by Michele Pearson:
The Vampire Diaries: “Killer”
Original Air Date (The CW): Thursday November 8, 2012
Season 4 Episode 5
When we last left Connor the vampire hunter, he had just killed one of Klaus’ hybrids by decapitation and was visiting Bonnie’s friend, Professor Shane, to ask why Shane had sent Connor to Mystic Falls. Picking up along that, this week’s episode begins with an overlapping montage of scenes of Connor speaking to Shane and extracting more werewolf venom from the hybrids severed head (that he has taken with him to his RV). Connor asks Shane if he knows what he’s been through. When he says he was kept a chained prisoner by an original, Shane looks excited to know that Connor has met Klaus. Shane says he knows Klaus by reputation but Connor is furious that he wasn’t warned that Klaus is a hybrid, since they are so hard to kill. Connor demands answers but Shane says that he will only give Connor the answers he seeks when his hunter’s mark is complete. Connor asks if basically that means he’s just to kill as many vampires as possible. Shane admits that this is the reason he sent Connor to Mystic Falls: the place is crawling with them. Shane asks Connor to keep a certain witch out of harm’s way since he has plans for her. Connor glares at him and defiantly announces that if anyone, anyone, gets in his way they’re dead. Shane blanches, states he’ll just keep the witch occupied himself and tells Connor to just “do what he does best”…the less Shane knows about it, the better. Connor gears up with more werewolf venom laced weapons and heads for the Mystic Grill. Jeremy is working in the kitchen when Connor takes hostage at knife point.
Ahhh…back to the titular Vampire Diaries. Elena and Stefan are both writing in their respective journals. Elena confesses in hers that she is now a vampire and hates it. She wants to end her life but doesn’t want to leave Jeremy alone in the world since she is all he has left. (Quite frankly, I’m getting a little tired of her whining. I’m with Damon on this one: just embrace the darkness sister!) Stefan worries about Elena’s downward spiral but expresses hope about the cure solving the problem and will do whatever he has to in order to get the cure and save Elena. (Oh Edward…I mean Stefan…so concerned about protecting the little woman and saving her from being plagued with this “curse”. Quick question: just how would you function without a damsel in distress Stefan? Seriously?)
Klaus calls Stefan and tells him the bad news: Connor has escaped and also took the hybrid’s head so he has more werewolf venom. Stefan and Klaus both realize that this means that he has the ultimate weapon against vampires and without Klaus’ blood, there is no cure to the werewolf’s poisonous effect on vampires. Klaus, commands Stefan to do whatever he has to do to recapture Connor and keep him alive, since Connor’s tattoo is the only lead to the site of the cure. Stefan tells Klaus that Damon has been searching everywhere for Connor and it would just be easier to keep him in check if Stefan could tell his brother about the cure. Klaus tells him that the more people who know of the cure, the more people will be searching for it leading to possible conflict (or the possibility that Klaus can’t find it first and control it) and if Stefan so much as utters a word to anyone, Klaus will throw the original hunter’s sword into the Mediterranean, leaving the map useless without a way to decode it.
Back in the Mystic Grill, Matt is trying to find Jeremy when April Young walks in looking for Rebekah. While they are talking, Connor brings Jeremy out of the kitchen and addresses his new hostages.
Damon arrives at Elena’s house looking for Stefan. Realizing that Stefan is dodging both Elena’s and Damon’s calls, Damon assumes Elena told him about her blood binge and bump and grind on the dance floor. Finding out that Elena didn’t tell Stefan, Damon realizes that something else is wrong.
At the Grill, Connor tells Jeremy to get some vervain so that he could start remembering their conversations. (Klaus had Jeremy compelled to forget about the hunter mark and everything that happened the night before.) April is near hysterical, knowing nothing about vampires and thinking Connor’s just a crazy man. Jeremy demands Connor let April go but Connor insists that both she and her father are mixed up in all of this too. Matt says “if you know so much, you know our friends will be coming for us” (way to be the big man Matt!) Connor says he’s counting on it and then texts Damon, Stefan and Tyler to tell them that Connor will kill all three of his hostages at sundown. He then breaks Jeremy’s phone. I’m sorry..did I say breaks his phone? I meant stabs Jeremy’s phone with a giant ass knife!
After receiving the text, Tyler, Damon and Elena meet to figure out what to do. Damon opts for ripping out Connor’s heart when Stefan finally shows up. Stefan counsels restraint since Connor has all that werewolf venom but even Elena says that Connor can’t take all of them. Tyler says that he called the hybrids in to help. Caroline comes in to say that her mother has blocked off the street citing a broken gas line (I think the people of Mystic Falls are going to start to worry about the safety of their utilities with all these faulty gas lines lately) and that they are good to go. Stefan tells them that they aren’t going but Tyler maintains he owes Connor since he was shot six times by the guy but Stefan insists no one is going until he knows what they’re walking in to, especially since Connor is good at building traps and has his hands on more werewolf venom. (Bad slip there Stefan!) He covers by saying “well, he’s used it before”. (Nice save! I don’t think they’ll notice.) Damon suspects Stefan is hiding something but instead says they’ll need Bonnie’s help. Elena tells him that she can’t do magic but Damon tells Elena to inform Bonnie that Jeremy is in trouble and that ought to get her magic going again.
Bonnie is in Professor Shane’s office accepting his help to get her magic going again. Shane says he’s going to try hypnosis to tap into her fear of people getting hurt. Despite Bonnie’s protestations that witches are naturally immune to suggestion, she agrees to try it.
Stefan calls Klaus to tell him of the hostage situation but Klaus could care less. He tells Stefan to keep Connor alive and everyone else under control. Damon starts packing up weapons and working out a plan. Using Alaric’s map, they find the underground tunnels that lead to Mystic Grill. After scouting out the Grill, Stefan calls in to report the hostages are Jeremy, Matt and April Young. Elena tells Damon that she’s going in but Damon feels since Connor doesn’t know she’s a vampire it’s best to keep him in the dark. She says that she’ll offer herself up in exchange for one of the hostages but Damon is afraid the plan could backfire and end up getting her killed if Connor finds out the truth. After a little game of “you’d be dead if it were the hunter holding this weapon instead of me”, Damon admires Elena for being so much like him in spite of her attempts to fight it. Elena confesses that Jeremy is the only thing holding her together and Damon promises that he’ll get Jeremy out alive.
In the Grill, Connor preps his weapons while April freaks out. Jeremy tries to talk to Connor but Connor instead begins showing off his werewolf venom bomb. Jeremy asks him what the point of all this is and Connor feels that once his tattoo is complete, he’ll finally know his story and understand what his life is all about. He then ushers all his hostages to the back, telling them not even to think of trying to escape since all the doors are rigged.
Stefan checks in with Damon and Elena to find them armed, prepped and ready to roll. Stefan tells them that Klaus is sending his best man in to take the front so Damon and Stefan will take the tunnels. Suspicious, Damon asks why they are teaming up with Klaus and asks Stefan if he’s been compelled again. Stefan insists the hybrid will be a good distraction but Damon doesn’t buy it. He can tell when Stefan is hiding something. Stefan brushes it off, calling Damon paranoid. As Damon walks out of the room, Stefan gives him a vervain tranquilizer. Elena is pissed but Stefan insists that it was for his own good. He pleads with Elena to trust him and leaves.
Back at Chez Lockwood, Caroline and Hayley finally meet. Hayley knows all about Caroline but, funny, Caroline has never heard mention of her! Hayley tells her that she’s been staying at the mansion for a few days which seriously pisses Caroline off and she demands to know what’s going on. Hayley tells her that she “doesn’t do teen drama” and to “talk to Ty” before walking off to join Tyler in trying to convince one of the hybrids, Dean, to not follow Klaus’ direct orders to capture Connor using non-lethal methods. Tyler demands to know what’s Klaus’ real motive but Dean insists he doesn’t know and because Klaus gave him a direct order, he has to follow it. Tyler tries to play the whole “you don’t have to do what Klaus tells you” thing and Dean tells him to put his money where his mouth is and stand up to Klaus himself. Tyler obliges and calls Klaus. Klaus seems impressed in the size of Tyler’s cojones but reminds his un-sired hybrid that he knows about his Appalachian rendezvous with Hayley. Blanching, Tyler hangs up the phone and tells Dean to do whatever he wants to do.
At the Mystic Grill, Matt tries to break into the bricked up wine cellar so that he and April can escape and get help. Meanwhile, Dean walks through the front door thinking he’s all sly to step over the trip wire to Connor’s bomb…and instead trips the pressure trigger causing giant werewolf venom infused nail explosion. Being that he is immune to the werewolf venom, Dean would probably have survived having approximately 5000 nails and pieces of glass imbedded in his body (as well as the number of second and third degree burns) but I doubt he could possibly have survived the giant hole Connor shot through his chest that ripped out his heart.
RIP Dean the hybrid…we hardly knew ye…
Anyway, Stefan gets Matt and April out of the Mystic Grill through the tunnels confronts Connor. After a verbal exchange (and Stefan realizing that either he or Jeremy have triggered yet another bomb), Elena walks in. She pleads for her brother’s life and Connor sees this as an opportunity to get the upper hand. He tells Stefan to surrender or he will kill Jeremy in front of his sister. (Dude…you really shouldn’t do that when that sister is a vampire.) Stefan obliges and as Connor raises his gun to kill him, Elena attacks. She quickly gains the upper hand but Jeremy is accidentally shot. Stefan grabs Jeremy and they duck for cover as another bomb goes off. Elena is distracted in her concern for Jeremy and Connor takes that opportunity to attempt to stake her. As she fights him off, Stefan pulls Connor off of her and disappears. Elena goes to Jeremy and heals him with her blood.
In the tunnels, Stefan and Connor are confronted by a seriously pissed off Damon. Seems he had to swim through raw sewage to get to the tunnels as Stefan stole his daylight ring. He moves to kill Connor as Stefan says his usual standby: “Damon, you just have to trust me”. Stefan tells Connor to run and pins Damon against the wall. Damon, still convinced Stefan was compelled by Klaus, slams Stefan into the wall and jams his hand into Stefan’s chest, prepared to rip out his heart if Stefan doesn’t start giving him some real answers. Stefan finally breaks down and tells Damon about the cure and how it’s Elena’s only hope.
Further down in the tunnels, Elena confronts Connor. She feeds on him and throws him to the ground, telling him to leave her brother alone. Connor laughs at her, saying she’s trying to protect her brother when she’s the one who is the bigger threat. He tries to stake her but misses her heart and Elena snaps his neck.
Uh oh…the vampire hunter dead, Klaus being pissed off and Elena’s fragile grasp on her human emotions slipping through her fingers…(who could see this storyline coming to a head this quickly? Oh that’s right…I did right after the first episode!)
Back in Professor Mysterion’s office, Bonnie has been getting hypnotized for seven hours. She’s a bit more relaxed and Shane tells her that he thinks she can light a simple candle just because she wants to. Bonnie says that she can’t but Shane tells her that she’s stronger than the spirits she’s afraid will hurt her Grams. He tells her that she has her own power and she doesn’t have to fear anyone or anything. She closes her eyes and says “I don’t have to be afraid”, opens her eyes and sees the candle on the desk is still unlit. She laments that it still wasn’t enough but Shane motions to rest of the candles in his office that are burning bright.
Damon and Stefan find Elena in the woods burying Connor. She is near hysterical over killing someone, furious with Stefan for making a deal with Klaus and with Damon for telling her to kill Connor. She breaks down and both brothers look away in pity.
Tyler is comforting Hayley about Dean’s death when Caroline walks in. Hayley excuses herself and Caroline lays into Tyler. Tyler tells Caroline that Hayley was there for him and helped him break the sire bond but nothing else happened. Caroline asks why Klaus thinks that it did and Tyler tells her that it keeps him from knowing the truth: Tyler and Hayley are going to help other hybrids break the sire bond and if Klaus found out he’d kill them all.
Matt and April meet Jeremy in the park. April apparently was compelled by Caroline into forgetting the whole afternoon and Jeremy slyly gives April the vervain bracelet. As Jeremy and Matt walk down the street, Jeremy sees the hunter tattoo starting on his hand (Into every generation, a hunter is born…wait…what?) but knowing that Matt can’t see it, Jeremy wisely says nothing.
Damon asks Stefan about Elena. Stefan says that she feels guilty and wants to be left alone. Seeing that Damon is reading his journal, Stefan is irritated but Damon tells him that he needed to find out what was in Stefan’s head. Damon asks Stefan if he wants to cure Elena because Stefan is unable to love her while she’s a vampire. Stefan denies this and instead insists that Elena was never meant to be this way. Damon tells him that as far as he is concerned, he can love her either way but that he’ll help Elena for Stefan’s sake. What? An unselfish Damon? What’s up your sleeve there?
Elena is lamenting to her diary about feeling guilty for killing someone (never mind that someone was a psycho threatening her brother and friends and it was essentially in self-defense) when she sees blood dripping on the paper. Turning she sees blood on the floor and on the door to her room. She follows the trail into her bathroom to see the entire room is covered in blood and the word Killer written on the mirror. Before she can react, the blood vanishes and it appears to have been an hallucination.
That’s all for this week! As they say, as one storyline closes another opens…or something like that. Will Jeremy keep his hunters mark a secret or will not remembering the story behind it (thanks to Klaus’ compelling him to forget) cause him to spill the beans to the wrong person? Exactly how angry will Klaus be and exactly how far down the rabbit hole of crazy will Elena fall? It’s starting to get interesting….
Until next week!
Michele Pearson is a contributor for DarkMedia. She covers Vampire Diaries and any other films, books, etc that come her way. She reads everything from Lonesome Dove to Game of Thrones and loves epic tv series like Doctor Who and Star Trek: TNG. Michele also loves a good horror film and was able to channel that love as a judge for Shriekfest 2012. Follow her on Twitter at @GirlInRowB and check out her blog at http://www.girlinrowb.com.
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