The midseason finale of “The Vampire Diaries” finally answered some questions we have been wondering about all season. We find out the truth about Megan’s connection to Elena’s family and how Enzo fits into the story. Let’s go right into the recap because there is a lot to cover.
Inside the prison, Damon is kicking at the wall to his prison cell, trying to break it down. He finds a bullet case on the ground and sticks it into the lock on his prison door. He repeatedly kicks the lock and after one final kick the door opens. Damon calmly walks out of the prison.
“The Vampire Diaries” S5/E9 Recap “The Cell”
At the Salvatore mansion, Katherine wakes up next to Stefan. She turns to look at him when she finds her hair has turned grey and is falling out. Stefan wakes up and Katherine rushes out of the room because he does not want him to see her aging. As Katherine leaves the mansion, she runs into Damon. She tells Damon she and Stefan slept together, but Damon does not care because he is trying to find Elena.
Elena wakes up in Wes’ lab strapped to an examination table. She looks around the room and begins to see visions and hear noises in the stairwell. Wes sedates Elena and drains her blood to see how much blood she can lose without losing consciousness.
Back at the mansion, Damon tells Stefan he does not know where Elena is, but Damon assumes Wes is holding Elena captive in his lab. He and Stefan go to Whitmore College to find Aaron and use him as leverage to get Elena back from Wes. This entire time it is made clear that Stefan had no idea Damon was held prisoner and experimented on in the 1950s. Damon tells Stefan they were estranged at the time and that it is in the past, thus it does not matter anymore. Once they find Aaron, Damon tells him to call Wes to find out where Elena is, or else Damon and Stefan will kill Aaron. As they are hanging out with Aaron, Damon fills Stefan in on how Aaron and his family fit into the Augustine Society story, but he fails to tell Stefan about his revenge on the Whitmore family.
Inside the lab, Wes starts reading experiment notes from a journal written by Elena’s father, Grayson Gilbert. Wes explains to Elena that everything he is doing to Elena, he learned from Grayson. As Elena puts the pieces together, she realizes she is being held in her father’s clinic.
As they are talking, Wes gets a phone call from Aaron who tells Wes Stefan and Damon are holding him captive and they will release him once Wes releases Elena. Wes tells Aaron to meet him in his classroom to make sure he is alive, and then he will give Damon Elena. Once Wes hangs up, he gives Enzo some drugs and tells Enzo to go find Damon and not to return until Damon is dead.
Outside Mystic Falls, Katherine is working out with Matt in an attempt to slow down her aging. As she is working out, she realizes she is losing her vision and hearing. Nadia shows up and immediately slaps Katherine for attempting to kill herself without saying goodbye. Katherine wants to know if Nadia thinks Katherine can ever be forgiven for the things she has done, and Nadia says yes.
Aaron, Stefan, and Damon arrive in the classroom to find Enzo inside waiting for them. Damon is surprised to see Enzo alive and when Stefan asks Damon who Enzo is, Enzo introduces himself. Stefan calls Wes to tell him they are at the classroom, and Wes tells Stefan they can go ahead and kill Aaron because he is not going to give Elena up. Once Stefan is done talking to Wes, Enzo wants to tell everyone his story about how Damon left him to die. When Damon asks how Enzo survived the fire, Enzo explains one of the scientists saved him and kept him alive.
Back inside the lab, Elena realizes Enzo is the Augustine vampire and he was the vampire responsible for killing Megan. Wes explains that Megan’s parents funded Grayson Gilbert’s experiments. As Megan grew older, she grew more suspicious of her parents’ activity and became too inquisitive. She enrolled in Whitmore College and purposely roomed Elena in order to learn more. The night of the party at the Whitmore house when Megan died, Wes explains she went lurking around the house and likely found Enzo and he killed her.
Inside the classroom, Damon is ready to kill Aaron when Aaron begs them not to kill him. He explained since Wes is not willing to save his life, he would rather help them save Elena. He tells them Wes gave him a file full of information about his family and that there might be information about the lab Elena is being held in. Stefan leaves with Aaron to get he file and Enzo makes Damon stay.
At the Mystic Grill, Nadia and Katherine discuss Katherine’s fate. Nadia thinks Katherine should try and tap into her Traveler magic to switch into another body should she die. This way her physical body may die but her consciousness will be inside someone else. Katherine explains she does not know anything about Traveler magic because her father forbid them to use it. She also explains Stefan likes her present body and she does not want to switch into a different body because Stefan might not like it. She explains to Nadia that she would like to die knowing Stefan cares about her. Nadia thinks Katherine is being selfish and tells her she should go ahead and kill herself.
Back at the college, Enzo and Damon relive their past and begin to fight. Enzo is understandably angry with Damon for leaving him to die. The two vampires begin to fight, and Enzo throws Damon out a window. When Enzo goes outside to find Damon, they begin to fight again when Enzo starts feeling pain. He explains to Damon that Wes poisoned him and he is dying. As he falls into Damon’s arms, Damon tries to get Enzo to tell him where Elena is being held, but Enzo dies before he can tell Damon the location.
Aaron and Stefan arrive at his dorm room. Aaron goes inside and gets a gun. When he attempts to shoot Stefan, Stefan stops him and demands to know if Aaron was lying to them the entire time. Aaron reveals to Stefan the truth about his family and what Damon has done to his family for decades. Stefan explains not all vampires are like Damon and that Stefan will not kill him. Aaron believes Stefan and gives Stefan the files.
Inside Wes’ lab, Elena has another flashback to her childhood. She hears noises from the clinic and her dad finds her lurking. Her father tells her to not come down into the clinic. Elena tells her dad she heard screaming and was curious to know what it was. Her father tells her there is nothing to worry about and that they just saved the life of a little girl. When Elena comes to, she realizes Wes is trying to turn her into a vampire that feeds on vampire blood, similar to Jessie. Wes explains he was able to create a simple injection that will make any vampire crave fellow vampires, and that Elena will be patient zero. She begs him not to give her the drug because she will become a ripper, and Wes tells Elena that is what he is hoping will happen. Wes sticks the needle into Elena but before he can inject it, Stefan shows up. Distracted by Stefan, Elena is able to use her head to knock Wes out. Stefan frees Elena and they leave the lab.
At the Mystic Grill, Nadia waits for Matt on the patio. She asks Matt to hold onto the traveler’s knife in case Katherine decides to keep living more. Katherine will need the knife if she changes her mind about switching into a different body. Nadia explains to Matt that she can’t decide if she should hate Katherine and leave her, or stay and be with Katherine in her last days. Matt doesn’t know what Nadia should do, but he agrees to hold onto the knife.
Enzo wakes up inside a lab with Damon. Enzo asks how he is alive, and Damon explains he injected Enzo with some of Wes’ antidote that he found and it saved him. Damon explains to Enzo that the only reason he was able to save himself and not feel bad about leaving Enzo was because he turned off his humanity. He knew the guilt of leaving his friend to die would be too much for him to handle.
Back at the Salvatore mansion, Elena reads her father’s lab journal. She remembers her dad talking about a little girl being saved; she thinks the little girl he was talking about was Megan. Elena’s dad used his research to save Megan from a heart condition. He used vampire blood to cure her. As Elena explains this to Damon, Damon tells Elena he has to let her go. He knows he is a bad guy, and is tired of Elena always having to defend him every time she realizes the bad things he has done. Elena protests but Damon insists and leaves her. Elena cries as she burns her father’s journal.
Upstairs, Katherine looks into a mirror and finds wrinkles on her face. Stefan visits her and she wants to talk about the night before. Stefan explains they simply got swept up in the moment and it meant nothing more. Stefan tells Katherine one night of passion will not allow him to forgive her for everything she has done to him over the past century and a half. Katherine realizes he will never look at her the way he looks at Elena, and as she leaves, Stefan tells her he is sorry she is dying. As she walks down the stairs, Katherine calls Nadia and tells her she wants to keep living. As she is talking to Nadia, she grabs her chest and collapses on the ground. Nadia calls out for Katherine on the phone, not knowing what just happened.
We end back at the lab. Aaron finds Wes on the ground and wakes him up. Aaron yells at Wes and tells him to get out of his life. He never wants to see him again.
And with that, we are halfway done with season five of “The Vampire Diaries”! This season has been a vast improvement from last season. The story is fresh and unique compared to the past few seasons. It is always more interesting when the humans and vampires are fighting against one another. The midseason finale tied up a lot of loose ends, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out. Now that everyone knows Wes’ agenda, will he be the big bad and go after vampire-kind with his new injection? How will Aaron fit into the story now that he knows his family’s conflicting history? And what happened to Katherine? Did she die of a heart attack, or will she be saved? And of course, will Elena go back to Stefan? It was Stefan who saved her from Wes after all, not Damon. There is a lot of potential left this season, and we have about one month for another episode. Come back then for more recaps!
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