klaus is coming one way or the other won't they need that dagger to kill him? I hope Elijah comes back he added a very elegeant creepy demeanor to the show. And Bonnie's powers are gone?! How can they be gone?! Is she going to get them back?! I don't understand what the goal of that storyline is...the only thing I can think is that Bonnie's powers will return to her when she realizes that it's in her blood, her history and that her powers will return full force to her when she realizes that...and hopefully she'll throw Jonas up against a wall!...and I was so happy to see more Alaric, but I'm a little upset that the writers had him give up the ring! I mean what if he gets hurt and dies?! I really hope John gets what is coming to him. UGH! I do not like that guy!....TIP writers we want more Alaric, there can never be enough Alaric!

[Stephanie]

You missed one little thing, when Stefan asked Damon, " You remember her?" I got the impression that he was referring to Damon killing Lexi in season 1.

[TKB]

Please, PLEASE someone in mystic falls dislodge the dagger lodged into Elijah's chest! I agree, Elijah is such a cool character and to see him bumped off not once but twice was a bummer. Next week's teaser seemed to show a shot of Damon torching Elijah's body and if that's truly the case, that's a bit of a disappointment for me. But characters seem to come and go (sometimes a little too quickly and frequently) in Mystic Falls. I'm worried for Caroline. She's one of my favorites and we know Katherine is going to have a major bone to pick with her because of Caroline's role in duping her at the Lockwood masquerade party - yikes - please Stefan - help Caroline out or please Tyler, come back to Mystic Falls and protect her. Finally, dear producers, we need to know more about the witches and their connection/involvement in all of this. Even with all of the plot changes and character entrances and exits, I'm still pretty hooked on the show!

[Anjuli Velazquez]

Last night's "The Dinner Party" was intense! I do like Elijah's character and was shocked that Elena actually killed him but I really think that we'll see him again because it's just too easy to "unkill" him by anyone removing the dagger.

I love Lexi and so happy to see her again! (Even if it was just in flashbacks :)

I was completely shocked to see Katherine out of the tomb! But also kinda loved that she was in Damon's shower waiting for him. I think she does have other motives...it is Katherine.

Alaric was awesome in this episode, although I wish he (and Elena) would just tell Jenna about everything already.

That scene with Jonas and Bonnie was intense but I think he could probably only temporarily take her powers away - she's a born witch and I think they should come back to her slowly.

It was such a great episode! :)

[Awais]

I oved this episode and i hope elijah doesnt stay dead for too long... he is awesome.. and Damon is becoming like Stefan .. perhaps thats the thing that will draw Elena to him ... maybe .....fingers crossed !!!!!