The Vampire Diaries 1X21: Isobel

OMG. So much happened this episode. It was insane. And in a lot of ways, it also felt like a giant set up for next episode, which is crazy, because a lot of the time, I feel like these 'set up' episodes aren't that great on their own. How have I been sleeping on this show for so many years?!

Okay, so, Isobel asks Ric to set a meeting between her and Elena. He refuses, but after she threatens to kill his entire history class, he has a change of heart. He meets with Elena, Stefan, and Damon to discuss. Elena agrees to the meeting and she and Isobel meet at the Grill with Stefan nearby.

Elena asks a bunch of personal questions of Isobel, but all she wants is the same device that Damon and John are after. Elena tells her Damon has it and there is no way he's gonna give to her. So, she goes to the source and asks Damon for it herself. She tells him that it's actually Katherine who wants the device. But Damon is still not giving it up.

The next day, Isobel shows up at school to show Elena how easy it is for her to hurt the people she cares about. While they are talking, she drops a parade float on Matt, and has Jeremy kidnapped. She threatens to kill him if Elena can't convince Damon to give her the device.

So, about this device, apparently, it's a device that kills vampires, but not really. Elena and Bonnie make up, and Bonnie shows her Emily spell book which shows that none of Jonathan's inventions worked. Emily just put spells on all of them. So, she tells Elena she can take the spell off, so it's useless at killing vampires.

It takes a lot of convincing, but Damon finally agrees (after Elena tells him that he should trust her, if he doesn't trust Bonnie). And Bonnie does whatever she does, and claims the spell is done and that it will no longer be able to kill vampires.

So, they make a trade, the device for Jeremy. However, Jeremy was already released and is safe at home. Elena claims that Isobel was never planning to hurt Jeremy, and Isobel counters by saying it was never in question because Damon is in love with Elena, so he was always gonna give up the device.

Isobel goes to say goodbye to Alaric, and he swears that she cannot be this cold hearted, and takes off his ring, and ditches his vervain and tells her to compel him or kill him. She compels him and tells him that she wanted to be a vampire desperately, but it was a mistake. She wishes she could take it back. And then puts his ring back on him, and tells him to stop looking for her, and that he'll forget the rest of what she said.

So, now John has the device, and we find out that Katherine wants all the vampires who were in the tomb dead, so that's the goal. Isobel then tells him to add Stefan and Damon to the kill list, and he was, like, already planned on it. We also find out that John is Elena's dad (Damon guessed earlier, but we had no proof). What a bunch of batshit crazy parents to have.

And then we end with Bonnie confessing to Caroline that she did something (well technically, didn't do something) and when Elena finds out, she's never going to forgive her. So we are lead to believe that Bonnie didn't actually un-spell the device and it still has the ability to kill vampires.

Also, I am so looking forward to Damon and Stefan's interactions around Elena now that Stefan knows that Damon in also in love with Elena. I think the innuendos are gonna be super fun.