THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Recap: The Rager

NiceGirl Lisa and I are swapping recaps for one episode so bear with me on Vampire Diaries and catch her covering Hart of Dixie on Tuesday.

Poor Tyler is recovering in the hospital with a guard posted outside his door. A guard who is moved from his post by the old window breaking down the hall ploy. Does it seem odd to anyone else that a human is guarding Tyler? No, just me?
Connor thinks it is weird too as he takes out the guard like it is nothing. Connor shoots Tyler with a paralytic and then shoves a needle into his mouth. As my daughter points out it seems painful. Connor is back at his chemist’s lab of a trailer before Tyler can move.

Damon finds Stefan getting his motorcycle ready; he’s going to show Elena a little fun. Damon has other plans involving getting back the werewolf venom from Connor and then eating him. I am so loving Damon as the snarky badass he was in the first season.

Matt meets up with Elena so she can feed; it’s the only blood she can keep down. She even comes with her own band aids, what a nice thoughtful vampire.
They are actually at school, and Elena is determined to finish her Senior Year. I have to site my daughter again who says, “Oh my gosh they are still in school?!?”

Tyler gets home to find Klaus and a few hybrids, despite some angry little words from both Tyler and Klaus it is decided the hybrids will be Tyler’s new bodyguards.

In class Rebekah shows up, now it’s her turn to have angry little words with Elena. It’s a spat with your nemesis kinda episode. Except Rebekah takes it too far, she even bites a girl to tempt Elena.
I want to like Rebekah because I feel bad for her childhood or family life but she makes it very very hard.

Meanwhile Connor has Jeremy in an empty classroom to talk about how Jeremy could see his tattoo. He tells Jeremy he is a vampire hunter, Jeremy does his best, “Are you kidding me?” face. Connor says the tattoo is invisible except to hunters or a potential hunters. I’m have a momentary Buffy Potential Slayer flashback. Connor wants Jeremy to find a vampire and bring it to Connor so he can train him in how to kill vampires. For someone that claims to know all about Elena and Jeremy, Connor seems to be a little off his mark with this one.

Damon is in Connors trailer when he accidentally triggers a booby-trap. He gets shot with two arrows that are attached to claymore mines. He’s a little stuck.
Damon has called Dr. Fell to help him out of his little bind. She only has to cut the arrows out of Damon, that’s all.

Caroline and Stefan are trying to talk Elena out of her murderous rage. It seems to work and Caroline utters this amusing line to Stefan, “You are pretty good at this. You should write a book, go on The View.”

A bored Tyler is sitting at home when Haley (aka Phoebe Tonkin) shows up. He looks awfully glad to see her. Haley is the girl that helped Tyler break his sire bond. Interesting he’s never mentioned her before.

Rebekah isn’t done with her quest to talk to everyone that hates her, she sees Matt at his locker and invites him to the party she is throwing. Matt doesn’t engage her , just slams his locker and walks away. He doesn’t get far before Connor slams him up against the wall and elicits the name of the vampire who has been feeding on him. He says Rebekah before Connor throws him into the wall hard enough to knock him out.

Back at Casa de Salvator Elena is going through Damon’s room looking for the good bourbon, she is going to need it to get through the Rebekah’s party. Or so she tells Damon, she was actually looking for the white oak stake, something Damon calls Elena on. She stays just long enough for him to get his shirt off before storming off.

Connor is outside his mobile home carving symbols into stakes when Jeremy shows up. He doesn’t have a vampire but he does know a doctor who uses vampire blood. Connor takes Jeremy with him to go check out the hospital.

Rebekah’s party is in full swing, you know underage drinking on the lawn, pretty people. Elena sees April and wants to talk to her but she is side tracked by Rebekah.

Caroline however has ditched Rebekah’s party to go see Tyler, I wonder how Tyler is going to explain Haley.
Before I can find out what her reaction would be Klaus, in another part of the house, introduces himself to Haley . She doesn’t have the sense to be scared of him.
Tyler does his best get Caroline out of the house so I don’t have to introduce her to Haley. Caroline seems a little put out but she leaves.

At the party Elena is talking with April when Rebekah enters the conversation. April leaves the room and Rebekah grabs Elena’s ring and throws it in the garbage disposal while Elena cowers in the pantry.
Elena makes a dash for the sink, grabs her ring and gets it on her finger before she completely burns up. Thankfully before Elena can go after Rebekah Stefan is there, he talks her down.
Stefan: Rage is a very powerful feeling, but guilt…will destroy you.
He proposes a motorcycle ride instead of killing Rebekah and after a keg stand Elena thinks the motorcycle ride is a good idea.
As they turn to go Rebekah starts to feel weak and her vision is fuzzy.

Klaus is waiting for Tyler in the study to talk about Haley. He does so in a beautiful British accent and a fabulous mocking tone. Before much more can be said Damon calls, Klaus gets an invite to help Damon take down Connor. He accepts.

Elena’s 5 minutes of fun this episode come via the motorcycle ride. She even smiles.

At the hospital Connor and Jeremy find Dr. Fell. Connor goes in after her leaving Jeremy in the hall. I cannot believe Connor doesn’t smell a set up.
Connor actually steps in a trap of his own making, arrows attached to strings attached to mines shoot into his arms. He’s now a little caught with Damon and Klaus standing over him.

Elena decides to continue with the fun in the form of hot vampire sex with Stefan. They are really getting into it when she sees Damon’s face instead of Stefan’s. She pushes Stefan off, lifts her sleeve and notices her veins turning bright red. The beer at the party was spiked with werewolf venom
Oh that can’t be good.

Rebekah is at her house feeling the effects of the venom when Matt shows up. He quips that she doesn’t look so hot. He came to tell her how ridiculous it is to have lived 1000 years and not have grown as a “person”. Mid-sentence she reaches out and grabs his heart out of his chest, thankfully it turns out to be a hallucination.

Klaus and Damon question Connor, in a fun snarky mocking way. Klaus does seem a little taken aback by the mention of a vanishing tattoo. He mutters that Connor is one of “the five”. He says it almost with reverence. If Klaus takes a second to not be snarky you know it must be pretty serious.
Connor takes that moment to grab one of the strings and sets off the mine, the blast throwing Damon from the room.

Elena is perishing and her hallucinations keep showing her Damon when Klaus shows up. Stefan asks him to heal Elena, which he does cryptically saying, “You may be of use to me after all”.

April for some reason is cleaning up Rebekah’s house after the party. She finds Rebekah in bed, recovered from the werewolf venom. They have a nice moment where Rebekah is actually nice to April.

The Mayor and Damon are at the hospital looking at the debris from the mine exploding. Damon seems convinced Connor is dead. When Damon finds Dr. Fell she chastises him for blowing up part of the hospital, he however seems very nonchalant about it. He says they should have a farewell drink, since he is set on leaving. She calls him out on this saying he isn’t leaving and he knows it. She goes as far as to tell him to fix things with Elena and Stefan. He seems to ponder it.

Caroline shows up at Casa de Salvator, Stefan called her to talk about Elena. He needs Caroline’s help to make sure he doesn’t lose control. I really love that Caroline and Stefan are BFF’s with these little heart to hearts.

Matt finds Elena at home, he’s there to apologize about the spiked beer and let Elena feed. Elena is about to drain poor Matt of all of his blood when Damon steps in. He compels Matt to forget the incident and he offers to teach Elena the right way to become a vampire.

And in the closing moments we find out Klaus saved Connor. Connor wants to know what Klaus meant calling him one of The Five. Klaus says Connor is now the most well protected vampire hunter in town.
Oh great, another reason for The Salvator Brothers to be at odds with Klaus and what does that mean for Jeremy who can see the tattoo?

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday 8/7c on The CW