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23 Episodes 2012 - 2013
Episode 1
Thu, Oct 11, 201243 mins
Alaric having informed the founders council, the mayoress and sheriff are deposed, and zealot pastor Young takes charges of a ruthless hunt for vampires and werewolves. Klaus makes out with Caroline as Tyler, who soon realizes their body switch but is sworn to secrecy. Because Elena made Stefan rescue Matt from drowning first, she can only be kept alive by vampire blood, yet she refuses to turn completely. Damon grimly accepts having to leave her to his brother again. Klaus orders Bonnie to break the spell and scorns Rebekah. The pastor's posse lays siege to the founders' houses and captures the gathered vampires and friends. Only Damon was outside, and must rescue them from vervain, or worse.

Episode 2
Thu, Oct 18, 201243 mins
Pastor Young's posse is killed in an explosion, so sheriff and mayoress are reinstated. Tyler is back in his body and happy with Caroline, who can't help worrying constantly, while he chooses to seize the day. The Salvatore brothers disagree violently how best to help Elena, who has been turned into a vampire: either seeking Stefan's probably naive control attempts or Damon's 'short pain', while she still contemplates death as only way out. Matt provides an urgent compromise during pastor Young's memorial service, which is widely attended, also by his niece April and outsider Connor Jordan, whom Damon correctly mistrusted as he's a seasoned, well-armed slayer.

Episode 3
Thu, Oct 25, 201243 mins
Elena learns confronting Rebekah (CLAIRE HOLT) can be dangerous. Tyler gets a surprise visit from Hayley (PHOEBE TONKIN - The Secret Circle), a werewolf who helped him with Klaus.

Episode 4
Thu, Nov 1, 201243 mins
Klaus and Damon use Jeremy's posthumous witches dimension to draw Connor's magically invisible tattoo. While a hybrid guards the slayer, Klaus explains to the gang that it belongs to the Five, the ultimate slayers brotherhood, which nearly wiped out the Originals in 11th century Italy, after Rebekah fell in love with member Alexander. The brothers agree to team up and trick Rebekah, who knows where the key to the Five's ultimate weapon is, an engraved sword. Meanwhile Damon escorts Elena, whom only Stefan can convince life as vampire is still worth living, to a fraternity party for a blood hunt lesson, and to the witchcraft course of professor Atticus Shane, ignoring he's a mortal enemy.

Episode 5
Thu, Nov 8, 201243 mins
Slayer Connor has escaped, killing his hybrid guard, and takes hostages, including Jeremy, to lure and kill the vampires. Klaus convinces Stefan that they can't confide into Damon, who must be distracted as he would probably disapprove of a cure, or Elena, who finally regains courage once she learns kid brother's life is at stake. Witchcraft professor Atticus Shane proves to Bonnie through hypnosis that the late coven only made her believe she lost her powers. When Caroline surprises Tyler with stowaway Haley, he explains they must stick together until Klaus is dealt with. Once Connor is vanquished, Jeremy discovers that the invisible tattoos are now appearing on him.

Episode 6
Thu, Nov 15, 201243 mins
Dead slayer Connor keeps entering Elena's visions, taking any shape to terrify her, kindling her fears and guilt, even tricking her into accidentally stake-stabbing Jeremy, to render her suicidal. Damon saves her from death by sunlight after dropping her ring by the bridge where her parents died at sunrise and explains that Stefan, whom she dumped for manipulating her until she killed Connor, actually tried to find a cure. Tyler convinces Caroline to team up with Hayley and the other hybrids and help delude Klaus. Bonnie and the others still trust Atticus, who treats Falls College to a supernatural exposition, until Matt's remarks alarm Damon. After Klaus explains about the Five Hunters, the end of Elena's horror and Jeremy's invisible tattoos suggest he may be the new slayer 'coming of age'.

Episode 7
Thu, Nov 29, 201242 mins
In order to speed up the hunter tattoos which contain the key to the cure, Stefan needs Jeremy to kill, and even supplies a caught murderer. While more hybrids suffer the sire bond-breaking agony like he did, Tyler grudgingly lets his admirer Hayley drag him along to the annual Miss Mystic Falls pageant, not knowing that she's in league with Atticus, who Damon openly suspects of foul play but can't touch as only he may revive Bonie's crucial witchcraft. Jeremy senses that he's losing control over his hunter instinct, and may even be dangerous to Elena. Matt takes his place as April's pageant escort. Klaus and ultimately Caroline suspect Damon of siring Elena, who moves in and thus effectively evicts Stefan.

Episode 8
Thu, Dec 6, 201242 mins
Tyler and Caroline find their scheme to break Klaus's sire hold on the hybrids challenged by the claim Adrian and his peers shouldn't suffer the horror of repeated transformation agony, actually plotted by Atticus's stooge among them. Caroline's theory that Elena, although a vampire, was exceptionally sired by Damon, is proved. Desperate for extraordinarily powerful witchcraft to break that bond, the Salvatore brothers return to New Orleans, where Damon knew, loved and dumped one in 1942, when Stefan joined the war effort, and find her.

Episode 9
Thu, Dec 13, 201242 mins
Now that the hybrids have finally excruciatingly completed their siring therapy, Tyler takes goodbyes, being prepared to sacrifice the coming year or so as 'host' body for Klaus to be locked in and buried. Conflict threatens as Stefan demands the plan be at least postponed until Klaus has helped him with the vampirism antidote for Elena. That proves void as Caroline thinks of using Rebekah's secretly stored corpse as host and Professor Atticus demonstrates he can get the cure even faster, knowing which male witch must be dug up for it. Atticus's method to control Jeremy's vampire-chaser instinct fails because his love for Elena isn't unconditional enough, but Damon solves that by using Bonnie. Damon cancels his sire hold on Elena, despite her hesitation, but Stefan just learned about and and gets lividly furious. Klaus crosses all vampire and hybrid plans by carrying out a bloody ritualistic deal struck with Atticus and April.

Episode 10
Thu, Jan 17, 201342 mins
Rebekah (CLAIRE HOLT) is back with a vengeance. Bonnie is uncomfortable when her father, Rudy Hopkins (RICK WORTHY - Supernatural), accepts the role of Interim Mayor.

Episode 11
Thu, Jan 24, 201343 mins
Jeremy is furious when Klaus tries to control him by putting Matt's life in danger. Damon coaches Jeremy as he prepares to take on Klaus' new vampires, but they find that Kol has beaten them to it. Kol makes it clear that he will stop at nothing to convince everyone to give up the search for the cure. Looking for a new ally, Rebekah reminds Stefan that they were once close friends. When Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Hopkins question Shane about his involvement in the Founders' Council deaths, Bonnie steps in with questions of her own, and Shane's responses push Bonnie to the edge of her powers. Elena negotiates with Klaus to keep Jeremy safe, but when danger suddenly appears from a totally unexpected enemy, Elena comes up with her own daring plan for Jeremy.

Episode 12
Thu, Jan 31, 201342 mins
Having locked up compelled Damon to prevent him from killing Jeremy, Stefan teams up with Klaus to prevent Kol from doing so himself. Rebekah regrets the school gala being canceled, actually by Bonnie's father against everyone's will, but finds solace in bed with Stefan, whom she decides to help in killing Kol, hence his bloodline, and hopefully revealing the location of the cure with the magical invisible tattoo on Jeremy. Kol lays siege to the Salvatores and Gilberts but is overtaken after they join forces with Bonnie, whose independent magic first had to overtake her vampire mother Abby.

Episode 13
Thu, Feb 7, 201342 mins
Tyler and Caroline are back just in time to watch Klaus, who Bonnie's spell temporarily locked up in the Gilberts' home while they accompany the Salvatores and Rebekah on professor Atticus Shane's expedition to free Silas from a cave-dungeon on a desolate island off Nova Scotia. Provoked, Klaus manages to bite Caroline, so that only his blood can save her. The expedition, during which Atticus slowly divulges his plans and how his late wife, a witch, cued his whole plan, is plagued by discord, rivalry, conflicting intents concerning the cure and armed mystery assailants. Stefan ends up alone with bitter rivals Elena and Rebekah.

Episode 14
Thu, Feb 14, 201342 mins
Damon finds himself the prisoner of Galen Vaughn, one of the five Hunters, whose only goal is to kill Silas, even if that ruins the cure. Klaus toys with Tyler and Caroline, using his knowledge, including the Bibical dead language Aramaic, to help decipher the tattooed map to the cure on Jeremy's skin with a cryptographic key, and divulges it's only enough for a single vampire. This news shatters the expedition members' shaky alliance. Tyler decides to run, without Caroline, when Klaus promises to hunt him down, albeit with a head-start. Arrived in the cave, the expedition members rush to Silas's tomb, which poses unforeseen vampire and delusional challenges. Atticus is shattered mentally on top of breaking his leg after rewarding his witch accomplice Massak with Silas's magical tombstone.

Episode 15
Thu, Feb 21, 201343 mins
The expedition factions move in on Silas's tomb, desperate for the single dose of cure, but the primordial monster is awoken. Pretending to be Elena, Katherine gets away with the cure. Jeremy is mortally wounded, and the only known way to resuscitate him would also liberate all supernatural evil. Elena, who initially simply denied her brother's natural death, finds some solace with Matt decides to burn him and all traces of their past in the Gilbert home. Atticus is heartbroken when he learns his plan to undo supernatural killings including his family's is flawed, and Bonnie hesitates whether to risk a third dozen killings for it.

Episode 16
Thu, Mar 14, 201343 mins
Elena ruins a school party which ends up moved to the Salvatore house, only wilder. The semi-willing hosting brothers not only fail to convince Elena she must turn her humanity back on, she even gets Damon to doubt himself, and after bumping into his werewolf-bitten friend Will, he decides to take her out of town. Klaus enjoys being seduced by werewolf Hayley, refuses to lift his constant death threat as revenge on Tyler, but identifies her 'birth mark' as a Louisiana wolf pack mark. Caroline's hope to get Tyler back is smashed by his message that he had transferred the deed of his house to Matt, as only his absence can protect her from Klaus.

Episode 17
Thu, Mar 21, 201341 mins
Ancient evil Silas is alive and hiding in someone, as turns out in Atticus, who succeeds in getting Bonnie and Caroline to complete the cycle of three dozen murders, now of witches, to restore his original sorcerer powers. Damon takes Rebekah and Elena, who almost resembles cold Katherine since he turned her emotions off, to New York, where he reminisces on his wild party days with Lexi Branson and searches for a clue, which the devious trio then fights for, but must report to Stefan he lost. Klaus ends up being confronted by Silas, who got hold of the last white oak stake.

Episode 18
Thu, Mar 28, 201342 mins
Klaus panics as shape-shifter Silas stabbed him with a splinter of the white oak stake. Caroline reluctantly agrees to remove it, if he allows Tyler to return safely, but then Klaus realizes what trick was actually played on him. The Salvatore brothers and Rebekah capture Katehrine, who was to meet Elijah, hoping he would reconcile her with Klaus. They let Elena, who demonstrates murderously to have no interest in resuming her sweet human(e) persona, take her place, but Elijah quickly sees trough their ploy. Katherine escapes but is caught and Damon finds where she hid the cure, but she gets await again while Rebekah seizes it, only to be disappointed.

Episode 19
Thu, Apr 18, 201342 mins
The Salvatore brothers resolve to try awaking any emotion in Elena at the stylish Senior Prom organized by Caroline, but she seems to have turned into a Katherine light. Silas proves a master in clever shape-shifting, luring or scaring the brothers and Bonnie, who still refuses to accept 'help' in controlling her magical expression. Tyler still makes Caroline's day by returning secretly, but Klaus finds out. Elijah promises Rebekah the cure if she can prove being ready for human mortality by abstaining from vampire powers the whole day, but 'humanity coach' Matt needs her to save a friend, and Silas steals the prize.

Episode 20
Thu, Apr 25, 201342 mins
The Salvatore brothers keeps Elena locked up but find her almost stoically resistant to their attempts to rekindle her emotions through pain and fear. Warned by Katherine, who wants him out of their lives, against a dangerous witch of the Deveraux coven in New Orleans, Klaus returns there. He finds the city, which he once ruled and fled, dominated by his then friend Marcel Gerard, who refuses to share his secret to control witches. Elijah follows, having failed to make Rebekah abandon the humanity dream and consent in an Originals reconciliation, to offer Klaus an olive branch and seek an alternative way to break their infertility curse.

Episode 21
Thu, May 2, 201342 mins
The Salvatores find torturing Elena to rekindle her emotions pointless, as she trusts they won't let her come to real harm, and even enlisting Katherine as eager torturer fails as well as Caroline's soft alternative. Damon however finds a way around it, starring Matt, to whom Rebekah also promises grateful help with his ailing study. Silas, in numerous shapes, keeps rendering everyone paranoid. Bonnie can't elude him much longer, commandeered to help him be reunited with the original sorceress in death by lifting the veil between dimensions, but first she offers Katehrine a deal.

Episode 22
Thu, May 9, 201343 mins
As Graduation Day approaches, Caroline tries to distract Elena by focusing on simple tasks like sending out announcements, but Elena won't be swayed from her new obsession. Sheriff Forbes calls Damon and Stefan to the hospital, where someone has been attacking patients. Still trying to force Katherine to help her, Bonnie refuses to give up on her plan to defeat Silas. As a violent wind storm causes a power outage in Mystic Falls, ghosts suddenly appear - some with good intentions while others are bent on revenge.

Episode 23
Thu, May 16, 201343 mins
Now that the veil has been lowered between earth and the Other Side, dead people are coming back either seeking revenge or looking out for their friends. Among the peaceful ghosts are Alaric, Jeremy, Grams and Lexi, who come back to look out for their family members. At the same time, Kol returns seeking revenge on Elena for her role in his death, and another three members of the Brotherhood of the Five return including Connor, Vaughn and Alexander. Meanwhile, Jeremy helps Elena release all of her emotions without becoming overwhelmed by everything bad that she had been holding back, Grams helps Bonnie through a hard time after she is now dead because of doing a spell that should keep Jeremy alive when the veil goes back up, Alaric hangs out with his best friend while he's still a semi living person, and Lexi and Stefan party while they still have time. Rebekah and Matt continue to grow closer while trying to stay alive and Rebekah eventually gets her wish of going off around the world with him.
