The TV Chick

E here again for some more of The Vampire Diaries – “Ordinary People.” After watching this episode, this title makes me feel sad in my sad place for the Originals Crew – they were just people, guys.

Okay, we start with Elena, Damon, and Alaric going back down to the Lockwood estate to figure out these cave drawings. Alaric has apparently really upped his game lately because he starts doing some interpreting. He’s able to read Niklaus, Rebekah, and Elijah on the wall (in Viking speak no less), oh snap. Then they all look at each other and are like, “What, the what?!”

There’s a lot of flashbacks in this episode, so I’m going to write FB for a flashback paragraph. Got it? Good.

FB: Rebekah is standing in the cave back in the day and writing her name on the wall (the same name Alaric was just reading). Klaus comes in and they talk about how their dad is super scary. But, they agree that they must stick together.

Back to the modern day cave where our gang reads one more name on the wall – Mikael. Uh oh. Damon is like, niice. Papa Original! Alaric takes a ton of pictures so he can figure out what this all means. And Elena says she’s going to try to get some intel from Rebekah.

At school, Rebekah is doing her pretty girl cartwheels thing when Elena approaches. Elena asks about Mikael, and Rebekah is super skittish and scared-like.

FB: Klaus and Elijah are faux fighting for kicks when Mikael and mama come up (Mama’s name is Esther BTW). Mikael is super pissy about them joking around, so he does some sword work and puts Klaus in his place (remember, Klaus is the product of his mom’s affair with a werewolf, so Mikael has no love for poor little Klaus). Also, Klaus’s hair looks ridiculous.

Alaric is still doing research on these cave drawings (and might I add, he is all clean shaven with a hair do and everything – guess he’s really putting together his life again). He does some labeling – he knows there’s a werewolf symbol and a vamp symbol fo sho’.

Meanwhile, Elena and Damon are chatting on the phone. He’s going to pay a visit to his locked up bro. When he gets there, he says it’s Family Day at Vampire Rehab, oh you! Stefan is like whatevs dude. Damon knows he’s sorta given up, so he sets him free to abandon the Lexi plan and do the Damon plan.

Elena then arrives at the SHBP where Rebekah is still staying. When Elena gets there, Rebekah has some weird compelled girls fashion show going on. She’s about to kill a girl unless Elena chooses a dress for Rebekah to wear to homecoming. (I sort of love how crazy she is). Elena gets all snippy and Rebekah is all “You’ll learn what I’ll allow you to learn.” Man, Elena really has some balls – she’ll talk to anyone like she’s large and in charge. It’s really refreshing.

Back at Alaric’s House of Learning, Bonnie arrives with the necklace that shan’t be destroyed. They do some casual chatting about how Jer Bear is an idiot (which, I sort of disagree with – I bet Bonnie is a real pain in the butt girlfriend). Alaric is also able to figure out that the symbol on the necklace is the same as the image on the cave, so it means witch.

Rebekah starts telling her story to Elena now (after she snoops through Stefan’s room and peeks at his boxer briefs – didn’t have those in the Viking days). A plague struck Europe so Rebekah’s family got the heck out of dodge with the guidance from the witch Ayana. She led them to what is now Mystic Falls. The wolves were already there, but they lived in peace with them. FB: We see Rebekah touching THE necklace and getting burned by it – Ayana tells her not touch things that aren’t hers. Then there’s some commotion. Apparently, when the wolves turn, all the humans are supposed to hang out indoors so they don’t get killed. But Klaus and little brother Henrik just loved to go watch the wolves turn. Well, something went badly one time, you know, wolves and all. And Henrik died.

A phone call interrupts Rebekah’s story – it’s Damon calling Elena. He tells her that he set Stefan free, and she’s about as pleased as you’d imagine. We then see what the boys are up to – chilling at a country themed bar apparently. Damon even compels a girl for Stefan to drink (brothers doing things to show brothers they love them <--I keep singing this in my head now). Damon is like dude, I love to live on the edge, but you can't resist falling off of it. (And I'm all nodding my head like yes! Stefan can never keep himself together. Stefan is the Angel and Damon is the Spike. Amiright Buffy fans?)

Rebekah is explaining more of her story. Mikael wanted Ayana to do a spell to protect the family by making them super strong and awesome - vamp time. Elena is like, why didn't you guys just leave? Apparently Mikael has a lot of pride. FB: Ayana doesn't want to do the spell because the spirits will turn on them. Mikael looks at the mom, and is like, well, what can you do for me? Apparently Esther is the original witch!! We then see how the conversion happened. Drink a little blood. Mikael stabbed them. Drink more blood. You know the deal. Esther stayed 'human' though. We also learn that the spirits did turn - hence the sunlight thing (this only lasted on the Originals for a couple of weeks though). But, the flowers at the White Oak tree (vervain!) burned them. Rebekah says that the blood craving was the worst of all though.

Back at the bar, the boys are still chilling and drinking whiskey (and blood) when who should appear? Mikael (who Rebekah has been saying should not be set free this whole episode so far, uh oh). He comes up to them and is like "The Salvatore Boys, I presume?" (Man, I really want to use that phrase one day.)

Okay, back to Elena and Rebekah. Esther put the hybrid curse on Klaus to prevent him from going super wild - she also vowed to turn her back on him to get back into Mikael's good graces. FB: This apparently wasn't enough. Mikael killed her. And Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah vow never to turn their backs on each other - "Always and Forever." (Tears BTW). Rebekah then says that she's stubborn, Elijah is moral, and Klaus has no tolerance for those that disappoint him. Elena asks how she can still love Klaus after everything he's done. She says, "He's my brother, and I'm immortal." She then tells Elena to wake Mikael at her own peril. Re: Elena wanting Klaus dead, Rebekah is all, "I'll rip you apart. I get my temper from my father." (And this sealed the deal on my Rebekah love because I just love a girl with a bad temper).

Back at the bar, Mikael has Damon by the heart and will rip it out unless Stefan does some talking about where Klaus his. Stefan comes through for his brother just in time. Mikael says you better find him, don't fail. Yikes.

Elena, Bonnie, and Alaric are trying to piece together the signals some more. Elena figures out that it wasn't Mikael who killed Esther, it was Klaus. (Oh man, I was just starting to feel for Klaus, boo, oh well). Elena goes to Rebekah to tell her this, and Rebekah doesn't want to believe it. And then she gets super emo and cries.

Stefan and Damon leave the bar. Stefan says he just wants to be free to leave. So, it looks like he wants free of Klaus also. There's then some sort of brotherly love moments - Stefan has saved Damon so Damon wants to save Stefan, etc. We end with Elena getting into bed, where Damon appears as well. He tells her that Stefan is on their side now. Elena sleepily says that he'll be the one to save Stefan. Emotions!

So, not a ton happened in this episode so a lot of peeps may not have been super into it. But, I really liked getting to learn the whole vampire lore for this show. It was really interesting to see the Originals as humans. Klaus was just a scared unwanted boy, and Rebekah is still just a girl who lost too much too soon. It really fleshed these characters out. I can't wait to see what happens when Mikael sees his family! I'm hoping we bring Elijah back again soon. Also, just a thought - with Alaric's name being so unusual, does anyone think he could be a descendant of the Originals somehow? This just came to me like two second ago. Maybe?

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