The Vampire Diaries 3X9: Homecoming

Why is this show so good? And why did I not know this show was so good before now? I feel like a fool.

So we're faking Mikael's death (look, I learned to spell his name, but he's dead now. Sigh) in order to persuade Klaus to come back to Mystic Falls. Elena stabs and 'kills' him, but he's in on this, so worries there. Eventually, Elena pulls the dagger out and Rebekah waits for him to come back to life. When he does, she tells him that she's on Klaus' side.

Later, Elena is helping Rebekah get ready for the Homecoming dance and she stabs her with dagger that has now been removed from Mikael. So if you're keeping score, we're down Rebekah and Stephan (Damon let Mikael feed from him so that he has no idea about their plans for Klaus- meaning Klaus can't compel him to tell him because he doesn't know anything).

However, the Homecoming dance has been relocated to Tyler's house and is now more of a rager than a dance. You see, the gym flooded (as per Klaus' request and sired up Tyler is happy to do his bidding) and Klaus has now turned this into a 'woo-hoo my dad is dead!' party. Once Tyler realizes that, he injects Caroline with vervain to keep her safe and has Matt take her home.

Eventually, Damon and 'Elena' show up at the party. Damon has Mikael's stake to kill Klaus (as Mikael can't enter the house). However, Mikael shows up at the door looking for Klaus. And when Klaus refuses to leave the house, Mikael grabs 'Elena' as a hostage and threatens to kill her if he doesn't come out. Without Elena, Klaus can't make anymore hybrids. But, Klaus chooses to call his bluff, and Mikael stabs 'Elena.'

Damon than shows up to stab Klaus from behind with the stake, but Stefan shows up and knocks him off, essentially, saving Klaus. Damon is pissed. But, it turns out, that that act earned Stefan his freedom from Klaus and Klaus breaks his compulsion over Stefan.

Meanwhile, 'Elena' is revealed to be Katherine. She throws some kind of flash bomb over at the hybrids which keep them from attacking and killing Damon.

Back at the boarding house, Damon is pissed. He cannot believe that the plan didn't work. And informs Elena that Stefan really is gone now. She tells Damon it's okay, and that they can both just let him go. I'm sure inside, Damon is going ape shit over this. But, just then, Katherine calls to say goodbye.

We then find out that Katherine has left with Stefan. And we find out that Klaus had decided that if he died, his hybrids were going to kill Damon in retaliation, so really, Stefan saved his life by not letting him kill Klaus.

Stefan ends up calling Klaus to thank him for his freedom. But he claims that he took so much from him that he's decided on a little payback. He's stolen all the caskets that have Klaus' family in them. And he's holding them hostage. If Klaus hurts anyone that he cares about, he'll never find his family again.

Come on. What a perfect way to end this episode. I love it.