The Vampire Diaries – Season 3 Episode 19 – Heart of Darkness – Recap

It may have been two weeks, but Vampire Diaries is back for more deliciously awesome twists and turns on the way toward the explosive finale. The decades dance isn’t till next episode, but there’s plenty of action (and sex) to go around in spades.

Alaric is all locked up and whiny, not much of a change from last time we saw him. He still hasn’t told anyone where the last white oak stake is. Elena says goodbye to Stephen (*tears*) as she leaves for a road trip with Damon. Why is evil Stephen so sexy? The world may never know. Stephen is supervising Alaric, anxious to discover the stake’s location. I’m hoping for torture!

They’re doing the Decade Dance at school, and the theme is the roaring 20’s. Naturally, it’s run by Rebekah, while Caroline takes advantage of Matt’s distractions and makes a getaway to go visit Tyler. There has been a serious lack of Tyler this season. I love him!

Speaking of lack, there has been about zero Jeremy this season so the second he comes on screen I let out a little yelp. Elena and Damon want Jeremy to help them communicate with Rose to find out who sired her. Cole comes out of nowhere and attacks Damon, and they stake him before he can do much more than get in a couple hits with a bat. As much as I love Jeremy, he can be a real moron sometimes (“I can’t believe Cole was a vampire!”) They flee to a motel, where they are able to communicate with her through a touching story Damon tells about when he staked her. Awww! I loved Rose, even if she started off a little annoying.

Caroline finds Tyler in the woods, and they go have some offscreen cavesex. That’s a perfect reunion if you ask me, especially with the way things were left relationship-wise. They are too cute together. Matt also drops off Rebekah at her place out of the kindness of his aww-shucks heart. Momma Original is waiting inside where she tells Rebekah she’s dying. Her bloodline is connected to the Bennett family, and since Bonnie’s mom died, she’s been feeling a little ‘under the weather’.

Back at seance motel, Jeremy finds out that Rose wasn’t sired by any Originals at all, but actually some chick named Mary Porter. That name sounds really gross for some reason. Meanwhile Stephen has a little heart-to-heart with Alaric before Klaus comes out of the woodwork and stabs him dead. For some reason, evil Alaric doesn’t quite have the same sexy appeal as evil Stephen. Huh, go figure.

Mamma Original suddenly drops dead, and then angsty Damon is shirtless walking through the motel room. Then shirtless drinking liquor. Shirtless brooding. It’s totally okay, too, because it’s Damon. Elena longingly stares at him, and then he climbs into bed with her. He grabs Elena’s hand and holds it… but instead of embracing him, the moron gets out of bed. And then, the moment we’ve been waiting three seasons for really happens… Elena and Damon are full-on smooching. Up against a wall. And it’s really, really hot. Before they can take it any further though, cockblock Jeremy interrupts and says Rose was able to find Mary.

Damon and Elena go into Mary’s house, but find her body staked a Cole sitting nearby it. He knows about the two of them trying to trace the bloodline and he isn’t happy. Cole takes his baseball bat and beats the living hell out of Damon with it, then leaves, clearly making his point. Elena still doesn’t seem to know if she has feelings for Damon (You just kissed him!) and he tells her she needs to figure it out for herself. When will she learn what she wants? There were so many moments I wanted to slap her this season.

Stephen and Alaric seem to be having a breakthrough after Alaric comes back to life, but his alter ego doesn’t appear. He tells Stephen to drive him to the brink of death and that maybe his survival instinct will drive out his other self. It works eventually, but something about bloodied evil Alaric is just… scary. He’s kind of like a creepy Buffy demon. He finally tells Stephen the stake is “in the cave where no vampire can get it”. Rebekah tugs away Alaric and says he has to fetch the stake for them immediately. Stephen finally stands up to Klaus and tells him that he has embraced the dark side of him and accepted it so it can’t control him anymore. Yay! I have been waiting for this moment since season two.

Caroline tells Tyler she can stay in his house for the time being. Hopefully this means little hybrid babies in the near future. But then Tyler finds the creepy picture that Klaus drew of Caroline, and there’s a moment of tension as he confronts her about it. He’s kind of being a hypocrite considering how many bad situations his moronic sire bond has gotten them into.

Just as Alaric grabs the stake, he tries to make a deal with Rebekah… and then the biggest shocker of the night happens as Rebekah reveals that she is Esther aka Mamma Original! Then, as all episodes must, things end just like that on a cliffhanger.

I think there’s some weird possession thing going on with Esther, but I don’t really understand what happens with Esther’s body. Does it get buried? Disintegrate? I hope Elena makes up her mind about Damon by the end of the season, as it sure seems like that’s what it is leading toward. These writers never cease to amaze me. I can’t wait to see what happens next as the new episode features the Decades Dance and more than likely a plethora of intrigue. More evil Stephen and shirtless Damon, pretty please.