The Vampire Diaries “Family Ties” Season 1 Episode 4

It’s another week of reruns on The Vampire Diaries, and it’s even an episode I already capped, so this week you get to enjoy a recap from earlier in the season when the plot was still coming together. I think a lot of people would say episode 4 was when The Vampire Diaries suddenly got really good. And, conveniently, there’s a big question a lot of people had after episode 14 that was actually already answered way back in this episode. So, settle down and enjoy!

Elena awakens in the middle of the night; the house is dark and silent. She gets up, calling for Jeremy when she sees a shadow moving downstairs. The TV is on and local news anchor Logan Fell (Chris J. Johnson) is reporting another animal attack has claimed a life: Elena Gilbert. Behind her, Damon murmurs “You know it’s coming in.” Elena freaks out and runs through the house, whips open a door: Damon. She turns and runs another way: Damon in the hallway. She looks again, he’s vanished, no, wait, he’s behind her. Rawwr, he grabs her and bites her! Wakeup time!

Psych! It wasn’t Elena’s nightmare, it was Stefan’s. Oh, well-played Vampire Diaries. Damon snarkily informs Stefan that he gave him the nightmare and that it was easy. He goads his brother to go back on a human blood diet to restore his faded powers. Really pissed, Stefan zips across the room, grabs a dagger-like letter opener and whips it at his brother, stabbing him through the chest.

Damon nonchalantly accepts the reprimand, pulls out the knife without feeling it, and goes on to explain that a mountain lion was found that morning and the news has cited it as the source of the attacks. Stefan is puzzled he’s covering his tracks but Damon explains he’s having a lot of fun messing with him. Stefan says Elena is protected. Damon says it might not be her mind he wants to get into and that his good looks, charm, and style may be all he needs as he saunters over to Stefan. He suddenly plunges the blade into his brother’s abdomen, who cries out in pain and drops to one knee. “This is John Varvatos, Dude,” he says as he examines his now torn shirt. “Dick move.” (I looked on his site; it’s a hundred dollar t-shirt.) Stefan pulls out the knife and lifts his shirt to check the wound, thus flashing us a view of his cobblestone six pack (possibly eight pack) abs as the tiny stab wound regenerates. Thanks Damon, we may owe you one for that.

On the TV news, the local sheriff is giving an interview to Logan Fell, confirming that a 12 foot mountain lion was shot and killed. Stefan is not relieved that a cover is in place; he’s worried how much more death Damon is going to inflict. Meanwhile, also watching the same news report is the Gilbert household. Aunt Jenna has several choice names for Logan Fell, prime being Logan Scumfell--her ex-boyfriend and the reason she moved away. Elena teases her aunt by saying Logan is cute, and then gets back to cleaning some family heirlooms she’s gotten from the safe deposit box. Jeremy wants to know how much they’d get for hocking them on E-bay. Elena is unamused. She explains she’s loaning it to the local heritage project. The doorbell rings and she answers it to find Stefan at the door. She pulls him inside and smooches him. They have a little morning make-out session in her room, enough to give him a case of weird eyes. (I have to say it’s not the most attractive marker of vampire arousal that’s ever been used as the eyes get very black and the eye socket gets darkly veiny.)

Elena suggests they pause things there as it is getting a little intense; Stefan is fine with that. She asks him to put on a suit and be her date to the Founders’ Party tomorrow night. Stefan slips and asks if they “still do that.” Elena asks if he’s been to one before, and he deflects by saying that his family got uninvited from that town event. Elena explains about the previously-mentioned heritage project and how her mom was really involved in The Founders Council. Stefan very formally, charmingly, accepts her invitation.

Meanwhile, Caroline is admiring herself in an egg yolk-yellow sun dress while Damon is sacked out in her bed reading a book. With barely a glance he tells her the color is bad and to wear the blue. He insists that as her date, he wants her wearing the blue. Caroline says he can’t actually be her date since her mother will be there “and she’s a very proud gun owner.” She’s not kidding, either. Damon says the party is part of his plans and uses his psychic compulsion on her, and she shucks off the unflattering yellow dress. Damon then wants to know what’s up with Bella and why Edward is so whipped because, yes, he is reading her copy of Eclipse. Bonnie says he has to read the first book for it to make sense. Damon laments Anne Rice’s retirement from the genre. Caroline asks why he doesn’t sparkle and he quips that he lives “in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun.” He amends he has a magic ring to protect him though. Caroline eyes the marks on her and asks if the bites will turn her into a vampire. Damon explains siring: she has to feed on his blood then die while his blood is in her system, then feed on a human. He tosses the book aside and pulls her down to the bed where they tumble and make out briefly. Caroline remarks that he can be so sweet when he wants to be; he agrees. Then she quietly asks if he’s going to kill her and he smiles and makes a yes noise, and after a moment’s pause clarifies, “but not yet.” After all, he has something for her to do for him. They resume making out as the scene cuts.

Tyler is at the Mystic Grill with his mom and dad. Vicki comes over to give them refills and Tyler won’t look at her--much less introduce her to his well to do family. Tyler’s dad, Mayor Lockwood, calls her honey each time. Mrs. Lockwood gives her son and the pretty waitress some looks but remains tight-lipped. She totally knows Tyler and Vicki are doing it. Elsewhere in the bar Bonnie is complaining to Caroline that their girl date for the party is off since Caroline is bringing Damon. She also thinks Caroline’s mom will have a problem with “older, sexy, danger guy” Damon. Caroline says Damon’s not dangerous and just misunderstood. Bonnie pries. Caroline gives her scoop that is strictly not for Elena (so you can bet Damon gave it to her so Elena would get it). Meanwhile, Tyler’s parents have left so he’s talking to Vicki again. She complains he treats her like trash and wouldn’t invite her to the Founders party; but he puts on a charming demeanor and does invite her to the party. Jeremy overhears from a few spaces down the bar and needles her after Tyler leaves that she had to prompt him into that invite. She’s not thrilled to be called on it.

Back at Stately Salvatore Manor, Zach is a little startled to find Damon sitting in the living room, reading Stefan’s homework and complaining at the poor standards of the modern education system. Damon says he understood when Stefan went to Harvard in the Seventies, well kind of anyway. Zach wants to know why Damon is hanging around. Damon shoots over and grabs him by the throat. Stefan comes in before Damon does anything else but Zach is gasping for breath pretty seriously. Zach wants to know why Stefan doesn’t man up and deal with his psychotic brother and Stefan says he just can’t cross the line of going back on human blood. Zach suggests he use vervain to weaken Damon by getting him to ingest it. Stefan patiently explains there’s been no vervain in the area since 1865 because Damon saw to that. Zach leads Stefan to the basement and introduces him to the concept of a grow lamp, and a whole table covered with blooming vervain plants. (Seriously it’s a common plant, any decent garden catalog could sell the seeds.) Apparently the Salvatore family has been secretly growing vervain for generations and even Stefan had no clue.

At Casa de Gilbert, Jeremy is irked to find Tyler on his front doorstep. He’s just there to pick up the antiques from Elena for his mom. Tyler asks Jeremy if saying he really likes Vicki would mean anything; Jeremy says not even if he meant it. Back inside Elena and Bonnie are talking party prep plans and Elena says she knows Bonnie has something to say. Bonnie passes on the gossip that Damon gave Caroline to “not tell” her: a whole bunch of rubbish about how Stefan is not over Katherine, and how she’d chosen Damon and it drove Stefan to do nasty manipulative things to break them up. (Yeah, script by Damon.) A little bit later Elena gets a call and then confronts Jeremy, accusing him of having taken the family heirloom pocket watch out of the box of antiques. Jeremy says that it was supposed to be his, passed down in the family to the first born son of each generation and that he wasn’t going to sell it for pot money. Elena emphasizes it’s just a loan for a historical event.

Back at the Salvatore mansion the brothers are getting dressed. They have their usual small talk, though Katherine comes up and Damon manages to imply he got busy with Katherine when Stefan was still at the gentlemanly kiss goodnight stage. Stefan makes a point of enjoying a drink; Damon says a drink sounds good and then breaks the decanter of Scotch because it was obviously laced with vervain. He petulantly says he’s going to have to go to the party angry now. Stefan looks a bit resigned--until Damon leaves at which point his look is a bit more thoughtful. After Damon’s left he explains to Zach that it was a feint and now that he’s tried something Damon will lower his guard for a bit, not expecting anything else right away. Zach gives him more vervain extract.

The party at the Lockwood mansion has a huge turnout; it’s afternoon. Vicki shows up looking quite fresh and pretty. Tyler sees her and takes her around back. His mom sees him doing this but his dad is focused on his meet-and-greet. A bit later Caroline arrives with Damon in tow and introduces him to Mrs. Lockwood. She conveniently invites him in before going to mingle. Caroline is wearing a nice grey and white dress with a blue scarf on her neck. So, neither the yellow nor the blue. Once inside she goes over to talk to the sheriff, who is a blond woman, and the previously-mentioned gun enthusiast in her life: her mother. Her mother disapproves of Damon based on his age. She also wants to know where her ex-husband is; Caroline says he’s in Memphis with Steven. That’s right; the show’s only gay character is an off-screen namecheck.

Elena and Stefan arrive and get invited in by Mayor Lockwood. A bit later, after dark has fallen, the party is still going strong. The two of them take in the historical display. She finds the original guest registry and notes that there are many familiar names: the Sheriff at the time was a Forbes, the mayor was a Lockwood and ... Stefan and Damon Salvatore were guests. Damon and Caroline wander up and Damon mentions that yes they were named after those ancestors. Caroline wants to dance and asks to borrow Stefan; Damon pushes him into it leaving Elena alone with Damon.  Damon takes the opportunity to apologize for the awkward kissing attempt in the previous episode.

Jenna tries but fails to avoid Logan (Scum)Fell. He immediately tries to hook up. Stefan asks Caroline if Stefan told her to ask him to dance. She doesn’t have a good answer to that. He fetches her a glass of white wine and she asks him to keep an eye out for her mom while she sips it.

Damon has moved on to talking history. The Battle of Willow Creek comes up; Elena knows this was when Confederate soldiers fired on a church with people inside it. Damon amends that the people in the church were Union sympathizers being kept there deliberately by the town, that they had been rounded up and were to be burned alive. He says the original brothers had someone they loved in that church. The brothers went to rescue that someone and they were shot, murdered in cold blood. As previously mentioned in this episode, being turned into a vampire happens by being given vampire blood and then being killed. The story Damon’s recounting is a cover story, and actually the church was where the town had imprisoned a bunch of vampires. What Damon is actually saying is that he and Stefan weren’t turned to vampires directly; they had vampire blood in their systems and died in their rescue attempt of Katherine.

Out in back, Tyler and Vicki are sitting in the garden, as far away from everyone as they can. She’s really pissed he’s hiding her back there. She wants to go meet the parents, he does not. She is fed up with him, and just as he gets grabby his mom shows up. She knows Vicki’s name, Vicki is very polite to her and leaves. Mrs. Lockwood calls her trash to her son after she leaves.

Bonnie is left sitting alone and bored. The candle on the table near her blows out and she gives it a little look and it lights again. She gets a “Did I do that?” look on her face and then blows it out quickly.

The brothers and their dates meet up. Stefan offers Damon a drink, which is declined. Elena asks Stefan to dance and that gets them away from the other two. Caroline thinks they’re a cute couple; Damon doesn’t want to hear it. Speaking of drinking, Logan catches up with Jenna at the bar, and gives his condolences about her sister and said he did come to the funeral. She says she knew. He said he wanted to make things right and showed up to offer support. She’s not feeling forgiving. A little later, she relents under his TV Weatherman-level charm. He grovels a bit and uses the “I grew up” type approach. She agrees to have lunch.

Stefan wants to know if Damon was unpleasant. Elena says he apologized and offered some explanation. She asks Stefan to tell her about Katherine. He says its not worth going into. She says she’s ready to listen. And, really that she wants him to open up to her about things. He says Damon must have said something, trying to stir things up. She says she just wants to know him better; however, Stefan is having a bout of “what did he do now” which isn’t helping his case. He really just doesn’t want to talk about Katherine and she is reading his reactions as some kind of anti-Damon paranoia. She stalks off to talk to Bonnie. Bonnie says its her fault for planting doubt. Elena says it wasn’t Bonnie’s doing and that she got into the middle of things between the two brothers and worse she got snotty about it.

Elsewhere Damon has Caroline keep a look out while he goes through an antique traveling case and finds a large emerald-cut smoky amber crystal. He says he hid the crystal there long ago and that it’s his.

Mrs. Lockwood berates a servant for not having every candle in the dining room lit. She chases him out to get matches. Bonnie sees the exchange and calls her a bitch after she’s left. Then she looks at one of the candles with concentration for a moment then stops herself with a “what was I thinking” look on her face. As she turns, the candle lights. She realizes the wall sconce is lit too. She turns around and she’s lit 29 candles on the table and buffet, plus a whole chandelier worth so about 50 candles. Yeah, denial isn’t working on that one.

In the powder room, Elena and Caroline start to talk when Elena registers the bruising under Caroline’s scarf. She pulls it off and finds the bite marks, which as noted are very much human-teeth bite looking and not pairs of fang marks. She pulls on her sleeve and finds another mark on her back. Caroline acts defensive like an abused person denying anything happened and flees. Elena immediately deduces it was Damon and goes to confront him outside. She tells him there’s something wrong with him and that if he doesn’t stay away from Caroline she’ll go to her mother, the sheriff. Damon’s like, “WHAT?” Elena goes and apologizes to Stefan who is brooding on the lawn. She says he’s totally right about Damon, she saw bruises and bite marks and realizes he’s manipulating Caroline. She gets upset when he gives her his “trust me I’m handling it” speech instead of a “yes my brother is a psycho lets call the cops” speech. Stefan sees Damon and Caroline leaving, so he excuses himself and leaves her. Damon is pissed at Caroline for being found out. He gets quiet serious at her, comes around and starts to go in for another bite, this one to be a killer. He drinks deeply, lowering her to the ground and then chokes and falls over. Stefan spiked her drink with vervain earlier and now Damon drank her blood so he’s incapacitated. Caroline wakes up a few moments later mostly OK and gets the crystal out of the grass. Elena comes up and finds her, very freaked out and takes care of her.

Stefan throws Damon into the cell with the vervain. He has plans.

Meanwhile at Casa de Gilbert, Vicki shows up to see Jeremy. The first thing out of his mouth is how amazing she looks, so she comes in and they start making out.

Back at the mansion, the Founder’s Council has convened. They want the Gilbert Watch. Elena had given it back to Jeremy earlier in the night and told Mrs. Lockwood it was still packed in the parents’ belongings. Logan Fell says he can get to it. Sheriff Forbes is also there, quite certain that with 5 bodies drained of blood they’re going to need it. Logan fell concludes, “they’ve come back.” And with the introduction of our local Watchers, we conclude episode 4 of The Vampire Diaries.