The Vampire Diaries - Season 3 Episode 18 - The Murder of One - Recap

After two relatively mellow episodes in a row since returning from hiatus, Vampire Diaries is finally back on track with one of the strongest episodes the third season has to offer. Sadly, there aren't endless moments with Damon flittering about in only a towel, but there is plenty more story and enough shocking moments to fill an entire season of The Secret Circle.

The episode starts off with a nice pump of adrenaline right away, as we get to see Alaric, Stefan, and Damon sharpening some wooden stakes from the Wickery Bridge sign. Alaric wants to turn himself in for being a crazy killer, but instead opts to follow the Salvatores and do some vampire hunting. Klaus and Rebekah corner Finn and force him to come back to Mystic Falls. When they return, Sage and Finn reunite, and the duo is even more boring on screen than they were in theory. Zero chemistry.

Alaric and Damon are talking, and then Rebekah comes out of nowhere and jabs Damon in the stomach with a knife. I swear, this family really needs to learn how to lock their doors. She's trying to bleed him of vervain so naturally, starts screwing with his mind too. Delena needs to be a reality already, I'm so sick of waiting!

Klaus's HTC phone is all over this episode, writing out texts with a little stylus, teasing Bonnie with a video of Jeremy playing with his dog.. It's the most obvious product placement we've seen on this show yet. Our favorite hybrid definitely needs  a technologically relevant device, right? I think not.

Bonnie performs the spell that will split the Originals apart from each other all by herself: for some reason she doesn't need assistance, when she had to seek out her mother to do the binding spell previously. Stefan slips some vervain into the drinks of Finn and Sage. I find it pretty hard to believe that Stefan could just lay low about five feet from them and would go completely unnoticed, but you can always just chalk that up to lazy Originals.

Bonnie completes the spell just in the nick of time in yet another case of coincidental timing, but Finn gets stabbed with one of the stakes and gets fried, extra crispy. I think we're supposed to care that the epic romance we were just introduced to in this episode was powerful enough to carry Sage's anger and thirst for vengeance, but I just didn't feel the chemistry. Kill Rebekah already!

Sage and her henchman Troy try to attack Stefan, and they both just drop dead. I hated Sage anyway, so it's hard to really feel anything when she lacked a personality. Then comes the coolest reveal of all: if an Original dies, his or her entire bloodline dies with them. Since Finn turned Sage and Sage turned Troy, all of them die when he does. If they kill the Original bloodline, all the vampires die too! This is kind of the coolest thing ever and a really big revelation especially since for the majority of the season, everyone has been after the Originals.

Stefan gets Klaus and Rebekah to let Damon go, but not before Damon rips himself from his chains and Klaus compels him for information. That's gonna hurt in the morning. Stefan finally says he still loves Elena, but he makes her admit she has feeling for Damon. Sometimes I want to slap this girl with her indecisiveness!

One of the stakes disappears and only Alaric's evil alter ego knows where it is hidden. If he uses it on an Original, it could potentially kill Stefan and Damon! If they kill Klaus, then they kill Tyler. Will they give up the feud with the Originals and finally let Klaus go, or will Elena and company go after them despite the consequences? There's only 4 more episodes left this season, and if past seasons are any indicator, not everyone is going to make it out unscathed. I'm so excited to see how this will end, and I can't deal with another hiatus! Screw you CW!