The Vampire Diaries -- Dangerous Liaisons

If anyone asks in future the difference between Katherine and Elena that answer is this: Katherine got Stefan to save Damon's life; while Elena got Stefan to kill his brother.

Anyway, Esther is throwing a ball to celebrate the reunion of her family. She has an invitation delivered to Elena. Being that it's The Elena Show, couldn't have a party, without her being the primary focus. She actually needs something from the little doppelganger. See, Esther speaketh with a forked tongue. She isn't back to reunite the family, she's back to kill them all.

Rebekah also has the little doppelganger on her mind, as she stalks her at the hospital when she and Matt are visiting Alaric. Thank God it wasn't The Council Killer. Please, for the love of all that's sacred, do not make all the killings of the council members be about this over-exposed airtime hog. Elijah, still lovesick over the little doppelganger, saves her miserable life, and Rebekah says he's pathetic and I say, "You are so right, honey."

Anyway, the Salvatore boys are at the Gilbert House when the doppelganger gets her invite to the ball with a special note from Esther saying she wants to speak with her privately. Stefan's back to being an Elena butt-kisser and back to thinking all of Elena's plans are great, when they suck and put lives in danger. Damon's against it. Stefan also declares it's Damon's job to protect Elena. And he gets kicked in the teeth later by both of them for doing what he's been told he's supposed to do.

Caroline also gets an invite to the party from her lovesick attempted murderer Klaus. She gets all pissy when she learns that Elena made out with Damon. I've been wondering for awhile if a lot of her nasty bitchiness towards Damon isn't coming from jealousy. And if she is jealous of Damon getting with Elena, she's even more jealous of Rebekah inviting Matt to the party. Because of that little development, she decides to attend the ball.

Okay, I'm going to say upfront right now that I found nothing sweet or romantic about any scene involving Klaus/Caroline. I found them gross. The idea of this pairing makes my flesh crawl to such an extreme point, I have to turn my head away because I can't stand looking at it. There! I said it!

Anyway, the party begins, and since Caroline can't find anything to wear, she wears the dress Klaus sent her. Elena, being the magical little supernatural doppelganger doesn't have that problem, and shows up at the party wearing a ball gown. She also doesn't apparently have to worry about paying bills or buying food. All that happens magically for her, too. Only ordinary people like Matt and Caroline have to worry about stuff like that because they're not magical like she is.

Damon has the look of love in his eyes when Princess E makes her grand entrance. Of course, is it because she reminds him of Katherine. She's one of the only regulars wearing a ballgown reminiscent of an 1840's ballgown, she even has her hair all curled up. When Elena started acting like a stone cold bitch a lot of fans were trying to say, "No, no, that's not Elena, that's Katherine." Again, the difference is Katherine saves Damon's life and Elena has him killed.

Anyway, Damon gets her to dance with him, and it's karmic payback for Stefan over a century in the making when he gets to watch Damon dance with the girl while he has to watch on the sidelines. I know a lot of DE fans were gushing about how great it was, but it was kind of a real dud. It had none of the chemistry or romantic tension the dance they shared in season one at the Miss Mystic Falls contest. Too much stuff happened after that dance to really make them a viable couple and after what took place in this episode the plug should be pulled on any type of pairing between the two permanently.

The dance gets interesting when partners are exchanged. Probably the most interesting dance was between Damon and Rebekah. While dancing with Rebekah, Damon didn't even notice Elena was dancing with Stefan. He wasn't casting brooding looks in their direction. Instead, his total attention was on his dance partner, Rebekah. Rebekah, however was staring at Matt/Caroline dancing and commenting on how beautiful Caroline was and everything she was wearing her brother gave her. Damon told her she's not a dog, herself. She wanted to know if that was a compliment. Damon replied that she tried to kill Elena, so she doesn't get a compliment. That line kind of reminded me of when Damon told Katherine in 2.20 that Katherine didn't get a goodbye. The interesting thing is Damon didn't really seem all that upset that Rebekah tried to kill Elena. It was at this point he finally remembered Elena and stopped being so into his dancing partner and looked around wondering where she was. And a lot of it may be because both Stefan and Elena have put on Damon that it's his job to keep her safe.

Of course, Damon will soon discover that both talk out of both sides of their mouths. Elena put a big old guilt-trip on Damon for leaving her alone in Stefan's Chicago apartment and that Klaus could have got her. And she put a pretty big guilt trip on Damon when he took off with Katherine and Klaus and Stefan victimized her, demanding to know where he was, when she told him she didn't want him around her unless he behaved the way she wanted him to behave. As a result Damon vowed to never leave her again. And Stefan's favorite mantra to Damon is it's Damon's responsibility to protect Elena.

Now, however, Elena wants to meet privately with Esther and Damon's trying to stop her to keep her safe, knowing what a dimwit she is. Only, Elena doesn't want Damon to protect her. Just watch, if he wasn't being protective, she'd complain because he wasn't being protective. Anyway, she's got a plan. She wants Stefan to murder his brother by breaking his neck so she can have a private meeting with Esther. Stefan's all on-board since he's trying to earn brownie points with her, to make sure Damon doesn't get her, not that he really wants to get back together with her, since when she starts panting after him like a dog in heat begging for him to give her belly a rub, he basically blows her off.

So, Princess E goes to meet Esther after watching Stefan snap his brother's neck. Esther needs her blood to bind all her children together so she can kill them all. I wasn't upset about this development. In fact, I loved it. I hope they keep Esther around. I understand where she's coming from. As a witch, she feels she did a horrible wrong creating the vampire race. Now she wants to undo what she did and restore the balance of nature. BTW, Bonnie's ancestor, Ayanna, did some sort of spell, and Esther isn't a vampire like her children are. So, in fact, Klaus did murder his mother, and carted her dead body around with him for years. Can you say eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!

Having already stuck one knife in Damon's back, Princess E would move on to her next victim: the lovesick Elijah. She just watches him drink the wine with her blood in it, knowing she's signing his death warrant.Meanwhile, Stefan informs Damon with relish that it was all Elena's idea to snap Damon's neck and he belittles Damon for feeling. Yep, the King Hypocrite who has been on Damon about not feeling, is now on him about feeling something. He also tells Damon he's a dick, when the truth is the real douche and dick is King Hypocrite. Damon needs to face facts, no matter what he does King Hypocrite will find a way to make Damon feel there's something wrong with him and that he's inferior. That's just who Stefan is. Yes, Stefan will go to any lengths to save Damon, but when Damon's life isn't in danger, he's totally toxic to Damon. That's why I say Stefan's love for Damon is very warped.

Done with Elijah, Elena goes back to her first victim Damon, and when he tells her he loves her, she said that's a problem. See, now Stefan is away from Klaus, she thinks she's got a shot at getting her Stefan back, so she doesn't give a crap about Damon or his feelings. He was good enough when Stefan wasn't around, but now that Stefan is, hit the road Damon. She claims she didn't mean it, but in a very lackluster fashion, and when her dreamboat Stefan brings her home, she really doesn't give a shit about what she did to Damon. She's a bit concerned about Elijah. But her primary concern is getting Stefan to admit he feels.

Damon gets the message that both Stefan and Elena shoved in his face; he's bad for feeling. If these two ever get on Damon in the future about not feeling they need to have their tongues cut off and shoved down their mealy-mouthed throats. There also judgmental about how bad Damon just can't control his urges when Damon sends Kol flying off a balcony and snaps his neck. The two hypocrites are unaware that Damon came upon Kol crushing Matt's hand as he was poised to kill Matt. Actually the two hypocrites didn't even care to find out the facts before judging Damon as being bad and in the wrong. Afterwards, Damon mentally gives both of them the finger as he storms off into the night, having had enough of both these two-faced hypocrites.

Elena wasn't the only one plotting murder at the party; Rebekah was planning to kill Matt to pay back Elena. Again, it's all about you know who. But when Matt was nice to Rebekah she changed her mind. Yes, the biggest stone cold bitch at the party was Princess Elena, the one the shows sells as the caring little martyr that will sacrifice herself to save everyone. After Kol's attack on Matt, Rebekah goes to The Grille to try to make amends to him [something Princess Elena didn't even care enough to do with Damon]. He, however blows her off.

There was an interesting bit of character development for Rebekah when Kol said she develops feelings for a man if they're nice to her for five minutes. I'm also wondering if Rebekah could possibly be a virgin, because Klaus stuck to her like glue, so I highly doubt she had sex with Stefan. Besides, Stefan never seemed to be all that interested in sex. If so, Damon may have just gotten himself in some very big trouble with The Originals.

Damon, whose been drinking, comes up to Rebekah and tells her she would have broken Matt in a second and she needs someone more durable. Every time I think of that line, it cracks me up. Rebekah asks if he has anyone in mind. Cue the first real vampire sex this show has ever done, and the hottest scene this show has ever done, as Rebekah slams Damon up against a wall and rips his shirt off him, and Damon looks like he's biting Rebekah as he rips her dress off her. I'm also wondering just what Damon was doing with his hand to make Rebekah look like she was climaxing. Just wish the scene had been longer. Best scene of the entire episode.

I know the DE's are determined that Damon be stuck with Princess E, but she proved in this episode just how toxic she is to him and how little she cares about his feelings. I'm really hoping Damon and Rebekah turns out to be more than a one-night stand. The healthiest thing Damon could do for himself is to fall for someone that doesn't look like Katherine.

I also have to say I don't know why so many people are so crazy for this Kol character. He's got a totally ugly personality and I was thrilled when Damon threw him off the balcony. Must be because he looks like Elijah. Unfortunately, he totally lacks any of Elijah's charm.

I also have to wonder what the heck the writers are doing with the Klaus character. God knows even before this episode I had a hard time buying him as any kind of real villain, but after this episode with him being revealed as a sensitive artist, just kill him now.

That's why I love Esther. She's a real villain. She's going to do something horrible, but you can see where she's coming from and what's motivating her. The biggest shock was that Finn is in on the plan and wants to die.

It was an interesting episode, but if this show is determined to sell Stefan and Elena as the big hero and heroine of the show, they need to stop writing them as the biggest dick and bitch on the show.