The Vampire Diaries “American Gothic” Recap

By Mandy Treccia

After a season that hasn’t made a lot of sense, The Vampire Diaries finally seems to be hitting its stride.

“American Gothic” had Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Rebekah (Claire Holt) tracking Katherine (Dobrev) and the cure to a small town in Pennsylvania where she had compelled the townspeople to bend to her will. But Katherine was not about to give up the cure just because they asked nicely (or with a lot of Original vampire force).

Watching Elena and Rebekah team up continued to be enjoyable, especially when the two bullied Katherine into giving Elena her jewelry and shoes so Elena could meet up with Katherine’s friend. Once she left, Katherine attempted to get under Rebekah’s skin and correctly pointed out that the cure is not a do over. I’m not a fan of Rebekah wanting to be human so while I never like seeing her sad, it was good to see her get a dose of reality that the cure is not magic; all it will do is take away her immortality.

Poorly disguised as Katherine, Elena waited for Katherine’s friend to show up and it was none other than Elijah (Daniel Gillies), who shocked Elena by greeting her with a long kiss and an ‘I missed you’ speech. Apparently, Elijah and Katherine have gotten very close and it didn’t take long for him to realize that it was Elena. He wanted to know where Katherine was and Elena wanted to know how he could be stupid enough to fall for her lies.

To be honest, I was wondering the same thing. Elijah is supposed to be the smart one; the one who knows how to read people and situations and I didn’t see how he could fall for Katherine after every horrible thing that she had done. But really, it wasn’t Katherine that he fell for; it was Katarina, the girl she had been before she became a vampire and ruined his whole life and everyone else’s. Gillies is truly a gifted actor and it’s always a pleasure to watch his scenes, and the pure disappointment and shame that crossed his face as Elena told him that Katherine had killed Jeremy was heartbreaking to watch. He’d been fooled, just like Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) had in the past.

Speaking of the Salvatore brothers, they managed to track down Katherine and Rebekah. Everyone was grossed out when Kat mentioned that Elijah was her special friend and Stefan went to rescue Elena while Damon and Rebekah demanded Katherine take them to the cure. Katherine managed to get the upper hand on Damon and flee, but that left the cure in Rebekah’s hands. When Damon told her not to take it, she pointed out that he didn’t mean it and then she took it just as Stefan arrived.

I had a feeling it was fake because that was way too easy, but while Rebekah was passed out, Stefan correctly guessed that Damon had let her take it because he didn’t want Elena to have it. Damon later admitted that he realized he’d been wrong and Stefan told him that he was tired of fighting the same battles. He wanted to help Elena and then he wanted to be done. Their dynamic is so good and this was a great way to make Damon see that he really does want the real Elena back. Unfortunately for Rebekah, she woke up and was still a vampire.

Katherine interrupted Elijah and Elena’s heart to heart chat by snapping Elena’s neck. Elijah made it clear that he was done with her and Katherine reminded him that she needed him to broker a deal with Klaus for her freedom. But then Kat stepped up and proved that she really does love Elijah because she gave him the cure and didn’t want anything in return. It’s a little hard to buy her sudden change of heart, but I suppose Elijah’s love would do that to a person. Or she has another trick up her sleeve. Rebekah pleaded her case for her brother to give her the cure, but Elijah took her and the cure back to Mystic Falls.

Their brother Klaus (Joseph Morgan) was not having the best time this episode. The broken off piece of the stake was still lodged in his back and when Caroline (Candice Accola) showed up to help him; it was really Silas coming to mess with his head. But then the real Caroline showed up and she asked him to spare Tyler (Michael Trevino) in exchange for her friendship. Klaus didn’t care for the deal and the two fought about how he was in his own way and she was mad at herself for not turning her back on him ages ago. Suddenly, Klaus’s pain disappeared and he realized it had all been in his head and Caroline had taken his mind off of it.

I know these two will probably never be together for real, but their scenes were flawless. The passion and anger and everything emotion between them is so powerful that they don’t even have to kiss for the chemistry to roll off them in spades. Klaus’s little smile when she left after he asked if they were friends was absolutely perfect.

Finally, Elena made it clear to Stefan and Damon that she doesn’t want the cure and they can’t make her take it. They told her they weren’t going to stop trying and Elena killed the waitress to prove her point. Each week, I go back and forth to whether or not I like Elena with her humanity turned off. I still feel like Elena is in there and I won’t be surprised if she takes the cure, but it certainly seems like she means business.

We’ve got another hiatus before the show returns in three weeks with the senior prom episode. I’m not looking forward to the dance as much as I’m looking forward to having Elijah, Rebekah and Klaus in the same room.