US Television: Vampire Diaries, Episode 2.4 "Masquerade"

Vampire Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.7, Masquerade
Original Air Date:  October 28, 2010

The night of the Lockwood masquerade ball has arrived and it's also the night when Stefan, Damon and their group of friends have chosen to battle Katherine.  Everything goes according to plan until they learn that they aren't the only one with a witch on their side and that the battle with Katherine will affect Elena more than they figured it would.  Will having Katherine safely sealed away protect everyone or is Elena still in grave danger?  Life has changed for Tyler Lockwood.  Bonnie learns that she isn't alone as a Bennett witch.

Caroline tells Stefan and Damon about an encounter she had with Katherine that day while she was at the Mystic Grill to "quasi stalk Matt".  While in the ladies room, Katherine, posing as Elena, walks in and asks if she is alright.  Caroline knows it is Katherine and, when she tries to leave, Katherine tells Caroline to deliver a message to Damon and Stefan:  "I want the moonstone or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood.  Tonight, at the masquerade ball".  Damon and Stefan know Katherine was caught off guard by Mason's death.  Damon vows that he will kill Katherine at the ball but Stefan says Damon will not be the one to kill her, he will be.

Matt, Elena and Jeremy bring Jenna home from the hospital.  Jenna believes she walked into a knife rather than intentionally inflicted the wound on herself.  Jeremy questions Elena about what they are going to do about Katherine.  When she says nothing, he replies that they can't let her get away with trying to kill Jenna.  Elena feels convinced that because she broke up with Stefan everything will be fine with Katherine.  Jeremy insists she is being naive. 

Lucy, a witch friend of Katherine's shows up at her room and it's clear the two have a past.  Lucy isn't afraid of Katherine and questions her about her masquerade mask.  Katherine tells her about the ball and asks if she wants to be her date.  Katherine is going to be impersonating Elena at the masquerade ball that evening.  Lucy knows Katherine is after the moonstone and asks why she wants it.  One look from Katherine and it becomes clear to Lucy:  Katherine wants her to use it to break the curse.

Bonnie arrives at the Salvatore house, with Bennett grimoire in hand, and finds that both brothers, Caroline, Alaric and Jeremy are there making preparations for something.  When she asks what is going on, Jeremy matter of factly states "we're gonna kill Katherine".  Alaric is showing them how to use his vampire killing equipment.  Bonnie needs some convincing to go along with the plan.  Stefan tells her Katherine can't get away with what happened to Jenna and that she has to be stopped before something like that happens again.  She agrees to help them by performing a spell to trap Katherine away from everyone else.  Alaric will not be at the ball as Stefan wants him to keep an eye on Elena so she will not know what is going on.  Caroline is in on the plan because since Katherine killed her fair is fair.  Bonnie is in as long as no one gets hurt.

Elena invites Matt to stay and have pizza and watch bad TV with them that night but he declines saying he is going to the Lockwood masquerade party.  Elena isn't going and Matt tells her he must because there is something he has to do but will not elaborate on what it is. 

Before they go out into the party, Tyler apologizes to his mother for being such a jerk lately.  He wants to know if she's heard from Mason.  She doesn't think they will.  Katherine and Lucy arrive at the party.  Matt sees her and thinks she is Elena.  Katherine uses her powers on him to go over his plan for getting Tyler to kill him.  Damon and Stefan arrive and Stefan asks Damon if he is sure he can do what they are setting out to.  Damon is positive he will not hesitate regardless of what Stefan has to say about his past with Katherine. 

Matt takes Tyler into his father's study and starts getting him drunk.  Two girls that are in there with them drink as well.  Jeremy and Bonnie sneak upstairs to set things up for the nights work.  Jeremy asks Bonnie about the spellbook and she tells him about it belonging to her ancestor, Emily.  Bonnie has only worked the spells that have done good because she doesn't particularly like anything relating to the spellbook. 

When Jenna mentions to Elena that Jeremy has gone to the Lockwood party, she questions Alaric about what is going on.  He doesn't want to tell her anything but, when she starts to leave saying she will go meet up with everyone, he stops her telling her Stefan wanted him to keep an eye on her in case Katherine showed up.  Ever-suspicious Elena still wonders why Stefan would be at the party and Alaric tells her to let this one go.

When Bonnie and Jeremy go downstairs, she gets a "weird vibe" about the room.  She goes right up to Lucy, taps her on the shoulder and asks if she knows her.  Lucy says she knows no one then walks away.  Katherine orders Stefan to dance with her but, when he refuses, she asks who she should kill.  Stefan leads her away to dance and they talk about the moonstone.  Stefan insists the exchange will be done his way or she will not get the stone at all.  A friend of Elena's walks up to speak to Stefan and Katherine walks around behind her and punches her in the back paralyzing her then she kills her and throws the body into Stefan's arms.

Elena claims she is going to bed but grabs the car keys and leaves.  Shaken by the death of Elena's friend, Stefan wants to call the plan off but Damon will not let him.  He insists that tonight, everything ends with Katherine and assures his brother that he's got his back.  Damon sends Jeremy a text message saying simply "now".  Lucy tells Katherine that another witch being at the party changes everything but Katherine refuses that.  Lucy owes her a favor and she is ready to collect.  Jeremy walks up to Katherine and, when Lucy leaves, tells her he has a message from Stefan.  Stefan and Damon want her to meet them at the edge of the lake by the woods as they have the moonstone.  As Jeremy is walking away from Katherine and texting Caroline with "your turn", Elena grabs him from behind a bush and asks what is going on.

As Caroline is going to prepare for her part in the plan, Katherine grabs her and wants to know what is going on.  When Katherine grabs her by the throat, Caroline tells her the Salvatore's are trying to kill her.  Katherine asks where the moonstone is but Caroline claims she doesn't know.  Jeremy and Bonnie tell Elena they are trying to kill Katherine which surprises Elena they would choose the party to do it.  They tell her things aren't about her anymore as Katherine has messed up all their lives and needs to be stopped. 

Caroline leads Katherine to the room upstairs.  Katherine goes in and looks around then turns to face Caroline who is now smiling.  Caroline is pleased because she was successful in fooling Katherine who is now trapped in the room with Stefan and Damon.  Damon comes out of hiding and shoots Katherine in the back to kill her.  Problem is, Elena is the one who feels what Katherine should be feeling.  As Damon and Stefan continue stabbing Katherine, Elena shows the wounds inflicted on Katherine.  Bonnie realizes that Katherine is linked herself to Elena and tells Jeremy to get Damon and Stefan to stop.  The fight between Damon, Stefan and Katherine is monumental but the Salvatore's are clearly no match for her.  As Katherine is trying to force Damon to stake himself, Stefan grabs her from behind and gets a hold on her so Damon can stake her.  Before he can, Jeremy calls to him to stop and tells them that everything happening to Katherine is happening to Elena. 

Stefan sends Jeremy back to check on Elena while Katherine continues to torture her feeling her witch is better than Bonnie.  Bonnie can't break the spell but she can try to take some of Elena's pain away.  When Bonnie learns from Jeremy that another witch was working with Katherine, she heads off to find Lucy.

Katherine still wants the moonstone and Stefan wants to know why.  Katherine tries taunting them with their love for Elena.  Stefan wants to know why Katherine has aligned herself with werewolves.  Matt starts antagonizing Tyler by pouring booze on the floor in his father's study and on the photo of Tyler's parents.  Matt escalates the antagonism and starts a fight with Tyler.  Caroline hears it and rushes in to stop the two.  She keeps them apart and knocks Matt out.  Sarah, the girl in the room with them, picks up a knife saying "Matt failed.  If Matt fails, I can't."  She stabs Tyler with the knife and when he pushes her away she falls and his her head on the desk.  Sarah is dead and the curse is beginning for Tyler.

Stefan realizes Katherine had given the moonstone to George Lockwood.  She refuses to tell him why she wants the stone but he continues to put two and two together.  Stefan wants to know who she was running from in 1864 but she continues to tell him about how much she loves him.  Bonnie finds Lucy and wants to know who she is and what she is doing there.  Lucy tells her she will remove the spell if the moonstone is handed over to Katherine but Bonnie will not let her leave the room until the spell is gone.  Lucy grabs Bonnie by the arms and knows Bonnie has the stone and tells Bonnie she (Lucy) can be trusted.  Damon pushes Katherine against the wall and holds a stake above his head.  Stefan grabs his hand to stop him but Damon swears that as soon as the spell is broken he will drive the stake through Katherine's heart.

Lucy arrives in the room with the moonstone.  She tells Katherine that the second she hands the stone over her debt to Katherine is paid in full.  When the stone lands in Katherine's hands, she immediately starts having a negative reaction to it.  Lucy tells Katherine she should have told her another witch was involved.  As Katherine falls to the floor, Lucy tells Damon and Stefan that the spell is broken and Elena will heal quickly and apologizes for her involvement. 

Caroline explains what happened to Sarah to Tyler's mother.  Caroline is doing everything she can to make the situation easier for both Matt and Tyler.  Much to his surprise, Caroline knows exactly what Sarah's death meant for Tyler. 

Bonnie learns that she and Lucy are related.  Bonnie wants Lucy to tell her how to stay out of the middle of everything but Lucy tells her that because she is one of the good ones, the middle of it is exactly where she needs to be.  Lucy leaves, assuring Bonnie she will see her again.

Stefan goes to see Elena who is starting to heal.  He confirms that Katherine is gone but that doesn't change anything for Elena.  She wants to be with him but she needs to know those she loves and she herself are safe. 

Katherine awakens where Stefan and Damon and put her and grabs the stone and starts to stumble her away out.  She cannot leave the tomb and Damon starts to seal her in when Katherine tells him Elena is in danger and he needs her to protect her.  He vows he will protect Elena while Katherine rots in hell.  As Elena is walking to her car at the Lockwood party, someone wearing a mask walks up to her and grabs her.

What an episode!  Could the fight between Stefan, Damon and Katherine have been any better?  It was non-stop for a little while there until Jeremy let them know Katherine was hurting Elena.  I loved seeing how everyone pulled together in this episode despite all the troubles they have with each other.  Damon pulled his fangs in and protected those he cared about, Bonnie (finally!) started being an active member of the team and Caroline did great.  I liked Lucy once we finally got a bit more detail about her.  I do hope she does appear again in the future because I think she could be a real force to be reckoned with. 

I can only imagine what is in store for us next now that Katherine is sealed in the tomb.  Since someone has taken Elena we know that Katherine was speaking the truth to Damon when she said she was in danger.  Course, we all know that Damon will stop at nothing to keep Elena safe.  What girl wouldn't want Damon watching over her?

I'm wondering if we are going to see a friendship building between Caroline and Tyler now?  She knows his secret and I can only imagine it won't be long before he learns about the vampires in town.  I've got to feel sorry for Tyler here.  Like with Caroline, the curse was forced upon him despite everything he tried to do to prevent it from happening.  Let's just hope he is able to deal with it as well as Caroline was able to deal with her problem.

For more information:
Official Site:  http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries