“The One Ring” AKA the Crystal Skull
Anyone else get some creepy Gollum vibes off of the reactions to the crystal skull? (Clearly, Adam had some issues in that department but we’ll get to that later) Even though Cassie and Diana both learned at prom last week that their dear old dad is a crazy evil pervert, they decided to still meet up with him in the middle of nowhere to build their crystal skull. The group heads to a random deserted beach where the girls take turns tossing some rocks into the ocean then Cassie hops in to pull out the creepiest looking non-skull in the history of this show. Thankfully, it ends up shrinking down into an actual skull, so we don’t have to worry about Blackwell carrying around a squishy white magic blob as he chants evil spells in what I have always assumed is Latin. The entire sequence was hands-down the most ridiculous thing this show has ever produced.

Best (or worst depending on who you’re talking to) side effect of this on-going crystal fiasco is that the circle is unbound! Solo magic for the win!

Ferry Boat Fiasco
Faye easily manages to free herself from captivity after having her individual power restored. Faye’s quickly joined by Jake, Melissa, and Adam, who sneak onto the boat to save her. Pshhhh, the girl can save herself! But not really…6 demons inside of a witch hunter can pretty easily trap a group of teenagers and set them on fire. Charles and Dawn to the rescue! It turns out, after an entire season of scheming to get their magic back all that pair had to do was finally seem invested in their childrens’ safety. Huh. So simple, so brilliant. Anyway, Charles’ mother sacrifices her powers so that Charles and Dawn can rush to the ferry boat to save their children and take down Eben.

Sarcasm aside, my favorite part of this episode was Charles’ sacrifice. After murdering Cassie’s mother in the pilot and killing his way through the first half of the season, it was a nice moment to see him atone for those actions by attracting Eben’s demons into his body.

Dark Magic. Again.
It all comes down to the dark magic per usual. Blackwell uses the skull to cast a spell that will kill any witch that doesn’t have Balcoin blood. The spell literally burns them from the inside. Gross.

Cassie once again harnesses her dark magic to defeat him but this time it isn’t enough. She has to turn her magic on Diana, who has never used her own dark magic. Their combined power is enough to reverse the spell an turn it on Blackwell himself, who ends up burning to death. Once again, gross.

Ending Montage
Jake and Faye: Chance Harbor’s newest power couple. Get it, girl!

Faye and Melissa: Very fitting moment to see these two back to being best friends, just acting like teenagers and having a dance party in Faye’s room.

Diana and that hot Australian guy: I get that she has no family anymore, but should ANY adult try to stop her from just taking off with some random that she barely knows?

Adam: Full on Gollum status right there. Bravo to Thomas Dekker for reaching an entirely new level of creepy. Cassie and Adam really are perfect for each other.

Cassie/The four silhouettes: THERE ARE MORE OF THEM. Clearly, after last week’s flashback reveal about pervy Blackwell we all should have assumed that more Blackwell spawn would show there faces in Chance Harbor at some point. Great cliffhanger!

If the show does end up returning for a second season, this finale has really given the writers a lot of great places to go. But if nothing else, this show introduced the U.S. to how awesome Phoebe Tonkin is and we must always be thankful for that.

We start with what is clearly a flashbacky/dream type thing. Elena is all cheerleader like and goes down to the kitchen with Aunt Jenna. Also, her mom is there and all alive and everything because it’s the past. Dream time is then over and our girl is just in a hospital bed in Mystic Falls Hospital because her brain is sorta broken. Dr. Fell is telling Jeremy that she’s going to be okay…Jeremy then calls the boys who tell him that he’s a dummy for taking her to the hospital because she’s a sitting duck there. Damon then tells Stefan that he’s glad he doesn’t have the dumbest brother around. The boys also agree that someone needs to go back, but someone also has to deal with Klaus’s body.

Dr. Fell then heads to her office and The Artist Formerly Known as Alaric is there being a big suckfest. He tells her that Mama Sheriff and the Widow Lockwood have been relieved of their duties and she’s soon going to be fired when people learn about her blood giving. Vampalaric is also freakin’ obsessed with the town running smoothly – I have never met a vampire so into efficient governing.

Before Alaric can get to Elena, Jeremy and co. get her home. Caroline offers her booze and tea. We then get another flashback with Bonnie, Matt, and Elena all walking and talking at school. Matt walks away and tells Elena he loves her, and she doesn’t say anything back. Bonnie is like, dude, you’ve got to tell that boy you don’t love him and let him go. Back to the present, Elena wakes up and Matt is looking at her. She apologizes for stringing him along and knows that’s what she’s doing now (because I’m sure Matt wants to talk about your sketch love life). Then Stefan walks in (and is looking really good to me lately).

So, Jeremy is picking up some food at the Grill (which makes me feel sad for some reason). And an Alaric walks into the bar…dun dun dun.

Back at the Gilbert Residence, Matt and Stefan are talking about Elena and free will and all that. She goes to answer the door (gee, who could it be? And I sort of meant that because this show is ridiculous and sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen). It’s ELIJAH. (I wrote in my notes hearts and smiles). Man, I love this guy – I find his weird vampire ethics sexy. [Ed. Note: I may have gasped audibly when I saw him at the door.]

Back to Alaric and JerBear – Alaric just wants to know where Klaus’s body is. He’d be happy to end all the vampires and just be locked up while Elena lives out the rest of her life (sniff, sniff – reminds me of the old Alaric).

Meanwhile, Elijah also wants to know where Klaus is. He just wants to keep the body because this family is reallllly into carting around everyone they have sorta dead or alive. He reassures her that he wouldn’t revive Klaus in her lifetime or her children’s (but how about her children’s children’s?). Elena wants to know why, and the best answer he can give is because he’s his brother (only children FTW!).

Okay, so Caroline and Tyler go to their moms. And the Moms are like, peeps, you need to get the hey out of town because people are ready to torch you. Widow Lockwood got them some funds and Mama Sheriff got them new IDs (what a spin-off this would be…Vamps on the Run). Caroline is freaking out, but Tyler is like we can do this and we have to do this for our moms. But, Caroline wants to help their friends first. (Spoiler alert – this isn’t going to end well).

Matt and Jeremy are commiserating about how all of this sucks. And Matt has a plan! Jeremy (with everyone else in on it) calls Alaric and gives him a fake location. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Damon go to see Klaus who is in a storage unit – sadness. It’s also creepy as hell when they open the coffin and he’s just looking at them. (I’m getting the shivers just talking about it). Bonnie’s there to do some witch stuff but also wants to bask in the glow of Klaus being all lame sauce.

Elena tells Stefan that she’s scared to lose anyone else (for real, I get it. This poor girl will need more years of therapy than she has years – and yes I saw the end of the episode). She’s about to tell Stefan something and doesn’t. He smiles, turns around, and then turns back and kisses her. It’s lovely, and I’m glad I got to watch like a creeper.

So, Rebekah is supposed to come get Klaus’ body, but Alaric shows up first and snaps Damon’s neck (lots of payback I guess?). He then starts going through every storage unit looking for Klaus. Rebekah then actually gets there and Damon snatches her before Alaric can see her. They just about get the body out when Alaric finds them and stakes Klaus who goes up in flames. Rebekah has a major case of the sads yo. Also, I have TEARS. I love me some Klaus.

Back at the house, Matt bring Elena some nasty tea because he’s never made tea right? Suspicious. She then takes this opportunity to have some ‘girl talk’ with Matt about who she should choose (Really Elena? Boundaries). Stefan taught her how to live again but Damon is all consuming. (OK, this is a hard decision. I honestly don’t know who I’d choose). Elena then has a flashback where her mom tells her to set Matt free while she’s talking to her on the phone at the bonfire or whatever high school thing Elena’s at. Elena then wakes up in Matt’s truck. Dude drugged her (with Jeremy’s permission). HUMAN POWER. They’re getting the girl out of town (spoiler alert – for like 27 minutes!).

Damon and Stefan are then on the phone and are like are you dead yet? Nope, you? NO ONE NAMED SALVATORE IS DEAD YET. Except all those other Salvatores that are already dead (RIP ‘Uncle’ Zack – 19?-2009). Elena then learns what’s going and chooses to go back to Mystic Falls – effectively saying that she’d prefer to say goodbye to Stefan if that’s what it comes down to. When talking to Damon, she’s able to tell him that there’s other peeps there also though. He asks what if it was just him or his brother and this is when Elena releases him back into the wild declaring her love for Stefan…but maybe if she met Damon first (ummm, spoiler alert).

Alaric is back from chasing Rebekah and is super angry at Damon. (I’m so sad this friendship is over guys).

Caroline and Elijah find out what happened. Caroline runs like a bat out of hell to Tyler and it’s really freakin’ sad you guys. I love them so very much. He starts to get ill and then makes her leave by getting all wolfy. Before this he tells her that she’ll have a beautiful future (suspicious Tyler words, no?)

Elena then gets of the phone with Caroline and Matt is HULK SMASH angry about Tyler. Soo, Bonnie then shows up to Tyler’s cave. And it turns out Klaus took over Tyler’s body!!!!!!

Rebekah then goes to Elijah and they honestly don’t know what the deal is because they were legit sure Klaus was the Salvatore bloodline. Rebekah then calls Stefan and is like forget this noise. We’re taking Elena OUT. She then stands on the Wickery Bridge and Matt drives off trying to swerve to miss her. We are then flashing between current drowning and past drowning. Meanwhile, Alaric is beating the crap out of Damon.

We then get another flashback to that night before Elena’s parents pick her up. She’s just waiting there when who should appear? DAMON! She met Damon first. Damon’s like, hey Katherine. Elena’s like huh? Damon’s like NM. They then have this sort of magnetic conversation where he tells her what she wants, which includes a love that is all consuming. (Guys, seriously, I don’t know who I want to win – but I do know I want them to be putting their lips on each other right now please). He then compels her to forget this conversation because he doesn’t want people knowing he’s in town yet. Bummer for you man.

We’re then watching the past/current drowning. (Guys, my tears are freely flowing at this point). In the past, her mom is already passed out, but her dad is still with it. He reaches back and holds her hand (seriously, I can’t take this). In the current situation, Matt is passed out. Stefan arrives in both of them. In the past, he goes to the driver’s side and her dad points to save Elena (I’m literally crying again while writing this – dads, you guys, I love dads. And yep, Elena’s life sucks, but she’s had two dads that loved her so much that they died for her). In the present, Stefan tries to save Elena, but she makes him take Matt.

While Alaric and Damon are fighting, Alaric starts to die and Damon realizes what this means for Elena right now. He’s so broken-hearted. Back at the Gilbert Residence, Alaric’s ghost visits Jeremy who also realizes the truth about his sister right now. (I really love that they did this scene because our last moments with Alaric are good and lovely and sad instead of making us hate him).

Elena is left in the morgue with Stefan watching over her when Damon rushes into the hospital. Dr. Fell is like, uhhh, I gave her vamp blood when she was in earlier. And we end with Elena’s eyes OPENING!

Crap you guys. This episode was so flippin’ good. Seriously. I loved it so much. Stream of consciousness: The shocking demise of Klaus, but not really. Where’s Tyler’s soul at? The Alaric end was fantastic. Sometimes I get tired of the who to choose drama, but I loved it tonight. Bonnie still sucks. Rebekah is still awesome. Hearts and puppies and rainbows for Elijah. All the cases of the sads going on. And obviously the biggest moment – Elena is going to be a vamp. I knew we were headed there, but I didn’t think we’d get there tonight! Insane. I can’t wait for next season!!

[Ed. Note: I wholeheartedly agree with E here that this was one of the best episodes of pretty much anything, ever. Especially as far as season finales go. Will Klaus be back? I know Julie Plec made a point in a post-finale interview to say we never saw Klaus' body fully burn up. And I strongly feel as if Elena being a vampire will make the love triangle even more interesting. Elena is going to remember everything that has happened to her, including meeting Damon before Stefan! Remember when Caroline turned?? She remembered everything. And the Damon/Elena kiss where Damon compelled her to forget. So much goodness! I may need an entirely separate post to talk about and break down the season finale because I don't want to usurp E's awesome post. But what an amazing way to end the season!]

Last night’s episode focused on a few things — Lauren’s surgery, Jordan’s past and Wendy’s crazy. Lauren has experimental surgery to try and restore her heart beat to a normal rhythm. The doctor is hopeful that it worked but she needs strict monitoring, as there are still abnormal spikes in her heart rate. She convinces the doctor to monitor her while she’s on the beam and she’s able to do a little bit of training. It seems like the coach is behind her trying for the Olympic team. There’s also a blooming romance there with wrestler Jake who seems to be very interested. He also helps her overcome some mental boundaries she is facing after being out of the gym for so long.

And a blast from Jordan and Kaylie’s past returns…their old coach, Keegan. Jordan seems super standoffish and while I figured something was up here, it takes a pretty serious turn. Jordan was abused by her and Kaylie’s old coach and threatened. She was told her gymnastics career would be ruined if she said anything to anyone. So I mean the rational thing to do is bash his car windows and headlights in right? I feel for Jordan though and I hope she has the courage to come forward, with Kaylie’s support.

Meanwhile, while Kaylie is trying to be nice to Wendy and dealing with a break up and Jordan’s abuse, Wendy makes Kaylie a smoothie with pseudoephedrine in it (a substance banned by USA Gymnastics). I’m sure this will have consequences because Wendy wouldn’t just do something for no reason, but ugh, I want to see her put in her place once and for all. I’d honestly love to see her not make the Olympic team but I doubt that will happen.

I am interested to see if Jordan will finally do her signature move, whether Wendy will be caught in any of her sabotage attempts and obviously, whether Lauren is healthy enough to compete. I also am very curious how the Olympic Trials will be staged. The show has done a great job in the past with big competitions and this is probably the biggest one of them all. Make It Or Break It was the first show I reviewed on this site and the first set of interviews I did, so it holds a pretty special place in my heart. And readers of this site will know that gymnastics is my other passion in life so it has been great seeing a show about elite gymnastics on TV. It will be missed! I can’t wait to see how it’s all wrapped up.

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 PM on ABC Family.

Back to the Future
Cassie and Diana realize that their Balcoin blood allows them to flash back in time, so they head back to the 90s to check out what their mothers were up to on their prom night. Lets take a moment to discuss that in 20 episodes of this show tonight is the first time that the writers have directly addressed the fact that the parents were all in HIGH SCHOOL when they had Cassie & company. Based on how old Charles, Dawn, and Ethan look, it seems like that was a safe assumption but come on! Blackwell used magic to make sure all of the women in the circle got pregnant?! Really, Secret Circle? Really? Creepy, creepy, creepy.

Nick
It turns out Nick is pretty much just as useless dead as he was alive. There’s really not much to say about his brief reappearance in Chance Harbor other than that it gave Melissa and Jake a couple of really nice emotional moments. Particularly, Melissa’s speech to Adam about not being remembered in high school because they’re always off fighting doing magic was great. Also, that’s the most Melissa’s gotten to do all season. What a shame.

Charles can’t take the mind games
As the mythology of the Chance Harbor circle is revealed layer by layer, the one consistent is how thoroughly Blackwell has screwed up Charles’ life. First, Blackwell has a kid with Charles’ girlfriend and now he makes Charles relive the moment when he killed a member of his own circle. Charles needs to man up and join in the effort to take Blackwell down. No more crying on the kitchen floor and begging his daughter to leave town. Pull yourself together, go kill Blackwell, and then make out with Dawn. It sounds like an A+ plan to me!

Looking ahead
Forget everyone else’s problems, someone NEEDS to rescue Faye! Who’s going to make funny quips while Faye is busy being kidnaped by Eben?!

Secret Circle isn’t perfect, but over the past 5 or 6 episodes the show has found a nice groove and was able to course correct some of the major problems with the first half of the season. It’s a shame that next week’s episode will probably be its last, but at least it’s going out on top!

The Secret Circle airs Thursday nights at 9 PM on the CW.

We open with Alaric sitting at his desk like a creeper. Caroline is also at school talking to Tyler on the phone – Caroline has to take down dance decorations and Tyler had to pack up Klaus’s house because he’s ready to move on. Rebekah is also there cleaning up and is super bummed that she had to miss the dance and also that her mom is awful – her disappointment level is about the same for both perhaps? She also gives her condolences to Caroline re: Alaric. Speak of the vampire – Alaric takes Caroline hostage and starts a little torturing.

Meanwhile, Elena and Jer Bear are at home repainting their most recent guardian’s room when Stefan comes in and is like maybe chill for a day before you ready the room to rent out to your next victim? But, they’re going full steam ahead. Damon and Bonnie then show up and give them the scoop on how Alaric is now the worst.

So, Klaus is packing, totally ready to go; he just needs his human blood bag. Rebekah is like, forget her, let’s just go. No can do for Klaus – so Rebekah hits the road alone. [Ed. Note: Come back soon, Rebekah!]

Elena gets a a call from Alaric (before she knows about him being a vamp, but now she knows fo sho). He asks her to come down (alone) because he’s holding Caroline hostage. She goes of course.

Klaus is over at the Gilbert Residence now to claim his gal (she’s already left – but no one knows this yet). The boys don’t let him in so then he starts throwing crap through the house like balls and fence posts. He’s just about to pull out the fire and propane when everyone learns that she’s at the school.

So, Bonnie decides that we need to do an immobilization spell on Alaric (like her mom did on Mikael). Abby shows up and tells Bonnie the deal (it’s some dark magic and requires stopping a human heart temporarily for it to work). (She’s late and Damon says he forgot about her dependability, oh you).

Stefan and Klaus are now at the school to get this moving and they talk about Elena and the boys and the boys’ relationship with each other. Bonnie then makes the boys and Klaus drink her blood so they’re linked for this to work. Jeremy is going to be the human heart of course.

Alaric and Elena are still at a stand-off in the school when Elena buys a few seconds for Caroline to escape. She runs into Klaus who tells her to go home – it’s sexy of course.

Elena is telling Alaric to just kill her, but he won’t. The boys and Klaus then show up, and a fight ensues. The link gets broken somehow – I missed how though. Both Stefan and Damon are taken down temporarily. During this time, Elena figures out that if she dies, Alaric dies – hence why he’s been reluctant to kill her.

Klaus ends up taking Elena and draining her because he wants Alaric dead – Alaric tells the boys to go save her. Tyler is still at Klaus’s packing. There’s some faux sire bond drama, but Tyler ends up saving Elena. Klaus is pissed; the boys come. They end up taking down Klaus the way they planned on taking Alaric down – it’s super creepy. Jeremy is dead for like two seconds, but he’s cool now.

The boys walk Elena home, and she apologizes for trying to force a brother husband situation. She just doesn’t want to lose more people. The boys are then off to drop Alaric’s body in the Atlantic (which is exactly what my husband told the TV to do – so he was pleased…yet annoyed they told Elena). The remaining gang then has a victory party – there’s drinking! Caroline reminds Elena that she has to choose between the boys, bummer.

Where is Alaric you ask? Bringing together a council meeting and telling everyone about Caroline and Tyler and how their mom’s are covering for them. Also, peeps know Alaric is a vampire now.

The boys are on the road and are fairly satisfied with themselves. We won! Then they discuss the Elena situation – whoever doesn’t win will leave town…for sixty years until she dies and then they can be bros again. We end with Elena and Jeremy talking about feelings. Jeremy then leaves the room and Elena passes out and is bleeding from her face parts. Finale next week!

I enjoyed this episode more than last week’s, but not my fave still. However, I am looking forward to the finale of course. Can’t wait to see what happens to the council folks and Elena!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8 PM on the CW.

We open with Klaus talking to Rebekesther. She brings him the stake from Alaric, and he throws it into the fire. Problem solved! (Except not, because we’re only 1 minute into the episode). Klaus wants to leave town pronto, but Rebekesther wants to stay for the dance (because there are big doins’ yet to come).

Damon and Alaric are having a phone chat, and Alaric tells Damon he wants to get out of town for a bit. After they hang up, Rebekesther comes in. The real stake of course exists. In order to get legit Esther awake, Alaric has to stake the current form. So, Rebekah is back to being a dead-ish vampire.

Caroline and Elena are talking as they prep the gym for the dance. Mostly general girl crap…Caroline is full on Team Stefan. Elena does end up asking Stefan to the dance; he says yes of course.

Meanwhile, Damon goes to Dr. Fell because he knows something seemed off with Alaric because he has not been eating his gross herbs. Turns out Damon is super right because as he speaks, Esther is doing a binding spell thing with his ring that will make the stake ‘invincible.’

Stefan picks Elena up – he has a corsage. He’s pretty dreamy. Elena looks pretty as well. I drew three hearts next to my notes here. And also wrote ‘makin’ eyes.’

At the dance, Caroline is warning Matt to not fall in love with Elena…Bonnie is cutting a rug with Jaime…Elena and Stefan are ready to slow dance…and Tyler is still in a fit of ‘roid rage over the Klaus situation re: Caroline because he is jealous. Damon comes and interrupts Stefan and Elena’s fun to tell them about Alaric. Damon thinks they should kill him; Jeremy overhears and is like nope, not gonna happen.

Esther then comes to the school to get Elena; no vampires can leave because she put a boundary spell around the school. Alaric, Esther, and Elena are now at the graveyard. Esther needs Elena’s blood to turn Alaric into a super vampire hunter – a brand new Original who will die after the mission is completed (DO NOT LIKE – Double hearts for Alaric). Esther has been apparently nurturing his crazy side every time he died-yikes.

Back at school, Klaus has a dance with Caroline after Tyler says it’s cool because he still has to act sired. He wants her to give him a call when she’s ready to see the world with a super cool party guy. (Also, Klaus is looking hot in his white suit tonight). Stefan then tells him that his mom is back.

So, Bonnie is doing a locator spell to find Elena, but Esther is blocking her. Esther feeds Alaric Elena’s blood and then stabs him. She then tells Elena that she just wants her human peeps to be safe – also, Aunt Jenna is in a good place. So, Jer and Matt show up with cross bows and Esther has them aim at each other. They’re ok though. Alaric then wakes and comes out (still in transition) and stabs Esther.

Klaus and Stefan then chat about friendship crap, and Damon comes out is like brotherly love!! We have it. And Klaus is like, sure, until Elena makes a firm choice, good luck with that.

The boundary spell is now broken – Klaus gets Esther’s body. The bigger news is that Alaric does not want to complete the transition. (SADNESS where my heart is). There’s hugs for Elena and Jeremy. Everyone else is gathered outside and I have some inside tears.

Back at Klaus’s place, he unstakes Rebekah and then yells at his mother’s body. Meanwhile, Jaime brings Bonnie home. They say nice things to each other.

Matt and Jeremy toast Mr. Saltzaman – Alaric – with some booze at the Grill. Elena is manically clearing out Alaric’s weapons because she truly can’t handle the sadness that is her life. Stefan then gives her a pep talk about human emotions.

Dr. Fell gave Alaric a sedative, and Damon goes into spend his last few moments with him. There’s tears from Alaric – it’s sad guys – but we know it’s not going to go down that easy.

Esther comes to Bonnie in a dream and tells her that she needs to complete this business. Bonnie dream walks to where Alaric is and paralyzes Damon. She force feeds Alaric her blood, and the transition happens. VAMP TIME.

Obviously, there was some movement forward in this episode. But, I honestly feel really sad about the Alaric thing. He’s just had so much crap in his life; I don’t know that I like this sad turn for him. But, I obviously will be watching next week to see what happens!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8 PM on the CW.

Oh look, there’s Diana. She and Cassie share an awkward sister/sister moment. Diana still hasn’t talked to Charles about whether he really is her father. Considering that we’ve seen his proclivity for angry crystal murder, it’s probably best that she wait a while. Let’s save the life of the poor soul who happens to be in close proximity when Charles learns that Blackwell has screwed with his life once again.

Everyone thinks that the witch hunters killed Jane. HOW DUMB ARE THESE PEOPLE?! *Insert random 30 second scene of Dawn not-so-subtly begging Blackwell for her powers*

Cassie has gone to the dark and twisty place. Jane was the last connection to her mother, and she’s feeling alone. Good thing Adam is there to comfort her. KISSING. Blackwell interrupts. Those poor kids can’t have 2 minutes alone.

Aaaand, here’s the scene we’ve all been waiting for: the Diana/Charles ‘are you my father?’ conversation. Gale Harold is acting up a storm. Diana’s mom and Charles went through a rough patch and separated for 3 weeks. 3 weeks and her mom had an affair with Blackwell. 3 WEEKS. What a whore. Poor sad Charles. First he gets bossed around by Dawn for months and now he has to tell his “daughter” that she’s the bastard child of another man. His life has not been great lately.

Giberrish gibberish latin. Cassie, Blackwell, Adam, and Melissa use magic to track down another crystal. It’s at Jake’s house. Faye and Jake are working through their grief in a not-so-healthy way. But at least they have a crystal. Faye stole it from her mother at the wake. That was EASY.

Diana tells Cassie that she told her father about Blackwell. FINALLY someone tells Cassie that it’s not a great idea to listen to everything Blackwell says. Diana is the only member of this bunch that deserves to live. The rest of them are just asking to be murdered in service of Blackwell’s evil plan.

Adam and Melissa break down the kiss he shared with Cassie at the wake. Melissa suggests they do some day drinking. I like the way she thinks. Is it just me or is Dekker been doing some really weird whisper acting in this episode?

The gang (minus Adam and Melissa who are still off getting drunk) have a pow wow at the abandoned house and discusses Diana’s status as a Blackwell. And then the house started shaking and one of the crystals literally disappeared through a magic hole in the desk. Faye put it best when she said, “we totally got out magic-ed in our own magic house”.

Jake suggests they go to Isaac for help on retrieving the crystal from the witch hunters. This time, the group will run a play without Blackwell. They’re getting smarter!

More Adam and Melissa drunk. CURSE CURSE CURSE. Sad eyes. Oh wait, there’s a coin that Adam’s grandfather used to use for magic tricks. Drunk Adam wants to try. First the coin is there and then it’s invisible. Cool?

Charles and Blackwell met up for some civil, mature discussions. JUST KIDDING. Charles hits Blackwell and then Blackwell chokes him in return.

Ian shows up in the woods instead of Isaac to deliver the bad news. Evan killed Isaac. Cassie lets her dark magic take over and tries to kill Ian because he’s a murderer. Only Diana is able to stop Cassie. Dark magic vs. dark magic. Looks like we’re getting a glimpse into a bigger battle that’s yet to come.

Adam’s drunken magic trick reveals a hidden space in the wall where the coin was hanging. They find all of Adam’s grandfather’s old things but the crystal isn’t there.

Blackwell recruits Dawn to help keep Charles and Diana in Chance Harbor. He promises her full power, the defeat of the elders, and the end of the witch hunters. Obviously, she’s basically salivating at the thought of all that power.

The rest of the circle heads to Hudson Field, the location the crystal locating map pinpointed. It’s an abandoned carnival. Faye: “I’ve had at least a dozen nightmares start this way”. Now, so will I. Thanks, Secret Circle.

“If we live, remind me to download this song. It’ll be perfect for my ‘running for your life’ treadmill mix”. Faye is ON FIRE tonight.

Dawn shows up to try to stop Charles from leaving. He tells her that Blackwell just wants an army of kids to do his bidding. Dawn agrees; Faye is already working for him and she thinks that this time it won’t be their spouses that die, it’ll be their kids. Blackwell must be stopped!

Faye and Jake discover Ian dead at the carnival. There are dead witch hunters everywhere! The traitor witch strikes again!

Adam and Melissa discover that the crystal isn’t at the carnival, it’s at the high school. Adam’s cloaking spell on the coin helped lift its last protection. Diana gives Cassie the judgment eyes about her dark magic. Diana thinks killing is wrong and she won’t stop reminding her of that. The nice emotional moment is ruined by the appearance of the traitor witch; the chase is on!

Run run run. Chase chase chase. Cassie uses her dark magic to shoot a spear and it takes the trait down. Shocking reveal: it’s Nick! I certainly didn’t see that coming!

Secret Circle has really been stepping it up for the last few episodes, and I can’t wait to see the fallout from this Nick’s reappearance! Also, Faye’s dialogue was pitch perfect this week. More please.

The Secret Circle airs Thursday nights at 9 PM on the CW.

The main focus of the episode is the two day elimination round where girls will be required to perform on certain events to solidify their spot at the USATC. Payson/Lauren and Kaylie/KP are set to go on day two (the coveted position) but Payson ruins everything by sneaking out to see Rigo and getting caught. Obviously, there’s a tattle tale in the mix and we think it’s Jordan. Turns out it’s not at all. Payson is also still very worried about Lauren’s health and debates whether or not to say something to the coach about it.

Meanwhile, KP’s awful, awful mother comes back. She’s only concerned with KP winning gold and kissing up to everyone important. She has no time for KP’s feelings or needs. She decides to try and psych out Kaylie to get rid of the competition. Ugh. Poor KP! Her mom also says Wendy wants her as her agent but she said no. We find out later, right before competition, that Wendy is in fact being represented by Sheila as the ‘newer, younger version’ of KP. Ouch!

So the competition goes pretty well for all of the girls, with one little hitch. Right before Lauren is about to show her beam routine, Payson puts a stop to it. We then see Lauren talking with the coach and the NGO lady and when they walk out we hear “Tanner is done.” No! Lauren’s Olympic dreams can’t be crushed. She was just coming around as a good friend!

We then get a little taste into the decision making process for the potential Olympic team. The Coach argues for some gymnasts, the NGO lady argues for others. While Lauren’s fate hangs in the balance, the big list finally goes up. Kaylie and Payson make it, but KP doesn’t. What?! No! The girls run to comfort her but her mom is going batshit crazy. She’s blaming race (why Jordan was allowed to stay) and promising to get KP back on the team. KP tells her mom she is fired as her mom and she is going to quit the sport. She won Worlds years ago and hasn’t been able to figure out her place in the sport since then. Sadness! While I understand that she’s the easiest one to remove from the team (she’s not a new girl or a Rock girl), I am really sad to see her go. Nicole Anderson’s increased role this season has been a really, really big bright spot and I hope at the very least she is back for the finale cheering on the girls at the Olympics. I was hoping to see KP win gold.

Later, we see Jordan packing up her stuff. When she showed her routines to the judges, she wouldn’t show them her signature vault and so she stormed out. She thought it was the end of her Olympic dream, but the coach tells her otherwise. While I’m happy she still gets a chance to stay, I wish that KP could have stayed as well.

So, remember KP’s crazy mom? Apparently, little, quirky Wendy at first inadvertently fed her information. She then caught wise to Sheila’s big plan but went along with it anyway. When the girls find out, Wendy plays dumb and blames Sheila. Clever, sneaky girl! Reminds me of season one Lauren! I am very curious to see where this goes. At the very end, Payson and Kaylie go to visit Lauren but Lauren flips out and kicks Payson out of the room. Kaylie defends Payson’s actions and then leaves as well. Payson then goes crying into Rigo’s arms. Sad.

If you do the numbers, Lauren has to be back. Five girls make it to the Olympic team, and right now, the USATC has only four (Kaylie, Payson, Wendy and Jordan). So I’m not losing faith that Lauren’s health will be worked out and she’ll be allowed to petition onto the team or something of the sort. Overall, the episode was super intense and a good look into just how cut throat gymnastics can be. I will miss KP for sure, and I would like to see the girls discover Wendy’s evil tendencies. Only a small handful of episodes left in the series (Holly Sorensen, the creator mentioned on Twitter it would be the series final) and I will be sad to see it go.

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 PM on ABC Family.

The Hunt for Crystals
Even though John Blackwell showed up alive in Chance Harbor just a few short weeks ago, the teenage members of the circle have decided to trust him blindly and set out on a mission to find the remaining hidden crystals. Have any of the members of this brain trust taken a second to think about their leader? The man is EVIL. He openly admits to having dark magic. Why do these kids just constantly do what he tells them to? You’d think the whole pretending to be dead, disappearing for 16 years, and then showing up and hiding his powers situation would make at least one of these kids step back and say, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t listen to the man who was sort of responsible for the deaths of about half our parents”. At this point, Jake’s Grandpa is right; the circle is going to die and it’ll be because they trusted Blackwell.

The group breaks into two hunting parties: Cassie, Jake, and Faye hunt down Jake’s Grandfather while Melissa, Adam, and Diana search through Melissa’s grandmother’s house. And what did Cassie & company find behind door number 1? Another (maybe not-so-) crazy conspiracy theory. Boy, can Jake’s Grandpa deliver some exposition! Here’s the sitch: 300 years ago, 18 families left Salem and created 3 circles, one of which is the Chance Harbor circle. Blackwell attempted to corrupt the Chance Harbor circle by making himself a part of the younger generation’s circle. Cassie isn’t the only Blackwell descendant in their circle, and Gramps seems to think that the 2 members of the circle with dark magic will help tip the metaphorical scale in favor of evil over good. Crazy conspiracy theory grandpa tells the young’uns that he does have a crystal, but like any good paranoid old man he’s hidden it in an abandoned mine. Too bad creepy voodoo Callum broke into his house while they were all chatting and stole the map. Not to worry, technology to the rescue! Cassie had taken a picture of it when she first arrived and now the dynamic duo of Adam and Melissa can head over to the mine and check it out.

In related news, Faye discovered one of her mom’s old diaries that revealed a serious stalker level crush on Blackwell, so she’s convinced that she’s the second Blackwell child.

Before they were summoned by another one of Cassie’s problems Adam and Melissa snuck into Melissa’s grandma’s house and found her crystal. Only one problem…she’s kind of a hoarder. The duo steal all of the crystals and manage to drag Diana away from her date with the cute Australian so she can use her circle magic to help them find the real crystal. Easy peasy!

Adam and Melissa head down into the mine, and in a feat of super impressive manliness Adam uses a rope to swing from one ledge to another and grab the hidden crystal. But you know what trumps magic in the old Chance Harbor mines? Guns. And Callum has one. Bye bye crystal.

Scooby gang to the rescue! The other 4 circle members show up just in time for Faye to almost kill herself trying to access her dark magic as Callum speeds straight at her on a motorcycle. It didn’t work; she doesn’t have dark magic. She’s not a Blackwell. Cassie stops Callum just before he escaped. 3 crystals down, only a few more to go.

Goodnight Jane
Poor Grandma Jane, always one-step behind the middle generation. Jane and Charles come up with a brilliant plan to kill Blackwell once and for all. They lure him into her house and trap him in a chair. Before lighting a match and killing him, Jane can’t resist using her crystal to find out the truth about whether Blackwell killed Amelia. He didn’t, and she can’t bring herself to kill him. Good thing Charles is there to take over! He completes the spell but rather than killing Blackwell it takes out Jane.

Diana
DIANA IS THE BLACKWELL LOVE CHILD. Charles is going to be so pissed when he finds out. Or maybe he already knows? Perhaps that’s why he’s so insistent that Blackwell needs to die. Either way, Diana was a great choice to be the second Blackwell. Faye was too predictable and Melissa is too boring for a role as cool as this. Let’s bring on the Cassie/Diana sister bonding dark magic moments!

The Secret Circle airs Thursday night’s at 9 PM on the CW.

We begin with Alaric in the jail/cage room at the SHBP. They’re keeping him locked up (with his permission) in the hopes that Bizarro Alaric will come out to play and tell them where the stake is hidden. Stefan is going to watch over things while Damon and Elena go take a Discover Elena’s Feelings trip to Colorado to pick up Jer Bear since Colorado is no longer safe. Alaric asks Elena if Stefan is bummed about this trip, but it was his idea because he wants to be with Elena who loves only him and not also his brother – so she needs to figure out his feelings (guess he’s not interested in making a sort of different ‘Big Love’ series?).

Caroline and Matt are at school prepping for another school dance (it’s time for this year’s decade dance!). Caroline claims that it’s supposed to be the 70′s, but Rebekah comes up and claims that it’s now the 20′s. A small spat occurs and Caroline marches off after Matt agrees with Rebekah. Matt and Caroline are then talking in the parking lot. This was apparently just a fakeout so Caroline could get out of there without Rebekah watching.

So, Stefan and Alaric decide to use some alcohol to speed up the lunatic process – but they also agree that Stefan may need to torture it out of him (we should probably call in Sayid Jarrah for back-up – LOST, what, what?!).

So, Damon used his miles to get first class seats for him and Elena…and now we’re in CO…with Jeremy…at the batting cages. (I don’t know why I just used ellipses for all that mess). They tell Jeremy that they need him to talk to Rose to find out who sired her. He’s like, okay, but first I need to hang out with my friend…who’s here now…and just hit Damon with a baseball bat…because it’s Kol…the Original (good use of ellipses). And then we all had a good LOL at Jeremy thinking he made a new BFF. Damon knocks Kol out and these three peeps scoot off to a motel (Damon seriously didn’t have some cash for a Hilton or some such?) Damon then refers to Jeremy as Whoopi – oh you! To summon Rose, Jer needs some info about her – Damon tells him about how she was in ‘paradise’ at the end…and she’s there. Pretty fast, better than Domino’s.

So, Caroline went to find Tyler in the woods. And they MAKE OUT. And it’s hot. Of course. Also, Matt just brought Rebekah home from school. She thinks he’s up to something, but he convinces her that he’s not. (Man, Matt has gotten good at lying with the gang).

Anyway, we learn that Rose was actually sired by someone names Mary. Damon refers to her as ‘Scary Mary’ in a very ‘ohh, brother’ sort of way. She also tells Jeremy that she’s rooting for Damon and Elena…and Jeremy’s face is all like whaaat? Jeremy asks Elena about Damon when they’re alone but, she doesn’t get the chance to explain.

Stefan and Alaric are still chilling; Alaric is sad that his evil self is driven by himself. Stefan reminds him that it’s just the darkest part of him. Lots of feelings stuff. Klaus comes; Stefan tells him the vampire lineage deal. Klaus then kills Alaric to further speed up the process of finding this stake. Stefan and Damon also have a little phone chat; Stefan is crazy jealous of Damon right now fo’ sho.

So, Mama Original shows up to Rebekah and is all “I’m dying.” But, I love you, you just weren’t meant to live forever. And Rebekah (who always is pulling at my heart strings) says that she hasn’t lived at all. Then they hold hands and Mama dies.

Caroline and Tyler are having some post vampire/hybrid sex discussion about how Tyler thinks he has control over the sire bond now, but he needs to test it. She also explains the vampire lineage problem to him.

Back in CO, Jeremy is real sleeping, Elena is fake sleeping, and Damon is wandering the room with his shirt open and boozin’. Elena looks at him and he notices her. He comes and lies down next to her and they talk about how he gave Rose paradise on her last day. She asks him why he never lets people see the good in him. And he explains that he doesn’t want people to expect it from him. Then there is some hot HAND HOLDING. And then she leaves. And he runs out after her. And then there is some…MAKING OUT. And it is hot (of course). But then, and you’re not going to be shocked by this, Jeremy comes out and catches them and spoils all of our good time. He’s also learned from Rose that Mary is in Kansas.

OK, back to our sad little Alaric/Stefan duo. Alaric is ready for some torture, so we start things off with a PUNCH.

Meanwhile, our trio of Jeremy, Damon, and Elena have found their way to a creepy house in Kansas. Elena tells Jeremy to wait outside and Jeremy is all “so you can make out?!” Oh Jeremy. Inside, things are creepy. Mary was on Hoarders:Vampire Edition. Yay! We found Mary! Boo. Mary is dead. Kol got there first and staked her. There’s some fighting; Kol leaves. Damon and Elena then have a feelings fight when he realizes that she’s trying to essentially figure out what brother to choose.

Back to Alaric and Stefan. My notes say: Bloodlust, crazy – Alaric/Stefan. So, Alaric was bleeding, Stefan was all weird, and now creepy Alaric is here. But, Stefan finds out the stake is in the ‘no vamps allowed’ cave. He locks Alaric back up and comes out to find Klaus is still there (with Rebekah). Klaus tells Stefan he is waiting for his friend ‘Ripper’ to come back. And Stefan is like I control my own destiny!! No more ripping! Stake me or get out!

In the car back to Mystic Falls, Elena and Damon are in the front with Jeremy in the back. Rose appears to Jeremy and tells him to not let on that she’s there. She explains that Damon challenges Elena so he could make her amazing or destroy her while Stefan has a pure and good love for Elena. (Ugg, choices are hard).

Over at Mama Sheriff’s house, Tyler is staying for some reason (in separate rooms of course!). Things are good until he sees the picture Klaus drew of her. Then he gets sort of mad/sad and leaves.

We end with Rebekah and Alaric going to the cave to get the stake. Turns out Rebekah can come in…because she’s Esther…in Rebekah’s body. END SCENE!

Guys, I’m sorry for all the ellipses…but they felt necessary. Anyway. Love this one. I really enjoyed seeing Rose again. And I loved her explanation of the boys’ love for Elena. I still want to see who sired everyone though. Kol still sucks. Jeremy is still sort of dumb but lovable. Tyler is irritating right now. You know? The usual. I don’t know! It was just a good episode. Also, I want Claire Holt to read me bedtime stories because I love her voice. See you next week!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8 PM on the CW.