2.5 Kill Or Be Killed So what happened? Well, Stefan attempts to clear the air with Mason, in hopes that neither will get hurt. Damon is a little upset with peace negotiations, as he should be, since Mason tells Caroline’s mother that the Salvatore brothers are vampires and that he can prove it to her. He does so by spiking the lemonade with vervain. This prompts Damon and Stefan to take action. Unfortunately, Liz is on to them and ambushes them in the woods, shooting them with wooden bullets and then injecting them with vervain. Nice. From there, Liz takes the Salvatore brothers to an underground cellar. Caroline and Elena head in that direction, but not before stopping so that Caroline can kick Mason into a tree. Caroline is afraid to go into the cellar for fear that her mother will find out about her, but duty outweighs her fear and she goes in and saves the brothers. Damon decides not to kill Liz because she is his friend. Instead he opts to keep her at his house until the vervain wears off so that he can compel her to forget. Tyler and Jeremy don’t stay mad, though. They actually end up discussing his uncle Mason and his secrets. In the end, Tyler gives Mason the moon stone because he almost lost control and killed a girl. Caroline and Elena finally have that heart to heart. Caroline comes clean about spying for Katherine, even though Elena already knew. Caroline tells her she is doing it to protect Matt, because Katherine has threatened to kill him. Stefan decides that the only thing to keep him and Elena safe is for him to drink human blood. Elena doesn’t want him to do it alone and offers him her blood. The episode ends with Mason meeting Katherine in the woods so he can give her the moonstone and make out. Talk about a twist. That’s the story, then, so how did it all pan out? Speaking of boys in peril, I did not foresee the Salvatores being in any serious danger this episode. I thought for sure next week, but it was nice to be surprised, which is something that doesn’t often happen in a paranormal melodrama. I like that things do not always go as predicted on this show. It keeps the show feeling fresh and alive, which is something I really dig about The Vampire Diaries. Kill Or Be Killed flowed really well. I enjoyed the alternating storylines of the group at the picnic, mixed with the group at Tyler’s house. It seemed as though the episode really flew, right up until the end when my jaw dropped and time kind of stopped. On another note, I wanted to mention that I thought it was nice to see bits of the old Damon. It was almost sweet, in a Damon sort of way, to see him call a human, other than Elena, his friend. I think helping Liz accept Caroline as her daughter may just help Damon accept himself. In terms of the acting during all of the above, I must say that Candice Accola (Caroline) and Ian Somerhalder (Damon) did a fine job. Finally, the final Stefan/Elena scene with the blood drinking and the kissing was perhaps a bit cheesy in a melodrama sort of way, but I feel as though the sincere acting from Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley saved it from being over the top. It made it believable and I honestly feel that, without this strong ensemble cast, The Vampire Diaries would not be as good as it is. Read our review of episode 4, Memory Lane, here.
