THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Graduation Recap

What a season finale! My head is still spinning and I have watched it twice! Wow! I have to give a shout out to Executive Producer Julie Plec for this episode. There are so many surprises and twists! Ghosts, hook-ups, death, Doppelgangers and a win for Delena fans. Sit down, grab some popcorn (and a glass of wine) and let’s get down to the vampy nitty gritty!

It’s Graduation day in Mystic Falls! Stefan and Lexi were celebrating another High School graduation for Stefan by drinking and dancing (well Lexi was dancing, I would have loved to see Stefan dance, but that didn’t happen).

Ghost Bonnie called Caroline to tell her she had to wait until the full moon that night to have enough power to close the veil. Bonnie didn’t want to tell the gang that she died because they had been through so much already. She just wanted to have a good Graduation day with her friends.

Elena was smiling for what seemed like the first time this season while she hung out with Jeremy and Alaric. Jeremy told her there would be no crying even though she let a few happy tears fall. She got a phone call from Connor (the hot hunter) and that killed her mood quickly.  Connor threatened to hurt all the visiting family members in town for the Graduation if Elena didn’t get him the cure and Silas.

Alexander (Rebekah’s ex-boyfriend/hunter) had Matt standing on a bomb, and Rebekah wouldn’t leave his side. Vaughn (the Hunter who got into it with Damon in the past)popped up at the Salvatore’s and shot Damon. He had a message from Qetsiyah; the Hunters wanted the cure and they wanted Silas. Before Vaughn had the chance to say anything else Stefan ripped out his heart.

Alaric overheard Elena’s call with Connor and went to the Grill to chat with him. Connor had explosives strapped to him and Alaric told him “This is my bar and nobody’s gonna blow it up.” Connor set off the bomb but Alaric got him out of there in vamp speed before it could damage the Grill.

Matt was still standing on the bomb with Rebekah at his side. He tried to distract her by having her talk about her plans after graduation. She wanted Matt to travel with her and he said it’s a date.  Matt reminded her that he was wearing the Gilbert ring, so maybe if she set off the bomb he wouldn’t die. She didn’t buy it, but didn’t let him know it. She told him “The first rule of truly living- do the thing you’re most afraid of” and then she kissed him. She got on the block and told him not to miss his Graduation. She can’t be killed, so she told him to go and he did. She jumped off the block and Boom!

At the school, Katherine popped up to question Bonnie about the immortality she was promised. She threatened to kill Elena since she had everything and Katherine has nothing. Bonnie wanted to hit her with one of her powerful headaches, but other graduating students came in the hall and Katherine got out of there.  

Back at the Salvatore house, Damon gave Elena her Graduation present. It was the cure. She wouldn’t take it because she knew the hunters were willing to kill everyone in town to get it. Damon told her to take it and she wouldn’t. He found out that the sire bond didn’t return with her humanity. Damon hoped Jeremy would help convince her, but Jeremy told her it was her decision. Elena saw Damon with a pained look on his face and told him to take off his shirt (aw yeah!). There was a wound from Vaughn’s wooden-bullet that hadn’t healed because the bullet was laced with werewolf venom. Not a good look for Damon! He needed Klaus’ blood to heal him (which would be tough since he is in New Orleans) or he could take the cure and become human. Damon as a human? I cannot see that happening. Instead he gave the cure to Vaughn and told him they could go dig up Silas (since Damon knew he was dying he figured he could distract Vaughn).  

Elena was worried about Damon leaving but Stefan explained to her that he was distracting Vaughn. He reassured her that since the bullet was only laced with werewolf venom, Damon had time and not to worry. Jeremy insisted that she go to graduation, and she resisted at first but agreed to go.

Bonnie and Caroline were already at the Graduation when Matt came followed by Elena and Stefan. The whole gang was there and they were graduating together. Group hug! Bonnie teared up but still didn’t say anything. They all crossed the stage and got their diplomas. Bonnie’s Dad handed them out and Bonnie had a sweet moment with him and thanked him for everything. Aw! When Bonnie sat down, Kol was right behind her and said he had ghosts throughout the Graduation ready to attack whenever he gave them the green light. She took him to where her body was and told him she died the day before. Kol didn’t want the veil to come back up and she told him she wanted to stay living too. She trapped him down there so he couldn’t cause any harm and told him, you can’t always get what you want.

Damon took Vaughn to a waterfall where he supposedly dumped Silas’ body. Vaughn figured out that Damon was playing him so he shot him a couple more times. Alaric got there just in time and snapped Vaughn’s neck and threw him in the water (grabbing the cure from him in the process). Alaric called Stefan and asked if he should force Damon to take the cure or watch him die because he was running out of time. The call was interrupted when the witches gave everyone a killer headache at the Graduation. Suddenly the main witch was decapitated by a flying Graduation cap and fell to the floor. Who killed her? Klaus! Caroline had been calling him non-stop to get him come to help Damon and there he was (looking super hot in a suit I might add). Caroline smiled with relief.

At the mansion, Damon was healed and Elena slapped the mess out of him for almost dying. Elena asked Stefan for a moment alone. She thanked him for not giving up on her and she gave him the cure. She said “The only person worse at being a vampire than me is you.”  She told him he deserves whatever he wants in life and to be happy.

We found out that Klaus was already on his way to Mystic Falls because he received Caroline’s Graduation announcement. He wanted to give her a plane ticket to New Orleans as a Graduation present, but decided to give her something she really wanted. He told her Tyler was allowed to return to Mystic Falls. Klaus said, “He’s your first love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes.”  Aw! How Sweet! (I so hope Caroline makes an appearance on The Originals spin-off with Klaus at some point).

Back at Salvatore Mansion, Elena found Damon and he said he wanted to apologize, but realized he wasn’t sorry. He wouldn’t apologize for preferring to die than be a human. He admitted he is selfish and no apology would cover all the reasons he’s wrong for her. Elena said she wouldn’t apologize either. She’s not sorry she met him, or that he is the one who made her feel alive after she died. She won’t apologize for being in love with him. He kissed her passionately (Yay! A win for Delena fans).  This tender moment was saddened when we see Stefan with tears in his eyes because he overheard the whole thing. Lexi put her hand on his shoulder and he grabbed it. Poor Stefan.

Stefan decided to bury Silas for real this time. Damon offered to go with him but Stefan said Lexi was going with him. You could see the hurt on Stefan’s face, but he told Damon he wasn’t happy about Elena, but he wasn’t not happy for him. Stefan was still a great guy even though he lost the girl.

Jeremy decided to write Elena a letter instead of saying goodbye. It was time for the veil to go up and he wanted to be with Bonnie when she closed it. He told Bonnie there was so much he wanted to say, but she stopped him and kissed him instead. The veil was up and Jeremy gasped for air. Bonnie succeeded. The spell she did to keep him alive worked (even though it also caused her death). He was so happy until she reached for his face and he couldn’t feel her hands. He knew she was a ghost. She told him to tell Caroline and Elena that she was staying with her mother for summer, because there were finally all happy. She would be alright because she had Grams and other witches. Aw Bonnie!

Alaric was with Damon and told him now that he has the girl, not to screw it up. Damon said, “With you looking over my shoulder, how can I?” And Alaric was gone.

Stefan and Lexi were in his car, and she was suggesting places Stefan could go to get a fresh start. “What if Elena was the one”, Stefan asked. Lexi said she will always be an epic love, but there can be several of those (especially for a vampire). She told him to move on. He told her he’d never been to Portland, and looked for her to respond but she was gone.

Elena was looking for Bonnie but found Kol instead. He tried to attack her but disappeared before he had the chance. Katherine showed up and wanted to finish what Kol couldn’t. Katherine attacked her and it was a knock down, drag out fight! They went back and forth until Katherine stabbed Elena in the neck. Elena struggled and then there was a flashback scene of Stefan giving the cure back to Elena because he said he wanted it for her. Back to the present, Elena shoves the cure in Katherine’s mouth and told her to enjoy her life as a human. Wow! I was shocked by this choice for the cure and it left me with a few questions. Can human Katherine now be Klaus’ blood source for his hybrids? And can’t she just get bitten and become a vampire again?

Rebekah went to check on Matt. She told him that she understood if he didn’t stick to the plans they made earlier while under duress. He knew they couldn’t have a real relationship but he wants to travel with her and have her show him how to live. He doesn’t have summer or college plans so now is the time.

Stefan was all set to dispose of Silas’ body when he realized there was no body, just pieces of stone. This confused him because he saw Silas turn to stone. Silas appeared to him as Elena and told him that the spell that turned him to stone was broken when the living witch (Bonnie) who cast it died. He said that he created the immortality spell 2,000 years ago, and the witches, created a version of him that could be killed because they needed a balance. They created a shadow self or a doppelganger. Stefan saw Silas as Elena and thought was his real face and that he was another Katherine/Elena doppelganger. That was not the case. We see Silas’ reflection in the car window and who does he look like? STEFAN! Silas said, “Hello, my shadow self,” and then he staked Stefan in the stomach. Silas asked if he knew what it was like to starve for 2,000 years and then put him in a big safe, and pushed it into the waterfall. Stefan was banging on the front of the safe as it went into the water. GASP! Stefan was buried alive underwater and no one knows! Will Silas try to act like Stefan or will everyone think he left Mystic Falls heartbroken? What about Silas wanting to die and be with his true love, was that all a load of crap?  This season finale answered a lot of our questions but left us with a lot to think about while we anxiously wait for season 5 in the fall. That’s a wrap on season 4 folks!

So what did you think about the season finale? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. 

The Vampire Diaries airs on Thursday nights on the CW.