The Vampire Diaries Recap: The Sword and the (Phoenix) Stone 

Stefan and Damon clearly misread Lily’s e-mail telling them what to bring for Thanksgiving, because on Thursday’s

, the Salvatore boys arrived armed with but one dish for their mom: a generous helping of reality.

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With a little help from vervain and chains — which also happens to be the name of my Kat Graham cover band — Lily’s sons forced her down the darkest part of memory lane: her hellish marriage to Giuseppe. (I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that physical abuse, mind games and making Damon eat his own pet turkey qualifies as being “hellish.”)

And rehashing the good ol’ days was merely Step 1 in the boys’ plan to turn their mother against Julian, equating him to Lily’s dick of a husband. Stefan also told her that Julian murdered his and Valerie’s child — Lily’s

, as he was sure to note — but she dismissed this as one of Val’s many lies.

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But as the episode progressed, and as Lily continued to find herself haunted by the memories of her nightmarriage, she also began to see Julian for the monster he really is, eventually inspiring an alliance with her sons to take him down. Major kudos to Annie Wersching for her portrayal of a desperate woman, trapped both by fear and by the times, who’s finally finding the courage to escape her cycle of violence. Mama Salvatore gained about eight new layers in this episode, and everything she’s done up to this point — both for her children and her “children” — suddenly makes a

SWASHBUCKLERS | Of course, this year’s Turkey Day episode was more complicated than I’m making it sound, largely because I totally left out the part where Bonnie and Enzo tracked down a mystical sword that Julian was also trying to get his handsome little hands on. And because everything in the supernatural world is connected to everything else, it seems this weapon draws its power from — wait for it — the Phoenix Stone! (I could be wrong, though, so feel free to yell at me in the comments section if I misunderstood that bit of mythology.) Enzo and Julian’s subsequent sword fight in the wood was also a nice touch. Can we have more of

And back to Bonnie and Enzo for a second: Now that we know they’re together in the future, isn’t it kind of nice watching them fall in love in the present? When she told Enzo he’s “better off without” Lily, which he is, I felt all kinds of emotions.

POSITIVELY PREGNANT | Caroline spent a good part of the hour trying to convince everyone — mostly herself, honestly — that she hasn’t been “mystically knocked up by a coven of dead witches,” but by the end of the episode, there was no denying it. Apparently the babies were cloaked for their own protection, which explains why her pregnancy tests were all negative 

why the human doctor couldn’t find them in her uterus. And am I crazy, or are Caroline and Valerie becoming… friends? Valerie told Caroline the truth about losing her child, and while Caroline was obviously shocked by the news, she also seemed genuinely heartbroken for her.

cousin in this week’s flash-forward — during which Caroline appeared on television with an “urgent message for Stefan Salvatore” — we did hear Matt utter Jeremy’s name during a frantic phone call with Bonnie. “Tyler and Jeremy actually

fans across the globe a glimmer of hope that we’ll be seeing Steven R. McQueen at some point this season. (I hear he’s pretty busy putting out fires with Uncle Mason or whatever.)

fans, what’s your take on this week’s episode? Drop it in a comment below.

“Now that we know they’re together in the future, isn’t it kind of nice watching them fall in love in the present?”

I don’t think Alaric and Caroline will become romantic. I think they will develop a deep FRIENDSHIP because of the girls. He wants to protect her in future because she becomes like a mother to the girls.

Remember last week when we Florence was explaining to Alaric that she was killed by a metal sword? It’s gotta be the same sword. My guess is that with the stone, the sword is able to kill vampires and send their souls to “Hell” inside the stone.

There’s an extra “we” in there, but it’s late and I’m distracted by HTGAWM.

I think this is how they are going to introduce the heave/hell story line with Stefan. I’m also thinking that these flash forwards are false and that Stefan is imagining them. Remember how they had Julian explain how he imagined he was killing Lily over and over again while his soul was locked up in the stone last episode? I’m thinking this same thing will happen to Stefan and we are seeing what he thinks is happening.

Well… I’m kind of digging the Valerie and Caroline frienship… Also I do not see Alaric and Caroline as a romantic couple, same goes for Enzo and Bonnie.

I love the herectics and Lily, but I’m afraid she will be the one to die in an attempt to kill Julian. hopefully not, because Annie is amazing.

Sometimes…I can’t believe this is the same show I used to be addicted to. I keep trying and trying to hang on until the end but Caroline’s pregnancy may have finally pushed me over the edge.

It’s so sad to see watch where they have arrived with the series that once was so breathtaking and interesting. The series whose episodes I couldn’t wait to watch.

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The Vampire Diaries Recap: The Sword and the (Phoenix) Stone

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