The Vampire Diaries Recap and Discussion: 2.5 Kill or Be Killed

After last week's lame-o episode I was a bit apprehensive about tonight...but I have to say I felt like all the different story threads pulled together in exciting ways tonight and paid off! Oh yes.

Let's have a look.

First of all we've got VAMPIRES EXPOSED! No, no, not that way, but Mason was not feeling kindly towards Damon or Stefan. He proposed a little trick to Liz to show her that her good old buddy Damon is really a vampire. The trick? A little vervain in the lemonade. Sure enough, Damon spits it out and his secret is out. Liz is bummed and rallies the troops to KILL THEM! Because killing vampires is best done under prolonged circumstances and torture, she doesn't do it immediately. (bad for her, good for us!) She brings them down the old grave I think and tries to get all their secrets by killing them! But Caroline is on the hunt. After a few moments of hesitation, she chooses to reveal her new vampire nature to her mother and kills her allies. Mom is shocked and horrified, Damon and Caroline feed on human blood and Stefan whines about how he won't.

We've also got...WEREWOLVES ON THE LOOSE. Mason became bad-ass tonight launching his assault first on Damon and Stefan and then taking off with the moonstone from Tyler barely concealing his evil grin of delight as Tyler casually passed it over. We saw his backstory...who he killed and we saw he knew Katherine! Is there a man this woman hasn't won over?

Damon, coming back around to his tea-loving self spares Liz's life by trapping her in the cellar until the vervain runs out of her system so he can compel her! Now that my friends, is true friendship!

Elena gets all self-righteous on Stefan when he suggests a spoonful-of-human-blood helps the vampire stay strong causing a ridiculous angsty fight. Thank God Damon calls her on it. We love Damon round these parts.

Caroline meanwhile breaks down and cries and shares with Elena just how terrified she is of Katherine. I felt this was a true moment of horror in the show. So often things feel like good fun and no one acts really afraid. I hope Caroline stays on the show for awhile, she brings much needed reality to the storyline.

Finally, Elena shares her blood with Stefan. I think we're supposed to think this is beautiful and romantic, but personally I'd be more comfortable if Stefan drank his blood from a bag.

Would love to hear your thoughts! Did you enjoy tonight as much as I did? Are you looking forward to seeing what happens next? What do you think Katherine's up to with the moonstone and Mason? Is Mason toast? Will Tyler kill someone to join some war? Share share share!