Sometimes I think if I hear Stefan say “let her make her own choices” one more time about Elena I will crawl through the television and kick him in his little special place.
Not that I don’t think Elena should make her own choices; it just seems like the only ones he makes sure to stand back and “let” her make are the ones that let her live out her martyr complex. I don’t think it’s something he’s doing consciously, but come on, both brothers treat her like a child to some degree. Stefan enables her death wish and Damon disregards her free will completely. Neither guy gets off free here. I’m just saying that Stefan is not some kind of perfect romantic hero. He’s a guy in love with a girl whose life is so screwed up she’s willing to drown to karmically balance her guilt over surviving her parents’ deaths. Even if you’re not a vampire that’s never going to be a healthy relationship.
I really hope that the way this ep ends will help Elena stop hanging everything on herself; it’s one thing to feel guilty for her parents’ accident – that’s totally natural – but for her it’s become a self-obsession where every bad thing in the universe revolves around her. I think she’s died for each person she knows by now, so really, let’s call it even and move on, babe.
SPOILERS BELOW

Let’s hope that the Elena we meet in Season 4 will turn out to be a Caroline vampire. I want to see her really owning it, the way Caroline has – she’s had trouble getting used to immortality, but overall she’s just decided “This is my life now, and I’m gonna rock it.” And she does. May she live forever.
Anyway, season finale time, and lemmetellya, it was brutal. The first half was kinda meh, but once the plot threads started a-tangling and everything rushed toward the end, it was nearly impossible to breathe.
SO MUCH GOOD ACTING. My tiny Grinch heart grew three sizes over and over. There were several places that I genuinely wanted to bawl, just because I could feel what the character was feeling so intensely – and that’s not something a crap actor can pull off. So, Slow Clap #1 for the cast.
Second Slow Clap is for the writers and showrunners, who decided to Go THERE this season. It wasn’t that it was a surprise – it was the only logical result of all the plotlines that made any kind of sense – but it was still amazing to see them just run at it balls out. Bravo.
I have to say that overall Season 3 seemed wildly uneven. I feel like it went kind of off the rails when Esther and all the big stupid magic became the deus ex machina for every damn problem. To me, as a writer, it felt like they wrote themselves into a corner with the Originals and couldn’t decide on a way to get from there to where they wanted the season to end. Before that, I loved where we were going, and after Esther finally died (Oh God ,please tell me she’s really gone this time.) the show picked right back up and made sense again, thank God. My deepest hope, aside from the goddamn shippers leaving Julie Plec alone, is that all that vague magic crap is gone now and we can go back to Bonnie doing things that have actual consequences and rules.
Although if Faye from The Secret Circle were to show up and lock Bonnie in the werewolf cave, then Faye could be the first fun witch in Mystic Falls, and I would offer Kevin and/or Julie the use of my uterus if either of them needs to incubate a fetus.
That said, I am so madly in love with how the next season is shaping up. They set things up beautifully, especially with Elena’s future, that I’m really excited about the possibilities. We’d gotten to a point where the love triangle was the least interesting thing about the show, and since apparently that’s supposed to be the thing we care about, they needed to shake it up somehow. And I don’t mean Elena choosing Stefan because I ask you again, who but the most deluded out there really, honestly believed that she was going to pick Damon right now, at this point in the story? I promise you, whomever she chose right now is going to lose her somewhere along the way – if this show goes on a few more years, Elena will probably shift loyalty several times, because if the story is centered on the triangle, THE STORY ENDS WHEN THE TRIANGLE ENDS. If there’s no more that can go wrong, then there’s no need for the show to go on.
But now that Elena’s (hopefully) going to fang out (there’s still a chance they could Etch-a-Sketch it with some ridiculous spell or something), that changes everything. She’s gonna be running around Mystic Falls with her personality on overdrive, which I guess means the entire town will now revolve around her unicorn lady parts, not just all the characters we know. There are so many questions left to answer! So many directions they could take it! I can’t wait!
Unfortunately we have to, until Fall.
Oh, and before I start: if anyone starts spouting shipper bile (meaning abuse toward an actual human or generally hateful speech – not just an opinion) in the comments I will turn the comments off. I’ve never had anyone do that on one of these recaps, which I really appreciate about my commenters, but given the amount of bullshit being hurled at the showrunners and friends of mine who run fansites (that take up a huge amount of their time and energy for which they are not paid), you never know who might be lurking about. My sandbox, my rules.
On to the actual recap:
Gilbert House (Pre-Pain)
Elena wakes up smiling and chipper and dancing around to P!nk, and it’s cute but immediately suspicious because I don’t think Elena knows what music is unless she’s at some kind of function that ends in tragedy. When she puts on her cheerleader outfit and bounces downstairs to find Jenna in the kitchen, the flashbackiness is kind of a guarantee.
ELENA: Jeremy said he’s “oiling his baseball glove” again. Like we don’t know what he’s doing?
JENNA: Don’t look at me, girl. I’m not the first in a line of pretty inept guardians for you guys just yet. Ask your mom.
Elena’s mom shows up in the extremely brightly lit flashback, and they hug, and it’s all domestic and…
MFGH
Elena wakes up in the hospital, hooked up to way too few monitors for someone with a head injury, but hey, who’s counting?
[TITLE CARD]
Still at the hospital, Meredith tries to reassure Jeremy that Elena’s bloody nose and unconsciousness after a serious blow to the head ain’t no thang. This is the point where I start to think, “Are they going where I think they’re going with this? Because if she gave Elena vamp blood to save her life and they don’t tell us from the outset, they must be saving that reveal for something important later. But on the other hand it might be a total misdirect.”
Still, I’m all , ”Concussion my ass.”
On the Vampire Express
Stefan and Damon, who are still on their way to the ocean to dump the Original Raisinette, are a bit on the irritated side that Jeremy called 911 instead of one of the many convenient vampires in town who could have healed her.
I still want to know how long Elena was lying there on the floor before Jeremy found her. I guess it couldn’t have been long since this all happens on the same night (Jesus, the timeline on this show! I think the entire season has happened over maybe a month.). At any rate, given how many unwise decisions the Salvatores have made in order to save each other, they ought to cut Jer some slack.
MFGH
Meredith returns to her office.
EVILARIC: Hey, toots.
MEREDITH: Crap.
EVILARIC: I’m taking over the town – I got the Sheriff and the Mayor kicked out, and now I’m having the Council call the medical board on you.
MEREDITH: Oh really? What are they going to say? The medical board is a state agency, not a local one, so it’s not like you can tell them I’m dishing out vampire blood, especially since you just poured out my stash and now have zero proof.
EVILARIC: I’m really menacing, though. You should cringe.
MEREDITH: Okay. *cringes*
EVILARIC: Also I’m taking Elena because I’m her guardian.
MEREDITH: She’s 18. You don’t guard shit.
EVILARIC: CRINGE, WOMAN!
Alaric charges out of her office to go kidnap Elena, but ha! She’s not there.
Gilbert House
Caroline, Tyler, and Matt help Elena into the house and park her on the couch – damn, they’re fast! Did Jeremy call them? No, Alaric arrived and menaced Meredith right after she finished talking with Jer, so the others must have been hiding in wait for Dr. Fell to leave and then whisked Elena away. Excellent timing, guys.
Caroline fusses over Elena, which takes Elena back to sophomore year again…
Flashbackings
…when Elena was bitching about Caroline to Bonnie and Matt. We discover that before their lives went to hell, they were all kind of snotty, which, being cheerleaders and football stars, is what I would have expected.
MATT: Sneak out of family night and come to the bonfire. I love you with all my heart and soul!
ELENA: *runs screaming*
BONNIE: You know, you can’t STRING HIM ALONG, you have to MAKE A CHOICE.
Gilbert House, Present Day
Elena wakes up to find Matt watching her sleep.
ELENA: Okay, if anyone’s going to creep me out like that, it should be a vampire, don’t you think?
MATT: Let’s talk about how you MUST MAKE A CHOICE, preferably tonight since you don’t have anything else to worry about.
ELENA: Interesting segue, but okay. I think I’ll pick–
Stefan bursts in the door and they hug.
ANVIL #2: *drops*
Elena decides she’s tired of sleeping and wanders off with her blankets, leaving Matt and Stefan to discuss her like she’s a puppy they’re housetraining, because, you know, she’s got free will.
Before I can barf, however, who should show up but…
ELIJAH: My timing is a thing of beauty, just like my haircut.
Mystic Grill
Rather than cook actual food in the kitchen, Jeremy has gone to pick up food from the Grill. Given how things have gone lately the Gilbert kitchen probably just has beer and a half-eaten Triscuit in the pantry.
EVILARIC: *is rather scuzzy*
JEREMY: Crap.
EVILARIC: I need you to find out where they’ve stashed Klaus’s body so I can rid the world of vampires. Remember how you said you wanted one day without a vampire? I can give you all the days! Then you can dessicate me and Elena can live out her natural life!
JEREMY: As nice as that sounds, I remain skeptical, because you’re kind of a dick right now. But sure, I’ll call you. We’ll have a nice man-talk.
Gilbert House
So…Elijah wants to make a deal. It’s not like the Originals have ever been untrustworthy or completely changed their minds mid-plan, so clearly this is a great idea.
ELENA: We can absolutely trust Elijah. Let’s give him Klaus’s body! They can dress him up in evening gowns and hang him on the front door like a Christmas wreath!
ELIJAH: Don’t worry, we’ll keep him daggered while you live out your natural life.
ANVIL #3: *drops*
On speakerphone, Damon expresses a little dismay over Elena’s decision to get on board with Elijah again, but despite the fact that they all stand to die horribly, it’s Elena’s decision.
Lockwood Manor
Tyler and Caroline arrive, summoned by their frantic moms.
CAROL: You have to leave town NOW. Here’s some money and a fake mustache.
CAROLINE: Wait, what?
LIZ: Alaric outed us and now the Council’s going to kill you.
TYLER: The Council? That roomful of yuppies who couldn’t even tell there were vampires here even with the overflowing cemetery? What are they going to do, stab us with cocktail picks?
LIZ: They’re way less useless with Alaric in charge.
Gilbert Porch of Great Destiny
Jeremy has told Matt what Alaric told him, and now the two are discussing what to do about it, out of vampire earshot. Hasn’t anyone told them that vampire senses suck unless the camera zooms in on their ears? They could be shouting at each other in Klingon and doing interpretive dance and nobody would notice.
JEREMY: We should grab Elena and get out of here.
MATT: Hmmm.
Jeremy on the Phone with Alaric
JEREMY: They’re taking the body to Isengard!
EVILARIC: Bitchin’. You’re a credit to your race, Jeremy. Human power!
JEREMY: Dude, you’re not human. Shut the hell up.
As he hangs up we see that Jeremy is in the kitchen surrounded by the others – it’s all a plot! Jeremy hasn’t completely sold out his peeps!
Lockwood Manor
Caroline paces and Tyler watches her pace as they debate whether to go on the run or not. Tyler is 100% pro, Caroline about 60%, depending on the fate of her friends.
CAROLINE: I’ll totally run away with you, but first we have to help the others.
TYLER: So…how do we do that?
CAROLINE: Mostly by crying, it turns out. You go pack up our stuff and meet me at the werewolf dungeon in two hours.
TYLER: I get to go through your panty drawer!
CAROLINE: NO, just bring me a curling iron.
TYLER: *sadface*
Random U-Stor-It Facility Somewhere Between 100 Miles from Town and the Ocean
I’m having a little trouble with the distances here. According to a later conversation Damon is 100 miles away, too far to drive in an hour, yet Bonnie, Bex, and Alaric all make it there without any problem or much time seeming to pass. Bonnie gets back to Mystic Falls in less time than it takes Matt and Elena to get however far they get. I guess Witches, Originals, and whatever the hell Alaric is can fold space-time.
DAMON: Okay, Bon, do your Witchy juju on the coffin.
BONNIE: Which juju?
DAMON: That’s what I said.
BONNIE: No, I mean, what spell am I doing here? Am I cloaking him like the dead witches did the other coffins? Because I don’t think I can do that.
They open the coffin, revealing Jerky Klaus…whose eyes pop open. EWWWWW. That scared the hell out of me on first watch. I can’t really remember how Mikael’s dessication worked, so I don’t know why Klaus is still conscious, but it’s freaky regardless.
BONNIE: Give us a minute, would you? I need to gloat.
Damon, who understands gloating, leaves her with Klaus.
BONNIE: You suck in a metaphorical sense as well as a literal one. I have a spell to pick with you.
What’s really promising here is how quietly angry Bonnie is – she’s not high-and-mighty or giving out migraines, she’s very focused and calm. If we can keep this Bonnie I might ask Faye to let her live.
Gilbert House
Up in Elena’s room, Stefan is reassuring her that their plan, whatever the hell it actually is, will work. He starts to leave, but Elena calls him back.
STEFAN: What?
ELENA: …um…never mind. This whole issue is best left to a teary-eyed phone call where I can both dump your brother and let him die alone.
STEFAN: Rock on. *sluuuuuuurp*
ELENA: Oh boy! I mean, I am conflicted! This is my conflicted face!
U-Stor-It
Rather hilariously Damon has found a discarded couch to lounge on while waiting for Rebekah to arrive for Klaus. I can so see him going through all the storage lockers looking through people’s stuff and stealing their Playboys.
He and Stefan converse about Elena’s decision making talents.
DAMON: I would never have let her make up her own mind.
STEFAN: But see, if I let her make up her own mind, then when it all goes to hell it’s not my fault.
DAMON: You know…when you strip away the hotness and the tragic past, we’re both basically assholes.
STEFAN: Trufax.
Unfortunately for everyone, once they hang up, Alaric appears and chokes Damon out. I guess he didn’t believe Jeremy’s story after all.
He says that law enforcement helped find them, but I’m not sure how that would work. I guess if Alaric knew the license plate of the SUV, and what direction they were driving in, he could have local LEOs call county highway patrol and they could have searched, but would they have had time? Also, outside Mystic Falls the cops aren’t going to drop everything to look for a car without a good reason, so Alaric would have had to make up something that would certainly have resulted in the cops showing up as well as Alaric.
I know, I’m overthinking. My brain always fixates on random little stuff – but it’s that little stuff that throws viewers out of the story, like right now when I’m totally off on a tangent about something completely pointless. Ahem.
Gilbert House
Matt brings Elena tea.
ELENA: This is ass.
MATT (actual dialogue): I overhoneyed. I suck at tea.
NOTHING: *is more adorable than that line*
MATT: Hey, let’s distract you from that tea by talking about the CHOICE YOU MUST MAKE.
ELENA: Well, let’s see…Stefan saved my life once, although they’ve both saved it more than once since then. Stefan showed up when I needed someone and it had nothing to do with me looking like his ex girlfriend. Stefan’s dependable and steady like a rock, you know, like his abs. Aren’t they amazing? Seriously, you could bounce a quarter off that shit.
MATT: I know, right?
ELENA: Anyway, Stefan is safe and comfortable except when he’s homicidal and that will never ever happen again.
MATT: What about Damon?
ELENA: I pretty much just want to jump his bones.
Flashbackalicious
Elena is wandering away from the bonfire where I assume all her friends still are, and calls home for a ride. I always got the sense that this part went down more like a fight between her and her parents than the genial advice-conversation we see here, but that’s just how it sounded to me based on how Elena described it to Stefan way back when.
ELENA: Mom, Matt wants to get married and make babies, like right now.
ELENA’S MOM: No he doesn’t. He just wants to scare you out of commitment. Boys do that, honey. But you need to LET HIM GO. You won’t actually be breaking his heart and crushing him like a grape, you’ll be setting him free.
ELENA: Gosh, Mom, you make it sound so sensible. Next thing you know I’ll find out you guys adopted the Doppelganger but stayed in Mystic Falls, the place where the Originals were made in the first place and all this crap got started, because there’s nothing less insane than hiding in plain sight.
Matt’s Truck of Utter Betrayal or Rescue, Depending on How You Look at It
Present-day Elena wakes up in Matt’s truck. He totally drugged her tea!
With what?
Never mind. Jeremy probably had something left over from his drug days. It’s as good an explanation as any.
MATT: I’m getting you out of town. Turns out I don’t give that much of a shit about your free will either.
U-Stor-It, Or Not, Since Our Security Blows Goats
Alaric storms from locker to locker yanking locks and throwing open doors. Meanwhile Rebekah arrives to take possession of the Original Prune.
Bex wanders around calling for Damon, who grabs her and hauls her around a corner before Alaric can catch her.
Alaric finds number 1020 and opens it, but the coffin is gone. I thought at first it was because Bonnie hid it, but not so much.
I then laugh my head off at the sight of Damon and Bex heading hell-for-leather with the coffin on wheels toward the open back end of the SUV. It’s only about two seconds of film but it cracked my ass up.
EVILARIC: Oh no you don’t. *administers beatdown*
As Rebekah screams frantically, Alaric opens the coffin. Klaus looks up at him helplessly – in fact they’re all helpless to stop Alaric ramming the Bling Stake into Klaus’s heart.
The sad TVD music starts up (swelling strings with that dum-dum, dum-dum, dum-dum, dum), so we know this is going to suck. Damon holds onto Rebekah to keep her from running at Alaric, and we see flames ignite over Klaus’s chest. For his part, Damon looks like he’s about to wet his pants.
Alaric retrieves the stake and makes to go for Rebekah next, but she books it, and he vamp-whooshes after her.
After the commercial break Damon, sitting on the floor, calls Stefan to deliver the news.
DAMON: Yeah, we’re fucked. No kiss and no K-Y, brother.
STEFAN: So assuming Klaus was telling the truth, we have about an hour to live…we can’t get you back here to die on Elena again.
DAMON: That’s okay. I’d rather be dumped over the phone than in the middle of bleeding out at her feet.
They hang up and we shift over to
Mystic Woods
Jeremy informs Stefan that Elena has been girl-napped. Then Caroline and Elijah arrive and Stefan has to break the news to them.
Matt’s Truck
Matt hangs up with Jeremy (damn they’re all talking on the phone a lot during this ep), and Elena insists they go back to Mystic Falls so she can be with her friends when they die screaming.
MATT: Okay, it’s time to play MAKE THAT CHOICE!!!! I can either head back to town where Stefan is, or I can drive to where Damon is.
ELENA: SERIOUSLY WE HAVE TO DO THIS NOW?
MATT: Yep. Without some serious pressure I think we’d have had to put up with this crap for another season. As your ex I really don’t think I can take hearing about it any more. Let’s get it moving, okay?
U-Stor-It
Elena calls Damon.
DAMON: Where are you?
ELENA: Not on my way to you, that’s for damn sure.
DAMON: Called it.
ELENA: I can’t help it – I’ve always been in love with Stefan and nothing in the world can ever change that, and even though there’s something fundamentally fucked about choosing to be with a guy who nearly drove you off the bridge where your parents died, apology or no apology (and technically he never actually did say “I’m sorry” to me about anything) – and something equally fucked about being with someone who is, well, you, because Jesus Fancy Dancing Christ are you a piece of work, I’m gonna have to go with Stefan on this.
Damon looks gutted, but not especially surprised.
ELENA: Maybe if I’d met you first -
DAMON: Is that supposed to make me feel better?
ELENA: It sounded good in my head.
Elena is crying, and it’s all very moving, in that “Oh God we’re going to have to watch her and Stefan doing it again” way. She tells Damon she’ll see him soon, and that everything’s going to be fine, but as she speaks Damon looks over and sees that Ric has come back for him.
Eyes on Ric, Damon tells her goodbye.
DAMON: I don’t suppose you can give me a pass since I just got my heart stomped on.
EVILARIC: Are you kidding? This is like Christmas for me.
Werewolf Cave
Caroline, distraught, runs in calling for Tyler. She’s nearly come unglued – she still feels fine physically, which means Klaus might really have been lying, but either way, Tyler’s a dead wolf walking.
Tyler appears and tries to calm her down; she tells him what’s up.
CAROLINE: Klaus is all-dead. Not mostly dead. With all-dead all you can do is go through his pockets and look for loose change.
TYLER: *is remarkably calm*
CAROLINE: I AM FREAKING OUT WHY AREN’T YOU FREAKING OUT?
TYLER: Caroline, you’re going to have a beautiful life, and travel the world and see art and music and ride numerous ponies, and it’s all going to be awesome.
Caroline flings herself at him and they kiss, but then Tyler starts coughing violently and demands that she leave. She refuses until he starts wolfing out and threatens her bodily harm because he doesn’t want her to see him die.
She bolts, still sobbing.
Matt’s Truck
Elena hangs up with Caroline and has to tell Matt that Tyler’s dead. Matt, for once, gets to have a serious display of emotion, pounding the steering wheel and yelling “Dammit!” It’s really very heartbreaking given how steady he always seems to be, but everyone has a breaking point and let’s not forget his sister died in all of this, too.
MATT: Our lives suck so bad.
ELENA: Don’t worry. It’s not like it could get any worse.
Mystic Forest
Rebekah finds Elijah standing stoically staring off into space, and crying, she runs to him. Elijah’s face nearly crumples too, but he holds it together long enough to wonder why the hell all the others are still alive.
Werewolf Cave
Bonnie has returned posthaste from the storage place and walks into the cave.
BONNIE: Come out, come out.
TYLER…MAYBE: I didn’t think you had it in you.
BONNIE: I decided I’m not going to be pushed around by any of you anymore, Klaus.
THE AUDIENCE: ….AWESOME!
Off in the Forest
Stefan is walking to…somewhere…when Rebekah calls him.
BEX: So, now that Klaus is dead, our deal’s off. I’m kind of over running for my life, and since there’s only one way to get rid of Alaric, I’m going to go kill your girlfriend.
STEFAN: My girlfriend…what, did she pick me? DID I WIN? REBEKAH?
Wickery Bridge
Elena asks to borrow Matt’s phone, and his attention is off the road just long enough that neither of them see Rebekah standing on the bridge until it’s too late. Matt tries to swerve around her, and the truck vaults off the bridge into the water.
In case you were wondering, the current world record for holding one’s breath underwater is about 8 minutes, so everything that follows is basically plausible.
The next few scenes are so beautifully worked together it’s hard to describe them and make any sense; we flash between the scene of Elena and Matt underwater and the scene of Elena and her parents underwater, and also to Alaric beating the hell out of Damon back at the storage place, and then to yet another flashback; in some of the underwater moments it’s hard to tell which is which unless you can see Elena’s shirt (in the flashback it’s pink). I’ll do my best here.
Flashback: Elena comes to with her head just above water; her mother is already unconscious but her dad’s awake and is trying to get the door open. They have just long enough for him to promise her it’s going to be all right before the water swallows them both.
Storage Place: Damon falls on the ground bleeding from mouth, eyes, and nose. Ric taunts him to fight back, but Damon points out he’s invincible and calls him Ric, which Evilaric takes exception to. We get a glimpse of Alaric’s self-loathing – nice-guy Ric was “weak” et cetera. He goes back to beating Damon up, and as he’s about to lose consciousness Damon gets a flashback of his very own!
Damon’s Flashback: He’s lying in the middle of the road, the way we saw him the very first episode of season 1, waiting for a car to come along, when he hears someone talking on a phone nearby. Lo and behold, it’s Elena, talking to Bonnie about Matt while she waits for her parents to come pick her up.
DAMON: Holy shit, Katherine, is that you?
ELENA: Um…why do I get the feeling like I’m going to have to answer this question a lot in the future?
DAMON: Oh, wait, never mind. She’d never wear that outfit.
They proceed to have a conversation about her relationship with Matt and how it’s just not enough for her, and how what she wants is passion and excitement and all the stuff she’s really going to regret getting in a few months. I find Damon a bit out of character here, for season 1 – back then he was way more sociopathic and I don’t think he would have been that nice to her given how he acts later on. Regardless, her parents drive up and he compels her to forget their meeting. Thus, she did in fact meet Damon first.
But I’m sure it won’t come up again.
Storage Place: We return to present-day Damon, who decides he’s going to fight back after all.
Present Day Drowning: Elena comes to underwater with Matt…but wouldn’t she have been breathing while she was unconscious? Oh, never mind. It’s basically her worst nightmare – she’s reliving her parents’ death, only with Matt. She tries to rouse him, but can’t.
In both present day and flashback Elena and/or her father fight to get the door open – kind of crazy that neither one of those vehicles had a door that would open, given the odds. Once the water fills the car the pressure is equalized so the door should open – it’d be one thing if they had crashed sideways and bent the doors in, but still, at least one on the other side should have opened. If the Gilberts’ car had automatic locks that would be a problem but I really doubt Matt’s old POS had automatic locks.
Again, overthinking.
Flashback: Elena tries to get her dad’s attention, and when she does, she takes his hand, apparently accepting they’re going to die. She mouths “I love you” to her dad and then passes out.
We see a dark shape swim up to the truck, and Stefan appears in the flashback, trying to get Elena’s dad out; but he motions for Stefan to get Elena.
It appears that Stefan realizes on first sight who Elena looks like; he pauses before getting the door open to rescue her, so he’s either all “Wow, that girl’s hot for being dead,” or, “Whoa…no, wait, Katherine would never wear that outfit.” In the present, Stefan rips the door off the truck and tries to reach past Matt to get her, but Elena forcefully waves him away, insisting that he save Matt. He grabs Matt and heads for the surface.
Then we get to see Elena die, and damn if Nina Dobrev doesn’t do a pitch-perfect job – Elena’s face goes blank, and she just sort of goes limp, one arm floating up while her hair tangles all around.
Storage Place: Damon and Alaric are slugging it out when Alaric suddenly starts choking and goes down. Damon, hanging onto him, begs Alaric not to die – you could argue he’s just freaking out because he knows this means Elena’s dead, but I think it was also because he didn’t want Ric to die – especially after having lost him once already. Either way, it’s sad as hell.
Gilbert House
Jeremy is trying to get hold of Matt, and as he comes into the living room someone steps out of the shadows: Ric.
Jeremy, bless him, doesn’t seem to realize what’s going on at first.
ALARIC: I’m here to say goodbye, Jer.
JEREMY: …after you kill me?
ALARIC: I’ll always be watching over you, Jeremy.
JEREMY: Because you’re spying on me because you’re evil?
ALARIC: OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE I’M A GHOST.
JEREMY: *wibble* Wait…what about Elena?
Mystic Falls General
Elena is laid out all bedraggled and dead on a morgue table like Snow White, with Stefan sitting next to her all weepity. Man, Paul Wesley can sell a man-cry like nobody’s business, can’t he? And given that Stefan seems to be on the verge of tears in every episode, he has to do it a lot.
Damon charges into the hospital and demands to see Elena, but Meredith grabs him and pulls him aside.
MEREDITH: Elena was dying to death when she came in before, so I helped her.
DAMON: ???
MEREDITH: I helped her. In that way I help people. You know, that bloody way I help people?
DAMON: Crazydoctorsezwhat?
MEREDITH: OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE SHE’S A VAMPIRE.
Our last shot is another look at Elena on the slab, bathed in blue morgue-light (ever notice how morgues are never well lit?), and by now we all know what’s coming:
ELENA: WHY DIDN’T YOU DUMBASSES TRY CPR?
[TITLE CARD]
And that’s all she wrote for season 3, kids. See you in September.














