Crystal Bell: 'The Vampire Diaries' Recap: The Biggest Game Changer Ever

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 18 of The CW's "The Vampire Diaries," entitled, "The Murder of One."

"The Vampire Diaries" is never predictable, and if there was ever an episode to justify that, it's "The Murder of One."

Okay, so maybe I should have suspected that someone was going to die during tonight's episode because of the title, but it didn't make it any easier to watch Elena shoot Finn with a White Oak dagger, knowing that Bonnie had reversed the binding spell, freeing the Originals.

But that wasn't even the shocking part. Now brace yourselves for this game-changer. After Finn was killed, Sage went looking for revenge -- but she didn't get very far. Why? Because she died too, as did the vampire that she turned.

This means that if the Originals die, so do all of the vampires that they turned in the last 1,000 years. If you haven't been counting, that's all of them. Every. Last. One. Of. Them. That means no more Stefan, no more Caroline and no more Damon.

Can you say game-changer?! Of course, this doesn't mean that Stefan and Elena are going to give up on killing Klaus. That is until Caroline reminds Elena that if Klaus dies, Tyler dies. And there's always a possibility that Klaus could have turned Rose, who turned Katherine, who turned Damon, who turned Caroline.

Eek. I think I'm going to need to start a family tree to wrap my head around all of this.

In even more shocking news, Stefan has seemingly come to some sort of realization that Klaus isn't worth all of his anger and energy. He then tells Elena that he loves her, but he knows that she also loves Damon. Elena tries to dig herself out of this hole by telling Stefan that she doesn't love Damon, but hello, he's a vampire. Reading emotions is kind of like his specialty.

But that wasn't it. In a twist ending, we discover that the last White Oak dagger has gone missing, and it's all thanks to Alaric's vampire-hating alter ego. You see, Damon was ordered to bring all of the daggers back to Klaus, but when he went to get Alaric's, they couldn't find it, which means that the dagger -- which could wipe out an entire line of vampires, including Damon -- is missing, and the only person who knows it's whereabouts is a psychopath. Great.

Well, Damon did force Alaric to wear his ring because you know, with his track record, he could have ended up dead by the end of the episode without it. Of course, someone could have very well ended up dead because he was wearing it, and now an entire line of vampires is in some serious danger if they don't find that stake.

Now before all of these bombs were droppred, the Scoobies 2.0 were planning out their now ill-fated attack on the Originals. Their target? Darling Rebekah, of course. Although, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Damon quickly becomes Barbie Klaus' target -- or is that "play thing," Rebekah?

To be honest, brutal torture has never looked so good. I mean, Damon was tied up in chains. How could I not be kind of into it? However, she was trying to drain him of his vervain, which would not have been so good if she actually succeeded.

Thankfully, we have Elena to thank for rescuing him -- oh wait, no, that was actually just a dream. As if we can actually believe that Elena would have the ability to rescue anyone. Damon's true savior is once again his brother.

As for Klaus, he was busy getting the family back together for an impromptu reunion. Once Finn realized that his "lady friend" Sage was in Mystic Falls, he quickly changed his masochist tune and started to actually have some fun. Hey, at least he had a tequila shot before getting killed.

We also find out that Klaus has had his baby brother Kol on "Operation Spy on Jeremy," and that's how he used Jeremy's safety to blackmail Bonnie into undoing the binding spell. Thankfully, Bonnie succeed just in time for the Scoobies to take out Finn. That would have been one horrifying diaster.

In between all of the crazy plot twists, one of the true highlights of the episode was the heartfelt conversation between Alaric and Caroline. After discovering that Alaric was the man responsible for her father's death, Caroline forgave him. After all, she too has killed an innocent person, and it's not something that she can easily forget.

This is exactly why I love Caroline. Out of all of the characters on "The Vampire Diaries," I feel like she has shown the most character development. Of course, becoming a vampire and dealing with the loss of her humanity certainly helped move her progression along. The Caroline in Season 1 would not have been able to forgive Alaric for what he did, but now she's able forgive and to understand where Alaric is coming from.

And that's what the show does best. "The Vampire Diaries" -- a series about vampires, werewolves and witches -- is able to transcend the supernatural and focus on the humanity of all its characters. Even Klaus, in his search for family and acceptance, can feel human at times, especially when it comes to his sister Rebekah and his former "best friend" Stefan. Thankfully, we'll get to see more of that later on.

Notable Quotables:

"Slept like a baby, woke up like ... Alaric."
-- Damon, to Elena

"I'm not going to miss because you can't widdle."
-- Stefan, to Damon

"What happens to one, happens to all. You may not feel the affects of the dagger, but you'd lose your precious Rebekah."
-- Finn, to Klaus

"Why do I always have to be Klaus bait?"
-- Caroline, to the Scoobies 2.0

"I'm going to take a page from the Elena Gilbert handbook and believe that you can be saved."
-- Caroline, to Alaric

"You bother me."
-- Bonnie, to Klaus

"You've never had tequila before? That's embarrassing. Seriously, I'm embarrassed for you."
-- Sage

"Nik, he's my play thing, not yours."
-- Rebekah

"I've given your life purpose, as your friend."
-- Klaus

"I wanted a family. They just didn't want me."
-- Klaus

"I'm talking about the fact that you're also in love with Damon."
-- Stefan

"Are you telling me that your vampire-hating alter ego has a stake that can kill an entire line of vampires, possible mine?"
-- Damon

"The Vampire Diaries" airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

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Follow Crystal Bell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/newyorkbell

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crystal-bell/the-vampire-diaries-recap_b_1389954.html

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