The Vampire Diaries Episode 512
“The Devil Inside”
Written By: Brett Matthews & Sonny Postiglione
Directed By: Kellie Cyrus
Original Airdate: 30 January 2014
In This Episode…
Life returns to “normal” in Mystic Falls, following Katherine’s death. Mia needs Katherine’s corpse so that she can do a spell and make Elena “gone forever,” giving Katherine complete control of the body. Damon has buried her body and won’t tell Stefan where. Tyler is crashing with Matt (or maybe he moved back in - the house may be in both names now) but either way he is a total drunk and determined to get Caroline back. Matt wants to throw him a welcome home party. Jeremy and Bonnie have gone to visit her mom. Caroline is back at school, stress cleaning the dorm when Aaron comes in with a message for Elena: he is in control of his trust, and has completely cut off the Augustines. Of course, the legacy of the Augustines is still haunting Aaron: when he returns to his dorm, Enzo is waiting for him.
Nadia chains up Katherine while she goes looking for her body. The chains are in case Elena pops up while she is gone - which she does, and freaks out because she doesn’t know where she is. Using her vampire strength she frees herself from her chains, but Nadia comes in, recognizes that Elena is awake, and gives her a command that brings Katherine back out. Nadia couldn’t find her body, So Katherine decides to crash the party tonight and snoop around. Nadia thinks this is a bad idea - she isn’t pretending to be Elena Gilbert; she actually is Elena Gilbert. so she goes to Matt, rips off his vervain bracelet (which he wears instead of consumes in case anyone needs some blood) and reveals what happened - but compels it all out of his head while he fills her in on Elena trivia.
Enzo is waiting for Damon at the Salvatore mansion, with a huge body bag. Inside is Aaron - still alive. He did some research into Damon’s revenge plot and thought that he would want to finish it off. Damon is trying to mend his ways and get back with Elena, so when Aaron wakes up, Damon snaps Enzo’s neck. “I didn’t see that one coming,” remarks Aaron. Damon rips off his vervain watch and compels Aaron to leave town immediately. Then he is off to the party.
Katherine needs an invite into the party. I guess the house only recently went into Matt’s name because all the vampires need an invite, which he is happy to provide. Inside, she goes straight to Stefan and starts drilling him about how he is doing following Katherine’s death. She is hurt that he isn’t more upset, but she quickly gets back on track when he becomes suspicious. She wants to know where Katherine’s body is buried, “so I can leave some flowers and pay my respects.” Even Stefan doesn’t know where Damon buried her; all he knows is that he put her “where she is supposed to be.” The tomb under the old church, where Damon first thought she was buried for a hundred years. She informs Nadia, who takes care of retrieving the body while “Elena” says her goodbyes.
Before she leaves, Caroline corners her and asks her a hypothetical about what she would say if she kissed a really bad person - and ended up having sex with them. When she finally admits it was Klaus, even Katherine is surprised by this. But she assures Caroline she is the least-horrible person she knows - then she notices Tyler coming down the stairs and asks Caroline how Klaus was compared to Tyler. Tyler overhears this, then Caroline realizes he overheard this, and the two glare at each other. Katherine uses this opportunity to slink away, grinning madly.
Katherine returns to the cave where Mia is all set up for the spell. She needs some blood from Katherine, then stabs the corpse and digs her hand in. She chants, while Katherine and Nadia make small talk - which annoys and distracts Mia. Elena comes out and she tries to continue the small talk. She takes Mia by surprise and knocks her out, then impales Nadia on a candelabra before she can say the magic words. Elena runs.
Outside, she tries to call Damon but discovers Katherine has locked her phone. So she runs. Nadia insists that Mia continue the ceremony. As Elena runs, Katherine’s memories start flooding into her head - the ritual is working. Elena makes it to the party and sees Damon (who couldn’t find Matt to invite him in). She falls into his arms, but Mia completes the ceremony, and in the comforting hug, Elena becomes Katherine. For good. Damon makes an impassioned speech for them getting back together - that he knows he screwed up, wussed out, and gave himself too much credit for thinking he would change her and her not enough for thinking she couldn’t change him. It’s a damned good speech - but Katherine is having none of that. “I’m glad that I make you a better person, but that is too much pressure. I can’t be the only thing you live for.” Damon is absolutely crushed when Katherine/Elena says goodbye.
Katherine returns to Nadia. Mia is just demanding payment, which Katherine gives: ripping her heart out. Nadia wants to set off on their epic mother/daughter road trip, but Katherine wants to stay in Mystic Falls. For the first time in 500 years, she is in the clear. Katherine is dead, people would rather kill themselves than let anything happen to Elena. Katherine wants it all: she wants her daughter, she wants immortality, and she wants Stefan - her one true love. Nadia agrees to stay with her in Mystic Falls.
Caroline tracks down Tyler, hiding out in one of the many rooms in his massive mansion. He is really drunk and doesn’t want to talk to Caroline. She presses, and he is furious. “Klaus killed thousands of people, he killed Elena’s aunt - he killed my mom!” he screams. When Caroline moves towards him he turns wolfy and Caroline is scared. Stefan jumps between the two and pins Tyler to the wall until he calms down. Later, Caroline hides out at the Salvatore house, and Stefan comes in to cheer her up.
Aaron is on his way out of town, just as Damon compelled him to do. He stops when he sees a man laying in the road, and gets out to help. The man sits up - it is Enzo. Damon appears behind Aaron and informs him that he is here because of Elena. “She thinks I am a monster. She’s right.” Then he brutally feasts on Aaron’s blood.
Dig It or Bury It?
I admit - I really did not think Katherine would gain full control of Elena. I figured that the ritual would fail, and it would be Katherine and Elena battling for control of the body while the Salvatores try to figure out a way to exorcise Katherine. Ooh, and then they could have had an exorcism episode! I assume that Elena is still in there, somewhere. Nadia said that Katherine would have control of the body, but not that Elena would be going anywhere. So I assume at some point, people will figure out what happened and try to reverse the spell. My biggest concern for this storyline would be that Katherine gets a feel for everyone loving her and eventually changes. That is a highly unlikely scenario because it hasn’t happened thus far and the writers of TVD rarely take the show into sappy, cliched territory.
Devilishly Charming
Against all odds, Stefan has convinced Caroline to help him reunite Damon and Elena (clearly this was early on in the episode). When Damon hears this, he is shocked: “You once told me that calling me Satan was an insult to Satan.”
Prophecies?
There is one word on everyone’s lips: Enzo. And Stefan wants him dead.